Elven mages that can manipulate and control life itself; magic would flow through their very blood, and all Elven would be mages. Elven would be able to accelerate the aging process of trees into forests to hide in (these forests block LoS into a zone, but not out of it. They also die sooner due to old age). Elven would also conjure patches of poisonous mushrooms to afflict temporary statuses on enemies who step on them. Furthermore, some of their creatures and conjurations would have an ability that allows a certain amount of damage to them to be prevented and transferred to a creature or conjuration that shares the ability as long as they don't share a card type. (Conjuration to Creature or Creature to Conjuration)

Arcane/nature training of course. I would describe it as a denial-attrition build, using efficient defensive creatures and conjurations combined with ways to counter or disable some of the enemies spells/objects to outlast them. Tanglevines, elusive, defenses, the trees/forests that are described above, regeneration, mana flowers, counter spells, I think you get the idea. I would love to see this mage.

Instead of Stun and Slam, I think Facetiox should have taunt and a damage barrier ability. Also, he should not be trained in Arcane, just mind. The reason for this is since Facetiox should think he knows it all, but actually doesn't. He should have cantrip, to represent how annoying he is in continuing to come back over and over again. Instead of elusive, he should have pest, for obvious reasons. Also, it might be a good idea for him to be a familiar that prepares a spell from your opponent's spellbook each round, so you don't know what it is until after the planning phase. Maybe his mana cost should be decreased to 4, and he should have the upkeep +9 trait (since he's high maintenance and a cheapskate) His stats should be reduced. Maybe no armor and 1 health (he's a lot less tough than he likes to pretend he is), and a defense of 6 that can only be used once in a round if he prepares a spell, twice in a round if he does not (he can avoid attacks by stealing your treasured belongings and putting them in the line of fire, making you hesitate to attack. If he doesn't steal from you, he will say something really nasty to throw off your concentration.)

I think the Facetiox you came up with on the other hand, actually sounds like a great card if you just take out the elusive and raise the effect die rolls a bit, perhaps adjusting the mana cost too. It seems like you're just trying to have a go at controlling playstyles and the players who use them, which really isn't nice.

Just saying!

Why can a mage only cast a certain number of copies of spells? If the spells in the spellbook represent the mage's knowledge, then do they just "forget" a spell after casting it a certain number of times? Why do spells disappear from the spellbook after casting them?

I have a theory about how magic works in Mage Wars that might explain this. The theory is about the power of words. In order to cast a spell, a mage would have to use "words of power" or casting words. They would have casting words and phrases written in the spellbook, different ones for different spells. But those words would have no power by themselves. What gives these words their power is the mage's own mana. The reason this is possible is that the spellbook would be infused with a small part of the mage's power--their channeling, creating a pathway for the mana to flow from the mage into the casting words in their spellbook, before being released in the form of a spell.

After the casting words are said or read enough times, they lose their power; they become disconnected from the mage's channeling, so can no longer receive mana. A mage that has more knowledge and experience with certain spells will have a stronger tie between their channeling and the casting words for those spells. The reason why mages can only have 4 copies of each lv 2+ spell in their spellbook would be because if they concentrate too much of their channeling in a particular spell's casting words, those words will be unstable and won't be able to contain that bit of channeling, let alone receive mana.

I think this would also fall in line quite nicely with the "too much magic in a certain amount of space causes problems" thing, due to a concept I would probably call "channeling density" or how much mana is being channeled in any given space. If there's too much mana in a certain amount of space, that space won't be able to contain it, and the mana will expode, devouring the space and warping it, as well as dealing a ton of damage to anything unfortunate enough to be within its range. The following passage (which I just wrote) is how I imagine an experienced wizard would explain it to a student.

A book with no words is empty. Words with no power are meaningless, and disappear like wisps of smoke. On the other hand, a book with too many words is messy and incomprehensible. If those words contain a little power, that power will be trapped in the page by its small and cramped containers. But if that power grows too big, it will burst from those tiny words in a dangerous, formless release of energy.



And of course, resting strengthens the connection between the mage's channeling and all the words in their spellbook.



What do you think? Thoughts about this theory? Your own theories? It will be difficult to continue writing my Mage Wars fanfiction without the knowledge of how magic actually works in story.


On another note, I still haven't figured out why mages can't enchant themselves with wings. Maybe spells that can't target mages can't target them because those spells are influenced by summoning? Like say, it uses tiny bits of leftover mana from a summoning that a mage can't use (<1 mana) to make the spell workable. Like say how eagle wings would not only give a creature wings, but make them light enough to actually use them. I'm not sure if there are any other major differences between the mage and other creatures that could plausibly be used to explain this.

Enter the Labyrinth Part I: WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM

Bertha stared up at the small mountain. It was less than a hundred feet tall, much smaller than the majority of mountains. From a distance, it didn't look nearly as tall and intimidating as it did from the base. She didn't see any signs or trails or cave entrances. Was this really the right place? She pulled her student guide out of her bag and looked through it. It still said that the entrance was here somewhere, but it didn't say where.

Maybe she couldn't see the entrance because her psychic abilities weren't strong enough? The guide said that most of the schools were hidden from those who would not live there, which in this case, would be anyone who was not a mind mage.

