Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

The usage of arcane glyphs and diagrams to power a wide variety of occult rituals.
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nobody
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Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by nobody »

I plundered the spellbook of a rules-light table top rpg and found the following magical utility effects of note:
  • generating light - already a thing, distyr
  • hovering storage - This would be a great effect. Put a bag, crate, what-have-you in the magical circle, it floats up and follows you around for the duration. Very handy. Should probably have a weight limit.
  • temporarily recoloring objects - This would be fun, albeit not outrageously useful. It could help a clever thief though.
  • removing morale penalties from bad food (taste only, not texture) - again, fun but not outrageously useful. Most of the really demoralizing food in the game is a texture AND taste issue
  • commune with the dead - would be a great source of lore, but also horrible to deal with all the ramifications, don't implement without very sound lore reasons on why it can only be done with specific dead NPCs
  • detect other magical effects - This would be a useful on-the-fly ability, but most effects at present are visually distinct. Will be more useful after trap-like occult effects exist
  • make a mob non-hostile - This is already the schtick of bards, rangers, and primalists, so arcanists don't need it
  • become invisible - already the realm of muffle/blur
  • create a loud or inaudible (only in the caster's mind) alert when a creature enters the area - this would be an awesome roll arcana vs. stealth effect and a boon to anyone aiming to be discrete
  • remove another magical effect - this is classic wizard schtick but I dunno how to make it work here aside from possibly disarming occult trap-like effects
  • view what happened in the room in the past - ALSO a great source of lore for which the other ramifications would be too horrible, also don't implement without specific lore reasons on why it only works with certain places/times
  • alter appearance to match another - a great disguise effect, again very useful for the arcane charlatan
  • create illusory doubles - most often useful in combat and somewhat redundant with the warding sphere. Could be distinctly useful if it made regular attacks also carry a feint effect.
  • put foes to sleep - also iconic wizard spell, would make a good occult circle trap, may step on bard toes
  • contain a creature in a cage of force - another great occult circle trap, not as useful when mobs don't walk into rooms with other mobs but I imagine that is an alpha safety feature that will eventually go away
  • shapechange into another form - more the thing of the primalists
  • summon a creature - potentially useful, not sure what form that'd take
  • see through illusions - useful as a direct negation of (illusory doubles, temporarily recoloring objects, magically altered appearance, and blur (possibly)
  • short-range teleportation - always useful, tends to negate climb and create lots of "well why can't I just teleport to that part of the room that is inaccessible but in the room description" and thus problematic
  • bar creatures (of a certain type) from entering an area - also useful for people trying to be discrete/secure
  • create an extra-dimensional safe place - fun but if either the cage of force or the above circle of protection effects are implemented, not as useful.
  • creation of magical gates - This is a better way to handle teleportation as the casting arcanist(s) must have been able to get to both places already. Should probably have a range limitation or duration limitation or both, should carry potential for BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN (like permanent exile) if arcanists link areas with hostiles (say, a snowy pass with hungry, scaly things) and areas of civilization (say, a town mine).
I'll add more when I plunder additional sources.
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Rias
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by Rias »

There are some good ideas in here! Please do plunder more and share your findings.
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TheCacklackian
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by TheCacklackian »

Outward gave some decent inspiration for an idea, Occult circles that don't do anything by themselves, alongside abilities that do very little by themselves. Example:
Channel arcana-cast spark
*You shoot harmless sparks at your target dealing miniscule heat damage*
enter circle
*The circle catalyzes and glows a fiery orange*
cast spark
*You shoot a potent fireball at your target dealing moderate heat damage*


This is a rough example, but maybe certain circles require something more than just chalk to make, and depending on the circle, alters the spells effects.

EDIT:This doesn't just need to be combat spells, this can apply to other things as well.
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Rias
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by Rias »

That does sound nifty! My dream, which is probably way too ambitious, is to have the more complex diagrams essentially be like miniature programs, following the sequence of commands given by the glyphs within them.
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by nobody »

Rias wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 8:27 pm That does sound nifty! My dream, which is probably way too ambitious, is to have the more complex diagrams essentially be like miniature programs, following the sequence of commands given by the glyphs within them.
That is quite ambitious. It would be delightful to set up an error catching system so that when they've made an arcane programming error BAD THINGS HAPPEN. Speaking of bad things, I've been thinking about that too.

