Brad said in a recent Dev Journal:
Spells. Need a LOT more default spells that you can learn.
And requested our feedback. So... barring the typical D&D, MTG, and other games' ideas, hopefully add something original:
Mega Me: (not to be confused with Mini-Me). Sovereign doubles in size, doubling Strength, Constitution, HP, and Movement Speed. (Increase Sovereign Graphic X2).
Secretariat's Phantom: Spawn magic-resistant Magic Steed moving 2x normal horse speed.
Animate Jack: Spawn Jack O' Lantern Scarecrow Warriors from any Pumpkin Patch.
Hitchcock Swarm: Birds swarm target creating confusion, panic, reduced attacks and reduced defenses.
Drain Essence: Absorb "X" Essence from one Opponent.
Condemed: All Inns in Explored Area "shut down" for X-turns.
Doppleganger: Create a duplicate NPC, excluding possessions, under caster's control.
Lead to Gold: Each Metal transmuted turns into X-gold Permanently.
Lost: Forces unit to wander map randomly for X turns.
Airburst: All units without shields suffer X damage from "aerial projectiles."
Okay... maybe not the names, but the ideas.
Please add, sounds like he wants "hundreds" to choose from.
Phantom Army: Create a phantom stack of units that is identical to the units in one of your cities...except when it is attacked it pops and is gone.
Earth Protectors: Enchant armies that give you a situational 10% bonus to attack, if on restored / revived land
Vermin: summon a 3 x 3 area to fill with low-level monsters that behave as random moving monsters, just creating a bunch of chaff
Ward: a perminent and visible post that allows you to see within 5 squares, but dies if attacked.
Hmm good ideas
Of course you have the normal stat buffing spells, like Strength (or call it somthing like troll strength or something). Or increase combat attack speed (haste I Think is alread in the game huh). Armor spells and attack spells... or even spells that give a chance on hit of doing something to the defender (like freezing them or stopping their next attack).
Tree of Elune (or another name) - Creates a tree that lasts for so many rounds, that all units when in the presence of it, (and can make it either sovereign specific of generic - generic means even enemies get healed) get healed so much per round. Similarly, you could make a leaching totem that might reduce maximal health to all kingdom units in that area by 2 health points.
Could have global spells like in MoM, like Winds of change: Increases Sovereign's fleet movement speed by 1 globally; or Holy War: all sovereigns units have +1 attack globally.
To be honest, Going back over Master of Magics spells would be a great idea. The spells they used were really well done.
Also I always wanted another alternative to healing spells.... Vampiric sword might be a good one - summons an etheral sword that drains a portion of the opponents health. (Or vampiric touch).
Tactical spells should also be considered - things that alter the terrain: Crater: Puts a crater on the earth that is perfect for defence against ranged and mounted units - +2 defence against these attacks, but -1 defence against normal melee attacks. Walls of fire or ice or stone also modify the tactical maps. Consider something like facinate - the target unit becomes fascinated with something in the distance and looses it movement that round... this will not work in a unit that is in melee combat or units that were in combat in the last round (either taking or giving damage) (good against archers or melee moving in).
Just some more thoughts.
Although im working through 2B, it is somewhat unplayable due to CTD, as well as no being able to build on shards.
Some ideas for spells (high level?)
Imbue Self: Lose chunk of essence to double physical stats, increase size of soverign 1.5 times-2 times. (ie use up magic to make yourself uber powerful in combat
Blood to Power: Lose constitution/strength to gain essence
Dark Ritual: Sacrifice hero/heir to add to one's own essence
Just a real quick scan through the DnD Players Manual, I know the Frog has one too, I found "Alarm".We could call it "Alert"
Sounds like a great "persistent" based spell that could be used to detect enemy movements through certain areas of your realm that you don't quite want to commit a full defensive force or set of structures to look after it at that time.
Think of it as a seismic early warning system. An ALERT pop up opens when it is tripped/activated and reveals the area (radius 4) the spell was placed in and lasts for 30 seconds before fading out and back to FOW.
