Interlude

So after a significant downtime (Christmas celebrations yo) I'm now going to try and resume writing here on the blog.

While I am now back I am currently unsure what to do next. So, if anyone is actually reading this blog I would like you to leave a comment, or contact me through my email and tell me what you want me to go into next.

New setting: Hak’tar

A canine cousin-species to the M’ella, the Hak’tar were quick to create a advanced civilization (at least compared to their cousins), and mastered bronze working and masonry, building great feats of architecture in their temple-cities.

They also got into conflict with the M’ella because of their complete disregard of the natural cycle, and due to the fact that they embraced dark, alien gods from beyond the universe. Intangible things foreign to the concepts of the world they came from, offering them their hearts’ desires in exchange for worship and obedience.

And what the Hak’tar desired was immortality. Something their gods eventually granted them… in a way.

The immortality they were granted was not an eternal life, but the return of the soul to the body after death, trapping the subject in eternal unlife. This practice was then perfected by the Hak’tar, creating vessels for the soul so that it would not die if the body collapsed, as well as ways to preserve the body, preventing it from decomposing.

Additionally, the lich-priests of the Hak’tar mastered the art of animating the dead, creating unliving puppets to serve their every need.

This, of course, did not go over well to the gods of the universe, specifically the god of Death took offense to this transgression of the natural order. He then created the first seekers to beat down the infection that he considered the undead.

Long wars between the “civilized” Hak’tar and the M’ella tribes followed, but in the end the Hak’tar were forced to flee when their alien gods failed to protect them from the wrath of the world’s gods.

The few remaining Hak’tar settlements in existence are put in isolated places such as vast deserts or secluded valleys, where the Hak’tar death-lords and lich-priests brood upon their eventual return, and the destruction of those who stood against them.

New setting: Notable brigands and mercenaries

Before the shift, the most notable mercenary company in the known world was the Iron wolves. A group based in the borderlands to the goblin territories.

Much of their fame has derived from the fact that they built a fort in the main mountain pass between the goblin empires and the human lands, completely stemming the tide of goblin raids and invasions north and west.

The mercenary company settled this fort, holding it for two hundred years. A deed that got them labeled as heroes and dauntless warriors, whose name was the cause of many a toast in the taverns of the eastern territories of Elidrophyn.

The fact that the Iron wolves acted under strict regulations, and were trained to perfection before they were allowed to officially wear the crest of the company only served to further this nigh-mythical status.

After the shift, the sea that cut off access to the northern territories from the goblin lands was moved, making the goblins capable of marching their numberless legions around the Wolf pass, surrounding and besieging the Iron wolves’ citadel from both sides.

The citadel fell, and most of the iron wolves with it. It is a battle spoken of as a legendary last stand, where over a million goblins are said to have met their end, thus making it the bloodiest battle in known history.

The few regiments of the Iron wolves who survived were divided, half considered the fact that the city-states that had sworn to come to their aid were to blame for the destruction of their citadel and the death of their commander as they did not show up in their time of need. These regiments seceded from the iron wolves, renaming themselves the Dire wolves, becoming a mighty force of vengeance against the governments of the nations that currently rule the realm.

The dire wolves retain much of the basic code of the Iron wolves, as well as their desire for perfection. But even though they have rules and a code of honor, they have become brigands and bandits; they have infiltrated organized crime and revolutionist movements. Their paths are many and divided, but their goal is one: Take down all governments and avenge the betrayal of the nations.

The remaining half of the old Iron wolves chose to keep the name, and continue their legacy as their old commanders envisioned. Having lost their home, their influence and most of their companions the Iron wolves are beset by strife and hardship, and tend to travel the world in the traditional wolf packs of the Iron wolves; small squads of three or four members, with each pack acting as a separate entity from the main command structure of the company.

The squads are expected to upkeep the old iron wolf code. To never take jobs that include harming civilians, to never slay a non-combatant, and to respect the laws of whatever realm they happen to be acting within.

More often than not, the Iron wolves end up in bitter conflict with their former brothers in arms, the dire wolves.

The new setting: Demigods

What are demigods, exactly?
Well, that is a rather difficult question to answer. But in essence the people that can be considered demigods are of two different natures.

The first, and most classical of the two are the offspring of a god and a mortal. People born with certain gifts, often varied in source and significance. These people vary between gifted people, to people of herculean might and legacy. One example of a merely gifted demigod could be a man whose only additional traits are longevity, and perhaps a simple spell he can use naturally. Meanwhile the traits of a herculean demigod could be nigh invincibility or superhuman strength or something akin to that.

The other, rarer version of people that could be classified as Demigods are the supreme mortals.
Mortals that have crossed beyond the limitations of their state, and achieved something akin to divine power. Examples of these supreme creatures could be Cain, father of Vampires. These creatures are enormously powerful.

