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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Let's Talk About Magic!
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I made a thread about Dwarves in fantasy, and how I hope Ashes Of Creation uses them. A lot of people enjoyed it, so I thought I'd tackle another topic: magic.
I'm very picky with my magic systems, and that's mostly because I usually play magic classes. Manipulating the basic forces of the universe is something I relish, but I feel like a lot of magic systems either over-complicate things, or don't delve deeply enough.
The goal of a good magic system, in my opinion, is to create something that's both open-ended and well explained, without being overly restrictive. If magic has too many rules, then it may as well be regular science. There should always be room for mystery and creativity.
So, here's my ideal magic system. Let me know what yours is.
What Is Magic?
"Magic is the art of circumventing the normal. [...] The stars march in order across the sky, the seasons fall one after the other with lockstepped regularity, and men and women live and die. If that does not happen, it's magic, the first warping of the universe, a few floorboards that are bent out of shape, waiting for industrious hands to pry them up." - Medivh, The Last Guardian
I love the idea of magic as a force that warps reality, something that allows someone to impose their will on creation, and deny its basic laws. Magic exploits the instability of the universe, the tiny "glitches" and cosmic inconsistencies that naturally exist in a supernatural world.
But that alone can leave magic feeling "overpowered". To balance this concept, I also like the idea that magic is a dangerous, volatile force. Something that requires a combination of intense willpower and arcane secrets, and often comes at a grave cost.
Magic is fundamentally powered by one's will, but the more complicated the desired result, the more mental energy it requires to pull off. The more you try to fight against reality, the more it tries to fight back. Because of this, wizards look for "shortcuts" to increase the efficiency of a spell.
How Are Spells Cast?
In a magical world, words have meaning and symbols have power. When a word is used enough in a certain context, it begins to take on a life of its own. When a wizard uses hand gestures along with her spells, she's "training" the universe to respond to her will.
Overtime, these ideas become ingrained within the cosmos itself, making otherwise complicated spells more easy to pull of. Ever wonder what a mage actually learns in those old dusty tomes? He's learning magical words in ancient tongue, runes, symbols, and other "shortcuts" passed down from the sorcerers of old.
By studying the natural flow of magic, a mage can find more efficient ways to manipulate it. Through study, mages can achieve far more than they could through willpower alone.
What Kinds Of Magic Are There?
I feel like this is where a lot of worldbuilders get caught in the weeds. When it comes to how magic is explained, sometimes less is more.The more you complicate the basics of magic the more limited in scope it becomes.
For example, one of my favorite magic systems used to be the one in Warcraft. Like many magic systems, there were ultimately two kinds of magic: arcane and divine. Similar systems can be found in D&D, Pathfinder, and many other fantasy IPs.
Divine magic is magic filtered through a higher being, like a god, or a demon, or even just the collective belief of a culture or religion. Divine magic is relatively "safe" and "predictable" for the caster, but requires allegiance to something other than yourself. Priests, paladins, cultists and shaman typically focus on divine magic.
Arcane, on the other hand, is what happens when a person tries to channel magic directly, in its raw, unfiltered state. This can have detrimental effects on the caster if proper precaution isn't taken. Magic is the very essence of chaos, and reckless use can tear holes in reality, summon unspeakable horrors, and eventually drive the caster insane. Arcane magic is also addictive, sending a euphoric rush through the caster with every use.
In Warcraft, fel magic was once described as arcane at its most corrupt, or at its most pure (depending on who you ask). Demons were beings whose body and spirit were mutated by magic beyond recognition.
Under this system, magic was very open ended. Viewing magic as a united, fundamental force allows for all sorts of mixing, matching, and creative ideas for how magic can work and what it can do. Magic can be harnessed either through a higher being, or from yourself, and both methods have their own perks and drawbacks.
At the same time, dividing magic into two basic techniques allowed for interesting stories to be told. For example, the Night Elves once built an empire on their reckless use of arcane magic, only for it to corrupt their leaders and eventually attract demons to their world. Today, arcane magic is heavily restricted in night elf society.
The divide between the arcane and the divine can play into the political, religious, and social landscape of your world. It almost becomes a tug of war between faith and "science", which is always a fun idea to toy around with.
Of course, there can be numerous techniques, classes, and disciplines of magic, but it all stems from the arcane and the divine.
