Hello everyone, Box here. As promised, this time I’ll be going over the magic system in The Necessary Evil and how it differs from normal skills and other games.
In this update4
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Full The Necessary Evil update
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What changed
0 fixes1 addition6 changes1 removal
Balance
Gameplay
Events
changedHello everyone, Box here. As promised, this time I’ll be going over the magic system in The Necessary Evil and how it differs from normal skills and other games.Last time, in the Skills devlog, I mentioned how there was a split in functionality for skills; Weapon-granted skills were more focused on dealing raw damage, while Character-learned skills offered utility. Magic, as should be expected, breaks that rule. Magical spells can offer either damage, utility, or both, and are frequently more powerful individually than weapon and character skills. In addition, they break the rule that a character can only have four character skills loaded at a time. They act as additional skills customizable to the character. That obviously feels a little overpowered, but there are three general limiting factors to magical usage: channeling, resonance, and deviance.
removedThe Mechanics of SpellcastingThere’s no mana or cooldowns for combat abilities. Your characters’ ability to cast a spell skill, assuming they have a passive that grants access to spellcasting at all, is gated by the Channeling status effect. You need it to cast anything, and casting anything will remove the condition, which you’ll want to do as soon as possible, because it reduces your armor and makes you more susceptible to damage.
changedThe Mechanics of SpellcastingDifferent classes have different ways of acquiring the condition. The Apostate, for example, has the innate passive Faulty Conduit, which gives a chance of gaining the Channeling condition at the end of every turn. If you wanted more control over when to receive it, you could take the Blood Sacrifice skill, which guarantees it - at the cost of some health from the caster or an ally. But sometimes you really do need that guarantee.
addedThe Mechanics of SpellcastingAbove, I said that magic skills are often more individually powerful than other types. A large part of that is due to their ability to be empowered by reagents. Oneirum, or dream dust, is a degraded form of one of the primary resources extracted from the Dreamweb. Even in this impure state, it drastically raises the power ceiling for magic, granting new and more powerful effects to spells when casters imbibe it. However, it is a limited resource, used both in the events you encounter while exploring the Dreamweb and for certain upgrades and purchases in your home base, such as the crafting of new weapons.
changedMagical TraditionsThe Sacred tradition is the art delivered to humans from the Holy Font. Its powers are vast but unpredictable; its Clerics are zealots and firebrands, advocating for the needs of the Fount to shape a better world. It views the corruption of the Dreamweb as anathema to itself and the natural order, and its powers reflect that. The spells in this tradition are heavily influenced by the state of the particular layer you find yourself on, growing more or less powerful as they become developed or corrupted. In addition, spells of this tradition uniformly have the High Variance tag, meaning that their damage and healing ranges are much wider than typical skills.
changedMagical TraditionsThe Cosmic tradition is derived from the movement of celestial objects, reading in their eternal dance the nature of destiny and fate. Fittingly, the spells it grants are massive in scope but ponderous in application. The Astrologers boast the most intellectual and measured among their number, who must act as chessmasters, predicting the flow of combat to best use their skills. While many skills have requirements, none have as much strictness as those of the Cosmic school. Cosmic spells are triggered by portents, only coming into effect once certain conditions are met; once sufficient time has passed, or a number of enemies have been slain, or enough characters are gathered together, or when the recipient teeters on the precipice of death.
The Necessary Evil changes
changedLast time, in the Skills devlog, I mentioned how there was a split in functionality for skills; Weapon-granted skills were more focused on dealing raw damage, while Character-learned skills offered utility. Magic, as should be expected, breaks that rule. Magical spells can offer either damage, utility, or both, and are frequently more powerful individually than weapon and character skills. In addition, they break the rule that a character can only have four character skills loaded at a time. They act as additional skills customizable to the character. That obviously feels a little overpowered, but there are three general limiting factors to magical usage: channeling, resonance, and deviance.
removedThere’s no mana or cooldowns for combat abilities. Your characters’ ability to cast a spell skill, assuming they have a passive that grants access to spellcasting at all, is gated by the Channeling status effect. You need it to cast anything, and casting anything will remove the condition, which you’ll want to do as soon as possible, because it reduces your armor and makes you more susceptible to damage.
changedDifferent classes have different ways of acquiring the condition. The Apostate, for example, has the innate passive Faulty Conduit, which gives a chance of gaining the Channeling condition at the end of every turn. If you wanted more control over when to receive it, you could take the Blood Sacrifice skill, which guarantees it - at the cost of some health from the caster or an ally. But sometimes you really do need that guarantee.
addedAbove, I said that magic skills are often more individually powerful than other types. A large part of that is due to their ability to be empowered by reagents. Oneirum, or dream dust, is a degraded form of one of the primary resources extracted from the Dreamweb. Even in this impure state, it drastically raises the power ceiling for magic, granting new and more powerful effects to spells when casters imbibe it. However, it is a limited resource, used both in the events you encounter while exploring the Dreamweb and for certain upgrades and purchases in your home base, such as the crafting of new weapons.
changedThe Sacred tradition is the art delivered to humans from the Holy Font. Its powers are vast but unpredictable; its Clerics are zealots and firebrands, advocating for the needs of the Fount to shape a better world. It views the corruption of the Dreamweb as anathema to itself and the natural order, and its powers reflect that. The spells in this tradition are heavily influenced by the state of the particular layer you find yourself on, growing more or less powerful as they become developed or corrupted. In addition, spells of this tradition uniformly have the High Variance tag, meaning that their damage and healing ranges are much wider than typical skills.