But Bertha knew that couldn't be right. She had passed the Mind School's entrance exams. So what was going on? She decided she would look around. Maybe there was someone nearby who she could ask for directions.

She started to walk around the perimeter of the mountain. After several minutes of walking she still wasn't seeing anyone there. She was alone.

Bertha took a deep breath to stay calm. Suddenly, something tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, but there was no one there. She paused. It was probably a random student who believed themself funny, playing tricks on her.

"Hello?" she asked. "How do I get to the Mind School?"

Bertha waited, but no one answered her. After a pause, she continued walking.

The poke on the shoulder was harder this time.

Bertha whipped around, hoping to catch another student running away to hide behind a tree.

There was no one there. Frustrated, Bertha took a deep breath of cool autumn air, then continued walking.

After a few more minutes, she was poked again, this time much harder. She yelped, and spun around to find a horrible visage right in her face. She almost screamed, but instead gulped and force pushed it away from her, and ran.

The invisible stalker gave chase, the crunching of its footsteps on grass and fallen leaves giving away its position even though it could not be seen. As she ran, Bertha thought of how she had considered the possibility that it was an invisible stalker following her, but she had dismissed it, reasoning that such a dangerous creature would not be allowed to roam free on campus unsupervised. Clearly she was wrong.

The stalker was closing in on her. She force pushed it away again. If only she had some sort of weapon. She picked up a sharp-looking twig and telekinetically hurled it at where she thought the invisible stalker was. She completely missed, and the stalker got right up in her face and screeched. "DA**IT!" Bertha screamed, force pushing it away again and continuing to run.

Think! she told herself. The fear caused her mind to move in slow motion, which was NOT GOOD.

If only she knew how to hold creatures in place with her mind. The fact that she had neglected to learn that before nearly caused her to fail her entrance exam, something almost unheard of for Forcemasters in training. She had told herself that she might not need to learn it right away, and that she would pass her entrance exams anyway (which she did). But her procrastination and attention difficulties made it a close call.

Why was she thinking about all this anyway when she was running for her life? Stupid, stupid!

She tripped over a large rock, knocking it away and kicking up dirt that had concealed a picture of a handle on a camouflaged trap door.

Bertha telekinetically pulled it open from where the picture of the handle was, and jumped in, yanking the trap door closed behind her with a force push.

And then she realized that she was falling. The pit she had fallen into was very steep. She had exhausted her concentration and mana reserves from the multiple force pushes she had cast earlier. She had no way to arrest her fall. She looked down. The point where she would land at the bottom of the pit was lit up by torches on the walls. She would know exactly the moment she would die. This was it.

And then she stopped exactly a foot above the ground. She hovered in place for a moment and was then dropped the remaining foot. Her legs gave way and she landed on her butt. She was so shocked that she didn't see the tentacle that had arrested her momentum from a distance disappear behind a rock.

And then the ground began to move slowly downwards. She was on a steel lift.

Great, Bertha thought. My new classmates are hazing me. Well, at least I know I'm in the right place.

She would have smiled if she weren't still recovering from the shock of falling twenty feet.

After about a minute or two, the steel platform she stood on stopped. In front of her was a dark tunnel, and above the entrance was a glowing mana crystal, illuminating words inscribed next to it:

Welcome Freshmage--to your DOOM. The Entrance Exam pales in comparison to the Trial before you. Enter the Labyrinth if you dare.
------------------
Intermission and Author's Note

DUN DUN DUN!

So what do you think of Bertha?

Also, I'm trying to figure out what sort of puzzles and other things should be featured in the Frightening Force Puzzle Challenge. They need to be challenging but also doable by extremely intelligent but very inexperienced mages. I'm considering having the entire challenge (and perhaps the MU mind school itself) be a maze with a mage wand with force push attached located somewhere inside it that each new freshmage will have to find, with mana crystals scattered in random places. I'll also need some hard brain teasers. I'm thinking that maybe some illusions would be good things to have in the challlenge. Suggestions please?

Also, I'm thinking of basing new characters off of spellbooks in the spellbook design and construction section. I hope nobody minds. For instance, the character Bertha is going to (most likely) one day use the Forcemaster spellbook that I designed and haven't posted yet, "Mana Force".

You mean transporting it in deck form, and then spreading the cards out in a horizontal pile when it comes time to play? I suppose that does make a lot of sense. I still have  unused card sleeves from when I stopped playing MtG. I still wouldn't call it a deck unless the pile is vertical and I'm drawing things off the top, or searching through it and then shuffling. If it's just laid out on the table in front of me in a row, I wouldn't really call it a deck except when I'm transporting it. Thanks for the idea!

This gave me a really good idea for a build similar to one I've already made and started testing. I'll probably be posting both  in about a week or two. Thanks!

Does anyone ever say or notice the names of the attacks that creatures have when they are being used (other than "Arcane Zap"? Like Invisible Stalker's "Phantom Talons" attack? Or Thoughtspore's "Stinging Tentacle"?

This post was partially a joke. A would have thought that would have been clear from the last paragraph. It does annoy me quite a bit that people call their spellbooks decks, and I think it makes another comparison to CCGs, which we do not want. But seriously, who would be able to take a "politically correct Mages Guild"  seriously? I wasn't just trying to make a point and a suggestion, I was trying to be funny about it. Sorry it wasn't clear over the internets...