Chaosmagic begins

So, progress with chaosmagic has been very slow, since the workload in the university has been high lately. I do have a couple of spells, though, that will likely be first-rank chaos spells.

Chaos bolt - 1d6 damage. If you roll even on the spellcast dice, you get to fire a new bolt at a new target.

Manaburst - ?? damage. Your intelligence determines the range in meters in front of you. Cone attack. (if 20 int, all targets in front of you within 20 meters take damage) You deal your intelligence in magic damage, removing the amount you rolled on your spellcast dice. (example: You roll 7 on your spell dice, and your intelligence is 20. You deal 13 damage to all targets in front of you within 20 meters)

These are sadly all I have so far, but I will go on working with chaos magic as soon as I have time.

Now on Tumblr

So, I decided to get a Tumblr where anyone can ask me anything. You can find it here, and there's pretty much no restrictions as to what you may ask, about me as a person or about my work. I do, on the other hand, reserve the right not to answer questions if I find them TOO personal or in too bad taste.

Art: Fredrik Borgman

The artist Fredrik Borgman's rendition of the three dominant peoples of the central continents.
More of his work can be found here and here

The races portrayed are Azur, Humans and Ifrits. Named in the order that they are shown.

Magic revisited: Defining the spells

Illusionism:

Fear* – Renders the target with fear, conjuring images of its greatest fears within its mind. The character is likely to try to run away or hide from the caster. Can be negated by passing a 4d6 will check. (perking the skill increases difficulty of saving throws by 1d6)

Charm* - Makes the target feel like the caster is the best, most handsome/beautiful creature ever to exist, and makes them want to please the caster with their every action. Often renders them immobile until given a command by the caster. Dispelled upon taking damage from any source. Can be negated by passing a 4d6 will check. (perking the skill increases difficulty of saving throws by 1d6)

Create minor illusion – allows the caster to do things such as conjure simpler illusions (shadowy shapes, whispers, imaginative daggers flying around, warp their appearance, etc.)

Create major illusion – Allows the caster to do things such as conjure advanced illusions (people who aren’t there, monsters, walls, bridges, floors, etc.)

Invisibility (self or touch) – renders the caster, or a touched target, invisible to all on-lookers.

Warp Presence (passive, can be turned on and off) – Makes the player impossible to find using any sort of divination, including sense life, etc.

Group […] – makes your basic fear and charm capable of affecting groups of targets. Mana costs scale with numbers of targets.

Decoy – makes an instant copy of yourself at your current location, and renders you invisible. The decoy can be instructed to perform simple tasks.

Mind control – completely takes over a character’s mind, twisting them to the caster’s whim.

Create grand illusion – Allows the caster to create astonishing illusions, such as making gold that can be touched and felt, or create a programmed persona that can interact vocally on its’ own. Things created with grand illusion are so real that those who interact with them believe they are real, doing things such as feeling the object’s texture, hearing it and even smelling it. Things created with Grand illusion are ultimately imagined, so that amazing sword you just found won’t actually cut that demon. Sorry.

Team […] – makes you able to render your entire party invisible and/or create illusions of them, does not require touch

Astral projection – lets you project yourself at a target location. You can see and hear everything the projection can, and you may perform weakened versions of your illusion spells through the projection.

Druidism:

Rapid growth – (may be combined with warp wood) causes a living plant to rapidly grow. Mana cost depends on amount of growth done.

Warp wood – (may be combined with rapid growth) lets the character bend living plants to its will, shaping them to whatever purpose it happens to have. Can be used to snare enemies with roots, pierce them with branches, entangle them with deadly thorns, as a few examples.

Natural regeneration* - boosts the player’s out of combat regeneration greatly. Causing him to heal 1d6 hp / minute. (If perked, it allows the effect to take place in combat as well, but only every other turn.

Bark skin – grants the target bonus HP equals to the int of the user. Bleed effects still affect the target’s core hp. Bonus HP vanish after 3 rounds. Does not improve the target’s existing state.

Feral form* – Allows the user to take on a feral form for a duration. Shape depends on user’s species. Boosts strength and endurance, and grants + dr equals to the user’s will modifier. (perked version adds a +1 to all modifiers granted.)

Natural remedies – cures the target of all poisons, diseases, etc. Boosts the natural immune system of the target.

Shield of thorns – Causes an aura of harmful energy to linger around the target, making all attacks towards him deal 1/3 of the damage dealt (before DR is applied) to be returned to the attacker. Only works in melee.

Animal communication (passive) – makes the player able to understand and talk to animals. Though the animal’s intellect must be considered, and in general commands or information given must be very simple, and lack all complex rethoric.