Bad Things
  • Sanity loss for you
  • Sanity loss for everybody! (in the room)
  • Massive energy loss for you (may be lethal)
  • Energy loss for everybody in the room
  • Your anomalum chalk explodes! (hope you weren't carrying too much)
  • An occult trap effect triggers on you (hope you brought a book, that force cage will dissipate eventually).
  • You draw attention in a bad way (hostiles in the area become more likely to move toward your room).
  • You draw attention in a really bad way (some being of power has noticed you meddling in things better left alone).
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Maina
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by Maina »

Since this is for inspiration from other sources, here is a drawing-style magic I always thought was interesting:

Runecraft: the Basics

I wish I could find the original author, but they seem to be anonymous.
TheCacklackian
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by TheCacklackian »

So I had some level of an idea,
Elemental Occultism-A way to include elemental damage types/themed class that doesn't revolve around conjuring up matter from thin air, elemental occultism's effects varies depending on the conditions, the environment, and perhaps other factors that aren't well known. The basics require that you be standing within an elemental circle (of which you can only learn one, unless you're an arcanist(?)), with the prerequisite that a valid element must be present for your channeling to have any effect. The difficulty of each element is dependent on the density of the material, and rigidity which the occultist is trying to manipulate. For example, even an extremely skilled Esthe user, would have a hard time in mountainous regions, not for a lack of material, but due to how difficult the terrain would be to command, similar comparisons can be drawn to a Ferre user, and ice, while an Isjra user would not have any issue with density, making it one of the easier of the occult magicks to learn, it does require that fire be present, and that this magic suffers in windy or particularly cold areas, where the fire could be easily snuffed out. Masle users have the most easily accessed of the magicks, however with that, it is also the most dependent on outside conditions, as weather can readily affect this magick in a way that most others are not..
Diagrams-

Esthe-Earth-(The hardest of the elemental diagrams to learn, due to earth's predisposition to being a fairly dense material, even well trained Esthe-Occultists can only use this diagram in regions with soil or sand, whilest it takes much training and devotion to hope to have any control over the more rocky climates, such as the mountains. This form of magic is mostly defensive, but can be used to do physical damage, the type of which depends on the location. Due to the difficulty of affecting most stones or rocks, this magick is mostly allowed in the confines of town.)

Ferre-Water(Due to water being fairly non-dense, and much more fluid than more rigid elements such as stone, the Ferre Diagram is among one of the easier to use elemental arcanas. Practitioners and scholars of this art, tend to carry some metric of water with them, or stay in humid, rainy areas, or near rivers. This magick is fairly potent at delivering weak physical damage, with fairly high energy drain on the targets from being hit with pressurized water, however, in icy regions, very few are able to command the much more rigid ice to any great effect, and in dryer more arid regions, most Ferre users are rendered inert.)

Isjra-Fire(One of the easier elements to learn, but incredibly difficult to do utilize in a fashion that is safe, this magick is widely shunned or banned inside of towns due to it's ability to cause widespread damage with relatively little ease. Requiring a fire to be present, Isjra users can fairly easily and deftly manipulate the flames, granting them fairly substantially increased offensive skills compared to the other elements, though not without limit. Isjra users suffer in cold regions, humid regions and windy regions, as the flame may be much harder to maintain in such areas, and against targets that are currently wet, it becomes extremely weak, making this a poor magick to use in the rain.)

Masle-Air(The easiest of the elemental magicks to learn, also being the most accessable, Masle requires only that you be in the presence of air, which is a rather abundant resource in the last lands, however it's effects are somewhat anemic, and most can only manage a simple 'push' via the wind. However, in regions that are particularly windy, such as the sea, or mountains, this element thrives, granting easier and more powerful casts. Various Weather conditions can also augment this elemental magick, especially when it storms. Master Masle users can harvest the very power of lightning when it storms, albiet at the cost of much of their energy. In winter regions, this magick also tends to send freezing gusts of winds into it's targets.)
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by Agelity »

I was thinking that one way for Arcanists to have some sort of ranged attack would be to create a glyph on the ground (with a new shape maybe?) that allows the caster to gather up x amount of energy and be able to CAST however many casts per the amount of energy they were temporarily storing. Could start with raw concussive bludgeoning damage, damage/accuracy scaling with ranged and arcana.

They would ultimately still need to prep beforehand, and I could very well see this as being fairly energy intensive as well. Additional tiers could reduce resource consumption, maybe increase staggering potential by a small amount.
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Rias
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by Rias »

One of the advanced Arcanist-only glyphs I'm working on is temporarily named Spell store, which essentially allows Arcanists to store up X number of spells ahead of time. Front-load the effort of drawing a bunch of occult diagrams, and "store" their effects for immediate activation later when applicable. It has to be used with specifically compatible glyphs, and of course only so many can be stored at a time, the amount increasing with the level of Arcana skill.

For combat applications, again for Arcanists only, I've been considering a type of glyph that allows repeated usage while the glyph's effect lasts. For instance, let's say a Fortourgy-based thing that allows them to throw orbs of concussive force for as long as the effect is active. And a limit on how many could be active at once, so to switch tactics you'd have to find a safe spot where you can draw a new diagram to switch up your "loaded" spell effects that you want to be able to repeatedly unleash during combat.
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TheCacklackian
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Re: Stealing creative inspiration from other sources

Post by TheCacklackian »

@Nobody One way that 'communing with the dead' could be implemented is the 'Blood Echo' ability, perhaps using it when in the presence of a 'valid' dead NPC would allow you to speak with whatever remained of the fading life. As for lore reasons, we could say it only works on npc's who's soul lingers in the area, whereas most move on after death? Just an idea.
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