Spells eh? Ok :}
Wave of Life: -20% all stats for all Fallen units Wave of Ruin: -20% all stats for all Human units Cosmic Balance: -10% enemy stats/+10% ally stats. Useable if outnumbered. Godslayer: Target Unit does +33% more damage to fallen units Disciple: Target Unit does +33% more damage to human units Chime of Blades: Units hit for +X wind damage on all attacks. Bards only(example of 'Job' specific spell) Avarice: Temp steal 1 stat at random on attack Arbitration: Divide armies current HP equally among all members by. 1 time per battle. Cost self HP, no mana
Seed of Life: Plant Seed on World map. Costs 3 essence. Spreads Life type terrain. After 50 turns tree matures returning 3 essence to caster. Projects benefical aura to all units in range. Can be attacked. Enchanted Roads: Influence wide enchant. Improves caravan income and unit movement for all sides. Delusions of Grandeur: +1 prestige for each City controlled. Fallen only.
Will add more later
World.
Air and water: Drought - affects a 20x20 area and stops the spred of fertial land, will slowly kill fertial land that hasnt been built on.
Fire *with* earth: Forge iron - Prduces X of the metal resorce.
Fire: Fire storm - removes forests from target area , causing X damamge to all inside. Chance of spreading?
Water: tsunami - Target city loses all ports, fishing and 1/4 population, 1 in 10 chance units lost, no production of any kind for 2 turns.
Earth *with* water: Mud slide - loss of 1/4 population, 1 in 10 chance units lost, no production for 4 turns
Combat
Fire: fire whirllwind, would be nice to watch that little baby rip around in a tactical combat.
Water: Dredded rain - Rain cloud follows selected unit, reduces moral. Maybe a world spell too?
Air - Microburst - Target area has all units blasted backwards or random direction.
I like combat spells that add tactical options and more indepth gameplay so that's what I'll be suggesting.
Fire: Walking Bomb - Create a humanoid of pure flame that can be moved and blows up when destroyed or at the casters will.
Fire: Blazing Dash - Caster dashes forward in a straight line, dealing fire damage to any unit he passes. (Caster is capable of running through stacks with this spell, can be used to penetrate defensive lines)
Fire: Phoenix Flash - Casts only on self. When struck with a blow that would kill you, the caster is instead reduced to 1 HP and the attacker suffers massive damage possibly killing it outright.
Fire: Sweltering Spellward - Cast upon enemy mage. From now on when casting spells he/she suffers a small amount of fire damage.
Fire: Battle Ignition - All allied soldiers detonate upon death, harming all nearby allies or enemies.
Fire: The Burning Dead - All corpses on the field ignite violently, causing fire damage to anything nearby.
Fire: Heat Flash Nightmare - Cast on battlefield. Each turn all units on the field except the caster suffer from fire damage and have a chance to ignite, suffering further fire damage. If a unit dies from this they explode causing massive fire and crushing damage to those nearby.
Water: Water Clones - Create 3 Water Clones of the caster, clones can move and attack but deal very little (1) damage if attacked the clones are destroyed and the attacker is poisoned.
Water: Water Reflective Illusion - Casted upon a unit, when the unit is attacked the attack is negated and the attacker suffers half the attack damage and is poisoned (Only functions once per cast)
Water: Iced Earth - Sprinkles Ice patches on the Field. when moving if a unit touches or lands on an ice patch is moves in on random direction and stops.
Water: Body of Water - Converts the caster to a water form gaining complete immunity to fire and substantial defense to physical attacks. Electricity however causes massive damage. In this form physical attacks by the caster are weakened.
Water: Reflective Spell Shield - Cast on a unit, any offensive spell cast upon that unit will cause a slightly less powerful water attack spell to attack the offender.