Greater shapeshift (passive) – increases duration of Feral form, and makes it so that you instead of getting your will modifier as bonus stats, you gain all your will (above 10) to your bonus stats.

Hyperseed – allows the user to imbue magical energies into a magical seed out of combat, that can then be tapped into for explosive effects. Exact effects depend on seed used.

Greater warp wood (passive) – makes the Warp Wood affect several different trees without any added difficulty.

Elementalism

Fire school: Damage sets enemies ablaze, dealing damage over time

Fire bolt - basic missile - 2d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 1m aoe - 2 mana

Fire breath - cone flame - 1d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 7 meter range, 5 m width - 2 mana

Fire wall - what it sounds like- 10m width 2m height, 2d6 burn

Magma ball - rolling ball of magma, leaves burning trail, slow moving - 5 mana, 4d6 damage, 1d6 burn

Combustion - aggrevate burning on enemies - double burn damage/round, 3 mana

Flame pillar - massive pillar of flame - 5d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 4 mana

Searing touch - instantly set touch target ablaze. Great fire damage - 6d6 damage + 2d6 burn, 4 mana

Burning vengeance - incinerate target that dealt damage to you. No casttime. - 3d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 2 mana

Explosive rune - fire trap - 2 mana, 3d6 damage + 1d6 burn

Melt - melt target metal weapon, disarm + damage, destroys any non-indestructible item - bonus damage damage/item melted + 3d6 damage (core) + 2d6 burn - 10 mana

Inferno - Area of effect fire. Burns everything around the caster. Massive damage. - 7d6 damage + 2d6 burn, 10m AoE - 7 mana

Dragonfire - single target fire spell. Cannot be put out. - 10 mana, 7d6 damage + 3d6 burn, magic pen

Ice school: Damage chills enemies, slowing them

Ice blast - Basic missile - 2d6 damage, chill (target loses one action/turn) - 2 mana

Frozen armor - creates a platemail of ice on target - +4 dr, chills enemies striking the target, requires 15 str for the target to move - 4 mana + 1 mana/round

Frost wall - wall of ice. Absorbs damage and cannot be passed - up to 10 meters long, absorbs up to 50 damage - 3 mana

snapfrost - Target area is dealt cold damage - 3d6 damage, chills all targets in the area, 10m^3 zone - 5 mana

Ice prison - encapsule target in ice. Can be shattered - restricts movement and chills target - 3 mana

Frost nova - aoe damage around caster - 3d6 damage, AoE 5m around caster, all target in area gets chilled - 3 mana

frostbite - target becomes chilled and takes damage - target takes 4d6 damage and becomes chilled - 3 mana

Coldrend - aggrevate target chilled enemy, slow + damage - freezes target for 1 turn, 5d6 damage, can only activate on a chilled target - 4 mana

Blizzard - creates a snowstorm in a area around the caster, applying chill and obscuring view. Deals no damage. - 20m^2 aoe, chills all targets in area - 5 mana

Freeze solid - Target takes damage and cannot move - 6d6 damage, target is unable to make any actions for a turn, chills - 5 mana

Stasis - removes all energy in an area, instantly preventing all movement. No damage nor chill inflicted - 5 mana

Absolute zero - massive cold damage in area - 8d6 damage, 10m^2 area - 7 mana

Storm school: high damage and unpredictible

Thunderbolt - basic missile - 4d6 damage, might deviate from target - 2 mana

Chain lightning - Chain lightning that arcs between targets. Targets selected depending on proximity. FF possible. - jumps to closest target, deals 1d6 less damage per target, starts at 3d6 - 3 mana

Lightning strike- Target gets struck by lightning. Stronger outdoors. - 4d6 damage + 1d6 outdoors - 3 mana

I/O - touch. Current surges between hands, dealing massive damage if in contact with an enemy. Requires both hands. - 6d6 damage, requires touch - 4 mana

Zzap - teleports the user forwards, dealing damage to anyone it passes through - 2d6 damage - 4 mana + 1 mana/10 meters

Thunder clap - Sonic blast dealt in a cone in front of the user, disorienting + sonic damage - 2d6 damage + chance to disorient, 5m range, front arc - 3 mana

thunder head - Sonic blast at target location. Disorienting + sonic damage - 5m aoe from target location, 2d6 damage + chance to disorient - 4 mana

Ball lightning - what it sounds like - slow moving, 7d6 damage - 5 mana

Lightning storm - Lightning strikes the area repeatedly - 20m^2 aoe, lightning strike damage, 5 strikes, random targets - 7 mana

Storm's touch - The caster recovers all his mana. Usable once a day.