Hello everyone, Box here. As promised, this time I’ll be going over the magic system in The Necessary Evil and how it differs from normal skills and other games.
Last time, in the Skills devlog, I mentioned how there was a split in functionality for skills; Weapon-granted skills were more focused on dealing raw damage, while Character-learned skills offered utility. Magic, as should be expected, breaks that rule. Magical spells can offer either damage, utility, or both, and are frequently more powerful individually than weapon and character skills. In addition, they break the rule that a character can only have four character skills loaded at a time. They act as additional skills customizable to the character. That obviously feels a little overpowered, but there are three general limiting factors to magical usage: channeling, resonance, and deviance.
The Mechanics of Spellcasting
There’s no mana or cooldowns for combat abilities. Your characters’ ability to cast a spell skill, assuming they have a passive that grants access to spellcasting at all, is gated by the Channeling status effect. You need it to cast anything, and casting anything will remove the condition, which you’ll want to do as soon as possible, because it reduces your armor and makes you more susceptible to damage.
Different classes have different ways of acquiring the condition. The Apostate, for example, has the innate passive Faulty Conduit, which gives a chance of gaining the Channeling condition at the end of every turn. If you wanted more control over when to receive it, you could take the Blood Sacrifice skill, which guarantees it - at the cost of some health from the caster or an ally. But sometimes you really do need that guarantee.
Above, I said that magic skills are often more individually powerful than other types. A large part of that is due to their ability to be empowered by reagents. Oneirum, or dream dust, is a degraded form of one of the primary resources extracted from the Dreamweb. Even in this impure state, it drastically raises the power ceiling for magic, granting new and more powerful effects to spells when casters imbibe it. However, it is a limited resource, used both in the events you encounter while exploring the Dreamweb and for certain upgrades and purchases in your home base, such as the crafting of new weapons.
In addition, there are other forces in the world that seek out Oneirum. The more of it in your possession, the greater the amount of resonance your actions cause, and the easier it is for the powerful and twisted creatures of the Dreamweb to find you. The amount of Oneirum you carry with you, and the amount you generate through any means while within it, contribute to the corruption of the layer you are on.
Deviance is heavily linked to the specific tradition of magic your character follows, so let’s cover them next.
Magical Traditions
There are four of these: the Sacred, the Cosmic, the Profane, and the Natural.
The Sacred tradition is the art delivered to humans from the Holy Font. Its powers are vast but unpredictable; its Clerics are zealots and firebrands, advocating for the needs of the Fount to shape a better world. It views the corruption of the Dreamweb as anathema to itself and the natural order, and its powers reflect that. The spells in this tradition are heavily influenced by the state of the particular layer you find yourself on, growing more or less powerful as they become developed or corrupted. In addition, spells of this tradition uniformly have the High Variance tag, meaning that their damage and healing ranges are much wider than typical skills.
The Cosmic tradition is derived from the movement of celestial objects, reading in their eternal dance the nature of destiny and fate. Fittingly, the spells it grants are massive in scope but ponderous in application. The Astrologers boast the most intellectual and measured among their number, who must act as chessmasters, predicting the flow of combat to best use their skills. While many skills have requirements, none have as much strictness as those of the Cosmic school. Cosmic spells are triggered by portents, only coming into effect once certain conditions are met; once sufficient time has passed, or a number of enemies have been slain, or enough characters are gathered together, or when the recipient teeters on the precipice of death.
The Profane tradition is the opposite of the Sacred, gaining its power not through obeisance to a greater power but through negotiations with an equal. Their spells are not a gamble, but a simple supernatural transaction, specific in scope and narrow in effect. The Warlocks are mercenary and ruthless, seeing their incidental allies as resources more than potential companions. But it is just that ruthlessness that enables their craft, as the spells of the tradition require physical payment for use, whether that comes in the form of sin-drenched lucre, the blood of one who trusts you, or the precious treasures of the Dreamweb.
Finally, the Natural tradition stands opposed to the Cosmic, focused on the rhythms and cycles of the earth rather than the stars above. The Druids do not control their magics tightly, but allow their spells to grow and mutate in unexpected directions. Their spells take effect slowly, supported by continued casting, until they become Overgrown and bloom with a multitudinous array of effects both positive and negative.
The Stuff We’re Not Sharing
There are, of course, other mechanics in play when it comes to magic. The unique status effect Echo, for example, or how classes other than the Apostate and Naturalist gain access to spellcasting. That’s something for you to discover when playing, however. I hope this whetted your appetite regarding the magic system; next time I’ll be covering setting up an expedition and the decisions you’ll have to make doing so. After all, no matter how skilled your characters are, without adequate planning and support, even the mightiest will fall.
