Tutorial: Spells, Skills, and Enchantments

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Tutorial: Spells, Skills, and Enchantments; The How-to Guide
Topic Started: Aug 5 2008, 02:05 PM (1,368 Views)
MidnightShadow	Aug 5 2008, 02:05 PM Post #1
If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten Posts: 1,983 Group: Overseer Member #1 Joined: June 17, 2004 Gender Female Preferred Name Shadow	Tutorial: Spells, Skills, and Enchantments In an attempt to promote creativity, Elenlond has employed a simple magic system, putting the creativity in your hands. That does not mean, however, that you can run wild, creating spells, skills, or enchantments that have enough power to raze a building, a town, or an entire area – at least, not in the beginning. This tutorial is designed to help you choose your spells, skills, and enchantments appropriately. Any ability that you declare is one that is used by your character, as a means of bettering their fighting prowess, their magic prowess, or the armour and weapons that they carry. This means that it is limited to spells, skills, or enchantments, and anything of that nature; this also means that it does not include such things as pets, the possession of armour, or the possession of weaponry, etc. However, if your character's pet happens to have an ability that it normally wouldn't have - for example, their horse can fly, despite not having wings - you must use one of your ability slots for its ability. If you still have questions, please don't hesitate to ask one of the staff members! Additonally, although we encourage you to 'upgrade' your spells by spreading them out over the three level brackets, simple, intermediate, and advanced, this is only used to keep your power in check. The levels do not mean that you will automatically be better than someone because they decide to have a skill at level one, and you have a similar skill at level two. It also doesn't mean that a shield that can deflect simple spells can't also reduce the damage of of intermediate or advanced ones. Remember that it is what you do with your abilities that matters, not how powerful they are! We encourage you to take a look at these threads as well: What Constitutes an Ability? Ability Clarification Announcements Creating the First Five Abilities When you first join the forum, you are allowed to create five abilities right from the beginning. You may choose to create them when you post your profile, or to wait until you’re more certain or have made your final decisions. If you post your five abilities when you post your profile, a moderator or administrator will review them then. If you choose to wait, you will have to make a post in the Review Book for review before you will be allowed to add them to your profile. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s shift our focus to the nature of your spells, skills, or enchantments. In order to cater to all character types – mages, half-mages, and fighters or warriors of sorts – we have designed a system that will allow all three groups to benefit: mages are allotted spells, fighters/warriors are allowed to create skills, and half-mages are allowed a combination of both. Enchantments may be used by any character, and pertain to weapons and armour. That being said, let’s take a look at what sorts of spells, skills, and enchantments would be acceptable for you, as a new member. As previously stated, spells, skills, and enchantments that are capable of destroying a building, a town, or an entire area such as a chain of mountains are definitely forbidden when you first join (and in most cases, being able to destroy a nations’ area is also forbidden, unless for plot reasons). Your abilities, when you first begin here, should be relatively simple – things that won’t cause a lot of damage, but will not leave your character completely helpless. Below are examples of acceptable spells, skills, and enchantments. Spells Fireball – allows the caster to create a fireball and shoot it from their hand. Orb – allows the caster to create an orb of light. They may see with this orb in the darkness. Breathe – allows a character to breathe underwater. Lightning – the caster may summon a single bolt of lightning from the sky or from their hand. Teleportation – a caster may teleport a short distance away (no more than a mile). Notice how each spell is relatively simple? Teleportation, which is generally used for great distances, can be altered to be more simplistic. Other simplistic spells may include manipulation of the elements (control of the wind, to direct it where you want – the same goes for all of the elements), or minor spells with them, including small-scale summoning (as in, creatures who would do damage the equivalent of one of the above offensive spells). Minor healing could be included here too, for bruises and small cuts. Even shapeshifting is considered a simple spell, however there is a catch that will come up later. If you would like to build upon spells (and you are encouraged to do so), you can add to a pre-existing spell. We’ll discuss that later. For now let’s take a look at skills. Skills Stealth – the character may move very quietly and very precisely, but is liable to detection. Ambidextrous – the character is able to use either hand effectively in combat. Steal – the character is able to steal small objects, such as belt purses or knives. Accuracy – the character can throw a dagger fairly accurately. Speed – the character moves quickly. Again, these