spells/abilities

[battlestar]

Looking for ideas for names and ideas to balancing of power between each school of magic. I'm writing the wml for these at my own pace... 3 done so far. It's not hard to modify the values afterwards but it's nice to have them ready before coding. The descriptions I have right now are WIP and some are still vague, hence looking for help to fill the gaps. Invoking a spell requires "mana" which will go up one per turn, with maximum of 10.

fire

Spoiler:

fire resistance: 100% fire resistance for a few turns
meteorite: instant fire plus crush damage on single target
fire ball: instant fire damage on single target
pillar of fire: instant high fire damage, if kills target, a lvl 1 fire elemental (AOM) emerges
charge of the phoenix: instant damage from the caster to 3 squares of the direction he faces
Incineration: target unit will burn for 3 turns
Immolation: all units around caster will receive fire damage each turn when active, will damage self; 10% chance to start incineration on a unit, including self.
heat wave: fire damage around caster
weapon special- flaming: direct fire damage is done to victim every hit
weapon special-explosive: resistance negating direct damage when hit
inferno: smoldering ground damages land units on every side turn for several turns
blazing tempest: For 3 turns, units in area are increasingly damaged at each turn refresh, interrupted if caster moves or is damaged, can't return attack while casting
armageddon: all units damaged each turn refresh

electrical

Spoiler:

arcane protection: 100% arcane resistance
Lightning arc: instant arcane plus slash damage
bolt: instant arcane damage on single target
temple of thunder: instant arcane damage, 10% chance to stun, lasts 3 turns with increasing damage to its coord and its surrounding coords, if a unit killed while inside, 2 air elementals lvl 0 (EOM) appear
wandering eye of cyclops: creates a lightning orb that wanders the map for 5 turns aimlessly, arcane damage to anything in its way
thunder blast: stuns for 2 turns with damage during the 2 turns on single target
electric mantle: every direction has a 50% chance to receive a chain lightning of 3 links that does 100%, 50% then 25% damage
discharge: lightning strikes all around the caster
weapon special- lightning weapon: extra arcane damage upon hitting
weapon special- stunning: unit hit by this weapon is stunned
lightning storm: units in area stunned for one turn and damaged, bonus damage to air units, only strikes 5 out of 7 tiles in the area by random
unstable charge: radius 1 area receives direct arcane damage, then for next 10 turns, each turn has 25% chance of discharge, which is damaging to units in the area
electrical cyclone: every turn everyone is shocked for 1 arcane damage, with every missed attack the attacker is shocked for 3, with every attack hit the attacker is shocked for 1 and defender shocked for 4

cold

Spoiler:

resist frost: 100% cold resistance
ice shard: instant cold plus pierce damage on single target
frost: instant cold damage
prison of ice: instant cold damage, frozen for 2 turns, if a unit dies while inside, a water elemental lvl 1 (EOM) is born
rampage of frost hydra: cold damage to the 3 squares caster is facing, which is immediately next to the caster, like half of what an aura would cover
deep freeze: freezes a unit for 1 turns, damage upon thawing then damage and slowed over next 4 turns
chilling presence: all units with adjacent to caster will receive low cold damage, anyone without 120% cold protection will experience slow in addition to 10% chance to being frozen, all effects can affect caster
ring of ice: instant cold damage around caster
weapon special- icy: direct cold damage is done to victim with every hit
weapon special- freezing: unit hit by this weapon is frozen
blizzard: damages enemies within radius and converts land to snowy, including shallow water to ice
Frost blast: blast an area with damage and freezing effect where units can't move, attack, or return attacks for one turn
arctic winter: all units slowed, depressed, and 1 cold damage done each turn, all landscape turns snowy

afflictions-not a path of spells, just explainations to some effects (coded to abilities):

Spoiler:

stun/paralysis: movement=0, can't attack or retaliate, disable zoc, can be attacked without damage reduction
petrified: petrified
blind: all accuracies down to 10%, movement=1, disable zoc
frozen: can't move, attack or retaliate, but can be attacked with 80% damage reduction, disable zoc
depression: -50% movement, -50% attack number, no retaliation, disable zoc
mania: attack number x2, -50% damage
vertigo: all attack accuracies -25%
burning: 5 damage taken every turn
delirious: it will attack anything around it, even allies.
amnesiac: does not gain exp when afflicted
fear +$value: each +1 is 10% damage reduction until +6, fear turns into panic
panic: -50% attack, -50% all defense
fright prone: turns into post traumatic if a comrade dies next to it.
post traumatic: all damages are halved, 10% chance per turn it freezes up completely hence no moves or attacks
paranoid: when teammate is next to it, it -50% attack, +10 all defenses
blessed: ???
stone skin: +20% protection to all
iron hide: +20% physical protection, -10% fire and cold protection
slumber: immobile until damaged

[Neuromancer]

I suppose the spells are sorted by their power and by crush/slash you mean impact/blade? Anyways, how hard it will be to learn these spells? Do you want them to be pretty rare, or used quite often on the battlefield? Will the effects and afflictions combine between themselves (for example lightning causes triple dmg against frozen)? Do you intend to use some visual spell-learning interface? Regarding lore, are the spells conjured by calling in the elements, or gods, or some other entity?

[battlestar]

crush and slash are meant as impact and blade, aye. I'm thinking of putting this in a campaign, so the spells are learnt/bought/found as it progresses (when it comes up, it'll be with [messages]). Casting interface would be with right click menu to open spell book then [messages] to choose spell; for area of effect spells some may require x, y coordinate input while single effect on enemies require choosing by mouse. There will be 5-7 heroes with 11 paths to choose from, each can only learn one path, hence the need for some balancing... If someone point out one of the spells is interesting to have as a unit ability, I'll consider coding it as a unit ability too (all of them are possible, just takes more work to code as abilities). In that case a unit would be able to have that ability as its created.

