Ideas for Arcane Spells

[qaz_azaran]

Sanctum - Conjuration - When your mage is standing in the zone with Sanctum all spell costs are reduced by 1 to a minimum of 1.  While in the zone with Sanctum you may pay X mana as a full action to return any card from your discard pile to your spellbook.

Meditation - Novice spell - Incantation - Cost 2 - Gain mana equal to the amount rolled on 2 attack die.

Mana Sink - Conjuration (Zone Exclusive) - Range 0-2 - Once per round Mana Sink may drain Mana equal to the amount rolled on 2 attack die from any creature or conjuration.

Portal - Conjuration - Portal has a Channeling of 1 or 2 - Portal may teleport any friendly creature.  Cost is 3 mana per zone teleported as the teleport spell.

Disruptive Attack - Enchantment - This creatures attacks gain Mana Drain +1.

[Laddinfance]

Sanctum - What is X? Is it the casting cost of the spell returned? it's level? Does the sanctum only reduce your mage's spells cost?

Meditation - 2 attack dice will average a roll of 2. So, you don't gain any mana. Even in the best situation you'd only gain 2 mana. If you want to spend an action to gain mana there is the Meditation Amulet. Also, Meditation should be Mind and not arcane.

Mana Sink - When you say drain, I assume you mean for the target to lose that much mana. I think this one is pretty interesting, but it could also completely lock out several spawnpoints on it's own.

Portal - This is a pretty interesting concept.

[qaz_azaran]

Sanctum - I was thinking X as the spell level. And yes, only your mage's spell costs.  I imagine that every different mage would have a very different looking personal sanctum filled with their books and arcane tools.  Obviously this couldn't be shown on the card, but the idea is a personal place of power.

Meditation - I wasn't aware of the meditation amulet.  That's a lot better than this.

Mana Sink - Yes, it could potentially lock down a spawnpoint on a good roll.  I do think it should cost roughly the same as the spawnpoints since it pretty much exists to counter them.

[Laddinfance]

But the question is, "Does the game need something to counter spawnpoints?" I'm still intrigued by the concept, but I fear its in a dangerous place right now.

[qaz_azaran]

Since as I've envisioned it now it's useful not just against spawnpoints, but for slowing down enemy mages I do think it has value to the game.  As things sit you can destroy spawnpoints easily enough with fire and lightning spells so it's not like they're inviolate.

I'd say playtest it and play with the variables to see how it affects the game.  Does it work better with a range of 0-1 instead of 0-2? Mana Drain could be 1 die or just set at 2.  I figure cost should be 10-15, but it's hard to be sure without seeing it in action.

[qaz_azaran]

One other thing I've got bouncing around in my head is a more general place of power.  Something like Stonehenge where there's a circle of standing stones at a place where a bunch of ley lines cross.

The best shape I've got for the idea is: Standing Stones - Conjuration - All creatures with channeling gain channeling +1 while standing in the zone with Standing Stones.  It's not as versatile as a moonglow amulet, the mana crystal or flower since you'd have to stay put; but, potentially more powerful if you park your mage and a familiar there.  I'm not sure whether the cost should be 5-6 like the mana flower and crystal or lower since enemy mages could potentially benefit as well.


I don't have a good name for it, but I can also see an amulet (or other equipment item) that allows you to increase the range of non-summon spells by 1 for an extra 2-3 mana.  The same effect could also be put on an enchantment  (total cost of 3 to increase the range of the next spell cast by 1 then discard.)

[sIKE]

One other thing I've got bouncing around in my head is a more general place of power.  Something like Stonehenge where there's a circle of standing stones at a place where a bunch of ley lines cross.

The best shape I've got for the idea is: Standing Stones - Conjuration - All creatures with channeling gain channeling +1 while standing in the zone with Standing Stones.  It's not as versatile as a moonglow amulet, the mana crystal or flower since you'd have to stay put; but, potentially more powerful if you park your mage and a familiar there.  I'm not sure whether the cost should be 5-6 like the mana flower and crystal or lower since enemy mages could potentially benefit as well.


I don't have a good name for it, but I can also see an amulet (or other equipment item) that allows you to increase the range of non-summon spells by 1 for an extra 2-3 mana.  The same effect could also be put on an enchantment  (total cost of 3 to increase the range of the next spell cast by 1 then discard.)

Sounds like an interesting idea for a Terrain based Conjuration....though the Wizard needs 0 love for a good good good while (read nothing for like the next 3-4 major releases)

[Laddinfance]

Theoretically, Standing Stones should be Nature, regardless.

[qaz_azaran]

Sorry if I've been getting the school wrong on some of these.  I was just figuring that for metamagic/mana that Arcane was the right school.

[Laddinfance]

It's always a good place to start. But it's good to keep your options in mind.

[qaz_azaran]

What do you think about an Elemental Circle and Magic Circle comparable to the Elemental Wand and Mage Wand?  I see them as Conjurations which generate 1-2 mana per round, but with Spellbind and only one spell linked at a time.  I'm thinking that this would probably be best with an initial casting cost of 10-12, higher if it generates 2 mana.

That strikes me as something everyone would want to put in their spellbooks.

[Laddinfance]

Wouldn't those be strikingly similar to Wizard's Tower?

[qaz_azaran]

The Elemental Circle certainly would be.  Sorry about that, I don't own all the expansions yet and while I've gone over the spell lists for the other expansions yet they're far from set in my mind. 

There may be some value still in the same way that Mana Crystal and Mana Flower both have their niche.  If it has a higher initial cost and a higher amount of channeling I think it could justify itself, especially since Wizard's Tower is unique and for Arcane mage only.  I'm thinking that while these are Arcane spells they really are broadly applicable just like the wands.

The Magic Circle has even more merit in that the Wizard's Tower can only cast attack spells and not incantations.

I'm actually quite surprised at the low cost and versatility of the Wizard's Tower.  It's not much more expensive than the Elemental Wand; but it doesn't have the 3 pt. cost to swap out spells.

[Wildhorn]

The Wizard doesn't need more tools.