Arc lightning - Lightning arcs in front of the caster. - 7d6 damage, 5m range, front arc - 5 mana

Lightning clone - creates a clone of the user. On touch, discharges massive electricity and vanishes - 1m duration, 8d6 damage - 6 mana

Light magic

Healing* (touch) - 2d6 health returned for 2 mana (Perking the spell gives the healing an additional 1d6)

Cure – purges poisons, debuffs, diseases etc. from the target. Curses are transferred to the caster of cure. 4 mana

Rejuvination – replenishes the target’s mental rejuvenation, restoring mana and fatigue over time. Cannot be cast on the caster himself. 4 mana.

Blessing of stone skin – grants +3 DR

Blessing of the Lion – grants +1d6 damage (melee only)

Blessing of the fox – grants +3 dex

Blessing of the Jackal – grants +3 str

Blessing of the owl – grants +3 int

(all blessing last until the end of the encounter, or for 4 minutes out of combat)

Cleanse – removes all debuffs from the caster, including curses. 5 mana.

Blessing of kings – places all avalible buffs at a target

Resurrection – resurrects a dead character, moving them to 1 hp. Can only be used on the recently deceased.

Miracle – heals, cures and rejuvenates all friendly targets in the area. 10 mana.

Chaos

Rework still in progress.

Darkness

Bolt of darkness* – 1d6 damage. Damage increases by 1d6 for every debuff on the target. (if perked, the spell’s base damage is increased by 1d6)

Inflict pain* – 3d6 damage on target. (if perked, the spell also dazes the target.)

Curse of nyctophobia – increases all darkness effects on the target by 10%

Brittle bones – Reduces DR by 2

Petrification – reduces movement speed and dexterity by 2

Wither – Reduces endurance and strength by 2

Shroud of darkness – Limits sight of all players in an area

Cripple mind – reduces will and int by 2

Bad luck – decreases luck by 2

Place curse – put a permanent effect or debuff on a target. Cannot be cured.

Flesh to stone – Turn a target into stone. Eye contact required. Takes longer depending on the target’s will + end.

Soul drain – drains the target’s mana

Death

Plague strike – A melee attack that deals full weapon damage as well as applies all plagues to the target. The attack gains +1d6 per disease already on the target.

Aura of enthropy – Increases damage taken by all nearby hostiles by 2 from all effects.

Blood plague(passive) – increases all bleed effects with +1, all attacks towards the target cause 1d6 bleed. Only the highest bleed applies.

Lifesteal – steal 10% of team damage dealt the next three turns.

Bloodboil (AoE) - all targets within 5 meters take 2d6 damage. +1d6 damage per plague.

Plague of rot - Reduces the victim's end, dex and str stats by 2.

Pestilence (AoE) – if a victim of your plagues are close by, the plagues pass on to every enemy within 10 m

Turn undead – Makes a undead target with will 10 or below instantly die.

Silence of the grave – silence target for 4 turns

Mark of death – after 3 turns, target takes massive damage if beneath 30% of max hp

It Will Not Die – for 5 turns, no matter how low your HP goes, you do not die. After the 5 turns, your hp is automaticly 0, no matter what your health was before.

Precognition – allows a flash of events a few seconds into the future, allowing the user one unblockable strike, or an infallible dodge.

Advanced systems: Perks

I have previously mentioned the word Perks a couple of times, but what IS a perk?
A perk is something that benefits the player character within the framework of the game.
Perks can be anything from special skills earned in the game to bonuses to certain rolls provided by level.

As the current version of the system is designed, there are three difficulties to the game. Hard, medium and easy. On hard, the player characters will scale indentically to NPC's and monsters, being granted one perk and one stat point every four levels. (level 4, 8, 12, etc.)
On medium difficulty, they gain perks faster, getting one every three levels instead. (level 3, 6, 9, etc.)
And on easy, they gain one every other level. (2, 4, 6...)

List of perks:

Armored dodge - allows the user to dodge in medium armor
Improved dodge - roll +1d6 on the dodge check, and then remove the highest die rolled.
Improved blocking - roll +1d6 on the block check, and then remove the highest die rolled.
Heavy armor mastery - reduces the str needed to use heavy armor from 15 to 13
Medium armor mastery - reduces the str needed to use medium armor from 12 to 10
Shield Mastery - apply the shield's DR even if the player is ambushed and/or caught unawares. Shield must still be in use.



Weapon mastery <weapon type> - improves the user's skill with the weapon type used. roll +1d6 on the attack check, and then remove the highest die rolled.
Critical mastery  - the user now crits on normal crits, as well as when rolling one below the normal crit
Improved stealth - roll +1d6 on the stealth check, and then remove the highest die rolled.
Improved lockpicking - roll 1d6 less on the dex check to lockpick
Brutal strike - (requires 16 str) roll a normal attack roll. If successful, the enemy takes normal weapon damage (DR applied as usual). Additionally, your strike staggers the opponent, denying it to take a second action during it's next turn (such as move or attack). If the enemy performs a full round attack, it has one less attack.
Accurate strikes - requires weapon mastery with the used weapon. All your attacks ignore (dex mod) armor.