are all relatively simple and, in the future, may be built upon if you wish. Remember to try and keep your skills accurate; if your character is a thief, s/he should probably not have a skill that allows them to wield a bastard sword with ease. The same goes for characters who are warriors. Chances are, they won’t require Speed as a skill. Our last examples will be dedicated to enchantments. Enchantments Enchantment: Fire Sword – the character’s sword is on fire for just under an hour. It is not hot enough to melt steel or to cause severe burns. Enchantment: Levitation – the character’s weapon may hover a few feet off the ground. It cannot, however, attack. Enchantment: Water Resistance – the character’s armour is mildly resistant to water magic. [By moderate I mean that a bucket of water wouldn’t cause much in the way of damage, if anything, but if they were pelted by the rain or attacked with a large amount of water, they would definitely feel the effects.] Enchantment: Glowing – the character’s weapon emits a small glow, allowing them to see in dark places. Enchantment: Lightning Arrows – the character has spelled arrows which, rather than appearing as regular arrows, are encased in tiny lightning bolts. These bolts, when they penetrate the body, only cause minor shocks and pain in addition to the regular pain of an arrow. Enchantments are trickier to create, as most of them can be unintentionally overpowered. If you do decide to use an enchantment in your first five spells, you should be very careful, as it is likely that an administrator or moderator may ask you to change it. Bear that in mind while you are creating your abilities. As you can see, these examples are relatively simple, and have some power, but not much. As you advance on the forum, your spells will become progressively more powerful. If you have questions, you are encouraged to ask them, either while you are creating your spells, or before you do so. Don’t be afraid to approach the moderators or the administrators – we’re all here to help! With the beginning set up, let’s move on to more intermediate spells. Intermediate Abilities After your initial five abilities, you will be granted another opportunity to create a new ability when you have made 10 IC posts. When you create this new spell, you must post in the Review Book so that it can be checked by one of Elenlond’s staff. This ability, like your previous five, will be relatively simple. When you reach 25 IC posts, you will again be able to create one, simple ability. When each of your abilities is given the ok by a staff member, you will be allowed to add it to your character’s profile. The next opportunity you have to create a new ability – two, in fact! – is when you reach 50 IC posts. That’s where this part of the tutorial begins. Once you have reached 50 posts, we figure that you’ve been on the forum long enough that you can begin upgrading your abilities, or creating new ones that are slightly more powerful – abilities that can cause damage on a larger scale, but not so large that it can, again, floor a town or an entire area. At this point, however, your character will be able to cause some damage to buildings (to put it into perspective), and will be on his/her way to becoming a formidable opponent. Again, we will review each section individually, with several examples. The first is spells. Spells Water Blast – a fair-sized jet of water streaks out from the caster’s hands. Healing – the caster may heal breaks, large (but still relatively shallow) gashes, as well as mild internal injuries. Column of Fire – the caster may create a large column of fire that causes mild burns. Summon Storms – the caster may call storms towards them. They cannot, however, control these storms, so once they are summoned, they run rampant. Entangle – the caster may summon thorny vines that will hold another in place. So long as these vines are not cut or burned, the plant will hold fast until the one who summoned it releases their hold. As you will notice, these spells are slightly more powerful than the last batch, but not so much that you will be asked to change them. They demonstrate a level of control by your character. Here you will notice I also used another fire spell. This one is similar to the Fireball spell I mentioned earlier, however now it is a column. As I stated earlier, you can build upon spells as you advance, adding more power to previous ones. Another example would be the Teleportation spell. You could add that your character can now teleport several miles away. You do not have to do this, although we strongly encourage you to, as it allows you to build your character like you would in a real RPG. Here you could also add slightly more powerful summons, creatures who could, perhaps, dish out minor damage across a large area. As I mentioned earlier, shapeshifting has a catch. As a simple spell, your character may shapeshift into normal creatures: horses, cats, dogs, insects, wildcats, wolves, etc. In order to shapeshift in to mythical creatures, such as dragons, unicorns, pegasi, hippocampi, etc., you will need to upgrade this spell. Again, you should be cautious when handling certain spells, as it’s very easy to get out of hand. Skills Stealth [Upgrade] – the character can move very quietly and very precisely, with fewer detections. Usually they can do the job. Steal [Upgrade] – the character may steal larger objects, such as smaller weaponry and larger purses. Speed [Upgrade] – the