Some spells are meant to be casted often while others are not, part of what I'm trying to figure out here is how often each should be used. The frequency is gauged by cost of "mana", which regenerates one per turn. Spells are conjured by costing mana from each hero.

Will the effects and afflictions combine between themselves (for example lightning causes triple dmg against frozen)?

Oo that's interesting, ideas on how each path spells would interact would make this so much more interesting, and would be so much harder to insert if stuff has already been coded.


More paths: spells are not listed in any order. EOM means age of myth era units
types of targeting include: single target, self, aura type area of effect, aura effect on chosen enemy, enter coordinates, and global. Globals last as long as they stay on, until dispelled. Three global effects can be active at the same time maximum.
types of effects include: instant damage, damage over time, heals, buffs, curses, summons, morphs, some fairly individualized effects like "wealth channeling", and combinations.

Holy

Spoiler:

banishment: direct damage only affecting undead (and demons after learning)
smite: direct arcane damage, double damage vs demons
blinding flash: enemies around caster become blinded for 1 turns
spring of rejuvination: summons a spring that heals around it
mark of vengeance: unit with most kill count will be haunted for 4 turns where a nightmare attacks him every turn
solar flare: units in 1 radius become blinded for 2 turns
weapon special- enchanted: direct arcane damage is done to victim with every hit
blessing: blesses a living target that lasts 4 turns
blessed radiance: blesses everyone around the user, lasts 3 turns
awe: activates awe, (with name=attack) 25% chance to awestruck an attacker to the caster, which interrupts the attack
attract light spirit: when awe is activated, caster is able to summon light spirits x1 (lvl 1 EOM)
mass healing: living nonmechanical friendlies in radius 2 receive healing
holy radiance: all living units heal while undead units are damaged on turn refresh, cannot activate if unholy skies is active.

Bard

Spoiler:

symphony of labyrinth: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance of every unit (other than undead or mechanical) to become vertigo
Merchant: +1 gold when standing on village (2, 3 etc after improvement)
summon vault: summons a treasure vault where gold is generated
aria of virgo: summons unicorns x2 lvl 1 (EOM)
dreamland lullaby: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance to turn each unit (other than undead or mechanical) into slumber mode
requiem: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance to do 15 damage to each unit other than undead or mechanical
Climax of terror: radius 3 effect around caster, 50% chance to add +2 fear to each unit other than undead or mechanical
healing melody: radius 3 effect around caster, 50% chance to heal 20 to each unit other than undead or mechanical
hymn of violence: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance of every unit friend or foe in adding +1 to every attack, doesn't apply to undead or mechanical
shielding serenade: all resistance +15 to units in radius 1, +10 in radius 2, and +5 in radius 3, does not affect undead or mechanical
dance of the darts: pierce attacks all around the caster, enemies only
wealth channeling: 1/5 of enemy spent gold on unit hiring is channeled to caster side
prosperity: all towns double income

Unholy

Spoiler:

tartarus gate: a gate is summoned and a cerberus appears initially and 25% of the time every turn.
*metamorphosis: morphs into a demon - slow, powerful and magical
aura of reanimation: any unit dies near this unit returns as a zombie, once the aura is active, moves cannot be undone
Mark of doom: can only affect level 1 or 0 units, which will die after 3 turns, a 60% chance it will become angry only during second turn, and 80% it will become depressed only during third turn.
enslave soul: stuns both caster and target for 2 turns, caster's resistances drop by 100% during casting, dispelled if caster is killed during casting, victim is controlled by caster for 10 turns, both caster and victim are fully functional after casting. Only works on lvl 2 or below enemies.
mind transfer: stuns both caster and target for one turn, caster's resistances drop by 50%, dispelled if caster is killed, if successful, caster will not be able to move or attack while victim is under control, and undone only upon victory. Works only on lvl 2 or below.
terror: 50% chance increases target's fear by 1, 25% chance increase by 2, 10% chance increase by 3, 15% chance to resist; not effective on undead or mechanical
weapon special- life drain: drains life and gives to wielder
twice born: unit with this ability will return as a ghost/wraith/spectre depending on level upon death
Succedaneous slave: summons a unit with weak attack, if the summoner survives an attack, all damage is transfered to the slave.
unholy skies: opposite of holy radiance
phantasmal aid: lvl 1 phantoms phase in and out throughout the battlefield, up to 3 can appear at any given time.
undead vengeance: zombies rise from ground where they died.

Problem with undead vengeance is which side should the zombie be on...

[Neuromancer]

I took a time to think and came up with this concept:
Lets divide spells into schools and schools into tiers.
Life tier: Holy, Shadow
Elemental: Water, Fire, Air, Earth
Bard: Bard
One character can learn spells only from one tier. Each school has its own rune. Spells are conjured by combining the runes and mana points. For example, combining each rune from elemental tier and adding one mp creates Elemental ward (X% resist from water, fire, air, earth for Y turns). Using two water and two air runes with two mp creates Blizzard; using two water runes along with one air rune and one mp unleashes the rampage of the frost hydra. Five air runes with 7 points of mana is electrical cyclone and so on, you get the idea.
Runes are learnt/bought/found as the campaign progresses; mana points = unit's level.
Affliction "abuses" can be achieved only through cross-tier combos, for example casting ice shard (elemental tier) on blinded units (from blinding flash - life tier) will cause double damage. In this way, player will be encouraged to use parties of heroes, each one specialized in one tier. I formerly included Bard school into Life tier, but now I think it is better off in its own tier: Bard spells will combine well with afflictions caused by other tiers.
As you can see, this design is kinda off yours, but I think it divides the spells and afflictions into intuitive and interesting system. I will expand it if asked.

[Heindal]

One problem I see is that all your elemental spells are mayorly causing damage. Thats a little bit plain. You could also think about something different.

