Atrathien from the magic folder on some changes upcoming to targeted magic.



Hullo, everyone. :)

Just wanted to respond to a couple of general thoughts/issues raised here. I have to cook dinner in a little bit, so if this sounds rushed, you know why. :)

If some of this sounds completely new and you wonder "Why didn't you tell us any of this before?", it's because I've always been planning on putting out a book on "magical concepts in DragonRealms". <G> I kept thinking "I'll put this in the book" instead of "lemme post this". :)

Just as a general thought, some people are getting far too worked up about something that isn't out yet, and probably won't be for awhile. Sure, post your suggestions and possible concerns. But don't get worked up or into an argument about something that you haven't seen in action yet. :)

RE: Does every TM-using Guild use the "aether stream"?

Yes, they do. :) It may not sound like something a Cleric, MM or other non-WM would use, but here's my thinking behind the subject. :) Everything in Elanthia is made up of some combination of the 6 elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Electricity and Aether. The aether stream is your body's response to your desire to create a "link" between yourself and the target that your spell can use. Just like your body uses electricity to send signals to your muscles/organs/etc, it uses aether to create that "link".

Targeted Magic is the skill of consciously controlling that stream. Just like some people can control their bodies to react in certain ways (not jerking your leg when your knee is tapped, or even "muskles move this way when I want to hit something with big pointy things"), people can learn to control that "link".

RE: How is the "aether stream" different than a spell? IE: why won't PP sense it?

Someone responded to one of my previous posts that PP is more than "dowsing" for mana because you can sense what evasion penalty you are under. That is true, but either I wasn't clear or you didn't read all the way. <G> Power Perception is the ability to "dowse" for mana AND sense spell structures. Sensing the evasion penalty is basically sensing your still-forming spell structure and guesstimating on how much of your attention is focused on stabilizing that structure. The aether stream isn't a spell structure, and it isn't mana.

RE: Do you perform a physical action when you TARGET?

I've never thought of it that way, no. That's why you can target something that's behind you and not end up facing that critter. It's more of a "focusing your attention" than "turns and stares at <critter> REALLY, REALLY HARD". <G> The messaging for TARGET will most likely be changed to reflect that. And I like the idea for not being able to see others targetting something without some skill, though it would be TM skill, not PP skill. That also brings up the thought of other critters sensing you targetting their friend, and trying to disrupt your stream to protect them. <G>

RE: Disrupting the TM stream awarding experience

Sure, for Character versus Critter. We don't award experience for Character versus Character. :)

RE: How will TM parry work against TM spells that aren't targetted?

One of the things I plan to change with the new TM system is that TM spells that aren't targetted will miss. Even if you TARGET and then immediately CAST, you're still creating the aether stream. Without the TARGET, the spell has nothing to give it direction.

RE: Non-magic-using guilds & TM parry

TM parry is not FOR non-magic-using guilds. It's FOR magic using guilds, especially for those who have TM spells. That's who it is being designed for. It's part of the TM system, after all. And TM is only really useful for those guilds who have TM spells or spells that use TM skill. :)

I know many players don't like this point of view, but if you don't use magic, then you really should not be very good at defending against it, UNLESS a magic-user gives you some kind of defense (in planning stages). For those of you who talk about "guild balance", there's no such thing. We do not try to balance the various guilds, we don't try to make Guild X's ability offset Guild Y's. We don't sit around some huge scale seeing if things are slanted too far in Guild Z's direction. <grins> We do try to maintain "game balance", which is not at all the same as "guild balance". When I talk about "game balance", I usually mean "risk versus reward", or "drawback versus benefit". I seriously doubt that everyone will be completely happy with our idea of "game balance", because it won't mesh with their own. We never claim to be experts at it, or to always do everything correctly. But we do the best that we can, based on all the years of experience the GM staff has together. And I think we do a damn fine job of it. :)

-Atrathien