Light sleeper - allows the player to perform a perception check. If anyone or anything moves in the area around the player without first succeeding in a stealth roll, he will allowed to wake his character should the perception check have been a success.


Improved <insert name of crafting skill here> - roll +1d6 on the crafting check, and then remove the highest die rolled.


Additionally, Perks can be used to improve certain spells. I will mark these spells with a * when I finish defining the spells.

Advanced systems: Unique attacks and crafting (under construction)

So, as of now I'm currently adding a few things to the system that is of a more advanced nature. Among these are a few more advanced non-magical attacks, as well as creating crafting systems.

First off, we're going to go into Unique attacks.
So, what is a unique attack? Simply put, it's a weapon technique that relies on specific statistics, weapon types, etc. that can be learned through getting a "perk" with that name.
So far, I have three different ones, but more will be added as inspiration and/or suggestions are granted to me.

Iai - Katana technique. Requires 18 str to get. In order to use the Iai, the katana needs to be sheathed. The user must then pass a 5d6 str check, after which the opponent will be allowed to dodge or block as normal. The attack will then deal (base weapon damage + 1d6*dex modifier) in damage. If the Iai crits, the base weapon damage will be doubled, not the bonus damage.

Butterfly cut - sabre technique. Requires 18 dex to get. The user must perform 1 successful 4d6 str check, one 4d6 dex check, and one 4d6 perception (int or dex, whichever is higher) check. If all three are a success, the recipient of the attack must succeed 3 5d6 block/dodge checks.
If any of the attack rolls fail, the butterfly cut fails. If the attack rolls succeed, and any of the blocks fail, the recipient takes 3 attacks, each with DR applied normally, and they deal base weapon damage.

Backstab - Dagger technique. Requires 15 dex. All attacks performed with daggers from behind automaticly deal critical damage.


Proffessions/crafting
So, as of now I have added a few different crafting types that are avalible to players.
These are: Artificing, Herbalism, Alchemy, Engineering, Repair, Enchantment.

Artificing: combination of magic and science. Artificers combine the power of magic with more normal crafts in order to create magicly powered artifacts. Can be combined with Engineering in order to create things such as mana-powered killer bots, rayguns, etc.

Herbalism: Knowledge of nature and the herbs within, can be used to find natural cures in the wilderness, and may be combined with alchemy.

Alchemy: Creation of potions, poisons, chemical bombs, and more. Usually deals with concentrating the effects of plants and magical reagents to greater effects, creating healing potions and more.

Engineering: Creation of Guns, ammonition, and at very high levels, Vehicles, etc. Requires materials such as gunpowder, metals, wood, etc.

Repair: Fixing damaged items such as armors, swords, clothes, and more. Requires materials akin to what the object to be fixed is made out of, as well as tools of the trade. This can be anything from needles and tread to a anvil and forge.

Enchantment: Application of magical effects on weapons and armor. Can be used to enhance previously average weapons to perpetually burn, chill everything struck to the bone, or slice through armor with ease. And in return, can make armors absorb fire, ice, and even the raw power of magic itself.

I will go on to define specific skills within these different crafts when I have time and inspiration. But for now I will define perks.

Reworking chaos magic

So, due to the fact that chaos magic as is isn't especially attractive due to it's uncontrollable nature, my next project will be a complete rework of the school.
As of now, it seems like I will take inspiration from the D&D style wild magic, although the final incarnation of the magic is yet to be determined.

Deities: A seventh god

The fox-god of illusions and dreams is another deity shrouded in mystery. Its' gender is unknown by all, and even other gods are not sure if it's a male, female or both. This is due to the fact that the god changes appearance and gender seemingly on a whim.
The god mysteriously appeared in the shift, and many (especially the Kitsunes) believe he was a local to the old world, akin to Jester.
A thing to strengthen this theory is that the fox god and Jester are on good terms, making the fox god Jester's closest ally among the gods. Even tough the fox god also has made good friends with the Goddess of darkness and the goddess of knowledge.

Its' followers, the mesmers, are generally left to do as they please. And the fox god doesn't seem inclined to moderate its' followers' use of illusionism.

New setting: Jokkafar

After the shift, the great state of Jokkafar was the only one to resist the Tyvian expansion. Even tough they had relied on the magic of their Ice-queen to protect themselves, their land was simply too large to conquer before the people had become roused to the banners of the Tzarina.
The shared threat of Tyvian conquest drove the steppe peoples and the townsfolk together as a shared country, and they managed to hold off and even win against the experienced war machine of the south.
Using superior cavalry tactics as well as hit-and-run tactics the Jokkafar military used their greatest advantage to it's full potential: The sheer size and remoteness of their nation.

