Archive:Rune combination

This proposal has been accepted

The development team has discussed the contents of this article and has decided that it should be implemented as described. But the implementation is not finished yet. You can help to bring the features described here into the game.

The spell runes that can be engraved in equipment to cast spells (see Magic system) each represent a word in the ancient language of magic. In the runewriting language each words is represented by a single rune which is a combination of multiple syllable runes.

The syllable runes can be learned through quests. A spellcaster can combine the learned syllable runes to spell runes in a special GUI window. When she found a valid combination she can save this combination to engrave it into equipment. When wearing equipment with runes engraved by someone else that contain syllables unknown to the spellcaster she can not use these spells (the meaning of the runes is unknown to her and thus she can not read them).

Glossary:

Mana Cost

The total mana energy needed to recharge the spell (see Magic system)

Slots

How many rune slots the finished rune will take up in equipment. The slots of all rune particles are added.

Level

The skill level requirement of the spell rune. The requirements of all particles are added.

Note that all numbers on this page are only guesses. In practice they will most likely require a lot of fine tuning through beta testing to get the perfect game balance.

Effect syllables

Every finished spell rune needs one effect syllable. It determines what kind of damage the spell inflicts, how much basic damage and the basic mana cost. The first effect syllable should be acquired through the tutorial (I suggest heat). The others are accquired through one long series of quests for each element. These quests should be very straight-forward and easy to follow (although not necessarily easy to complete) because the effect syllables are very important for the progress of a spellcaster character.

Element	Name	Slots	Level	damage	cost
Fire	Heat	1	0	10	10
	Flame	2	20	20	30
	Fire	3	40	40	100
	Hellfire	4	60	80	300
Water	Bubble	1	0	10	10
	Splash	2	20	20	30
	Water	3	40	40	100
	Tsunami	4	60	80	300
Earth	Sand	1	0	10	10
	Mud	2	20	20	30
	Earth	3	40	40	100
	Stone	4	60	80	300
Air	Wind	1	0	10	10
	Tornado	2	20	20	30
	Air	3	40	40	100
	Sonic	4	60	80	300

Combined effect syllables

Two effect syllables with the same slot number, damage and mana cost that do different elemental damage can be combined to one effect syllable of a combined element. All properties stay the same but the element is a combined one.

Element	Rune 1	Rune 2	Combined
Metal	Heat	Sand	Spike
	Flame	Mud	Blade
	Fire	Earth	Metal
	Hellfire	Stone	Razor
Lightning	Wind	Heat	Spark
	Tornado	Flame	Volt
	Air	Fire	Lightning
	Sonic	Hellfire	Thunder
Ice	Bubble	Wind	Cold
	Splash	Tornado	Frost
	Water	Air	Ice
	Tzunami	Sonic	Blizzard
Nature	Sand	Bubble	Thorn
	Mud	Splash	Poison
	Earth	Water	Nature
	Stone	Tzunami	Acid

Application syllable

Each finished rune can, but doesn't has to, include one application syllable. This rune decides the area of effect of the spell. They also affect the mana cost, damage of the spell, cast time and after cast delay. Usually the easier to use the higher the mana cost and the lower the damage.

Application syllables are learned from wizard NPCs. The NPCs are usually not hard to find and will usually send the character on a short quest before he will teach it to the character.

Attack spells

Rune	cost	damage	level	slots	cast time	cooldown time	description
None	1.0	1.0	+0	+0	low	low	When no application syllable is used the attack becomes a touch-range attack that only affects an enemy that is exactly in front of the character.
Bolt	1.2	0.8	+5	+0	low	medium	The bolt syllable makes the spell a projectile that flies forward and hits the first enemy it collides with. It is slightly weaker and costlier than a touch attack but much more usable. The bolt rune should be the first application syllable a new character obtains so that a new mage has the choice between using its first effect syllable as touch attack or as bolt attack.
Ray							Hits all enemies that stand in a line from the caster to the targeted point.
Cone							Hits all enemies in a 45° angle in front of the caster.
Ball					Medium	Medium	Projectile that causes a small area of effect.
Blast					Medium	High	Free positioned, small area of effect.
Storm					High	High	Free-positioned, large area of effect.
Nova					Medium	Medium	small AoE around caster.
Inferno							large AoE around caster.
Apocalypse							extremely large AoE around caster.
Strike							An attack for spellcaster/fighter crossclass characters. The character performs a normal attack with the currently equipped weapon. Hitting and dodging are calculated normally. The attack deals magical damage with the element of the effect particle and calculated by a special formula that includes weapon damage, weapon skill, spell damage, spell skill, strength and willpower.

Support spells

Support spells improve the combat powers of allies or decrease the combat powers of enemies. Note that a spell which decreases the enemies attributes directly is absent. This is intentional - there is an enhancement syllable to add an attribute decrease effect to an attack spell.

