"Master of Magic" Mod

[HoneyBadger]

I've got an idea as following along the line of thinking that Dom3 does not give the same "personalized experience" as MoM (where your wizard progresses in power, along with your heroes).

First of all: can someone confirm for me the theory that it's possible to mod in spells which cost from 10-15 path levels in the 8 paths of magic to cast them? As far as I know, no spell requires 10 or more Paths currently, but it's possible to Empower up to level 15 in any given Path.

If this can be confirmed, you could then use Empowerment in a heavily modified mod (it'd have to be heavily modified for the sake of balance, and because many spells should to be added to retain interest in gameplay) wherein your Pretender (or potentially others, but mainly your Pretender) could cast spells requiring said Pretender to be Empowered to Path levels 11-15. In order to do this, you'd probably want to eliminate or move the Wish spell and other high-level spells, and possibly make less accessible path level enhancing magic items, as well as adding to, and adjusting, the current spell-list so that spells go from Level 1-15 in Path Power instead of the current 1-9.

This would feasably enable Pretender "progression" in a meaningful way and potentially make Empowerment an integral and vital part of the game.

[Taqwus]

...but if you make it harder to boost paths with items, and remove Wish... how do you expect anybody to justify the cost to reach level *15* ?

The number of design points to reach the upper magic levels tends to be pretty harsh, at least in the vanilla game with no base magic level of 4+. The number of gems for empowerment at that level might be better thrown into summons or globals.

[Manuk]

I don't think the pretender as an AD&D character that has to lvl up.
Having lvl 15 in a path can make the casting of a lvl 9 spell in battle cost less fatigue and adds penetration because of the exceeding difference.

[HoneyBadger]

I think you're right, Taqwus, especially about the boosting items, but do you think Wish should stay where it is at level 9 astral?

Manuk, just suggesting a way to simulate a Pretender that grows in power over time. Level 15 is, I believe, already in the game, so I'm just harnessing what's already present and exploitable.

[Taqwus]

Well... let's say you absolutely max-out initial magic in a path. Level 10. No pretender starts with more than 3 in a path, so that's 7 levels of points. Isn't that something like 8 x (1+2...+7) = 224 design points, even assuming that you're taking an S10 Oracle (0 initial cost, S3 start). Pretty hefty.

If memory serves, empowerment cost is 30 gems for level 1 to 2, and goes up by 15 per level.

So level 10 to 11 is 30+(9*15) = 165 gems.
Level 11 to 12, 180 gems
Level 12 to 13, 195 gems.
Level 13 to 14, 210 gems.
Level 14 to 15, 225 gems.

That's 975 pearls. Maybe fewer -- say, 2 points of boosters are still available, but you're still committing hundreds of gems to a single commander (and in this case, one that moves only via Teleport and has few equipment slots) who might be Feebleminded by an assassin with the Staff of Kurgi and winged shoes, mass Astral Geysered into Perpetual Doom Horror Snacktime, or sent to Inferno/Cocyctus with blood magic. That sort of gem count might be better used in summons; it'd buy five Angelic Choirs led by very strong Seraphim, for instance. Or a completely demented number of Astral Windows to monitor an enemy empire. So there are obvious questions as to what would be worth that expense and risk.

Wish balance depends on what else is being modded. If you're adding monstrously magically strong pretenders, for instance, Wish should be expensive because those pretender types are going to be wished-for.

[HoneyBadger]

Well, what would be worth that expense? Considering that the whole magic system would basically have to be redone, what effect in a game-aside from instantly winning or anything that would guarantee a win-would be worth that kind of empowering?

[Foodstamp]

Just an update on the progress of this mod. I have added 8 nations from Master of Magic into the game, 6 more left woot! All that is missing from the nations that are currently in are descriptions, better start sites, and a creative way of naming the nations that ties into original game.

After the nations are finished, I plan to add all the heroes from master of magic as being available to certain nations, I plan to add some wizard pretenders to represent the wizards in master of magic, and finally I intend to add as many of the spelld as possible that will translate well to Dominions.