Yeah, Carry Voices is a really complicated Air spell. Though the one in particular on these books is an incredibly old, sideways variation on it, so it'd be hard for any modern arcanist to fully dissect the spell without potentially ruining that copy of it.
Essentially the enchantment that's on the books is a very complicated combination of Air, Summoning, and Force magics, most of which are used in great nuance. The specific combination of spells is also copy-able. Thus, the books your characters have are not thousands of years old, but the spell on them is. Sort of the equivalent of hearing a song from the year 300 being played.
The schools of magic aren't as limited as they might initially seem, and as we move on you'll find a few things. Namely, combinations of different schools that have their own name, and very specific subschools.
There's also the forbidden schools of magic (Necromancy, Hexes, and Antimagic to name just a few), but those are different matter entirely.
Poor Ica. Completely forgotten :< Like the RP he's trying to start. At this rate I'm going to say screw IJBM and get one more here because guh this is frustrating >.<
Arcanists. I like that as a universal name for the classes.
It's used more to refer to the caster classes. Though it can encompass all of them as well. Depends on context.
Also keep in mind that there are a ton of classes that you guys just don't have access to because they wouldn't make sense in the Academy's setting (there is not a single Faith-based Spellcaster anywhere in the Academy [except a single Cleric in the students' chapel, which is more of a club than anything]. It's considered unscholarly, likewise, you're unlikely to run across any Blood Witches), or just because they don't practice magic at all (there is certainly such a thing as a "straight" Fighter in this universe, but why would they be here?) So it's important to keep some perspective, I feel.
Practitioners of Blood Magic, or sangomancy, if you want to get fancy. A sort of sideways cousin of Necromancy, and an unusual form of magic in that it is (perhaps unsurprisingly) cast from life energy (HP) rather than mana (MP). It's quite powerful if used correctly, but (again, unsurprisingly) it tends to take its toll the user even moreso than regular Necromancy does. Although it's entirely possible to steal other people's life energy with it, and it's also one of the two schools (the other being again, Necromancy) that's believed to be capable of granting people immortality. So despite being very, very illegal for a variety of reasons, it's widely practiced underground. A hypothetical individual who has achieved immortality via Blood Magic is known as a "Red Lich".
The reason there are no Blood Magic-using Wizards is that Blood Magic mixes very poorly with other magics in general with only a few exceptions. Trying to mingle it with other forms of magic (especially elemental magic) tends to cause such things as one accidentally lighting their entire circulatory system on fire, which is rather unpleasant for all involved. Blood Skalds and Rangers are pretty rare for the sole reason that Blood Magic is significantly harder to learn than more legal forms of magic because of its underground status and the lack of easily-accessible reliable spellbooks.
Even true Blood Witches are very, very rare. At the time the RP takes place, it's been decades since one has been apprehended. Most practitioners of Blood Magic are Arcane Dabblers, this being the informal class for anyone who practices arcane magic but is not a witch, wizard, skald, or ranger.
For the record, just because I talk about something does not necessarily mean you will or won't encounter it. You might, or the NPC's team might, or the possible Team B might if we get enough people later on who are interested enough to start a second team, or even none of you might.
There are creatures called Moon Trolls that you're certainly never going to encounter. They live on the moon (not an ATHF reference, they really do).
A character like Kenneth being aware of the existence of blood magic is probably bad, even if he cannot use it. Still, may I speak for both myself and my character when I say: Cooooool.
Ilmenda is a prodigy student at the academy, and something of a snob (though not truly evil in any meaningful way). She's also a master poisoner, and even at her relatively inexperienced level, has become adept in a variety of venom magics. In particular, she has a soft spot for the oft-neglected Mutation subschool, of which she is one of only a half-dozen or so practitioners at the Academy. As a side effect of some of these spells, she sometimes drools a silvery liquid.
Ilmenda has a reputation for being ruthless in The Dungeon, often getting her hands dirty or melting the flesh right off of her enemies. She may be arrogant, but she is by no means inexperienced, and her spells cover a wide array of deadly offensive techniques.
