Theoretically, it should also be possible to make a self-sustaining spell... it feeds on the mana in the environment and fades away (or maybe just goes dormant) if the mana level drops too low. I'm not sure if that should be extra difficult (requiring a high skill in that kind of magic) or just some sort of tradeoff in making it (it's weaker, but self-sustaining). I wouldn't mind having stuff like glowing crystals as permanent light sources... hm, maybe there are only certain substances (ie- gems) that can absorb mana like that, so you can make self-sustaining spells but it's more expensive, cash-wise. I just don't want folks selling Continual Light spells as knickknacks since they don't cost them anything to make.
Hm. Okay, mana crystals. They have a mana rating equal to the amount of mana that they can store. Whenever they're below that, they automatically attempt to gather it from the environment, rolling their mana rating in a mana gathering check. So in a "normal" zone, they'll store mana equal to their rating. If there are penalties, they store less, bonuses, they store more. Whenever the spell in the crystal takes that much mana or less, it's active and will work. If it falls lower, the spell starts to fail and if it drops to zero the spell must make a survival check (based on the skill it was created with) or be destroyed.
There should probably be a distinction between zap spell crystals (ie- a wand that fires a zap if activated) that discharge themselves completely, then recharge and ongoing spell crystals that keep a spell going (like a ring of invisibility) as long as there's sufficient mana around.
Posted by Kiz at December 22, 2004 04:18 PMCommentsPost a comment