As years went by, the nation also showed new influences growing into the nation. The vampires of the south, driven from their homes, swiftly merged into the high society of the last standing northern nation, adding their own formidable prowess to the strength of Jokkafar. Also, there appeared a new people previously unseen in the central continents, as a Kitsune married the prince of Jokkafar, giving rise to a entirely new breed of people.
Also, a ancient and endlessly potent vampire nestled himself into the royal family of Jokkafar, seducing and taking the young tzarina as his bride.

As of now, the Jokkafar people is seen as a people of monsters and vampires by the Tyvians, who have endlessly battled in a crusade against their northern neighbors.
But in Jokkafar, both the people and the land Will not yield.

New setting: Tyvia

The kingdom of Tyvia is the dominant force on what was the northern continent of Elidrophyn prior to the Shift.
After the shift most nations, who had relied on magic for their defense, were left defenseless. Tyvia did not have that issue, as magic had in general been seen as heretical by the church, and magicians straying from the holy elements of light and fire were.. dissuaded. While practitioners of Dark magic were actively hunted and put to the torch.

After magic disappeared from the world, Tyvia was left standing with a large military war machine that didn't require magic to work, and the ambition to conquer all of their neighbors. And with their primary defenses down, most rapidly fell to Tyvia's military might. Only Jokkafar in the north proved too large, and too well defended to conquer, and the lords and ladies of Tyvia realized assaulting the now-isolationist Babylonian empire in the south would be far too much to handle at the same time.
Instead, the war with Jokkafar has dragged on, and the Tyvians have made sure to remove all unwanted elements from their annexed territories, driving away vampires, necromancers, and all other creatures of the night and practitioners of the dark arts, new and old. Something that made them popular in parts of the world.

Tyvia's technological advancement, while not close to Babylon, is still moderately advanced. The tyvians are currently dabbling in steam power for their ships, and have access to firearms in the style of blunderbusses, muskets, cannons and the like.

Magic: a discussion

So, now that the magical spells have been unveiled, I'd like to go into the design process and thoughts behind the magical spells and the alterations made from the previous game.

Elementalism

I was always pretty happy with how this group of magical spells turned out in the campaign, and thus it has retained its' shape from the previous iteration. Additionally, I added a related skill tree,

Illusionism.

Illusionism is all about affecting people's minds directly. While it lacks any direct-damage spells, it has many things that enhance its' users ability in combat, be it rendering them invisible or making the enemy percieve many copies of them. So this skill tree, while heavily applicable in combat, isn't meant to destroy your enemies, but rather allow you to control them and using their senses against them. While this might seem tremendously strong, spells such as Fear and Charm are greatly weakened against opponents with high willpower, and additionally illusions are incapable of actually dealing damage and does not preserve their users from AoE effects.
When fighting a mesmer (illusionist), bring a fire or chaos mage.

Druidism

This tree is a interesting one, as it focuses more on the players' usage of its' spells than on the spells themselves. The core combo of the Druids are the two spells Rapid growth and warp wood.
These spells allow the user to create plants from seeds, that can then be turned into weapons against their enemies. Additionally, these spells have a huge amount of utility in their use. They can be used to do all sorts of things, such as building housing, bridges, shelter from weather and enemies, and really just about anything. You just have to have the imagination for it. Additionally, the entire theme of the magic tree is to use nature, and the powers of manipulating life energies, in order to deal with threats as well as other situations.

Death 

The complete opposite of Druidism, the Death tree is all about using the energies of enthropy and death in order to accomplish the goals of the character. The nature of the death-mages, the Seekers, is also mirrored in the magic. Since they have things such as Turn undead, that obliterates the unliving, their eternal hunt for the ones who attempt to cheat death and the gods is mirrored.
The death tree is also very unique, since it relies on its' user being up close and personal with his opponents.
While most of the spells have yet to be properly defined, I will describe a few of the functions here.
The tree will rely on its' plagues to deal with large numbers of enemies, especially when dealing with living ones. Using Plague strike in combination with a weapon, they deal decent damage and apply their DoTs, and then using pestilence and blood boil to spread their diseases to other nearby enemies and dealing massive damage to the crowds around them.
While the aura of enthropy slightly boosts their damage and reduces damage taken, they step into the fray to deal with multiple opponents at once. Using the spell It Will Not Die, they can wade into combat completely uncaring about their own safety, as long as they can rely on their allies to get them out safely as the effect wears off.
Otherwise, if you went the path of Mark Of Death, you have the ability to deal vast single-target damage, but you'll have to be careful since you lack the safety of your temporary immortality.
Additionally, Precognition allows you to deal with pesky dodgers or deadly glasscannons, simply  because you have the certainty that you'll be able to dodge that one strike, or land that final blow.