From a logical point of you: if you can control elements that way, you should also be able to change terrain. For example to melt ice, or dry out rivers (fire), to freeze water (cold) or to create barriers (ice, lava, mountains (^^) or create fog whatever). That would make you spells much more charming. Also think about special abilities of your elements - for example fire could do the highest damage doing Damage on Time with all its spells, while cold could freeze and electrizity could stun. --> I know has all been there already.

You should think about following spells, additional to your existing spells:

Destroy armor, or reduce resistance of a foe or destroy equipment of a hero. Let an enemy turn sides or run amok. You could also think about gaining the teleport ability or teleport an enemy away spell. Create barriers or change terrain - as mentioned. Create thunderstorms or noncombat enemies that might distract your enemies.

Hm, those spells, seem all to have a great power, its hard to balance them. Well my five cents, hope you find them useful.

[battlestar]

@Neuromancer: I like the tier idea, but I don't want the player to gain access to all spells at once at any time... so the next play player can choose different combination of paths to experience. Hence I've been thinking about something similar: allow each character to choose 1 from 3 class of spells to learn. There will be:
- wizard who choose from fire/electricity/astral
- Undead girl who choose from unholy/cold/electricity
- a dwarf/elven hybrid who choose from earth/nature/holy
- an assassin who choose from bard/nature/air
- a knight who choose from battle/holy/earth
- a demon prince who choose from fire/unholy/battle
- maybe i'm forgetting my other intended characters...

I like the runes idea, need to figure out which one should cost what then. Runes would be something that're awarded for during side quests and campaign progress for players to collect. Max mana can be +1 with each AMLA but max can't go over 10.

Combination effects would be great to have, more the better, please expand. These combinations shouldn't limit to beneficial interactions, canceling effects are nice to have too. I had a few in mind when i came up with the spells.

@Heindal: Yeah, each class of spell has 13 items, in fire spell there's only 3 with special effects with the rest all about how and where the damage is done. Damage intensive spells are only fire/electricity/cold. Even in electricity and cold there're many summon spells, buffs and curses to go along with damage. Holy has 3 damage spells, bard has 2, air has 2, nature has 3, etc so they aren't that prevalent else where.

You're right about the terrains, there are already spells that change terrain (but not too much or it can mess with map design too much), like freezing shallow water (in ice spells), burning a forest down (a misc spell), creating barriers (astro spells), get enemies run amok (astro and bard spells), turn sides (unholy spells), teleport (astro spells)... Fog is hard to say, I'll have to make sure I can make that halo sprite; there're spells that directly create "fog"s in the air spells.


Here are more spells:

Nature

Spoiler:

summon aid: summons 3 giant rats that last 3 turns
*lycanthropy: morphs into a wolf - fast, slash
*Gorilla form: morphs into a gorilla - medium, impact
Griffin form: morphs into a griffin - fast, flying
cocoon of isolation: seals target in a cocoon of 50hp for 4 turns which is resistant to magic and physical attack except for fire, each turn spent inside heals 15 hp
spray poison: everything around caster is now poisoned
flesh melt: direct damage, no resistance check, non-undead or mechanical
entangle: cannot be used on units with fire attacks, blade attack owners break free in one turn. All others have 25% per level chance of breaking free. When entangled, cannot move, cannot attack or retaliate. Can be attacked.
mass regeneration: all friendly unit in target area heals 5 hp a turn for 3 turns
locust swarm: everything in the area poisoned and damaged, lasts several turns and effect triggers at turn refresh
awaken vine beast: summons a vine beast
call of the wild: up to 5 wolves appear at random on turn refresh, each bites for 5 slash damage then disappears
erosive atomosphere: any unit that is wounded will receive further damage

earth, the only school without a global spell

Spoiler:

iron hide: iron hide to target
**weapon special-petrification: anything hit by it petrifies for a turn
stone skin: stone skin to self
legions of steel: affects around caster, targets receive 15 physical attack resistance
legions of rubber: affects around caster, targets receive 15 impact resistance and 15 arcane resistance
armors of insulation: affects around caster, targets receive 15 fire and cold resistance and no other resistances, mutually exclusive with legions of steel and legions of rubber.
weapon special- strength sapper: victim hit by this weapon has -1 to each hit for two turns, stacks
earthen strengthen: +2 dmg to target melee, last 3 turns
rust to dust: area direct damage against undead and mechanical units
construct statue->living stones: first spell constructs a petrified version of earth elemental (lvl1, EOM), then unpetrifies it to become functional
earth quake: massive crushing damage to area for 2 turns
steel ward: increase caster resistance to physical attacks by 15
elemental ward: increase caster resistance to all magical attacks by 15

battle

Spoiler:

adrenaline rush: improves the targeted unit's attack number by 50% (rounds down) for 1 turn
crippling hit: reduces movement speed by half and attack number by half for several turns
horn of berserkers: chance to turn immediately surrounding units into berserkers, does not affect self
war cry: grants charge to immediately surrounding units for 1 turn
battle chant: increase 10% evasion to immediately surrounding units
haste: +1 attack number, +1 movement for 3 turns
spirit breaker: target becomes fright prone
cleave: slash damage all around the caster, enemies only
drums of war: doubles effect of battle chant, war cry
mantle of lethality: +1 dmg to all units around caster, last 2 turns
disarm: disables attack capability of target for 2 turns
adrenaline rush: one target receives +2 attack number
horn of bersrekers: can be activated after 10 enemies have been slaughtered, it converts all present peasants into level 2 custom berserkers who are not brought to the next map

The main thing in balancing is to eachother, and make sure nothing will kill the entire enemy army or render them entirely helpless. Overpowering in modest is OK and can be balanced by strengthening enemy in numbers and having enemy NPC commanders casting spells too. Don't want to make the player's army obsolete either.

