Spells

[rayaz]

I tried to play a "mage" type character.

LOVED the game.

But, a bit disappointed that the most efficient spell throughout the entire game was always fire bolt . Its unfortunate all of the upper level spells have a worse mana/damage ratio ( other than AOE spells ).

Typically one would expect to get higher level spells that have a higher mana/damage ratio

I loved in Ultima 8 how there were four different schools of magic, each needed its own initiation into in order to begin learning the spells. In Echelon, you'd need to choose school and rock it out. This way you can't just be a warrior/wizard combo, which I don't like out of principle -- In order to learn spells it requires years of diligence and studying, which leads to a frail body...etc.

[dare49devil]

Echelon

-I wasn't going to post but, sorry, I just had to correct it. It was bugging me. =/

-Eschalon*

[Randomizer]

Certain higher level spells are needed because monsters are immune to fire spells with poltergiest needing compressed air to damage as an example.

Spells balance got really messed up during beta testing in order to reduce the huge advantage that elemental mages had over the other classes. Hopefully this will get fixed in Book 2.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I would argue that although the "damage ratio to spell cost" does decrease in many spells as the casting level increases, what needs to be remembered is that higher level spells still deliver more "punch" per round than lower level spells. This is helpful in eliminating enemies as quickly as possible so that your character doesn't have to endure round after round of combat, a potentially fatal situation for mages.

For this reason we felt that spells shouldn't necessarily be more efficient at higher levels than at lower level. On the contrary- the more damage you want to dump on your enemy per round, the more mana you'll need to spend to do it. Still, as mentioned, we are adjusting the spells for Book 2 and hope to get a balance that everyone is pleased with.

[rayaz]

Your right that damage per ROUND increases.... but this isn't the constraint on a mage. The main constraint is damage per REST. meaning, how long can I fight ( how many baddies can i kill ) before I have to run and rest. ( and play the save / load game ).

Point being, by the end of the game when I'm still using fire bolt as my main weapon, that just seems funky. Sure I have fire bolt 2,3,4,... but that's not as good as a new spell, say lightning. If firebolt does 1-2 damage per mana, I'd expect the next direct damage spell be better.

RE: poltergeist. I just got a magic sword. Even w/ "unproficient with this weapon" penalty , I was able to easily kill them with bless, strength and carmelion.

[CrazyBernie]

I remember playing D&D and having a mage leveled up to 12... magic missle was still my most used offensive spell. Sure I had Melf's Acid Arrow, Fireball, and Flame Wall, but MM was the staple... cheap and effective. It could arguably do more damage than those larger spells, because I could cast more of them in less time and then there's the "extra mm per 3 levels" that was always nice.

It doesn't surprise me at all that a game like this works out the same way. However, in the interest of keeping things... interesting, I could understand giving the player more incentive to use newer, shinier spells.