Water: Perfect Reflection - Creates a perfect duplicate of the caster that can cast spells/attack etc. The maximum mana is split between the two. If the original is killed the reflection becomes the original, if the reflection is killed the killer is poisoned. (This is a high level spell obviously requiring several ice/water shards)
Air: Lighting Movement - Caster gains lightning movement, can move instantly to any square for 2-3 turns, anyone near a square he portals to suffers lightning damage.
Air: Storm Front - Caster creates a thunder cloud over the battlefield that for X turns randomly applies one of 3 effects to an enemy.
1- Lightning strike, unit takes moderate lightning damage.
2- Tearing Wind, unit loses all movement for one turn and suffers very light slashing damage.
3- Hail, unit suffers light crushing damage and a slight reduction to Atk
(Again a pretty high level spell)
Air: Wind Blast - Caster fire a blast of wind, has two functions depending on whether the target is an enemy or ally. For enemies is knocks them back and they suffer moderate crushing damage, for allies it gives them a one time boost to movement and attack speed.
Air: Shocking Retribution - Cast on the field, whenever a unit dies his killer suffers double the damage of the fatal blow in electricity damage.
Air: Gale Buffer - Creates a realm of hyper condensed wind on each square around the caster, while active (2 turns) anyone who enters is knocked back and suffers light crushing damage and all projectiles are deflected. Projectile spells are reflected, direct effect spells can break through however.
Air: The Blessed Wind - Causes all units to regenerate health and increases their defense for 3 turns.
Earth: Immortal Stone - Makes the caster impervious to all attacks physical or elemental for 3 turns, however he cannot move and suffers a speed penalty after the spell wears off for another 3 turns.
Earth: Clay Spears - Caster can hide 4 clay spears as traps on the field, when units walk over the trapped locations the spears jab upwards doing high piercing damage.
Earth: Trembling Earth - Causes the battlefield to shake violently, all ground units are incapable of movement for the duration.
Earth: Armor of Rock - Cast on a unit their defense increases and anyone that attacks them suffers an atk penalty for 2 turns afterward.
Earth: The Cradle of Life - The caster shields himself with impervious stone, making him immune to all damage. While this spell lasts he cannot move, attack, nor cast spells, but he regenerates life.
(High level defensive spell. High mana costs.)
Earth: The Spurned Earth - High level earth spell, causes multiple effects.
1 - The Earth trembles reducing movement to zero
2 - Spikes penetrate the ground impaling enemies for high piercing damage.
3 - Pits open consuming entire units... Enemy or Ally.
Touch of the Void- Give a Champion tons more health and strength. Every turn there is a chance the void will over take them and send them on an insane rampage.
Fargate- Create a two way portal to any point on the map that last x turns
Summon Soul Trader-Summon a demonic caravan that has a decent attack value and gets more gold per turn than a regular caravan. One per faction
Power Sink- Create a power sink on the tactical map. It absorbs all spells cast until it takes x damage or y combat turns.
Time Warp-Reset all units and allegiances to what they were at the beginning of the last turn.
Time Lock-A unit or army is locked in time and disappears from the map for a random number of turns.
Time and Relative Dimension in Housing-Your houses in this city are bigger on the inside than the outside, allowing you to fit more people in them.
Counter Spells:
There should also be counter spells. What good is there having wizards if they can't enter into a battle of wits and power? I don't know how these would be exactly balanced. Maybe a limit on counters per turn along with the mana limits and possible a failure chance. Also, a caster would have to be near the target to counter a spell.
Redirect Spell-Redirect a spell cast in an area around a caster.
Counter-Cause the spell being cast at you to fizzle
Consume Spell-Absorb the spell adding to your mana. Excess mana becomes a buff that must be used in the next turn. If it is not used the caster takes damage for it.
Mirror Spell- Reflect the spell back at the caster.
Odd. =p
Some high level spells:
Blackest Night (Unique / Worldenchantment): Undead get combat boni. Chance that neutral undead rise after each battle.
Dead Moon (Worldspell): Undead ravage though cities. Big population loss in every city.