One idea is to divide spells into grades: Weak, moderate, strong, super.
Where weak is something that can be casted every turn, moderate can be casted every 2-3 turns, strong can only be done a few times a game, and super is once or twice a game.

[Neuromancer]

Well, player will not have access to all spells, because the available runes are limited. Lets say character was able to get 7 runes so far (from quest, buying them and so on). First, we can control which runes to give him (for example there will be 4 fire runes from quests and 3 runes of any color from merchants). Second, even if we dont control which runes will he get, player will still have to choose between wide range of low-level combination spells and specialization. For example, when you want to summon Armaggedon, you need 7 five runes. That means you had to fully specialize into fire to be able to summon this spell and you wont be able to summon single ice shard for example. Or player can invest into 3 fire, 3 air and 1 earth rune, allowing him to create heat wave, but he cannot cast Armaggedon in that case.
Next thing, you intend to create 11 paths, thats 11*13=143 spells. Are you sure you are able to code these spells in some reasonable time, evenmore create graphical effects for them? I kindly suggest to cut it down as much as possible, for example merging earth with nature, and reducing the total amount of spells per path to 4 or 5 instead of 13. Spells in many paths are similar to each other: compare for example healing melody (bard) and spring of rejuvenation (holy). The same goes for afflictions, I think 5-7 instead of 19 is just fine. Think of this from player perspective: 143 spells and 19 afflictions, thats overwhelming. Player will be lost in confusion over effects and combinations... Next thing, if you want AI to use these spells, I think some scripting will be neccesary, thats additional work.
Anyways, about combination effects, to keep the system intuitive I would design something based on this: http://www.universal-tao.com/AstroInner ... sStars.gif , so for example Water spells cancel Fire spells, Water is cancelled by Earth, and Water spells cause double dmg against target afflicted by Metal effect. Of course, that chart will be modified according to the actual schools used in the campaign.
You want each character to choose from 3 spell paths. What about allowing player to use spells from all tree paths, via rune system? As explained before, this allows him to specialize or be universal -> this approach will entartain the player for several replays of the campaign too.
About grades: Weak spells cost 1-3 mana, you can easily cast them every turn. Moderate cost 3-5 mana, that means, you cannot use two moderate spells in conjunction unless you are powerful, you will have to wait for 2-3 turns for replenishment of your mana. Super spells are not only very mana-intensive, but they also deprive you of one mp permanently.

[Heindal]

Hm maybe you can solve the problem Neuromancer has explained with the number of runes.

If you learn a spell in any path you are more or less good in magic. You could allow him to get access to higher spells in the other magic pathes, if you want this.

Example: You choose to specialize in a specific field using seven runes in one field.
You are skilled in magic, so you might access a level 7 (or 6 or 5) spell from annother path.


The graphical problems are indeed problematic, even though the bard spells could be realised with the same graphics, showing some tunes (notes).

[battlestar]

1. about the runes:
I like the idea but there're some problems with that:
[*]Coding the casting menu will be difficult, I gave it some thought and see no viable way to allow each hero have their own menu items and pick what spells are available from a wide range of choices because every possibility (3 paths x 11 spell each paths = number of possibilities to code for each hero) will have to be covered by the code. Hence I think it would be better to just allow each hero to have their own choice of 3, to limit down to 3 possibilities per hero that coding can handle.
[*]Diminishes difference between heroes, when there is enough runes, A can cast it, so can B.
[*]There will be regenerating random encounter battles that can give runes, so if player put enough time into it then there would be enough runes for all spells. Random encounters will have the option to be skipped.
[*]Not every spell to cost runes, only the moderate+ ones, the weak ones should be encouraged to be cast often. This way, moderate strength spells should be cheap in runes, strong spells make you think about the cost, while the super spells you have to plan for and save over 2-3 scenarios.

2. amount of the spells:
[*]I have located many duplications and removed 2 spells from each magic path.
[*]I planned this as a long term thing, it won't be finished in a month for sure, but that's what I actually prefer so I'm not worried about having too many spells to code. The straight forward ones shouldn't take more than an hour.
[*]No custom graphics are going to be made for most of them, only 1-2 (ie. stellar cascade, it's going to be raining pretty) really need custom graphics upon initial coding. Many negative and positive effects will be listed as an "ability", which gets removed as the spell wears off. Most of the rest that require graphics already has very suiting ones from the mainline database (ie. rust to dust spell using walking corpse death animation, bless spell using holy attack animation, etc etc).

3. other issues:
[*]AI's not going to use the spells, they'll be hard-coded as events by wml.
[*]Looking for ideas on cooler names.

4. current spells:
Bard

Spoiler:

Bard
symphony of labyrinth: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance of every unit (other than undead or mechanical) to become vertigo
Merchant: +1 gold when standing on village (2, 3 etc after improvement)
summon vault: summons a treasure vault where gold is generated
aria of virgo: summons unicorns x2 lvl 1 (EOM)
dreamland lullaby: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance to turn each unit (other than undead or mechanical) into slumber mode
requiem: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance to do 15 damage to each unit other than undead or mechanical
Climax of terror: radius 3 effect around caster, 50% chance to add +2 fear to each unit other than undead or mechanical
hymn of violence: radius 3 effect around caster, 25% chance of every unit friend or foe in adding +3 to every attack in radius 1, add+2 in radius 2, add+1 in radius3, doesn't apply to undead or mechanical
dance of the darts: pierce attacks all around the caster, enemies only
wealth channeling: 1/2 of enemy spent gold on unit hiring is channeled to caster side, caster cannot cast other spells while active.
prosperity: all towns double income

holy

Spoiler:

banishment: direct damage only affecting undead (and demons after learning)
spring of rejuvination: summons a spring that heals around it
mark of vengeance: unit with most kill count will be haunted for 4 turns where a nightmare attacks him every turn
solar flare: units in 1 radius become blinded for 2 turns
weapon special- enchanted: direct arcane damage is done to victim with every hit
blessing: blesses a living target that lasts 4 turns
blessed radiance: blesses everyone around the user, lasts 3 turns
awe: activates awe, (with name=attack) 25% chance to awestruck an attacker to the caster, which interrupts the attack
attract light spirit: when awe is activated, caster is able to summon light spirits x1 (lvl 1 EOM)
mass healing: living nonmechanical friendlies in radius 2 receive healing
holy radiance: all living units heal while undead units are damaged on turn refresh, cannot activate if unholy skies is active.