Light

The polar opposite of Darkness, Light is all about buffing up yourself or your allies, allowing you to heal up horrendous damage, make someone a unstoppable killing machine, or even revive the dead.
The Light tree has been altered somewhat since the last game, primarily to fit more into my image of what Light magic is really all about. Helping others help themselves.
The light magic users are supposed to be more combat-oriented themselves, since their magic isn't going to fight their battles for them. The standard light-user isn't too far from what in other systems would be called a Paladin or a martial artist, and as such their stats are strange for magic-users. Having litterally no reliance on intelect for their magic, Light users have the freedom to spend those stat points in other fields, such as dexterity, strength and endurance. And from a mechanics standpont, it is suggested they do.

Darkness

The polat opposite of light, Darkness is all about robbing enemies of their abilities, and dealing damage over time as well as burst damage. Darkness is a highly int-reliant spell tree, since a failed dice roll might have fatal consequences for the caster itself... But some could say that the tradeoff is worth it. Being able to deal great damage, and even increasing the damage a target takes, the dark mage is a formidable opponent.
Some are even capable of robbing their enemies of stats permanently.
Most of the dark mages' debuffs are easily counteracted by a simple cure, as performed by light mages, the dark mage has access to the dark and terrible curse magic. The curses cannot simply be cured away, and sometimes last forever. They transfer to the mages that perform cure on the afflicted, and may only be removed by the spell Cleanse, a more advanced light magic. 


So, dear reader, what do you think? Please let me know of your ideas and opinions through commenting here on the blog, or by sending me an E-mail

New setting: Magic spells

So, here is a crude sketch of the magic that will be avalible to players in the game.

Magic

Illusionism:

Fear

Charm

Create minor illusion

Create major illusion

Invisibility (self or touch)

Warp Presence

Group […] – makes your basic fear and charm capable of affecting groups of targets

Decoy – makes an instant copy of yourself at your current location, and renders you invisible. The decoy can be instructed to perform simple tasks

Mind control

Create grand illusion

Team […] – makes you able to render your entire party invisible or create illusions of them, does not require touch

Astral projection – lets you project yourself at a target location. You can see and hear everything the projection can, and you may perform weakened versions of your illusion spells through the projection.

Druidism:

Rapid growth – may be combined with warp wood

Warp wood – may be combined with rapid growth

Natural regeneration

Bark skin – grants the target bonus HP equals to the int of the user. Bleed effects still affect the target’s core hp. Bonus HP vanish after 3 rounds. Does not improve the target’s existing state.

Feral form – Allows the user to take on a feral form for a duration. Shape depends on user’s species. Boosts strength and endurance, and grants + dr equals to the user’s will modifier.

Natural remedies

Shield of thorns

Animal communication (passive)

Greater shapeshift (passive) – increases duration, stat boosts, and DR gained by feral form

Hyperseed – allows the user to imbue magical energies into a magical seed out of combat, that can then be tapped into for explosive effects

Greater warp wood – allows you to warp the wood of many plants at the same time

Elementalism

Fire school: Damage sets enemies ablaze, dealing damage over time

Fire bolt - basic missile - 2d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 1m aoe - 2 mana

Fire breath - cone flame - 1d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 7 meter range, 5 m width - 2 mana

Fire wall - what it sounds like- 10m width 2m height, 2d6 burn

Magma ball - rolling ball of magma, leaves burning trail, slow moving - 5 mana, 4d6 damage, 1d6 burn

Combustion - aggrevate burning on enemies - double burn damage/round, 3 mana

Flame pillar - massive pillar of flame - 5d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 4 mana

Searing touch - instantly set touch target ablaze. Great fire damage - 6d6 damage + 2d6 burn, 4 mana

Burning vengeance - incinerate target that dealt damage to you. No casttime. - 3d6 damage + 1d6 burn, 2 mana

Explosive rune - fire trap - 2 mana, 3d6 damage + 1d6 burn

Melt - melt target metal weapon, disarm + damage, destroys any non-indestructible item - bonus damage damage/item melted + 3d6 damage (core) + 2d6 burn - 10 mana

Inferno - Area of effect fire. Burns everything around the caster. Massive damage. - 7d6 damage + 2d6 burn, 10m AoE - 7 mana

Dragonfire - single target fire spell. Cannot be put out. - 10 mana, 7d6 damage + 3d6 burn, magic pen

Ice school: Damage chills enemies, slowing them

Ice blast - Basic missile - 2d6 damage, chill (target loses one action/turn) - 2 mana

Frozen armor - creates a platemail of ice on target - +4 dr, chills enemies striking the target, requires 15 str for the target to move - 4 mana + 1 mana/round