Spell List (Spells marked with a † are unique to this individual)
Silver in the Blood -- The caster targets a nearby enemy and temporarily makes their blood run with mercury. This effect is incredibly painful and deals 1d12 points of damage for each round that it is active. The effect persists for 1d4-1 rounds, and bypasses mundane poison resistance. This spell may not be used on creatures that lack a circulatory system, such as constructs or oozes. [Range 1: Ring]
Inflict Silverspit Sickness† -- The caster targets a nearby enemy (or themselves, see below) and inflicts them with a debilitating sickness. The target begins drooling globs of a silvery liquid, and eventually vomiting it. The target vomits 1d4 times per round for 1d4 points of acid damage, and while under the effects of the disease, spellcasting enemies gain a 20% spell/ability failure chance. The sickness itself subsides after 1d4-1 rounds.
alternate casting method: Self-Infliction -- The caster may alternately target themselves. This form of the spell has the same general symptoms as the enemy-targeted one, but the spell/ability failure chance is raised to 50%, and damage is changed to a flat 1d8 points of acid damage per round. In addition, rather than vomiting uncontrollably, the caster gains a breath weapon that deals 3d6 acid damage [Range 3: Cone]. The breath weapon may be used once per round. [MP: 80] [Range 1, Ring |OR| Range: Self]
Viper Bite -- The caster grows snakelike fangs and, for 1d4-1 rounds (minimum 1), gains a bite attack that deals 1d6 venom damage. While these fangs exist, the caster has a 40% spell/ability failure rate. [MP: 40] [Range: Self]
Detoxify -- The caster removes all non-actively maintained toxins from a large area. [MP: 40] [Range 5: Ring]
Ilmenda's Billowing Doom† -- A replication of an Old Idol's Sacrificial Incense ability, this spell creates a supernaturally thick, tarry cloud of smoke that deals 1d4 Venom damage per round to any creature within it. Creatures that are immune to Venom damage instead recieve Shadow damage. [MP: 60] [Range 3: Cone, Expands]
Poison Bolt -- The caster flings a simple, but effective bolt of pure Venom at a target, dealing 2d6 Venom damage. [MP: 40] [Range 3: Line]
Abilities:
Regenerate Mana (Witch Ability) -- Once per round, a Witch may gather ambient mana in the air and use it to recharge their own magical energies, restoring 10 MP.
Poison Immunity (Passive) -- Ilmenda is immune to all poisons, magical or mundane. This does not grant immunity from non-poison toxins, such as corrosion, or the rare source of radiation.
Inventory
2x Potions of Mana Infusion 2x Potions of Healing 1x Scroll of Summon Aligned Elemental 1x +1 Silver Scepter (1d6) 50x Explosive Runeballs Clothes Spell Pouch Dungeoncrawler's Starter Rucksack
Well then I'd expect it to be surrounded in quotes.
I mean it's just sort of jarring considering he'd previously been posting in third person past (which, fyi, is what you're supposed to be doing. Doing otherwise might cause order confusion later.)
Have I mentioned that keeping my tenses consistent is a thing that I occasionally forget to do? Because that is a thing that I forget to do. You have no idea how that mucks things up when I write prose.
I feel the need to point out that Venom Magic is not necessarily strictly poisonous. It can deal with corrosion/acid, mutation (a venom of the body), and in a few cases even radiation. I should also point out that many healing spells are of the Venom school.
I'm guessing our own schools will be slow to have their branches revealed?
Even though I'd love to see how fire branches out... (I'd be surprised if summonibg branched out since it's basically conjuring things. That already has TONS of uses...)
off the top of my head (I don't have the list in front of me), magma/lava spells, manaflame (which deals damage to MP in addition to or instead of HP), ghostfire (deals physical or Shadow damage instead of Fire damage), and general Heat spells as well (eg. there's a pretty powerful one called Melt. I don't think I need to explicate what it does). You can branch out more than once, and you can also choose to gain Passives instead of new spells (this is why Ilmenda has the Poison Immunity passive), or alternate casting methods (see again, Ilmenda's alt-cast for Inflict Silverspit Sickness).
(I'd be surprised if summonibg branched out since it's basically conjuring things. That already has TONS of uses...)