nature

Spoiler:

summon aid: summons 3 giant rats that last 3 turns
*lycanthropy: morphs into a wolf - fast, slash
Griffin form: morphs into a griffin - fast, flying
cocoon of isolation: seals target in a cocoon of 50hp for 4 turns which is resistant to magic and physical attack except for fire, each turn spent inside heals 15 hp
spray poison: everything around caster is now poisoned
entangle: cannot be used on units with fire attacks, blade attack owners break free in one turn. All others have 25% per level chance of breaking free. When entangled, cannot move, cannot attack or retaliate. Can be attacked.
mass regeneration: all friendly unit in target area heals 5 hp a turn for 3 turns
locust swarm: everything in the area poisoned and damaged, lasts several turns and effect triggers at turn refresh
awaken vine beast: summons a vine beast
call of the wild: up to 5 wolves appear at random on turn refresh, each bites for 5 slash damage then disappears
erosive atomosphere: any unit that is wounded will receive further damage

unholy

Spoiler:

tartarus gate: a gate is summoned and a cerberus appears initially and 25% of the time every turn.
*metamorphosis: morphs into a demon - slow, powerful and magical
aura of reanimation: any unit dies near this unit returns as a zombie, once the aura is active, moves cannot be undone
Mark of doom: can only affect level 1 or 0 units, which will die after 3 turns, a 60% chance it will become angry only during second turn, and 80% it will become depressed only during third turn.
enslave mind: stuns both caster and target for 2 turns, caster's resistances drop by 100% during casting, dispelled if caster is killed during casting, victim is controlled by caster for 10 turns, both caster and victim are fully functional after casting. Only works on lvl 2 or below enemies.
terror: 50% chance increases target's fear by 1, 25% chance increase by 2, 10% chance increase by 3, 15% chance to resist; not effective on undead or mechanical
weapon special- life drain: drains life and gives to wielder
Succedaneous slave: summons a unit with weak attack, if the summoner survives an attack, all damage is transfered to the slave.
unholy skies: opposite of holy radiance
phantasmal aid: lvl 1 phantoms phase in and out throughout the battlefield, up to 3 can appear at any given time.
undead vengeance: zombies rise from ground where they died

earth

Spoiler:

**weapon special-petrification: anything hit by it petrifies for a turn
stone skin: stone skin to self
steel ward: affects around caster, targets receive 15 physical attack resistance, -5 cold and fire resistance
legions of rubber: affects around caster, targets receive 15 impact resistance and 10 arcane resistance
armors of insulation: affects around caster, targets receive 15 fire and cold resistance and no other resistances, mutually exclusive with legions of steel and legions of rubber.
weapon special- strength sapper: victim hit by this weapon has -1 to each hit for two turns, stacks
earthen strengthen: +2 dmg to target melee, last 3 turns
rust to dust: area direct damage against undead and mechanical units
construct statue->living stones: first spell constructs a petrified version of earth elemental (lvl1, EOM), then unpetrifies it to become functional
earth quake: massive crushing damage to area for 2 turns
elemental ward: increase caster resistance to all magical attacks by 10

fire

Spoiler:

fire resistance: 100% fire resistance to self or +10 to other
meteorite: instant fire plus crush damage on single target
fire ball: instant fire damage on single target
pillar of fire: instant high fire damage, if kills target, a lvl 1 fire elemental (AOM) emerges
charge of the phoenix: instant damage from the caster to 3 squares of the direction he faces
Incineration: target unit will burn for 3 turns
Immolation: all units around caster will receive fire damage each turn when active, will damage self; 10% chance to start incineration on a unit, including self.
heat wave: fire damage around caster
weapon special- flaming: direct fire damage is done to victim every hit
inferno: For 3 turns, units in area are increasingly damaged at each turn refresh, interrupted if caster moves or is damaged, can't return attack while casting
Armageddon: all units damaged each turn refresh

electrical

Spoiler:

arcane protection: 100% arcane resistance or +10 to other
bolt: instant arcane damage on single target
temple of thunder: instant arcane damage, 10% chance to stun, lasts 3 turns with increasing damage to its coord and its surrounding coords, if a unit killed while inside, 2 air elementals lvl 0 (EOM) appear
wandering eye of cyclops: creates a lightning orb that wanders the map for 5 turns aimlessly, arcane damage to anything in its way
thunder blast: stuns for 2 turns with damage during the 2 turns on single target
electric mantle: every direction has a 50% chance to receive a chain lightning of 3 links that does 100%, 50% then 25% damage
discharge: lightning strikes all around the caster
weapon special- lightning weapon: extra arcane damage upon hitting, 50% to be stunned
lightning storm: units in area stunned for one turn and damaged, bonus damage to air units, only strikes 5 out of 7 tiles in the area by random
unstable discharge: radius 1 area receives direct arcane damage, then for next 10 turns, each turn has 25% chance of discharge, which is damaging to units in the area
electrical tempest: every turn everyone is shocked for 1 arcane damage, with every missed attack the attacker is shocked for 3, with every attack hit the attacker is shocked for 1 and defender shocked for 4

cold

Spoiler:

resist frost: 100% cold resistance or +10 to other
ice shard: instant cold plus pierce damage on single target
prison of ice: instant cold damage, frozen for 2 turns, if a unit dies while inside, a water elemental lvl 1 (EOM) is born
rampage of frost hydra: cold damage to the 3 squares caster is facing, which is immediately next to the caster, like half of what an aura would cover
deep freeze: freezes a unit for 1 turns, damage upon thawing then damage and slowed over next 4 turns
chilling presence: all units with adjacent to caster will receive low cold damage, anyone without 120% cold protection will experience slow in addition to 10% chance to being frozen, all effects can affect caster
ring of ice: instant cold damage around caster
weapon special- icy: direct cold damage is done to victim with every hit
weapon special- freezing: unit hit by this weapon is frozen
blizzard: damages enemies within radius and converts land to snowy, including shallow water to ice, chance to freeze units inside the area
arctic winter: all units slowed, depressed, and 1 cold damage done each turn, all landscape turns snowy

battle

Spoiler:

adrenaline rush: improves the targeted unit's attack number by 2 for 1 turn
crippling hit: reduces movement speed by half and attack number by half for several turns
horn of berserkers: chance to turn immediately surrounding units into berserkers, does not affect self
war cry: grants charge to immediately surrounding units for 1 turn
battle chant: increase 10% evasion to immediately surrounding units
haste: +1 attack number, +1 movement for 3 turns
spirit breaker: target becomes fright prone
cleave: slash damage all around the caster, enemies only
mantle of lethality: +1 dmg to all units around caster, last 2 turns
disarm: disables attack capability of target for 2 turns
horn of bersrekers: can be activated after 10 enemies have been slaughtered, it converts all present peasants into level 2 custom berserkers who are not brought to the next map

air

Spoiler:

air slash: direct slash damage 20
tornado: 4 slash damages x4 and tosses a unit into air, throwing it up to 5 squares away, then impact damages 40% of its hp
misty cloak: renders incoming spells and ranged attacks inaccurate (+20% all terrain defense)
ethereal form: becomes invulnerable to physical attacks, while more vulnerable to arcane attacks (no change to heat and cold, 0 arcane defense)
shockwave: pushes all lvl 2 or below units outward by one square
sharp sight: ranged attacks always 9S0% hit chance, last 2 turns
crest of archery: +1 dmg to target's ranged pierce attack, last 4 turns
aberration mist: radius 5 is covered by mist for 4 turns, mist apparitions appear and disappear with 1 hp and without attack each turn, the mist apparitions disappear if stepping outside of the misty area.
flight: caster can now fly
mute: multiple mage targets chosen cannot attack with magic for 1 turn
typhoon: every turn each unit in open flats is teleported 1 space in a random direction, and all air spells become 25% more powerful (slash+5dmg, tornado+1slash dmg, misty-aura+5%terrain-def, ethereal form-no-effect, shock-wave-no-effect, sharp-sight becomes100%, cloak of propulsion last+1 turn, aberration mist+1turn, mute+25%(round up) number of mages chosen, dust devil+1 turn, rejuvinating mist+1heal

astro

Spoiler:

prism prison: a crystal prison that immobilizes target unit for 2 turns, but also protects it from damage, can be cast on empty squares
blink: caster teleports to specified coordinates within a max distance of 6
personal shielding: raises a shield of 15hp
weapon special- phantasmal weapon: when weapon hits, 50% it will not do damage (the attack itself is arcane)
mind blast: area direct damage against non-undead and non-mechanical units, each mage in the blast area +20% chance of spell backfiring
mental disturbance: effect lasts 3 turns, makes target 10% chance to become depressed, 10% chance to be delirious, 10% chance to be amnesiac, 10% to be vertigo, 10% mania, 10% fright prone, 10% panic, 30% resisted
mass teleportation: caster and units around it are teleported to specified coordinates within a max distance of 4
stardust cascade: for each tile, up to 8 stars rain down with 2 arcane damage each. Each strike goes through a 50% possibility check.
arcane disruption: 25% chance that whenever a mage casts an offensive spell, it backfires which damages the victim with 25% of the firepower
astral maelstrom: a random enemy unit is struck with lightning at turn refresh, stunning it as well
filaments of telepathy: 50% chance to randomly mind duel an enemy mage, who will roll a number (1 to levelx10), if higher than 25 the caster loses. Loser become mind enfeebled (-3 dmg) and takes damage.

left overs

Spoiler:

forest fire: sets the tile of forest on fire where the target unit is located, the fire spreads for a radius of 3 and damages any unit caught in its wake, lasting an entire day (6 turns).
____(mountain, forest) survival: +1 gold when standing on that terrain
dispel
quagmire
kiss of the vampire: converts the target into a vampire only if humanoid, 80% chance it will convert to caster side
soul transfer: stuns both caster and target for 2 turns, caster's resistance drop by 100% and disappears after taking control of target, only on lvl 2 or below units
smite: direct arcane damage, double damage vs demons
twice born: unit with this ability will return as a ghost/wraith/spectre depending on level upon death
huge problem with stacking with percentage!