Frost wall - wall of ice. Absorbs damage and cannot be passed - up to 10 meters long, absorbs up to 50 damage - 3 mana

snapfrost - Target area is dealt cold damage - 3d6 damage, chills all targets in the area, 10m^3 zone - 5 mana

Ice prison - encapsule target in ice. Can be shattered - restricts movement and chills target - 3 mana

Frost nova - aoe damage around caster - 3d6 damage, AoE 5m around caster, all target in area gets chilled - 3 mana

frostbite - target becomes chilled and takes damage - target takes 4d6 damage and becomes chilled - 3 mana

Coldrend - aggrevate target chilled enemy, slow + damage - freezes target for 1 turn, 5d6 damage, can only activate on a chilled target - 4 mana

Blizzard - creates a snowstorm in a area around the caster, applying chill and obscuring view. Deals no damage. - 20m^2 aoe, chills all targets in area - 5 mana

Freeze solid - Target takes damage and cannot move - 6d6 damage, target is unable to make any actions for a turn, chills - 5 mana

Stasis - removes all energy in an area, instantly preventing all movement. No damage nor chill inflicted - 5 mana

Absolute zero - massive cold damage in area - 8d6 damage, 10m^2 area - 7 mana

Storm school: high damage and unpredictible

Thunderbolt - basic missile - 4d6 damage, might deviate from target - 2 mana

Chain lightning - Chain lightning that arcs between targets. Targets selected depending on proximity. FF possible. - jumps to closest target, deals 1d6 less damage per target, starts at 3d6 - 3 mana

Lightning strike- Target gets struck by lightning. Stronger outdoors. - 4d6 damage + 1d6 outdoors - 3 mana

I/O - touch. Current surges between hands, dealing massive damage if in contact with an enemy. Requires both hands. - 6d6 damage, requires touch - 4 mana

Zzap - teleports the user forwards, dealing damage to anyone it passes through - 2d6 damage - 4 mana + 1 mana/10 meters

Thunder clap - Sonic blast dealt in a cone in front of the user, disorienting + sonic damage - 2d6 damage + chance to disorient, 5m range, front arc - 3 mana

thunder head - Sonic blast at target location. Disorienting + sonic damage - 5m aoe from target location, 2d6 damage + chance to disorient - 4 mana

Ball lightning - what it sounds like - slow moving, 7d6 damage - 5 mana

Lightning storm - Lightning strikes the area repeatedly - 20m^2 aoe, lightning strike damage, 5 strikes, random targets - 7 mana

Storm's touch - The caster recovers all his mana. Usable once a day.

Arc lightning - Lightning arcs in front of the caster. - 7d6 damage, 5m range, front arc - 5 mana

Lightning clone - creates a clone of the user. On touch, discharges massive electricity and vanishes - 1m duration, 8d6 damage - 6 mana

Light magic

Healing

Cure

Rejuvination – replenishes the target’s mental rejuvenation, restoring mana and fatigue over time

Blessing of stoneskin

Blessing of the Lion

Blessing of the panther

Blessing of the Bear

Blessing of the owl

Cleanse

Blessing of kings – places all avalible buffs at a target

Resurrection

Miracle

Chaos

Chaos missile

Chaos cone

Chaos status effect

Chaos great spell

All chaos magic works essentially in the same way. If the spell is successfully cast, roll 2d6 to determine what sort of effect it will have.
2: perfect, the spell will be excellent for the current situation.
3-6: good, the spell will be helpful. How helpfil it is depends on how low it is. Lower is better.
7-11: Bad. The spell won't be very helpful, or maybe even worsen the situation for the caster.
12: did my hair just catch fire?

I will go on to detail chaosmagic in greater detail once I know exactly what to do with it.

Darkness

Bolt of darkness

Inflict pain

Curse of nyctophobia – increases all darkness effects on the target by 10%

Brittle bones – Reduces DR

Petrification – reduces movement speed and dexterity

Wither – Reduces endurance and strength

Shroud of darkness – Limits sight of all players in an area

Cripple mind – reduces will and int

Bad luck – decreases luck

Place curse – put a permanent effect or debuff on a target. Cannot be cured.

Flesh to stone – Turn a target into stone. Eye contact required.

Soul drain

Death

Plague strike

Aura of enthropy

Blood plague

Lifesteal

Bloodboil (AoE)

Plague of rot

Pestilence (AoE)

Turn undead

Silence of the grave – silence target

Mark of death – after a set amount of turns, target takes massive damage if beneath 30% of max hp

It Will Not Die – for 5 turns, no matter how low your HP goes, you do not die. After the 5 turns, your hp is automaticly 0, no matter what your health was before.

Precognition – allows a flash of events a few seconds into the future, allowing the user one unblockable strike, or an infallible dodge.