Naive question on casting 500+ fatigue spells

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Endoperez:
I thought that the maximum amount of gems that could be used was capped at the mage's power level... So that Earth 9 mage could only use 9 gems so only two could be used when casting Army of the Lead.

If this were the case, then an astral 4 mage could never cast solar brilliance. They can cast the spell, so it's not the case.

[Endoperez]

Hmm. Maybe this was changed from Dominions 1... Or the manual wasn't updated after that was changed. Thanks for clearing that for me.
EDIT: I mean Dom1 manual.

[ May 26, 2004, 15:44: Message edited by: Endoperez ]

[Kel]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by Endoperez:
I thought that the maximum amount of gems that could be used was capped at the mage's power level... So that Earth 9 mage could only use 9 gems so only two could be used when casting Army of the Lead.

If this were the case, then an astral 4 mage could never cast solar brilliance. They can cast the spell, so it's not the case.

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It was also my understanding (from reading these forums) that it was capped at the mage's level, currently, in Dom2.

- Kel

[Graeme Dice]

For a better explanation, Solar Brilliance is an astral 5 spell that requires 5 astral pearls to cast (and hence requires 500 fatigue to cast). I have personally seen astral 4, and astral 5 mages cast this spell against a horde of undead without going over 200 fatigue. This is only possible if they are capable of spending the 5 gems as the base cost, then up to 4 or 5 gems more to boost their power level and reduce fatigue.

[atul]

Originally posted by Endoperez:
I mean Dom1 manual.

From Dom2 manual, chapter 6.4.7 Battle Magic and Magic Gems:

"(A paragraph detailing the gem use as fatique lessener)

A mage may not use more gems than his skill level in the path of gem being used. If a spell requires magic gems to be cast, the mage must pay that amount of gems in addition to the gems he used to raise his skill level."

Reading that fast, I'd think level 4 mage could use only 4 gems, total. On the other hand, the first quoted sentence _might_ refer to above paragraph, so it would mean max 4 gems could be used for level raising / fatique removing, in addition to the amount of gems required to cast the spell. But as I'm not a native speaker, the interpretation is best left to someone else.

Anyway, just bad wording in the manual, misinformation, or some sort of unintended behaviour?

[LintMan]

I know for sure that I've seen L3 mages use 4-5 gems on a single spell.

I think the manual is worded a bit confusingly, but is saying that a mage can't use more than his level in gems to boost his level for casting reqs/fatigue reduction purposes. The gem cost of the spell itself is independent of that.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by atul:
From Dom2 manual, chapter 6.4.7 Battle Magic and Magic Gems:

"(A paragraph detailing the gem use as fatique lessener)

A mage may not use more gems than his skill level in the path of gem being used. If a spell requires magic gems to be cast, the mage must pay that amount of gems in addition to the gems he used to raise his skill level."

Reading that fast, I'd think level 4 mage could use only 4 gems, total. On the other hand, the first quoted sentence _might_ refer to above paragraph, so it would mean max 4 gems could be used for level raising / fatique removing, in addition to the amount of gems required to cast the spell.

The latter interpretation is the correct one. Although a mage will never use more than 7 extra gems to reduce his fatigue, even if he's level 8+ in the path required to cast the spell.