Reply to Re: The Minions Of Darkness - development thread
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Phew. Typing this took hours, and I'm quite tired. I probably forgot to mention a thing or two and I might have made a few mistakes, so I'll read this post again tomorrow and edit it if needed.
Here’s a bit of background info regarding magic:
In the “Tmodiverse”, pretty much anyone can cast spells or learn how to do it (it isn’t restricted to bearded gnomes or whatever). Of course, some beings may have an easier time casting magic, due to being able to “focus” more easily than others and whatnot. There are several ways to learn magic :
-It is possible to learn magic without any teaching whatsoever, through sheer will and meditation.
-However, having a (good) teacher can be a great help.
-Some creatures are able to cast spells (or use magical abilities) naturally. These include elemental creatures and “born” shapeshifters.
-Powerful spellcasters can absorb magic into themselves (or pour it into someone else), and even “shape” someone’s abillity to focus in some cases.
-Finally, one can learn spells through magical scrolls. However, if the one who would cast the spell isn’t powerful enough, magical potions are required. Furthermore, when one learns a spell this way, they will likely forget it after a while, especially if they don’t use it frequently.
Spell types
1.Fire
A rather popular element due to its sheer destructive properties and the fact that lesser fire spells can be cast fairly easily. Because not that many people can cast powerful spells around the time of Seth’s demise, lesser fire spells tend to be greatly overestimated by some - a weak fireball could barely scratch a slayer’s skin.
Lesser fire spells include fireball and flame/light spells (among others, I’m merely giving a few examples), greater spells include walls of fire, explosions, scorching heat, heat absorption, and burning everything to a crisp, so to speak.
Difficulty (casting) : Fairly easy for lesser fire spells, moderately difficult for any spell that can actually affect something that’s not your average tree or human, and very difficult for greater spells.
Difficulty (controlling) : Fire may appear easy to use, but being able to fully control the fire element’s properties is actually very difficult – which is why one should be careful when using powerful fire spells. Once cast, it may have unwanted consequences.
Element resistances :
Fire : Immune. When fire spell is used against another fire spell, they is a pretty high probability that they will end up merging.
Earth : From weak to normal.
Water : Very weak.
Air : Resistant, may increase the fire spell’s power in some cases.
Void : Very weak, even more so than against water.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
Note that while Fire is “normal” against both Energy and Darkness, Energy spells and Darkness spells tend to be much more powerful than Fire, Earth, Water and Air.
2.Earth
Not as popular as Fire because it takes some skill to do anything really impressive with this element, but lesser Earth spells are much more stable and less risky than Fire spells.
Lesser Earth spells include making rocks or earth dust (which can then be used with an Air spell, to, say, blind a foe) appear, greater spells include earthquakes, earth-shaping (for example, carving stairs into a mountain), spikes, and volcanos (which actually use both Earth and Fire).
Difficulty (casting) : Moderately difficult for lesser spells, difficult for more powerful spells and very difficult for greater spells.
Difficulty (controlling) : Moderate at first, but greater spells like earthquakes can be pretty difficult to control.
Element resistances :
Fire : Depending on what spells are used, from weak to slightly resistant.
Earth : Weak.
Water : From weak to quite resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
3.Water
Harder to cast than Earth but actually used more frequently. Well, being able to quench one’s thirst at will is pretty cool. Furthermore, Water can be pretty hard to stop.
Lesser water spells include small magical fountains and hybrid spells like acid rain, more powerful spells include water balls and hybrid spells like iceballs, greater spells include flooding.
Overall difficulty (casting) : Hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : From easy (water balls) to hard (flooding).
Element resistances:
Fire : Quite resistant.
Earth : From slightly weak to resistant.
Water : From slightly resistant to resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
4.Air
By far the most difficult to cast of the four elements, Air is unpopular as it takes a lot of skill to do anything useful with this element. Still, weaker mages sometimes like to use it to create hybrid spells like Breath of Fire (Fire/Air) or Dust Cloud (Earth/Air).
Note that Air is also the toughest element to stop, and Air spells/creatures can be very hard to hit.
Weaker spells include making a nice breeze or weak wind gusts, greater spells include devastating storms.
