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In Age of Conan we wanted the magic to reflect the world in which the game is based. Dealing with the arcane arts and siphoning the power of ancient gods is not something to be taken lightly. Just like our melee system, our magic system will also call upon the skills of the player. The player learning to balance their lust for powerful effects with the dangers that calling upon such extraordinary magic incurs.

There will of course be a number of simple and straightforward spells that casters can call upon, as you would see in other games. These though are merely the common incantations and curses that every young acolyte is taught, mere parlour tricks compared to what is possible with the magic in Age of Conan! Whilst useful in and of themselves the basic spells are merely the prelude to the true power that can be channeled – channeled through the art of spellweaving.

Our spellweaving system calls upon the caster to effectively weave an intricate series of incantations and spells into one final spell that can be unleashed to smite their enemies or aid their allies. It could be as short as weaving two simple spells together to boost their effect through to the fine art of combining up to twenty spells into a devastating blend of mystical power.

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A look at the casting of a spellweave.

So how does it work?[]

The player will start the spellweave by activating their spellweave ability. This places them in a trance-like state where they cannot move and the only actions they are allowed to perform is adding more components to the weave.

Once in the spellweave the player can add as many spells into the weave as they can manage or want to. The maximum number of spells that can be called into a weave is dependant on the players level.

Then once the elements are all added they can end the weave by deactivating the ability and the weave will fire off at its target as the caster leaves the trance and is free to move around again.

The spellweaving system allows for some truly awe-inspiring effects to be invoked. This allows the caster to tailor a specific incantation best suited to their current target. Whether it is combining debuffs or enhancing your damage, or even a combination of the two - the spellweaving system will allow casters to adapt their strategies to the situation at hand!

The depth of the system lies in figuring out the best combinations for the weaves and how best to avoid the darker side of Hyborian magic, because spellweaving does not come without risk!


Dark and Dangerous: Ill-effects and magical burden[]

Using the ancient magics of the gods is far from a trivial matter, and spellweaving opens up the caster to the dangerous elements that dabbling in such arcane arts invariably attracts.

Spellweaving is almost a balancing act. How much power can you summon forth without incurring some ancient curse or other mysterious ailment?

When a caster performs a spellweave there is a chance that they will suffer ill-effects from the process.

The risk of this depends on how powerful a weave they are performing based upon the power of the spells they are trying to combine and their level. Stray too far beyond what you are capable of and you will run the risk of incurring one of these side-effects!

The weave is not an exact science and even the mana cost of the weave will vary from that of its base components and whilst the system even allows for a caster to use more mana than they have, a heavy price might be paid for delving too deeply beyond those magical reserves.

The other element to spellweaving is a character's magical burden. Every time a weave is performed they incur a magical burden, a debt as it were that weighs upon them. If too many weaves are attempted consecutively, or they attempt a weave that pushes their limits the burden will increase their chances of incurring ill-effects on the next weave. This burden naturally decays when a caster is not in a spellweave.

Developing Magic[]

We do believe that the spellweaving system will provide players with a unique system that allows for a wonderfully diverse set of tactics to be used. We wanted to go beyond the standard ‘choose the right spell’ or ‘rock, scissors, paper’ approach to spell casting. At the same time try we also wanted to create something that is truly in keeping with the style of magic portrayed by Robert E Howard where magic was dark, dangerous and an art many tried but few mastered!

We hope that with this system players will really be able to tread that dark line between the quest for power and the risk of insanity or worse!

When does it become available?[]

Spellweaving is not available until Level 50.

See Also: Spellweaving revealed

Media[]


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