Hocus Pocus!

[skeetdaddle]

I was wondering how people handle "learning" the words for spells. I've been struggling with how best to go about this, and most of what I come up with feels awkward. Do you assume your character knows all the possible magickal words there are, and you just guess until you get it right? Do the right words just magickally float into your character's brain? Do you wait until some other character with the same spell tells you the words for it? I'm just looking for some ideas. Thanks.

[Larrath]

It depends on who my character is.  Some characters (gemmers, for instance) will live in an environment where they will be taught the words.  Others might know them internally, or only know some and have a new word pop at them every now and then.
Other magickers might need to learn completely in-game, but that's pretty difficult since it means a non-gemmer PC would have to expose his abilities before getting good with any spell.

[Morgenes]

As an idea, you could try roleplaying out meditation sessions focusing on the flows of magick.  Or communing with your element and having the words come to you that way.  The help documents on magick are there as a guide, but they are definately not common knowledge, so you are right to want to play out the learning of this.

[Marauder Moe]

So, are you saying that pretty much anything in the magicker docs are fair game for a magicker to intuit or learn from a vision/dream/meditation?

[Armaddict]

I'm kind of curious about this as well.

If you really don't know the words of the spell...do you just try different combinations until you stumble on it?  Or is there some way that you should be able to actually -learn- the words?

Just wondering, because I think the majority of magickers, by some means or another, have the words of spells already.  And I think it kind of...takes away from the fun of growing more powerful.

[Angela Christine]

If you know all the possible words, it usually isn't hard to zero in on the proper words.

The first two words, the power and the reach, don't seem to matter.  "Wek Nil" will work for anything.

The third word is the element.  This might sometimes be a puzzle for a sorcerer or Templar, but the vast majority of the time there will only be one word that will work here.

That means that all the uncertainty is in the last two words, the sphere and the mood.  There are 12 spheres and 9 moods.  If you were guessing at random there would be somewhat fewer than 108 combinations (some of the combinations are taken by the spells you already know.)  But there aren't really anywhere near 108 combinations.  A spell for growing pretty flowers probably isn't going to invoke Hurn -the mad, brutal one, or Hekro - the aggressive warrior.  

Once you read the spell description there are probably less than a dozen logical possibilities.



As for learning the words in the first place . . . I assume they just come to you somehow.  If you have a mentor or a Temple someone can tell them to you.  But if you are an elementalist your magick is an innate part of your being -- you can't be taught to be an elementalist, you either are or you aren't.  Since no one is going to teach everyone in the city the words to common spells to check and see if they can cast a spell with them, I assume that knowledge of the words is somewhat innate.  They can come to you through the collective subconscious or something (possible in a world with common psionics).  In other words:  It's magick!


Angela Christine

[Dakkon Black]

In my magicker hey day

I learned from one better then me - easy way

I made up dreams where I could allready cast the spell I didn't know - still pretty easy way

In the dreams the ideas would come to me.. and then I'd try putting words to them. Also, since the docs say some of the spheres are certain things, protective etc, I would associate those words with protective things happening in the dreams.

It wasn't fast, but it was something to work with.

[Halaster]

Anything in the documentation can be used In-Character yes.   And you can say your character knows it all if you choose, or not.  But the point is that it is not bad roleplay or anything like that to know the magick helpfiles.  You can choose as much or as little of it as you like.

I think it's more fun if I play a mage and to start with they don't know all that and have to learn it, but I like playing that part of the character development.  I suppose not everyone does.

[SpyGuy]

Just as a side note for gemmed elementalists that may not be in documentation:

The talk command is your friend.  Especially with temple elders.

[moab]

I usually play a mage that knows all his stuffs right off the bat, learning new stuff as he goes along.

My last mage, however, I tried the other approach (for the first time) and he didn't know crap.  

It was interesting, frustrating and he died without ever casting a spell (well, maybe casting one spell once before I decided it was unrealistic for him to know his stuff).

I loved that dude.  From now on, unless my character as the birth advantage of knowing the stuff, I'll enjoy trying to pick it up before the hammer falls.  :-D

[Cenghiz]

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14075

I don't want to repeat with the same answer. There you are, a whole thread with answers.

[FightClub]

I magicker absorbed the magical energies of everything he killed, occasionally branching a new word.