So yeah, Warcraft's (old) magic system begins simple enough, but leaves plenty of room for possibilities.
Then a book called Warcraft Chronicles came in and created this, retconning the previous system and replacing it with this:
In my opinion, this is exactly what I hope Ashes can avoid. Dividing magic up into a bunch of discreet, opposing forces just begs too many questions. If arcane is order, then why has it been so destructive and chaotic throughout the series? If necromancy is just an expression of death, then why can it create diseases, which are living things? Isn't undeath, by definition, a perversion of death?
Most of all, if all these forces are opposed to one another, then what even is magic? What, if anything, unites these concepts?
All of these questions can be answered, but at the cost of further complicating something that doesn't need to be complicated. Magic doesn't need to be divided into 12 subtypes or elements in order to make sense or be interesting.
So, what do you guys think about how magic should work in Ashes Of Creation? What's your favorite magic system from another game? Let's discuss!
I'm very picky with my magic systems, and that's mostly because I usually play magic classes. Manipulating the basic forces of the universe is something I relish, but I feel like a lot of magic systems either over-complicate things, or don't delve deeply enough.
The goal of a good magic system, in my opinion, is to create something that's both open-ended and well explained, without being overly restrictive. If magic has too many rules, then it may as well be regular science. There should always be room for mystery and creativity.
So, here's my ideal magic system. Let me know what yours is.
What Is Magic?
"Magic is the art of circumventing the normal. [...] The stars march in order across the sky, the seasons fall one after the other with lockstepped regularity, and men and women live and die. If that does not happen, it's magic, the first warping of the universe, a few floorboards that are bent out of shape, waiting for industrious hands to pry them up." - Medivh, The Last Guardian
I love the idea of magic as a force that warps reality, something that allows someone to impose their will on creation, and deny its basic laws. Magic exploits the instability of the universe, the tiny "glitches" and cosmic inconsistencies that naturally exist in a supernatural world.
But that alone can leave magic feeling "overpowered". To balance this concept, I also like the idea that magic is a dangerous, volatile force. Something that requires a combination of intense willpower and arcane secrets, and often comes at a grave cost.
Magic is fundamentally powered by one's will, but the more complicated the desired result, the more mental energy it requires to pull off. The more you try to fight against reality, the more it tries to fight back. Because of this, wizards look for "shortcuts" to increase the efficiency of a spell.
How Are Spells Cast?
In a magical world, words have meaning and symbols have power. When a word is used enough in a certain context, it begins to take on a life of its own. When a wizard uses hand gestures along with her spells, she's "training" the universe to respond to her will.
Overtime, these ideas become ingrained within the cosmos itself, making otherwise complicated spells more easy to pull of. Ever wonder what a mage actually learns in those old dusty tomes? He's learning magical words in ancient tongue, runes, symbols, and other "shortcuts" passed down from the sorcerers of old.
By studying the natural flow of magic, a mage can find more efficient ways to manipulate it. Through study, mages can achieve far more than they could through willpower alone.
What Kinds Of Magic Are There?
I feel like this is where a lot of worldbuilders get caught in the weeds. When it comes to how magic is explained, sometimes less is more.The more you complicate the basics of magic the more limited in scope it becomes.
For example, one of my favorite magic systems used to be the one in Warcraft. Like many magic systems, there were ultimately two kinds of magic: arcane and divine. Similar systems can be found in D&D, Pathfinder, and many other fantasy IPs.
Divine magic is magic filtered through a higher being, like a god, or a demon, or even just the collective belief of a culture or religion. Divine magic is relatively "safe" and "predictable" for the caster, but requires allegiance to something other than yourself. Priests, paladins, cultists and shaman typically focus on divine magic.
Arcane, on the other hand, is what happens when a person tries to channel magic directly, in its raw, unfiltered state. This can have detrimental effects on the caster if proper precaution isn't taken. Magic is the very essence of chaos, and reckless use can tear holes in reality, summon unspeakable horrors, and eventually drive the caster insane. Arcane magic is also addictive, sending a euphoric rush through the caster with every use.
In Warcraft, fel magic was once described as arcane at its most corrupt, or at its most pure (depending on who you ask). Demons were beings whose body and spirit were mutated by magic beyond recognition.