Well, animating (which is basically summoning but a little different, and I assume your spider things already use some kind of Animation magic), object summoning, and abjuration (countersummoning). Plus summoning different kinds of creatures (demons, "natural" undead, elementals, etc.)
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Is there a separate school of magic that's specifically for enchanting books and stuff?
Yeah, Carry Voices is a really complicated Air spell. Though the one in particular on these books is an incredibly old, sideways variation on it, so it'd be hard for any modern arcanist to fully dissect the spell without potentially ruining that copy of it.
Essentially the enchantment that's on the books is a very complicated combination of Air, Summoning, and Force magics, most of which are used in great nuance. The specific combination of spells is also copy-able. Thus, the books your characters have are not thousands of years old, but the spell on them is. Sort of the equivalent of hearing a song from the year 300 being played.
The schools of magic aren't as limited as they might initially seem, and as we move on you'll find a few things. Namely, combinations of different schools that have their own name, and very specific subschools.
There's also the forbidden schools of magic (Necromancy, Hexes, and Antimagic to name just a few), but those are different matter entirely.
yeah it would appear I forgot to do yours entirely.
whelp
I feel bad about myself now.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
It's used more to refer to the caster classes. Though it can encompass all of them as well. Depends on context.
Also keep in mind that there are a ton of classes that you guys just don't have access to because they wouldn't make sense in the Academy's setting (there is not a single Faith-based Spellcaster anywhere in the Academy [except a single Cleric in the students' chapel, which is more of a club than anything]. It's considered unscholarly, likewise, you're unlikely to run across any Blood Witches), or just because they don't practice magic at all (there is certainly such a thing as a "straight" Fighter in this universe, but why would they be here?) So it's important to keep some perspective, I feel.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Practitioners of Blood Magic, or sangomancy, if you want to get fancy. A sort of sideways cousin of Necromancy, and an unusual form of magic in that it is (perhaps unsurprisingly) cast from life energy (HP) rather than mana (MP). It's quite powerful if used correctly, but (again, unsurprisingly) it tends to take its toll the user even moreso than regular Necromancy does. Although it's entirely possible to steal other people's life energy with it, and it's also one of the two schools (the other being again, Necromancy) that's believed to be capable of granting people immortality. So despite being very, very illegal for a variety of reasons, it's widely practiced underground. A hypothetical individual who has achieved immortality via Blood Magic is known as a "Red Lich".
The reason there are no Blood Magic-using Wizards is that Blood Magic mixes very poorly with other magics in general with only a few exceptions. Trying to mingle it with other forms of magic (especially elemental magic) tends to cause such things as one accidentally lighting their entire circulatory system on fire, which is rather unpleasant for all involved. Blood Skalds and Rangers are pretty rare for the sole reason that Blood Magic is significantly harder to learn than more legal forms of magic because of its underground status and the lack of easily-accessible reliable spellbooks.
Even true Blood Witches are very, very rare. At the time the RP takes place, it's been decades since one has been apprehended. Most practitioners of Blood Magic are Arcane Dabblers, this being the informal class for anyone who practices arcane magic but is not a witch, wizard, skald, or ranger.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
It's a wide world out there.
For the record, just because I talk about something does not necessarily mean you will or won't encounter it. You might, or the NPC's team might, or the possible Team B might if we get enough people later on who are interested enough to start a second team, or even none of you might.
There are creatures called Moon Trolls that you're certainly never going to encounter. They live on the moon (not an ATHF reference, they really do).
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
while I was out, I wrote this
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ilmenda Elyvilon
Arrogant Mutant Venom Mage
Venom Witch
Level 5
HP: 80
MP: 120
ATK: 10 (+1 Silver Scepter: 1d6)
DEF: 10
Mg.ATK: 100
Mg.DEF: 30
Ilmenda is a prodigy student at the academy, and something of a snob (though not truly evil in any meaningful way). She's also a master poisoner, and even at her relatively inexperienced level, has become adept in a variety of venom magics. In particular, she has a soft spot for the oft-neglected Mutation subschool, of which she is one of only a half-dozen or so practitioners at the Academy. As a side effect of some of these spells, she sometimes drools a silvery liquid.