Evernight (Unique / Worldenchantment): The sun isn't rising anymore. Foodproduction set to zero. Construction time doubled. Chance to spawn monsters increased. Undead get boni in combat.
The Burning Eye (Unique / Worldenchantment): Fog of war is lifted, worldwide.
Magic Prism (Ranged / Choose area): Buildings and Units are destroyed as a magic prism focuses sunlight on an area. Undead die twice . Heroes suffer from massive damage (dont die tho). The tile is striped of all enchantments and turn to dead land again.
Veil of Light (Ranged / Choose a square): Undead, Demons and Fallen cannot enter this area.
Haunt (Cityenchantment / Ranged): Decrease prestige of a city by X.
Glamour (Cityenchantment): Increase prestige by X.
Tidal Wave (Worldspell): Damage and population loss to coastal cities.
Sacrifice for Wealth: Target own city. Kills population, gives Gildar.
Sacrifice for Knowledge: Target own city. Kills population, gives research bonus.
Sacrifice for Power: Target own city. Kills population, gives spell points.
Kinslayer: Kills one child, adds essence. Big diplomatic hit.
Burn Out (Heroenchantment): Gives huge boni in next battle, but kills the hero afterwards.
Escape (Battlefieldspell): Target is teleported from the battle to the sovereign.
Everlasting Flame (Cityenchantment): Visionrange of the city is increased by X.
Bloodpact (Cityenchantment): Recruiting costs double the population but the unit has double hit points.
Harbinger – Enchants a unit to serve as a conduit for your power. The target receives minor bonuses and can cast from the Sovereign's spell selection, using the Sovereign's mana pool.
Spark of Life [Life] – A unit with this spell cast on it will cling to life, even after suffering wounds that should be fatal. They will get up with 1 HP after being killed in battle, as long as their side survives.
Inspiration [Life] – Units standing next to the caster receive moderate combat bonuses and resistance to Death magic.
Lifedrinker [Death] [maintained] – Whenever the caster of this spell wins a battle, they restore HP for every living being that died there.
Soul Harvest [Death] – Target begins to burn up in a magical fever. Their stats begin to skyrocket, but eventually they need to pass a resistance check or die. If the victim is killed by a Death mage halfway or later into the process, the killer gains essence. If the victim is killed just before the end, when its stats are at the highest, more essence is gained. If the victim burns up without being harvested, no essence is gained.
Imprison [Earth] [tactical] – The target is surrounded by an impenetrable shell. It can neither attack nor be attacked by nonmagical means.
Quake [Earth] [tactical] – Target unit must resist, or suffer a stun effect and minor damage.
Enchanted Forest [Life or Enchantment] [needs Earth shard] – Every forest square within X radius becomes enchanted. Friendly units move without penalty and are slightly healed every turn. Hostile units are slowly drained of life every turn.
Tsunami [Water] [strategic] – This spell can only be used on a armies standing near a body of water or an Ice shard. A mass of water rises up to smash the target, dealing large amounts of damage.
Aura of Fertility - Increases the chances of getting babies. Still have to be married though.
Winds of Aging - Cast on one of your children, he/she will advance in years quicker until reaching adulthood.
Planar Sanctuary - Create a temporary gate to a sanctuary on another plane of existence, where an army can rest and recover health just as if they were in a town. They cannot be attacked while in the sanctuary.
Aura of Ugliness: Prestige and Charisma in targeted AOE is halved for spell's duration.
Forgetfulness: Unit (e.g. Sovereign) loses one Experience Level.
Boomerang: Spells cast on target are reflected back at target's caster.
Thief in the Dark: Steal one enchanment or Magic Item at/below "X Value."
Siren's Curse: NPC mate of Sovereign abandons Sovereign and joins Caster's side.
Vagabond: Shrink targeted settlement into small box possessed by Sovereign. Relocate full-sized settlement elsewhere on map.
Weight of the World: All targets Movement slowed by 1/2 and Attack Speed slowed by 1/2 in AOE.
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