Under this system, magic was very open ended. Viewing magic as a united, fundamental force allows for all sorts of mixing, matching, and creative ideas for how magic can work and what it can do. Magic can be harnessed either through a higher being, or from yourself, and both methods have their own perks and drawbacks.
At the same time, dividing magic into two basic techniques allowed for interesting stories to be told. For example, the Night Elves once built an empire on their reckless use of arcane magic, only for it to corrupt their leaders and eventually attract demons to their world. Today, arcane magic is heavily restricted in night elf society.
The divide between the arcane and the divine can play into the political, religious, and social landscape of your world. It almost becomes a tug of war between faith and "science", which is always a fun idea to toy around with.
Of course, there can be numerous techniques, classes, and disciplines of magic, but it all stems from the arcane and the divine.
So yeah, Warcraft's (old) magic system begins simple enough, but leaves plenty of room for possibilities.
Then a book called Warcraft Chronicles came in and created this, retconning the previous system and replacing it with this:
In my opinion, this is exactly what I hope Ashes can avoid. Dividing magic up into a bunch of discreet, opposing forces just begs too many questions. If arcane is order, then why has it been so destructive and chaotic throughout the series? If necromancy is just an expression of death, then why can it create diseases, which are living things? Isn't undeath, by definition, a perversion of death?
Most of all, if all these forces are opposed to one another, then what even is magic? What, if anything, unites these concepts?
All of these questions can be answered, but at the cost of further complicating something that doesn't need to be complicated. Magic doesn't need to be divided into 12 subtypes or elements in order to make sense or be interesting.
So, what do you guys think about how magic should work in Ashes Of Creation? What's your favorite magic system from another game? Let's discuss!
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I was an inventor from an early age. To be an inventor you need two qualities. 1. that anything is possible or you could never create something hitherto unknown. 2. achieving the impossible requires understanding what others deny exist. Its looking at the world by training the mind to see something from multiple directions, that others simply cant/wont conceive and force you not to. This is quite easy in a world so full of dogma, thinking out of the box is akin to heresy. Welcome to my world.
So when I think of magic, I think of the paranormal. I think of physical reality beyond the realms of the norm. But physical reality none the less. I try to take those observations and explain them in a framework that modern scientists have no room for, and so deny its existence instead. After all, anything that doesnt follow the laws of physics mist be a lie, rather than the laws of physics being incomplete. Explain it away as fairy tales, tricksters, astronomical aberrations or any other semi plausible excuse to ignore the issue or shy from questioning the effiicacy of their prejudicial reality.
So, when I see light forms / earth lights / nagas / elves and such near megalithic sites that respond to human interaction in an intelligent manner. When I read stories of arks creating souls by the 1000, for people to (one assumes) form a symbiotic relationship with. I wonder what our ancient ancestors new that modern humans have forgotten.
When I see quantum entanglement bypass the laws of time and allow disjointed components to act as a single entity, I wonder if mass actually moves or entangled templates define our soul and moves through space time, dragging along and transmuting matter with it. And why does quantised packets exist ? Why does movement and energy appear to jump frame by frame instead of being a fluid transition from point A to point B ? What if its simply because that entanglement jumps across matter that doesnt move, but simply appears to move ? With the harmonic entanglement, energising the matter it jumps across.
If telepathy and foresight really did exist, how could you describe the mechanism for such in a scientific way ? How could thought apparently be connected and unbound by time and space...except through entanglement ? And can entanglement divide and evolve like all living organisms do ? Does that mean such entanglements came from one source. One proto-intelligence. And why would it divide unless it wanted to be in multiple places at once (in parallel)...and how could it remain connected and still enable independence of its divided self, without giving that entity self will. Like an autonomous ROV.
The nwe have ghosts. Manifestation of mass that absorb the energy from the local surrounding, creating a massive temperature drop. Energy becomes mass. Mass becomes energy. Aetheric form powered by local energy, just like earth lights.
All such ponderings of a madman, let me see mass is energy. The aetheric as entangled energy given form and function. The physical a devolution from plasma to gas to liquid to solid. And if you remove the solidity of form, you are left with shapeshifters. Basically anything your run of the mill MMO can use as a basis for magic...but based on the familiar. Based on reality. And if we know mass is energy and force through physics. We can define energy in motion as a vector and a force.