Overall difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Moderate.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Fairly resistant.
Water : Resistant.
Air : Very resistant and may yield unexpected results, such as the two spells merging.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : From normal to slightly resistant.
Darkness : Normal.
5.Void
Aka “no element”. This category’s purpose to weaken and/or destroy the four elements. Few people know about it.
Lesser spells include void attacks on specific targets, greater spells include void auras which drain all elemental magic nearby.
Difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Easy.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Very resistant.
Water : Very resistant.
Air : Very resistant.
Energy: Weak.
Darkness : Extremely weak.
6.Energy
Energy is non-elementalized mana. Thus, it does not share the elements’ weaknesses, but pure energy is harder to cast (elementalized mana is not pure, and easier to cast). Very few people are powerful enough to use it.
Weaker spells include minor healing and minor shielding, more powerful spells include greater healing, teleporting, shielding auras, hasting, minor paralysis, and energy blasts, greater spells include energy beams, energy auras and clouds which damage anything nearby, mass teleport spells, area scans, minor energy absorption spells, resurrection (actually a Life/Energy spell), minor body shaping, and so on.
Difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : From easy to (very) hard.
Element resistances :
Fire : Resistant.
Earth : Resistant.
Water : Resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very resistant.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
7.Darkness
Also known as shifting energy. Darkness is basically an improved form of energy, but much, much harder to cast. Although most experienced mages know about Darkness, very few are powerful enough to cast even a weak darkness spell. Greater spells are legendary, and many people think no one is currently powerful enough to cast them. Because of its “shifting” properties, Darkness can be harder to detect than the first six categories. Furthermore, this spell category can cause blurred vision very easily, hence its name.
Due to this fact and also the fact that it is *really* powerful, it tends to have a bad reputation among non-mages.
Weaker spells include Dark Sight, which is basically a greater area scan that allow the user to see through darkness (among other things), and minor darkness missile spells, greater spells include scanning over large areas, dark blasts, dark shields, greater body shaping, dark teleport spells which can pierce through most anti-teleportation shields, mana absorption, dark beams, near-instantaneous full healing, flying, illusion spells, dark walls, dark waves, easier resurrection (Life/Darkness), dark cocoon (a major paralysis spell which prevents the target from both moving and spell casting), and so on.
Difficulty (casting) : Extremely difficult.
Difficulty (controlling) : Depending on the spell, from easy to very difficult.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Very resistant.
Water : Very resistant.
Air : Very resistant.
Void : Nearly immune.
Energy : Resistant.
Darkness : Immune, may increase power.
The only way to beat darkness is to either absorb it with another darkness spell, or destroy it with powerful spells like hybrid Fire/Earth/Water/Air/Energy spells and/or Ancient spells. Death magic could work and Gate magic might also work very nicely, but most characters can’t use these last two categories.
8.Hybrid
Hybrid spells are spells that draw their power from several categories. Hybrid spells include Breath of Fire (Fire/Air), Fireblast (Fire/Energy), Dust Storm (Earth/Air), Thunder Strike (Air/Energy/Earth/Water/Fire), Frostbite (Fire/Energy), Ice Crystal (Fire/Energy/Water), etc.
9.Ancient
Ancient magic means extreme control over the first eight categories, as well as a very powerful mind. This kind of magic is legendary and most people think no one can cast it anymore now that the Ancient Ones have disappeared.
Difficulty (casting) : Mind-numbingly hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Mind-numbingly hard.
Ancient magic is devastatingly powerful against the first seven categories, and is very resistant to them as well. The only way to do any significant damage is to either use Darkness or Ancient magic. Technically, Death magic might work in some cases, and Gate magic could do tremendous damage, but once again most characters cannot use these two categories.
10.Life and Death
A very mysterious kind of magic.
Life magic includes mental broadcasting, mental bonds, mind reading, mental control, and resurrection.
Death magic includes spell disruption, will disruption, destruction of the first nine spell types, and death (well, duh).
More info soon.
11.Gate/Spirit/Soul
More info soon.
12.Reason
???
(more info not so soon)
Next : TMOD timeline (story information + info on some major plot events that occur prior to Prolog Part #1), and more info on spell types #10 and #11.