Rune	cost	level	slots	cast time	cooldown time	description
Soul						A spell with touch-range which gives the affected creature an elemental modifier and thus makes it more vulnerable to one element but less vulnerable to another. Depending on the situation this can either be a positive or a negative effect. The effect time depends on the casters magical attack while the height of the elemental modifier depends on the grade of the effect rune: grade 1 - 1.25 grade 2 - 1.50 grade 3 - 2.00 grade 4 - 3.00
Barrier						A supportive spell with touch-range which creates a protective shield around another being which persists for a limited amount of time. Some of the shields have a negative side effect on the victim allowing to use them offensive. To avoid griefplay characters should always be able to dispell a barrier which has been cast on them by a friendly or neutral character. Only one barrier can be active at the same time. Before a new barrier can be cast on the same character the old one has to expire or has to be dispelled. Its effect depends on the used element syllable. Enhancement syllables can not be added to barrier runes. Fire Creates a firestorm around the character which damages nearby enemies. Water Creates a bubble around the character allowing it to breath under water. Earth A solid force field protects from physical attacks but also lowers physical attack power. Air Creates a whirlwind around the character which increases its evade a lot but also lowers its own hit chance. Metal Summons blades which fly around the character. Whenever an enemy in a quite large radius around the character attacks it one of the blades flys towards the attacker and inflicts damage. (long-range counter attack) Lightning A mental force field protects from magical attacks but also lowers magical attack power. Ice Encloses the target in a block of ice making it almost immune to physical and magical damage but unable to move, attack or act in any way. Nature Engulfes the target in thorny vines which don't hinder movement but deal damage to everyone who attacks the target in close combat (short-range counter attack)
Blessing						A spell which increases an derived attribute of an ally

Summon spells

These spells summon creatures that aid the caster in battle. Every summoned creature consumes part of the mana regeneration of the character it was summoned by. Thus the number of creatures that can be summoned at the same time is limited. The caster receives experience for the magic skill used to summon the creatures when they contribute to killing a monster.

Spell	cast time	cooldown time	controllable	Further description
Elemental	medium	low	no	Summons an aggressive elemental spirit that attacks enemies, the caster and its party members alike (other players should only be attacked in pvp zones to avoid griefplay)
Golem	high	high	yes	Summons a golem that follows and protects the caster (maybe can be commanded to some extend). Should require expensive ingredients to create.

Enhancement syllables

Enhancement syllables give an attack spell more exotic properties but usully make it weaker and costlier. Any number of enhancement syllables can be used for a rune. They can not be applied to support spells.

The quests to obtain these syllables are all hidden very well and usually require some thinking outside of the box to complete.

Rune	cost	damage	effect
silent	200%	50%	When a silent spell is cast it can not be seen by other characters. They only see that they are damaged but not what causes the damage.
vampiric	150%	75%	10% of the hit points lost through this spell are given to the caster.
illusionary	10%	0%	This is the only enhancement particle that makes the spell (a lot!) cheaper instead of more expensive. An illusionary spell appears like a real one to other players but does no damage. Useful as a distraction in PvP combat. How can that guy cast ten enforced fire storms in a row? Oh, I see, they are all illusionary. *ouch* ok, this one wasn't
enforced	200%	100%	Halves the enemies magical defence.
creeping	120%	200%	Deals damage over time instead of instant damage. The total damage is higher but inflicted in small portions of 4% every second for 25 seconds.
cursed	150%	75%	Inflicts an additional attribute loss in addition to the normal damage. What attribute is affected and how much depends on the effect particle.
quick	150%	75%	Reduced casting time and after cast delay.

Healing spells

I would like to take the healing spells out of the elemental scheme und use a separate skill for them. Putting all healing spells in one elemental discipline would make this extremely overused because I believe almost every spellcaster would attempt to accquire healing spells. Spreading all healing spells over the whole elemental spectrum would be difficult to balance and would be a disadvantage for dedicated healers.

For that reason all healing spells are not combinations of syllables but stand-alone runes.

Spell	Element	Effect	Target	cast time	cooldown time	Further description
Lay hands	neutral	heal	untargeted	low	low	Basic healing spell. Heals the character standing right in front of the caster. The low range makes it impractical in combat.
Heal	neutral	heal	single	medium	medium	Less efficient than lay hands but because it can be used at distance it is more practical in combat and it can be cast on oneself.
Regeneration	neutral	heal over time	single	medium	medium	Heals more than heal but takes more time.
Aura	neutral	heal	untargeted, persistent	high	high	Creates a healing aura around the caster that slowly heals everyone around. Doesn't affect the caster.
Revive	neutral	restore	single	high	high	Attempts to revive a dead character that has not returned to its spawn point yet. The healing skill level of the caster must be higher than the total character level of the target to be successful.
Detox	neutral	restore	untargeted	high	low	Attempts to remove a status effect that falls in the category "poisons" from the character standing in front of the caster.
Decurse	neutral	restore	untargeted	high	low	Attempts to removes a status effect that falls in the category "curses" (like most attribute decrease spells) from the character standing in front of the caster.
Disinfect	neutral	restore	untargeted	high	low	Attempts to removes a status effect that falls in the category "diseases" from the character standing in front of the caster.

Unsorted Spells

Below are spells planned or implemented for eAthena that are not covered by the above:

• Transmute X to Y (partially used as quest spell)
• Aggravate
• Detect Magic (quest spell)
• Flying backpack (temporarily eliminate penalties for heavy equipment)
• Happy Curse and variations (force player to emote for a while)
• Shroud (hide name from other players until the player picks up an item or talks)
• Reveal (cancel Shroud)
• Detect Players (list nearby players)
• Wind (`push' creatures in a predefined region)
• Burrow/Ascend (special-purpose Teleport that moves upwards/downwards in certain regions; partly quest spell)
• Delayed Teleport (teleport back to casting location after short period of time)
• Peace (non-highlevel aggressive monsters stop attacking unless provoked or unless they were already provoked, for a while)
• Teleport
• Summon partner (summons the caster's partner, for married couples, if online)

Spell naming

The finished spell is named "[Enhancement syllable] [effect syllable] [application syllable]". Examples:

Bubble                      Bubble
Fire + Bolt                 Fire Bolt
Flame + Inferno + enforced  Enforced Flame Inferno
Fire + Air + Nova           Lightning Nova