For those of us interested in magic enough to read this, but not interested enough to wade through the Spells folder.

Pell.


Category: Strategy, Tactics and Experience
Topic: A Matter of Magic -- Spells
Author: Shalnhh (DR-SHALNHH)
Posted: May 04, 1998 17:57:40

A couple of people emailed me to ask what effects the various magic skills
have as they advance, so rather than answering them individually I'll
summarize here.

Primary Magic: Generally, this represents the caster's instinctive
understanding of magical principles and finesse in casting. Overcoming
spell difficulty and mana "backfires", effectiveness of resisted spells.

Harness: Generally, this represents the caster's ability to handle power.
Reduces the amount of harness stat used per point of mana, increases amount
of mana that can be used in a spell, affects the efficiency of charging
cambrinth items, increases ability to hold mana. Also, every 10 ranks of
Harness skill adds 1 to the maximum harness stat.

Power Perception: Generally, this represents the ability to identify
sources of mana. For Moon Mages, it affects the distance one can "reach",
which determines which planets can be tapped into for planetary mana. For
everyone else, it determines what percentage of mana from adjacent rooms is
added to the usable mana from the room you're in. While it affects how
much you see with the "perceive" verb, at lower skill levels this means
you're not seeing everything that's there (but you can still use it). At
higher skill levels this means you're seeing adjacent mana.

Magical Devices: Affects the ability to identify, use and create magical
devices.

Targetted Magic: Increases accuracy and (indirectly) the damage of TM
spells, and damage from Burn.