Here’s a bit of background info regarding magic:
In the “Tmodiverse”, pretty much anyone can cast spells or learn how to do it (it isn’t restricted to bearded gnomes or whatever). Of course, some beings may have an easier time casting magic, due to being able to “focus” more easily than others and whatnot. There are several ways to learn magic :
-It is possible to learn magic without any teaching whatsoever, through sheer will and meditation.
-However, having a (good) teacher can be a great help.
-Some creatures are able to cast spells (or use magical abilities) naturally. These include elemental creatures and “born” shapeshifters.
-Powerful spellcasters can absorb magic into themselves (or pour it into someone else), and even “shape” someone’s abillity to focus in some cases.
-Finally, one can learn spells through magical scrolls. However, if the one who would cast the spell isn’t powerful enough, magical potions are required. Furthermore, when one learns a spell this way, they will likely forget it after a while, especially if they don’t use it frequently.
Spell types
1.Fire
A rather popular element due to its sheer destructive properties and the fact that lesser fire spells can be cast fairly easily. Because not that many people can cast powerful spells around the time of Seth’s demise, lesser fire spells tend to be greatly overestimated by some - a weak fireball could barely scratch a slayer’s skin.
Lesser fire spells include fireball and flame/light spells (among others, I’m merely giving a few examples), greater spells include walls of fire, explosions, scorching heat, heat absorption, and burning everything to a crisp, so to speak.
Difficulty (casting) : Fairly easy for lesser fire spells, moderately difficult for any spell that can actually affect something that’s not your average tree or human, and very difficult for greater spells.
Difficulty (controlling) : Fire may appear easy to use, but being able to fully control the fire element’s properties is actually very difficult – which is why one should be careful when using powerful fire spells. Once cast, it may have unwanted consequences.
Element resistances :
Fire : Immune. When fire spell is used against another fire spell, they is a pretty high probability that they will end up merging.
Earth : From weak to normal.
Water : Very weak.
Air : Resistant, may increase the fire spell’s power in some cases.
Void : Very weak, even more so than against water.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
Note that while Fire is “normal” against both Energy and Darkness, Energy spells and Darkness spells tend to be much more powerful than Fire, Earth, Water and Air.
2.Earth
Not as popular as Fire because it takes some skill to do anything really impressive with this element, but lesser Earth spells are much more stable and less risky than Fire spells.
Lesser Earth spells include making rocks or earth dust (which can then be used with an Air spell, to, say, blind a foe) appear, greater spells include earthquakes, earth-shaping (for example, carving stairs into a mountain), spikes, and volcanos (which actually use both Earth and Fire).
Difficulty (casting) : Moderately difficult for lesser spells, difficult for more powerful spells and very difficult for greater spells.
Difficulty (controlling) : Moderate at first, but greater spells like earthquakes can be pretty difficult to control.
Element resistances :
Fire : Depending on what spells are used, from weak to slightly resistant.
Earth : Weak.
Water : From weak to quite resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
3.Water
Harder to cast than Earth but actually used more frequently. Well, being able to quench one’s thirst at will is pretty cool. Furthermore, Water can be pretty hard to stop.
Lesser water spells include small magical fountains and hybrid spells like acid rain, more powerful spells include water balls and hybrid spells like iceballs, greater spells include flooding.
Overall difficulty (casting) : Hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : From easy (water balls) to hard (flooding).
Element resistances:
Fire : Quite resistant.
Earth : From slightly weak to resistant.
Water : From slightly resistant to resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
4.Air
By far the most difficult to cast of the four elements, Air is unpopular as it takes a lot of skill to do anything useful with this element. Still, weaker mages sometimes like to use it to create hybrid spells like Breath of Fire (Fire/Air) or Dust Cloud (Earth/Air).
Note that Air is also the toughest element to stop, and Air spells/creatures can be very hard to hit.
Weaker spells include making a nice breeze or weak wind gusts, greater spells include devastating storms.
Overall difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Moderate.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Fairly resistant.
Water : Resistant.
Air : Very resistant and may yield unexpected results, such as the two spells merging.
Void : Very weak.
Energy : From normal to slightly resistant.
Darkness : Normal.