[Heindal]

Please not: I will edit this message if I have a new idea for names:



battlestars spell name --> heindals spell name proposals


dance of the darts --> Dancing Blade, Blade Dance, Song of the blades, Fencers Dance ...
Climax of terror --> Angst (ae), melody of terror
summon vault --> Summon Riches, Entertain the Crowd
aria of virgo --> Sacrement of Wilderness (based on a nightwish song)
dreamland lullaby --> ballad of sleep, ballad of stun
wealth channeling --> gold feedback



battle

horn of berserkers --> taunt, aura of taunt
battle chant --> strict orders
spirit breaker --> ice slash
horn of bersrekers --> Call of Anger, Berserker Cry


the rest

twice born --> reincarnate, rebirth

[battlestar]

*

Working out details
name: description rune_cost

Code: Select all

weak 2				medium 4				strong 3				super 2
0 runes				1 runes				3 runes				6 runes
~20single 30AOE			~40single ~50AOE		~55(single), ~75(aoe)		>100

Code: Select all

Nizbaf, wizard		fire/electricity/astral	mage
Eleanor, hybrid		earth/nature/holy	fighter
Skarbod, the demon prince		fire/unholy/battle	fighter
Valia, the undead girl		unholy/cold/electricity	mage
the assassin		bard/nature/air	other
the paladin		battle/holy/earth	fighter
goldfang, the vampire		cold/bard/air	other

Code: Select all

fireball: 	
single target instant dmg: 10+lvl neutral, fire	
0 rune

weapon special- flaming: 	
self only 3 turn effect: +2+(lvl/5) dmg on main melee weapon, and change its type to fire	
0 rune

fire resistance: 	
any friendly unit multiple turns: 100% fire immunity, duration 3+(level/2) turns	
1 fire 

Incineration: 	
single target prolonged damage: 5+lvl/2 neutral fire, 3+lvl/5 duration	
1 fire 

heat wave: 	
all adjacent instant damage: 7+lvl neutral fire	
1 fire 

charge of the phoenix:  	
3 hex instant damage: 8+1.5lvl lawful fire in straight line	
1 fire 

meteorite: 	
single target instant dmg: 15+lvl neutral fire, 10+2xlvl neutral impact	
1 fire 2 earth

Immolation: 	
all adjacent plus self prolonged duration: 5 neutral fire, 2+lvl/5 duration, special: (10+lvl)% activate incineration (duration and dmg depend on incineration level)	
3 fire

pillar of fire: 	
all adjacent plus self instant damage: 7+lvl neutral fire, special: summons 1 fire elemental for each unit (enemy or friendly) killed by the spell	
1 fire 2 nature

inferno: 	
ranged area prolonged damage radius 2-3: 7 area size (radius=1), 2+lvl/5 chaotic fire->8+lvl/2 chaotic fire->20+lvl chaotic fire in 3 turns	
5 fire 

Armageddon: 	
target all prolonged damage: 3+lvl/2+(fire rune) lawful fire, special: can add max 5 runes to increase effect	
4 fire 1 astro

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bolt:								
single target instant dmg: 15+lvl/2 neutral arcane	 /	
0 rune

weapon special- lightning weapon: 	
self only 1 turn effect: +3+(lvl/3) dmg on main melee weapon, and change its type to arcane, special: if resist<100%, (20+3xlvl)% chance to stun enemy on hit for 1 turn	 /	
0 rune

arcane protection: 					
any friendly unit multiple turns: 100% arcane immunity, duration 3+(level/2) turns	 /	
1 astral

thunder blast: 						
single target prolonged damage: 4+lvl/2 neutral arcane + stun, 2+lvl/5 duration	 /	
1 thunder

discharge: 							
all adjacent instant damage: waits a turn to charge, then 2+2lvl neutral arcane	 /	
1 thunder

wandering eye of cyclops: 			
summon adjacent: 1(+1 at lvl 4) neutral arcane, 2(+1 on lvl 7, +1 on lvl 10) duration, special: the orb is controlled by player (4 moves, skirmisher, 1hp, 90% dodge all terrains), orb delivers 2 damage: at beginning of turn plus [end of turn (if it still has moves left) or when it runs out of moves]	 /	1 thunder 1 air 

electric mantle: 					
multi hex instant damage: each adjacent square 50% chance of receiving a chain lighting, 6+lvl neutral arcane->4+lvl/3 neutral arcane->2+lvl/10 neutral arcane	 /	
3 thunder

unstable charge: 					
summon in radius 2-3: orb (500+200xlvl hp, 0 moves, 0% dodge, 100% resist arcane/cold/fire, 0% resist blade/pierce/impact), 20+2lvl% chance to attack each adjacent units at player 1 turn end, only one orb at a time, always disappear after 10 rounds, does damage based on 1+1lvl (discharge spell level) neutral arcane. 	 /	
3 thunder

temple of thunder: 					
all adjacent plus self instant damage: 2+lvl/5 neutral arcane->3+lvl/3 neutral arcane->4+lvl/2 neutral arcane, special: each unit inside area has (5+lvl/2)% chance of being stunned, summons 2 air elemental for each unit (enemy or friendly) killed by the spell	 /	
1 thunder 2 air

lightning storm: 					
ranged area instant damage radius 2-3: randomly strikes 5 of the 7 tiles, 20+3xlvl (x1.5 if target is flying) neutral arcane, special: 100% stun rate if hit	 /	
5 thunder

electrical tempest: 				
every turn everyone is shocked for 1 arcane damage, with every missed attack the attacker is shocked for 4+lvl/5 neutral arcane, with every attack hit the attacker is shocked for 2 and defender shocked for 5+lvl/2 neutral arcane	 /	
5 thunder 1 astral

