====== Spell_Casting_2.0 ======

The New Magic Arc is an in-development feature on Teiravon partially available to test on the [[Teiravon Test Server|test server]].  The arc will be described below and any features not yet available to test will be marked with<sup>**NYI**</sup>.

This feature arc is inextricably linked to the [[Transmutation Skill]] arc, so you may want to read that page as well.  The lore content of this page is a work in progress, I'm filling in a fairly dry recitation of the design content for testing purposes.

====== Our Design Goals ======
We are trying to create a new system of spellcasting that accomplishes the following:

  * Create a unique magic system that is more appropriate to the Teiravon lore
  * Create interesting build options for spellcasters that allow them to fill different roles in combat
  * Create counterplay options for non-casters when fighting casters, and create viable non-hybrid melee options.
  * Add more depth and variance to gear and spell selection
  * Create more opportunities for crafters to distinguish themselves and their goods

Our gear selection and crafting goals are fulfilled by the [[Transmutation Skill]] arc, and some of the goals for melee will require additional combat arcs after magic to fulfill completely.

====== End of Mana ======
In Magic 2.0, all spellcasting is performed by drawing elemental energy from the Leylines that encircle the world of Teiravon.  These lines are filled with dangerous energy, guarded by jealous elementals and not meant to be wielded by mortals.  However, the leylines frequently leak, imparting their energy to nearby mineral outcroppings in crystallized forms, and some even know the way to a distant, icy place where a rupture in the lines once filled a caldera with raw power.

Ley energy is dangerous, and corrupts all it touches.  That doesn't stop the foolish from piercing themselves with crystals or even swallowing them in order to channel the mana directly.  Players, though, do not do that.  Players channel the mana safely through a staff, which has different magical properties and can be tiring.  This means that players no longer have a mana stat- instead, they have an "exhaustion" stat which builds as they cast.  The exhaustion persists until the player relaxes in front of a fire, or until they recenter themselves using a staff's "Focus" weapon skill.

Eliminating all exhaustion can take most of a minute for a player with low Intelligence and heavy armor, or it can take just a few seconds for a player with high Intelligence, light armor, and special crystals.  Since maximum exhaustion can never be increased by players, focus speed is a now key component of maintaining DPS uptime as a caster.  Additionally, using Focus expends an item, Essentia Crystallo, which must be created by and bought from players with the [[Transmutation Skill]].  Some crystals grant //Exchange//, a stat which reduces the amount of essentia necessary which Focusing.

====== Brand New Spells<sup>**NYI**</sup> ======
Spells now come in 6 elements (air, earth, fire light, time, and water), and four quality levels (novice, apprentice, advanced, and expert).  When Magic 2.0 launches, there will be 24 elemental spells: one for each quality and element.  Additionally, there will be a few spells known as Cantrips, which have no element, and even untrained mages can cast without difficulty.  Reagents will be removed from all spells in favor of Essentia.

====== The Power of Crystals ======
When the Malan found the first crystals being pushed up from the earth at the rim of their caldera, nothing was known about ley energy.  For hundreds of years, that original bounty of crystals and a few much smaller pockets elsewhere were the only sources of magical power.  Nowadays, players can practice the art of [[Transmutation Skill|transmutation]] to force energy from the lines into minerals with magical properties.  The resulting crystals can be used to channel mana from the ley lines.  The crystals' power comes from the mana they are infused with- as it is expended by casting, the crystals dim and gutter, eventually becoming nearly-worthless.  There are four main classes of crystals:

===== Arcane Shards =====
These are artificial crystals created from arcane energy by specialized archmages for training.  These synthetic crystals are not as good as the real thing: they can be used to channel mana, but it strips the elemental properties from it.  Arcane Shards can be used to cast cantrips only, but their power never dims.  All staffs come pre-slotted with Arcane Shards.

===== Dim Crystals =====
These are crystals whose power is already expended by use.  They can come from several sources: treasure hunting<sup>**NYI**</sup>, the bodies of foolish mages<sup>**NYI**</sup>, and possibly in the future, archaeology<sup>**NYI**</sup>.  When other crystal types' power is expended, they revert to Dim Crystals.  Dim Crystals grant the ability to cast Novice Spells of their element, but have no other properties.  Additionally, spells cast through a dim crystal have a chance of failing.  Dim Crystals are already exhausted and can't get any worse: they never run out of crystal power.

