Light Bulb just went on. How magic works? (Newbie)

[Gargoyle]

Please tell me if I have this right:

A) A spells school of magic (for instance a lvl 2 Enchantment) is not the Level of Magic skill you need. The Spell itself might say Fire 1 & Death 1, and thats the skill required to cast it.

B) A magic user with skill fire 3 could cast a spell that required fire skill six by using 3 gems to cast it.

C) A magic user could cast a spell that required fire skill 6 if he/she were only fire skill 2 by either have a magic item that boosted his/her skill OR by casting a boosting spell OR by being empowered to a higher skill level.

D) This is a question based on if all the above is right. Could a skill lvl fire 1 mage have an item to boost to skill 2, use a spell boost (now skill 3 for the battle), and then use 3 gems to cast a skill 6 spell?

[Zen]

D.) Yes. But only if the spell had >=199 Fatigue. If it is more than that, the spell will not be cast or you must use more gems in order to lower the fatigue level below 199 to cast it.

The AI will not cast things spells based on the fatigue system that will cripple or potentially kill them. So a hardline number of 199 Fatigue (after all gems) is adhered to.

So if your 6Path spell has a fatigue cost of 100, then you could cast the spell in the manner you described. If it has a 200 or 300 Fatigue, it will not be cast without more gems to fuel it (and that you cannot use because of the gem booster system).

[Zen]

Also one other note, the reduction of fatigue for spells based on higher than needed path only goes off ot the Primary (or first) path of a spell.

So if you were trying to reduce your fatigue for casting a spell like Gaia's Blessing (6N2E) you would need 7 nature, but having more earth than required would not do anything at all (other than allow you to cast the spell).

[ioticus]

I thought you could only raise your skill a maximum of 1 level by using 1 gem, and the rest simply lowers fatigue.

[Nerfix]

ioticus said:
I thought you could only raise your skill a maximum of 1 level by using 1 gem, and the rest simply lowers fatigue.

That's the way it goes.

[Gargoyle]

ioticus said:
I thought you could only raise your skill a maximum of 1 level by using 1 gem, and the rest simply lowers fatigue.

Quoting ioticus, but thank you Zen.

ioticus, I thought the same thing. I kept thinking that the magic users available were just so weak and empowering them so expensive. But now understanding the system better I can see how to use the higher key spells once you have them. Its just a matter of preparation and ecomony.

[Shmonk]

Also, as a note on skill boosting. I believe if you try to raise a skill with an item, you can't use the same item twice to boost it by 2. So, if you have a 2N mage who forges 2 Thistle Maces (which boost Nature Magic by 1), if he equips them both he still only get's 1 boost to Nature, not 2.