Aminet 24/Aminet 24 (1998)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Apr 1998].iso/Aminet/game/role/Zngam206.lha/Zangband/help/magic.txt

Text File | 1998-01-18 | 16KB | 357 lines

=== Introduction to the Zangband (2.0.2) Magic System ===

In the official releases of Angband there are only two types magic
spells:  Magic spells and priestly prayers.  If the character is a
mage, ranger or a rogue  (s)he can learn magic spells; if (s)he is
a priest  or  a paladin,  (s)he  can learn prayers.  All mages can
learn the same spells and all priests can learn the same spells.

Zangband uses  a more complex "realms of magic" system inspired by
the commercial fantasy strategy game Master of Magic (Microprose),
which in turn  has supposedly borrowed it from the card game Magic
the Gathering  (by  Wizards of the Coast).  The  magic system,  as
implemented in Zangband,  consists of five realms:  Life, Sorcery,
Nature, Chaos and Death. (See later for more details.)

In standard Angband,  the type of a character's spell ability was
determined  solely by  the  character  class.  In Zangband,   all
classes can select one  (or even two)  types  from  the realms of
magic available. (See  later  for available realms / class.)

Since a character can have (at most) two realms of magic, and the
old  spells  have been split between the existing realms,  on the
first glance  it may seem that this system makes spell-users less
powerful.  However, the opposite holds true.  While a given realm
of magic  typically includes spells of a certain type,  new ultra
powerful rare high-level  spells have been added  to many realms.
Any spell realm should have enough high-level spells even for the
later stages  of the game.  The main difference  lies in how they
support your playing strategy:  some offer  "weapon" spells which
let you  directly hurt your enemy,  while others offer spells for
protection, healing and gathering information.

In standard Angband, there were  9  spellbooks for all spell-
casters. In Zangband, there are  4  spellbooks per realm. Two
of them can be bought in a store (Life spellbooks in the town
temple,  the rest  in  the  magic shop;  of  course the Black
market  may  stock  _any_  spellbook).  A character  with two
realms of magic will thus need to carry a maximum of 8 spell-
books  while  a  character  with  only  one  realm  of  magic
(paladins and rogues) will only need to carry  a maximum of 4
spellbooks.  All realms have  32  spells, and each book has 8
spells.



=== Character Classes and Spell Ability  ===

MAGES: Mages have the least restrictions in choosing and learning
spells. They can freely choose any two realms when a character is
created: in the current version, all five realms are available to
them, although their natural inclination makes Life magic  fairly
hard for them. Otherwise, a mage tends to learn and cast all  the
spells in his / her realms better than any  other  character. The
ability  select  both realms  of  magic (which no other character
class can do) allows  the  best  support  for  experimenting  and
combining  different  realms,  and, thus, for  different  playing
strategies as well.

PRIESTS: There are two types of priests in Zangband:   the
'ordinary' priests who, select Life magic as their primary
realm,  and the  'dark' priests,  who  select  Death magic
instead  of  Life magic.  No  priest  can have both realms
(unless (s)he was created  in  Zangband 2.0.0  or  2.0.1).
Priests can also select a secondary realm from  the  other
three realms, and should be able to learn all spells in it
as well,  even if not  as  efficiently as mages.  However,
when  learning spells,  priests cannot  voluntarily decide
which spells to study: they are rewarded with new  prayers
by their patron deities, with  no  money-back satisfaction
guarantee.  It should also be noted that since the natural
inclination of a priest is towards Life magic, priests who
select Life magic  will  be  able to  learn  their prayers
faster and better than  their evil colleagues  with  Death
magic.

ROGUES:  Rogues who are  mostly  interested in burglary can
select Sorcery, but Death magic is also available to rogues
who wish to work as assassins rather than burglars.  Rogues
have  certain limitations on which spells they  can  learn,
and they are not too fast to learn new spells.

RANGERS: All rangers are trained in Nature magic, and  all
Nature spells are available to them. They even learn these
spells  almost as  fast as  mages.  They can also select a
secondary realm (from Sorcery, Chaos and Death magic), but
they are slow learners  in them,  and  may find themselves
unable to learn some of the highest level spells.

PALADINS: Paladins are trained in Life magic (only), and they
despise the other realms of magic (which they regard  as  the
Devil's work). Like priests, they cannot select which prayers
to learn but are rewarded  with new prayers by their deities.
They can learn all Life spells, but not  as fast  as priests.
In  the  most recent versions,  there is a new subtype of the
paladins: the Death Knight.  Death Knights study Death  magic
instead of Life magic, but in other respects they are similar
to normal paladins. Death Knights can learn all Death spells.

WARRIOR-MAGES: Warrior-mages begin the game with Sorcery, and
they can freely select another realm of magic.  Although they
do not  gain  new spells as fast as regular mages,  they will
eventually  learn every spell  in both realms,  thus making a
very competitive choice for players who appreciate Sorcery.

CHAOS WARRIORS: Chaos Warriors are, as one might expect,
trained in Chaos magic.  They are not interested in  any
other form of magic. They can learn every Chaos spell.

MONKS:  The different sects of monks are devoted to different
areas of magic. The typical monk is interested in the harmony
of the nature, and studies Life magic. An idealist monk would
select Life magic, and try work to benefit his neighbour. But
there  also  are  dark monks,  who specialize in Death magic.
A monk can  thus  select any one of these three Realms.  They
will eventually learn all prayers in the discipline  of their
choice.



=== The Realms of Magic ===

LIFE: Life is magic is 'good' magic; it relies mostly on healing
and protective spells. It does have a few attack spells as well,
but these are mostly used for harming and banishing foul minions
of evil. It is rumoured that there is a secret high level prayer
which will make the  priest  (or paladin)  completely impervious
to all forms of hostile action.

SORCERY:  Sorcery is a  `meta`  realm, including enchantment and
general spells.  It provides  superb protection spells  (such as
Teleport spells for fleeing and even  Globe of Invulnerability),
spells to enhance your odds in combat (Slow Monster, Haste Self,
Confuse  Monster) and,  most  importantly,  a vast selection  of
spells for  gathering information:  in  addition  to  the  usual
detection and identify spells, one of  the  standard  spellbooks
has a spell called Identify True, which gives you full knowledge
of a given object!  In  the  rare  books,  there are spells with
which  you  can  enchant  your  items  or turn unwanted items to
gold.  However,  Sorcery  has  one  weakness:  it  has no spells
to deal direct damage to your enemies.

NATURE: Early levels may be  rather difficult  for  a spellcaster
relying on Nature magic, as the early spells offer  only  limited
protection,  detection  and  curing  capabilities.   However,  at
higher levels there are very useful offensive  spells  available,
especially should the  spellcaster  be  lucky  enough  to find an
extremely rare spellbook  called  "Nature`s Wrath".  Nature  also
has a spell of Herbal Healing, which is the only powerful healing
spell outside the realm of Life magic.

CHAOS: There are few types of magic more unpredictable and
difficult to control than  Chaos magic.  Chaos is the very
element of unmaking,  and  the Chaos  spells are  the most
terrible  weapons  of destruction  imaginable.  From Magic
Missile  and  Acid Bolt to the medium level  Fire Ball and
and Doom Bolt,  and  finally  to  the  awesome  spells  of
Invoke Logru