character moves quick enough that, to those with untrained eyes, they are difficult to pinpoint and strike. Accuracy [Upgrade] – a character can strike a target with considerable accuracy, missing less often due to practicing the skill often. Here I have not added any ‘new’ skills to the examples and you may be wondering why. Skills, unlike spells, are much harder to create, in a sense. They don’t necessarily become more ‘powerful’, but a character is more prone to acquiring more of them. Because of this, if you want ‘powerful’ skills, we encourage you to upgrade previous ones, adding more to them so that they are clearly a little more powerful. If you do not wish to do this, you are free to add brand new skills, such as a proficiency with larger swords, or daggers, or bows, etc. Please remember that a character should not have opposing skills, such as being a fighter built on speed who uses a great sword as his/her weapon. Keeping it realistic makes it more fun for everyone. Enchantments Enthantment [Upgrade]: Lightning Bolts – bolts of lightning may be shot from a bow, causing painful shocks that may inhibit muscle control for several moments. Enchantment: Healing Staff – the staff may heal 3-5 characters within a ten foot radius, healing all mild bruises, fractures, mild breaks, cuts, and medium gashes. Enchantment: Poison – a weapon is permanently tipped with a known poison. Enchantment: Strengthened Armour – the character’s armour is less likely to be pierced by another weapon, but is not completely impervious. Enchantment: Freeze Wounds – the character’s sword causes wounds to become encased in ice when the blade touches flesh. This ice eventually melts, either by itself or when heat is applied to it. Once again, you will see that I have chosen to upgrade one of my previous abilities, building upon the original enchantment, Lightning Arrows. The rest of these enchantments are new, and are not overly powerful, but aren’t nearly as simple. Advanced Abilities After you have made 50 IC posts, you will begin receiving 3 new abilities for every 30 IC posts you make – so, when you reach 80 IC posts, you will receive an additional 3 spells. From 110 IC posts onward, you will be allowed to create ‘advanced’ abilities. These abilities, whether spells, skills, or enchantments, will be able to possess significantly more power than their predecessors, and they will have power enough to able to destroy buildings or small areas. As per the previous two sections, examples are below. Spells Control Storms – in addition to being able to summon storms, a character may also control them. Heal All – a character may heal up to six characters within a twenty foot radius of all major breaks, gashes, bruises, and fractures. Summon Dragon – a character may summon a dragon to make one attack. Illusions – a character may cast powerful illusions that are nearly impossible to see through unless the character in question is an illusionist. Sleep – put another character to sleep [either NPC or PC; for PCs you must have permission]. These spells are clearly much more powerful, and are well deserved. They are not overpowered, but they will prove to be formidable if used against others. There is still room for improvement, however. Skills Stealth [2nd Upgrade] – the character may move with absolute precision and silence, rarely, if ever, being detected. Steal [2nd Upgrade] – the character is able to steal any number of objects apart from obscurely large ones, and goes undetected when swiping belt purses and smaller objects. Speed [2nd Upgrade] – the character’s speed is so fast only those with similar abilities are able to effectively detect where they are. This does not, however, make them impervious to area spells or to attack in general. Accuracy [2nd Upgrade] – the character will nearly always hit their mark, regardless of the situation. Again, I decided to upgrade these skills as opposed to adding new ones. This demonstrates just how far you can go with your skills, rather than adding new ones to the roster. Of course, you are free to add new skills at will, but if you would rather build upon old ones, we encourage you to do that as well. Enchantments Enchantment: Flare – a bright flash erupts from the character’s weapon, blinding everyone (including the caster if s/he is not prepared) within the room or a thirty foot radius temporarily for several seconds. It is good to use when one is trying to escape. Enchantment: Healing Staff [Upgrade] – the character’s staff may heal 3-5 other characters within a ten foot radius of all major breaks, gashes, fractures, and bruises. It does not heal internal bleeding. Enchantment: Speed – the character’s armour is enchanted to enhance speed, making them move quite a bit faster than they would normally. Enchantment: Strengthened Armour [Upgrade] – the character’s armour cannot be pierced unless by a very powerful and possibly enchanted weapon. Enchantment: Thrust Back – a character’s weapon, when activated, will throw another character back roughly five to fifteen feet, giving the character who activated the spell time to recover. As you will see, enchantments are also upgradeable. You may do this if you wish, or you may create brand new enchantments, but remember to keep in mind that they cannot be overpowered. Upgrading does not stop here! This scrapes only the surface of what you can do with your advanced spells, skills, and enchantments. When you reach the advanced bracket, think of it as a new