5.Void
Aka “no element”. This category’s purpose to weaken and/or destroy the four elements. Few people know about it.
Lesser spells include void attacks on specific targets, greater spells include void auras which drain all elemental magic nearby.
Difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Easy.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Very resistant.
Water : Very resistant.
Air : Very resistant.
Energy: Weak.
Darkness : Extremely weak.
6.Energy
Energy is non-elementalized mana. Thus, it does not share the elements’ weaknesses, but pure energy is harder to cast (elementalized mana is not pure, and easier to cast). Very few people are powerful enough to use it.
Weaker spells include minor healing and minor shielding, more powerful spells include greater healing, teleporting, shielding auras, hasting, minor paralysis, and energy blasts, greater spells include energy beams, energy auras and clouds which damage anything nearby, mass teleport spells, area scans, minor energy absorption spells, resurrection (actually a Life/Energy spell), minor body shaping, and so on.
Difficulty (casting) : Very hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : From easy to (very) hard.
Element resistances :
Fire : Resistant.
Earth : Resistant.
Water : Resistant.
Air : Resistant.
Void : Very resistant.
Energy : Normal.
Darkness : Normal.
7.Darkness
Also known as shifting energy. Darkness is basically an improved form of energy, but much, much harder to cast. Although most experienced mages know about Darkness, very few are powerful enough to cast even a weak darkness spell. Greater spells are legendary, and many people think no one is currently powerful enough to cast them. Because of its “shifting” properties, Darkness can be harder to detect than the first six categories. Furthermore, this spell category can cause blurred vision very easily, hence its name.
Due to this fact and also the fact that it is *really* powerful, it tends to have a bad reputation among non-mages.
Weaker spells include Dark Sight, which is basically a greater area scan that allow the user to see through darkness (among other things), and minor darkness missile spells, greater spells include scanning over large areas, dark blasts, dark shields, greater body shaping, dark teleport spells which can pierce through most anti-teleportation shields, mana absorption, dark beams, near-instantaneous full healing, flying, illusion spells, dark walls, dark waves, easier resurrection (Life/Darkness), dark cocoon (a major paralysis spell which prevents the target from both moving and spell casting), and so on.
Difficulty (casting) : Extremely difficult.
Difficulty (controlling) : Depending on the spell, from easy to very difficult.
Element resistances :
Fire : Very resistant.
Earth : Very resistant.
Water : Very resistant.
Air : Very resistant.
Void : Nearly immune.
Energy : Resistant.
Darkness : Immune, may increase power.
The only way to beat darkness is to either absorb it with another darkness spell, or destroy it with powerful spells like hybrid Fire/Earth/Water/Air/Energy spells and/or Ancient spells. Death magic could work and Gate magic might also work very nicely, but most characters can’t use these last two categories.
8.Hybrid
Hybrid spells are spells that draw their power from several categories. Hybrid spells include Breath of Fire (Fire/Air), Fireblast (Fire/Energy), Dust Storm (Earth/Air), Thunder Strike (Air/Energy/Earth/Water/Fire), Frostbite (Fire/Energy), Ice Crystal (Fire/Energy/Water), etc.
9.Ancient
Ancient magic means extreme control over the first eight categories, as well as a very powerful mind. This kind of magic is legendary and most people think no one can cast it anymore now that the Ancient Ones have disappeared.
Difficulty (casting) : Mind-numbingly hard.
Difficulty (controlling) : Mind-numbingly hard.
Ancient magic is devastatingly powerful against the first seven categories, and is very resistant to them as well. The only way to do any significant damage is to either use Darkness or Ancient magic. Technically, Death magic might work in some cases, and Gate magic could do tremendous damage, but once again most characters cannot use these two categories.
10.Life and Death
A very mysterious kind of magic.
Life magic includes mental broadcasting, mental bonds, mind reading, mental control, and resurrection.
Death magic includes spell disruption, will disruption, destruction of the first nine spell types, and death (well, duh).
More info soon.
11.Gate/Spirit/Soul
More info soon.
12.Reason
???
(more info not so soon)
Next : TMOD timeline (story information + info on some major plot events that occur prior to Prolog Part #1), and more info on spell types #10 and #11.