What is any quantised moment in time, other than a freeze framed, congealed expression of a symphony of thought. With the sequential options to go back and forward in time, more and more limited the closer we are to the present. From the vague to the known to the vague.
I love the idea of arcane magic being inherently chaotic, dangerous, and a bit dark. We're toying with the basic laws of reality after all. I like the idea of arcane magic use being a bit unnatural and morally gray. There's gotta be a reason magic isn't used by everyone for everything. It needs to come at some sort of cost, and require an iron will and a pure resolve to use without being corrupted.
We already know there's going to be a form of "divine" magic, since he mentioned a pantheon of gods and even "divine" forms of Nodes.
Pretty sure there's an "arcane" version of things given Wizards as a main class... though you could even spin that to be a type of ancient and/or ordered version of divine magic from ancient/forgotten gods of the realm.
There might even be constructive forms of magic like the D&D Artificer. No innate "casting" ability, yet still able to infuse types of magic in to items... or rather the world just has amazing crafters. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (Arthur C. Clarke)
Though, I do like the opposing roleplaying perspectives, such as:
A pirate/fighter – who are naturally superstitious, as any tall sea tale will tell – magic is an abomination and a form of manipulation to everything natural, which is perverse in its very nature and must be avoided and/or stopped.
Or as a rogue – I don’t need spells to be invisible. After all, invisibility is just a combination of hide and move silently. And a good sleight of hand is better than cheap parlor tricks… And cheaper!
The Spelltypes like fire, frost etc is expected and i dont mind, BUT why do they allways leave out some of the elements? Why Cant a mage/wizard Do earthmagic? is this only the domane of the shaman ? -- they can do earthmagics in bdo and its badass! Wind/lightning/storm is also something i feel should end up in a wizards repertoar infact THE ELEMENTS them selves should be a Talent tree of sorts, a direction you might be able 2 go as a wizard as an opposite to the astral/arcane/mystic.
I am really looking forward 2 see how the different combinations of the classes will be thou! HYPE SHadowcaster spellshield mmm lots of funs
When I play a mage, I want to go beyond base elements. I want to feel like I’m tearing apart the fabric of space and time, manipulating it to suit my will and lay waste to my enemies. I want to open portals inside of my enemies, blast them with cosmic radiation, teleport them to volatile dimensions, assault them with raw, chaotic magics liquify them into a puddle of multi-colored goop. If I use “fire”, I want it to be magical plasma from the heart of a star, a haze of bright colors and shifting, arcane symbols.
In short, I want to feel like laws of reality are my plaything. That’s my ideal mage.
YES, I know they are not MMO's but I'm just using them as examples of the type of magic I'm thinking about. Like how does a creator make a magic system strong but not overpowered and full of mechanics to keep it alive throughout the game EQUALLY to the other classes.
I'm not an expert at this I would just like a veterans insight on this tbh.
You could also have different types of Magic. I would assume magic from a crystal ball or spell book would be different from that used to create life giving potions.
Maybe the Calamity destroyed most Scientific knowledge on how Magic works and people are using it for it's practical purposes to survive in their "new" world.
Edit:
@Nagash reported for posting lewds. Nice boner though.
Digital we are talking about magic right???!? XD Yea I thank steve and all those at intrepid for being the pioneers in class modeling and giving us a choice. However as i said magic is quite fragile I just hope there will be a story focus around spells rather than just slinging spells like we see in most. Id love to see the spells have depth... I mean Pantheon Online (a EQ clone) seems to want to add temperature factors to armors and such I would love to see something unique with magic.. Maybe a development factor that takes time to develop but once developed its memorized by the spell caster and can impact larger crowds of mobs.. Why should the tank be the only one to have fun with trains :P
Do I get a medal?
* Gives cookie*
and as OPRAH would say cookies for everyone! .... Check under your chairs!
Magnesium is known as the magic mineral. and it has been used by many Wizard (who have knowledge of science) in real life to create magical illusion and people treat them as God (in ancient times).
Known example: Necromancer.
Magnesium is known as the magic mineral. and it has been used by many Wizard (who have knowledge of science) in real life to create magical illusion and people treat them as God (in ancient times).
Known example: Necromancer.