opportunity to start upgrading your spells, where, instead of starting with weak spells, you're starting with powerful ones and making them more powerful. For example: If you wanted to create a spell called Meteor that called down meteors from the heavens, you would not be able to create it when you reach 110 posts. Instead, you would have to wait until you reached 320 or 350 posts; the same would go for a spell that could flood an entire city. The more powerful your spells become, or the more damage they may cause, the more posts you will likely need. The easiest way to see this is to think of the spell in relation to how long you've been here, or how many posts you have. If you only have 110 posts and you're trying to destroy half a continent, you will receive a very firm no when you request the ability. You could, however, begin with small meteors, and work your way up to massive ones. It's up to your discretion. If a staff member says no, don't be discouraged! You can always tone the spell down, or save it for later. Recap! With so much information to digest, I feel it’s necessary (and helpful!) to do a little recap. In simplest terms, everything that I discussed here will be found in point form below, for those who need a quick overview before they begin to create their abilities. If nothing else, this will allow you to pick up the key points of the tutorial, for future reference. If you have a question, ask! We’re more than happy to help you. Please add new abilities to your profile once they have been approved. If you do not post your first five abilities in your profile when you join, they must be posted in The Review Book for review by the staff. All spells following your first five must be submitted in The Review Book for review. You may choose to upgrade old spells, skills, and enchantments, or to create brand new ones. When upgrading a spell, please add [Upgade] to the end of the title. When declaring an enchantment, please put Enchantment: before the name of your enchantment. You may change old abilities, however you must post in The Review Book demonstrating the spell you want to change, as well as the one you want to change it to. If this spell is built upon later, you cannot change it unless you change all of the spells after it as well. There is a form that you may use. Simple spells, skills, and enchantments should be just that: simple. If you create anything that can floor a building, a town, or a large area, your ability will be denied. Simple spells may include: elemental manipulation (controlling elements around a character, such as the wind, water, fire etc.), lighting or darkening a room, simple illusions, simple healing, weaker psionic abilities (transmutation, levitation, telepathy, etc.), and much more. Shapeshifting into normal animals (insects, cats, dogs, birds, etc.) is considered a simple spell, while shapeshifting into mythical animals is considered an intermediate spell. Necromancy must be divided between the three levels. A simple necromantic spell might be the ability to summon a small handful of skeletal minions, while intermediate may be the ability to fuse more powerful souls with bodies. Finally, advanced would be the ability to retrieve very old souls to bind with bodies, and an unwavering ability to control all minions. You are, of course, not limited to just this. Skills may include such things as: speed, stealth, stealing, accuracy, proficiency with a certain weapon, proficiency with a certain type of magic, among many other skills. You must clear subtle skills with the staff – these pertain to increasing your character’s attributes (speed, strength, skill etc.) without making it obvious. You may mix and match spells, skills, and enchantments to make a completely unique character. Intermediate abilities may be slightly more powerful than your simple abilities, but not so much that they can do massive amounts of damage. You may be able to damage a building (to a point), but you cannot completely annihilate it. Advanced abilities are much more powerful, and will be able to floor a building and even damage a small area. Remember not to make them too powerful, however! We encourage you to continue upgrading your abilities through the advanced bracket. The more powerful your advanced abilities become, the more powerful you will need to be. Remember to think of the ability in relation to how long you have been here/how many posts you have! If you don't have the posts to back the ability up, chances are it will be denied. You are encouraged to build upon previous spells. After 50 IC posts, the more posts you have, the more powerful abilities you will be allowed to have. If you have, say, 410 IC posts, you will be allowed to have massive spells, such as a meteor spell or large area spells. You do not have to create intermediate or advanced abilities when you reach that particular bracket. If you have 200 IC posts and you would like to create a simple ability, you may do so. Lastly and most important, BE CREATIVE! You have free reign over what abilities your character may possess. Have fun while you’re at it, and see what sorts of ideas you can come up with! Conclusion I hope that this tutorial has helped you in understanding what sorts of limitations exist when creating your first five abilities as opposed to your 15th or 16th. I cannot stress this enough: if you have questions, please ask the staff! We’re more than happy to help you out. Edited by MidnightShadow, Jul 28 2009, 01:50 PM.

