[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

You want the UW spells to be for the UW nations? Hmm. I had thought you wanted them so that the land nations can compete better, but that's also good...

Actually, I'm trying to fix the issue of seeing the same spells in underwater over and over again, but that is also a valid point. Why not do both, actually? Let's make sure that each magic path has easily castable UW combat spell, and then add some cross-path spells for the fun of it.

Let's see from the manual..

Air: Most of the lighting and illusion spells are castable underwater. Is OK, me things.

Astral: Loses only Stellar cascade types. Will be okay.

Blood: It must suck to be these guys underwater. I really feel that shark summons should be blood spells, but I'm not going to mess with vanilla spells. Let's leave this as it is.

Death: Loses some cloud spells, but retains Shadow Blast and it's ilk. Skelly spam still works.

Earth: Loses almost all of direct attack spells. I'll add one pure-earth UW spell. (Most likely crushing pressure, I'll fix the theme in spell description.)

Fire: Ouch. Ouch. It's a shame that vanilla has that useless "Boil" spell. Since I'm not going to mess with vanilla spells, I'll have to try to figure something out. I mean it's thematic for fire to suck underwater, but at least some decency!

Nature: Loses vine arrows and combat summons. I've given them a direct poison damage spell to compensate. A UW version of howl with underwater animals could also be thematic and hideously easy to make. Witness:

#newspell
#copyspell "Howl"
#name "UW Howl"
#damage "XX"
#spec "XX"
#end

Water: Will be okay, and most UW crosspaths will have it.

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

If they are meant to be for UW nations, then Chaotic Currents (which is a neat spell) should be W/S. I don't think any UW nation gets Air magic.

Yeah, it's neat. But the blinking effect will be annoying as hell, especially if it is massed by horde of mages. But my testing also shows it to be risky. That pesky ichtyid struggled himself right next to my mystic and pierced him. But W/S is much more thematic. I'll have to ponder this.

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

I don't think the Acid spells are allowed underwater, correct? If so, E/MA Atlantis could use a F/W spell.

Acid Muck
WF
Range: 30+
Fat: 40-
AoE: 1+
Effect: Rust (Def negates)
SecondaryEffect: Strong Poison

Thanks! Now I have my Fire UW spell. "Acidize" (note: name needs work) with pretty much similar effect. I mean, the water is already there, so it just needs some alteration by fire magics.

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

Polluted Stream
W/D
Range: 35+
Fat: 40-
AoE: 1+
Damage: Strong Poison
SecondaryEffect: Disease (MR negates)

I'll give this the same deal as the previous one. By death magic, you pollute water that's already there.

Originally Posted by VedalkenBear

As for balance issues... if these spells are used, then you're changing the balance. The size of the change may not be great, but you're still changing it. Therefore, I don't see where the issue is a problem, theoretically. I realize that I generally suggest much larger shifts, and it's perfectly fine to refuse them. I am a little puzzled by the categorical nature of the balance discussion.

It's just that I'm not trying to change the actual game, just add more options in combat magic usage and give low-path mages more useful spells. Powerful spells "warp" the gameplay to revolve around themselves. The "auto-feeble" spell you suggested would have a single-handedly made the U/W mages most powerful mages ever. I admit that I'm doing some balance changes with this mod, notice how most buffing spells won't work on undead? Inanimates? Mindless? In there lies numereous popular SC chassises, unable to reap the benefits of this mod, perhaps allowing some new contenders in.

So umm.. I need a point. Yeah, I'm not going for a huge change, but for a small one. This mod won't make any excisting stragedy obsolete, but try to raise others on par with them. For example, I'm afraid that "Traveller's Curse" would be too strong against SC's, nulling that stragedy option and thus making the game that less stragedically richer.