Was the concept of Arcane attack?

[CoolDude]

I mean,we can see that:

Resistent units against arcane attacks:
-Humans
-Dwarfs

Weak units againt arcane attacks:
-Elves
-Skeletons
-Woses
-Drakes

Interesting though that Orcs have 0% of resistance.

the question is,altough the skelton weakness to arcane is pretty obivious,sine arcane can be considered as holy,so that means elves,woses and drakes are considered "unholy" creatures like skeletons?

sorry for my bad english

[Ceres]

Some time ago was another topic about this, can't find it right now...
Arcane is strong against creatures based on magic, and elves, woses and drakes are also partly magical beings. Humans and dwarves are not.

[StDrake]

It's more like a raw nonelemental type of magic, not holy. Do notice that ghosts and dark adepts use arcane as well, and that's nowhere near holyness.
Look through the topics in the writers forum - one theory is that races naturally connected to magic are also vulnerable to it..but that has holes when we consider why on earth paladins and white mages are more resistant when they gain better contact with it, the orcs being null is because they're faescourge (but that's my addition).
Another is the concept of subirthium-filled gear and enviroment (a material very susceptible to magic)

[thespaceinvader]

Arcane is essentially anti-magic. It works best against creatures which use magic to hold themselves together - drakes, elves, undead etc.

[hhyloc]

I think Simons Mith summed it up pretty well about the definition of "arcane" in another thread, I just quote him here:

The definition of Arcane I put into the manual redraft runs as follows:

"Arcane attacks commonly work by attacking the magical bonds that sustain the lives of all creatures. The undead are particularly vulnerable to this attack type, because the bonds maintaining their existence are much weaker. Example: a White Mage's lightbeam attack."

I have gathered that arcane attacks, are used as a sort of catch-all for magical damage that doesn't fit under any other category. If you burn someone with magical fire or zap them with lightning, it's a fire attack; blasting them with cold is also obvious. A cloud of magically-created arrows would be pierce. But if you can't justify a magical attack as blade, pierce, fire, cold or impact, it falls under arcane by default.

Hope this help.

[Reepurr]

My take on it is, as tsi said, is that it is a sort of anti-magic. "Arcane" basically means "wise" or "mysterious" or the like, I think, and it was created because having two near-identical things, Holy and Dark, was a pain in the-
*ahem*.

Humans aren't really bothered by arcane because they're not very connected to magic. In mainline, the only way they can access magic is through words of power (or something) that just happen to be magical.
Elves are part-faerie. Faeries being very mystical and magical beings (this is where elves get their magic), they suffer a lot from arcane.
Drakes run on their "inner fire" that burns within them. Obviously having a fire burn inside you is completely impossible with mundane things, so they are clearly magical beings. Anti-magic, so...
Orcs can't really be explained, but clearly they're magical beings too.
Woses are animated trees. -> Animated <- trees mean they are basically beings that run on magic. See Drakes.
Undead are...animated...so...
Dwarves are just shrunk humans I guess.

You may also find this really long thread interesting reading.

[Gambit]

I do wonder what the 'flavor' explanation is for the Orcs neutrality on arcane.

[StDrake]

orcs are quite similar to humans, you might say they're even "relatives", but orcs were altered by magic a long time ago and some of that still resides and keeps them corrupted, they don't maintain any magical "bloodline" though, thus being susceptible, but not vulnerable

[Sapient]

I thought the previous discussion on this topic was pretty good.
http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=27741

(surprised no one linked to it yet)

[CoolDude]

Orcs basicaly half human and half beast,maybe beasts is arcane suscetible?

And humans inst considered Magic creatures?oh LOL

And ghouls have 20% of arcane resistance,and his animated but have human body,and human body makes him have more resistance?

[thespaceinvader]

No, beasts are not any different they are (mostly) just as natural as humans. Orcs can be explained in one of two ways - either magic was involved in their creation, way back when; or (my preferred rationale) they do have some racial connection to magic use - personified in the Shamans.

No, humans aren't considered magical. They can study, use and affect magic, but they do not have access to it inherently, as some elves do for instance.

And yes, ghouls have resistance to arcane for reasons elated to their mysterious creation which may or may not involve the death of the donor body. And for balance reasons.

[Dixie]

As I understood it, ghouls are not really undead, in that they are supposedly human beings warped by their evil or something (see DiD), hence their arcane resistance.

[bigkahuna]

in that they are supposedly human beings warped by their evil or something

Erm, no, they are human beings turned into strange-half-dead creatures by some unknown necromantic magic.

[Joram]

Actually, Wesnoth used to say that Ghouls were people who had eaten human flesh and been cursed for it, or something like that. I think it was back in 0.6 or something. So maybe Dixie would have been correct 5 years ago.

[Dixie]

Erm, no, they are human beings turned into strange-half-dead creatures by some unknown necromantic magic.

This is not necessrily 100% Wesnoth canon, but there was a pretty good discussion about this some time ago.