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MidnightShadow	Aug 5 2008, 02:14 PM Post #2
If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten Posts: 1,983 Group: Overseer Member #1 Joined: June 17, 2004 Gender Female Preferred Name Shadow	IC Post Requirements for New Abilities and Types of Abilities Allowed 0 Posts – 5 abilities; simple 10 – 1 ability; simple 25 – 1 ability; simple 50 – 2 abilities; intermediate 80 – 3 abilities; intermediate 110 – 3 abilities; advanced – everything below here is the same. 140 170 200 230 260 290 Etc. Etc. Etc. Edited by MidnightShadow, Jul 28 2009, 01:43 PM.

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MidnightShadow	Aug 7 2008, 09:31 PM Post #3
If she were warm and fuzzy she'd be a kitten Posts: 1,983 Group: Overseer Member #1 Joined: June 17, 2004 Gender Female Preferred Name Shadow	Abilities in Total Per Post Amount 0 Posts – 5 abilities 10 – 6 abilities 25 – 7 abilities 50 – 9 abilities 80 – 12 abilities 110 – 15 abilities 140 – 18 abilities 170 – 21 abilities 200 – 24 abilities 230 – 27 abilities 260 – 30 abilities 290 – 33 abilities 320 – 36 abilities 350 – 39 abilities 380 – 42 abilities 410 – 45 abilities 440 – 48 abilities 470 – 51 abilities 500 – 54 abilities 530 – 57 abilities 560 – 60 abilities 590 – 63 abilities 620 – 66 abilities 650 – 69 abilities 680 – 72 abilities 710 – 75 abilities 740 – 78 abilities 770 – 81 abilities 800 – 84 abilities 830 – 87 abilities 860 – 90 abilities 890 – 93 abilities 920 – 96 abilities 950 – 99 abilities 980 – 102 abilities 1010 – 105 abilities 1040 – 108 abilities 1070 – 111 abilities 1100 – 114 abilities 1130 – 117 abilities 1160 – 120 abilities 1190 – 123 abilities 1220 – 126 abilities 1250 – 129 abilities 1280 – 132 abilities 1310 – 135 abiliites 1340 – 138 abilities 1370 – 141 abilities 1400 – 144 abilities 1430 – 147 abilities 1460 – 150 abilities 1490 – 153 abilities 1520 – 156 abilities 1550 – 159 abilities 1580 – 162 abilities 1610 – 165 abilities 1640 – 168 abilities 1670 – 171 abilities 1700 – 174 abilities 1730 – 177 abilities 1760 – 180 abilities 1790 – 183 abilities 1820 – 186 abilities 1850 – 189 abilities 1880 – 192 abilities 1910 – 195 abilities 1940 – 198 abilities 1970 – 201 abilities 2000 – 204 abilities 2030 – 207 abilities 2060 – 210 abilities 2090 – 213 abilities 2120 – 216 abilities 2150 – 219 abilities 2180 – 222 abilities 2210 – 225 abilities 2240 – 228 abilities 2270 – 231 abilities 2300 – 234 abilities 2330 – 237 abilities 2360 – 240 abilities 2390 – 243 abilities 2420 – 246 abilities 2450 – 249 abilities 2480 – 252 abilities 2510 – 255 abilities 2540 – 258 abilities 2570 – 261 abilities 2600 – 264 abilities 2630 – 267 abilities 2660 – 270 abilities 2690 – 273 abilities 2720 – 276 abilities 2750 – 279 abilities 2780 – 282 abilities 2810 – 285 abilities 2840 – 288 abilities 2870 – 291 abilities 2900 – 294 abilities 2930 – 297 abilities 2960 – 300 abilities 2990 – 303 abilities 3020 – 306 abilities Edited by MidnightShadow, Nov 13 2008, 05:07 PM.

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