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ice shard: 	
single target instant dmg: 5+lvl/2 neutral cold, 7+lvl/3 neutral pierce	
0 rune

weapon special- icy:	
self only 5 turn effect: +1+(lvl/10) dmg on main melee weapon, and change its type to cold, special: if resist <100%, (10+lvl/2)% chance to stun enemy on hit, freeze for 1+lvl/5 turns	
0 rune

resist frost: 	
any friendly unit multiple turns: 100% cold immunity, duration 3+(level/2) turns	
1 ice

deep freeze:	
single target prolonged damage: freeze 1 turn first (no direct dmg), then 2+lvl/5 chaotic cold, 5+lvl/2 duration	
1 ice

ring of ice:	
all adjacent instant damage: 3+lvl/2 neutral cold + 6 blade + lvl/3 neutral blade	
1 ice

rampage of frost hydra: 	
3 hex instant damage: 5+lvl neutral cold in adjacent hex	
1 ice

plate of ice: 	
any friendly unit multiple turns: (5+lvl)% damage reduction in everything except cold, lasts 3+lvl/2 duration, special: damages wearer 3 neutral cold per turn	
2 ice 1 earth

chilling presence: 	
all adjacent prolonged duration: 
1+lvl/3 chaotic cold, 3+lvl/5 duration, special: anyone resist <100%, become slowed, (20+2lvl)% chance to freeze for a turn	
3 ice

prison of ice: 	
all adjacent plus self instant damage, 2 turns: 3+lvl/2 chaotic cold, special: always 5% chance to freeze, summons 1 water elemental for each unit (enemy or friendly) killed by the spell	
1 ice 2 nature

blizzard: 	
ranged area instant damage radius 2-3: 14+2lvl neutral cold, special: changes terrain	
3 ice 1 nature 1 air 

arctic winter: 	
target all: 1 neutral cold, special: slow all, depress all, takes (6-lvl/2) turns to turn all terrain snowy	
3 ice 2 nature

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Health 1: +15 hp	all
Health 2: +15 hp	all
Health 3: +15 hp	mages
Health 4: +15 hp	other
Health 5: +20 hp	fighters

Learning 1: -10% etl	all
Learning 2: -10% etl	fighter
Learning 3: -10% etl	other
Learning 4: -15% etl	mages

Strength 1: +1 dmg to impact, blade, pierce	other, fighter
Strength 2: +1 dmg to impact, blade, pierce	other, fighter
Strength 3: +1 dmg to impact, blade, pierce	other, fighter
Strength 4: +1 dmg to impact, blade, pierce	other, fighter
Strength 5: +2 dmg to impact, blade, pierce	fighter

Sorcery 1: +1 dmg to cold, fire, arcane	mage
Sorcery 2: +1 dmg to cold, fire, arcane	mage
Sorcery 3: +1 dmg to cold, fire, arcane	mage
Sorcery 4: +2 dmg to cold, fire, arcane	mage

casting 1: +5 to success roll, improves success rate in casting spells	all
casting 2: +5 to success roll, improves success rate in casting spells	warrior, other
casting 3: +5 to success roll, improves success rate in casting spells	mage
casting 4: +5 to success roll, improves success rate in casting spells	mage

first strike: first strike weapon special on default melee	fighter
quick strike 1: +1 strike number	other
quick strike 2: +1 strike number	other
quick action: 10% chance to regain all moves and attack	other

physical resilience 1: +5 impact, blade, pierce		mages
physical resilience 2: +5 impact, blade, pierce		other
physical resilience 3: +10 impact, blade, pierce		fighter

magical resistance 1: +5 fire, cold, arcane		fighter
magical resistance 2: +5 fire, cold, arcane		other
magical resistance 3: +10 fire, cold, arcane		mages

evasion 1: +5 defense on land terrains	fighter
evasion 2: +5 defense on land terrains	mage
evasion 3: +10 defense on land terrains	other

leadership 1	fighter
leadership 2	mage

training 1: newly hired living units start with +3 hp	fighter
training 2: newly hired living units start with +4 hp	fighter

dispel: dispels global spells	mages
	
regeneration: ability regeneration +4	mages

steadfast: ability steadfast	fighter
	
dauntless: ability dauntless (EOM)	fighter

charge: charge weapon special on default melee	fighter
	
salvage: makes salvaging rune on failed cast 70%	all
salvage: makes salvaging rune on failed cast 90%	all

magical efficiency 1: +10% chance to recover runes after successful casting		other, fighter
magical efficiency 2: +10% chance to recover runes after successful casting		mage
magical efficiency 3: +20% chance to recover runes after successful casting		mage

# ### implement magical efficiency

pathfinder 1: +1 movement	mages, fighter
pathfinder 2: +1 movement, -1 movement cost for ones >1	other
	
special: special to each char	all

skirmisher: Ability skirmisher	other	
		
talent 1: +5 skill points to spend on spells		all
talent 2: +5 skill points to spend on spells		all
talent 3: +10 skill points to spend on spells		all

Looking for catch phrase ideas for when spell is being cast: ie. "Flame on!" for casting a fire spell.

Spell types: fire, earth, thunder, air, ice, holy, unholy, battle, bard, astro, nature

Races: Grycians, Skloans, Troglodytaes, Demons

For demo release:
11/11 fire spells coded.
6/11 cold spells coded.
0/11 thunder spells coded.
0/11 battle spells coded.
0/11 astro spells coded.
0/11 unholy spells coded.

0% level system progress
4/9 Valia skills coded.
0/10 Skarbod skills coded.

Release plans:
-Demo: Scn 1 plus first 6 of each fire, cold, thunder, battle, astro and unholy spells coded, complete level system, plus character skills of Valia, Skarbod
-Beta: Complete prologue scenarios, no further work on spells, no further skills.
-Version 1.0: Visual improvement of prologue scenarios and already coded spells and skills.
-Version 2.0: Prologue + part 1, Skills of Hogan and Eleanor, first 6 spells of earth, nature, holy, bard, air (all spells)
-Version 3.0: Prologue to part 2a (human vs orcs), improve graphics of new spells and skills
-Version 4.0: Prologue to part 2b (Oregon trail), next 3 (total first 9) of each spell class
-Version 5.0: Prologue to part 3a (elven vs humans), skills for Gaunam, Golden Fang, and evil enchantress
-Version 6.0: Prologue to part 3b (vs elven advisor), improve graphics of new spells and skills
-Version X: Part 4 (dwarves and troglodytes), Part 5 (descend), Part 6-X (future plots)... Skills for Crir, Nizbaf, two other future chars, complete final 2 spells for each class