Ilmenda has a reputation for being ruthless in The Dungeon, often getting her hands dirty or melting the flesh right off of her enemies. She may be arrogant, but she is by no means inexperienced, and her spells cover a wide array of deadly offensive techniques.
Spell List (Spells marked with a † are unique to this individual)
Silver in the Blood -- The caster targets a nearby enemy and temporarily makes their blood run with mercury. This effect is incredibly painful and deals 1d12 points of damage for each round that it is active. The effect persists for 1d4-1 rounds, and bypasses mundane poison resistance. This spell may not be used on creatures that lack a circulatory system, such as constructs or oozes. [Range 1: Ring]
Inflict Silverspit Sickness† -- The caster targets a nearby enemy (or themselves, see below) and inflicts them with a debilitating sickness. The target begins drooling globs of a silvery liquid, and eventually vomiting it. The target vomits 1d4 times per round for 1d4 points of acid damage, and while under the effects of the disease, spellcasting enemies gain a 20% spell/ability failure chance. The sickness itself subsides after 1d4-1 rounds.
Viper Bite -- The caster grows snakelike fangs and, for 1d4-1 rounds (minimum 1), gains a bite attack that deals 1d6 venom damage. While these fangs exist, the caster has a 40% spell/ability failure rate. [MP: 40] [Range: Self]
Detoxify -- The caster removes all non-actively maintained toxins from a large area. [MP: 40] [Range 5: Ring]
Ilmenda's Billowing Doom† -- A replication of an Old Idol's Sacrificial Incense ability, this spell creates a supernaturally thick, tarry cloud of smoke that deals 1d4 Venom damage per round to any creature within it. Creatures that are immune to Venom damage instead recieve Shadow damage. [MP: 60] [Range 3: Cone, Expands]
Poison Bolt -- The caster flings a simple, but effective bolt of pure Venom at a target, dealing 2d6 Venom damage. [MP: 40] [Range 3: Line]
Abilities:
Regenerate Mana (Witch Ability) -- Once per round, a Witch may gather ambient mana in the air and use it to recharge their own magical energies, restoring 10 MP.
Poison Immunity (Passive) -- Ilmenda is immune to all poisons, magical or mundane. This does not grant immunity from non-poison toxins, such as corrosion, or the rare source of radiation.
Inventory
2x Potions of Mana Infusion
2x Potions of Healing
1x Scroll of Summon Aligned Elemental
1x +1 Silver Scepter (1d6)
50x Explosive Runeballs
Clothes
Spell Pouch
Dungeoncrawler's Starter Rucksack
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'll begin work on the last couple stat sheets after I wake up from the nap I'm about to take.
edit: I apologize that this is as hard to read as it is. Vanilla hates it when I copy/paste things from MS WordPad for some reason.
And mutation magic? Now it's MY turn to speak for myself and my character and say Cool!
Friendly reminder that this is one of the good guys.
For a given value of good, anyway.
Not really. If Ilmenda tried anything the Monitor Golem would just activate his dampening field.
You'll know if you're screwed. Trust me.
The likelihood of you even running into her in the Dungeon is incredibly low in of itself just because of how the Dungeon works.
On top of that, Ilmenda isn't stupid, and she's not nearly "muahahahaha" evil enough to even try to attack you in the first place.
If you really wanted to, I suppose.
In the end, I'm not sure it wouldn't be more trouble than it's worth.
I mean, I'm not going to stop you.
Just, y'know.
Well then I'd expect it to be surrounded in quotes.
I mean it's just sort of jarring considering he'd previously been posting in third person past (which, fyi, is what you're supposed to be doing. Doing otherwise might cause order confusion later.)
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Thank you for alerting me to my mistake.
oh.
ok.
I feel the need to point out that Venom Magic is not necessarily strictly poisonous. It can deal with corrosion/acid, mutation (a venom of the body), and in a few cases even radiation. I should also point out that many healing spells are of the Venom school.
Even though I'd love to see how fire branches out... (I'd be surprised if summonibg branched out since it's basically conjuring things. That already has TONS of uses...)
The main issue there is that while those constructs are kept elsewhere, you basically teleport them to you when you need them.
In that sense, I suppose your character is already somewhat specialized in the Animation subschool, but I'm hesitant to actually mark you as such.