===== Imbued Crystals =====
These are lesser, minor, and major crystals imbued by a [[Transmutation Skill|transmuter]] at a ley node.  Depending on size and rarity, imbued crystals grant a Power bonus to any staff they are slotted into, allow their wielder to cast Apprentice and Advanced spells, and have a chance of granting a passive bonus to Focus, Exchange, or Resonance (which reduces the amount of crystal power expended by spellcasting).  Larger crystals can grant special boons to specific spells of their type<sup>**NYI**</sup>.  When imbued crystals' crystal power is exhausted, they revert to Dim Crystals.  Minor and major crystals can be only be slotted into higher-quality staffs.

==== Staff Heads ====
Some minor and major imbued crystals have a //Staff Head// bonus, and mid-to-high-level staffs have a special //Staff Head// slot.  The bonus is only unlocked when the crystal is slotted into the golden slot.  Staff Head bonuses come in three varieties:

  * Journeyman's/Master's Crystal- Increases the quality of spell the crystal permits the user to cast.  A Master's crystal slotted into a staff head is the only way a player can cast Expert spells.
  * Dual Crystal- The crystal permits casting of a random, second element.
  * Pulsing Crystal- The crystal replaces both staff weapon skills with improved ones related to the crystal's element.

//Pulsing Crystal tech exists, but they do not currently drop.//

===== Malan Crystals<sup>**NYI**</sup> =====
//Malan Crystals will likely not be implemented until sometime after this arc is live//.  Malan crystals are truly ancient artifacts- the original crystals pushed up through the dirt around the edge of the Malan caldera.  They can be purchased, though, at incredible cost.  They are too old to still have any power remaining, but they can be re-activated through the extremely dangerous process of creating an artificial ley node by punching into the leylines with a Malan Weather Machine constructed by a [[Transmutation Skill|transmuter]]<sup>**NYI**</sup> and defending it from the elementals that attack through the breach.  By pouring endless gallons of mana into the crystal, you can bring it back to its original state.  Malan crystals work functionally like major crystals, except for the following:

  * They grant +5 Power instead of +3
  * They are guaranteed to have a Staff Head ability
  * They are guaranteed to have a +20% Focus/Exchange/Resonance passive
  * They are guaranteed to have one additional non-Focus/Exchange/Resonance passive

Malan Crystals are unique in that you can see what qualities a crystal has before you buy it.  However, they are sold on a time-limited basis.  After a few days, they will disappear forever and be replaced in the shop inventory with a new, randomly-generated Malan crystal<sup>**NYI**</sup>.

====== Using Crystals ======
A staff's crystals can be manipulated by right-clicking the staff and selecting "Examine Crystals".  From there, crystals can be dragged from your inventory and placed into slots.  Once a crystal is in place, it cannot be removed, only replaced by new crystals.  The various boons granted by the slotted crystals are listed under the slots in the slot UI.  Once crystals are slotted, you may cast spells normally, gaining exhaustion instead of mana.  Each element has its own associated magic skill: Air Magic, Earth Magic, etc.  Cantrips use Magic Affinity instead.  Elemental magic skills have a 75-point cap instead of the usual 100.  Channeling, Evocation, and Manifestation have been removed.

In addition to the new ability to slot crystals, staffs have slightly updated weapon skills: the Focus skill has been modified, as mentioned above.  Stun has been replaced with Arcane Ripple, a Point Blank AOE ability which knocks back all nearby enemies and afflicts non-player enemies with a 30% slow.

===== Mastery =====
In addition to the six new elemental magic skills, there are six new //hidden// elemental mastery skills.  You may only gain access to an element's Mastery skill once you have reached 75/75 in its associated elemental magic skill.  Like the elemental magic skills, elemental mastery skills have a 75-point cap.  You may only have access to a single Mastery at a time- Masteries are required to use Expert spells, and they count toward your total elemental magic skill value, meaning that they reduce the fizzle chance of your Advanced spells.  Elemental Mastery can only be gained by finding and talking to the element's archmage, somewhere in the world.

//While mastery skills are in the game, work, and can be used with the <code>/unlockskill FireMasterySkill</code> command, for example, gaining them through the course of gameplay is NYI.//


[[Category:Indev Features]]