Mysticism Clarification

[Sarphus]

In the interest of fleshing out possible balance issues with the new skills, I made this Q/A thread. Please feel free to bring up any concerns you have with possible abuses that could be introduced with mysticism in this thread.

Disclaimer: Any answer to a question found here is based on the current design. The design may change during the balancing process.

General Questions
Q: Are you frozen in place while casting mysticism spells?
A: Yes.

Q: Do slayer spellbooks work with Mysticism spells?
A: Yes.

Q: Do Mysticism spells interrupt like magery spells do?
A: You can interrupt Mysticism spells. Spellcasting will look similar to Spellweaving.

Q: Does Inscription impact the damage of Mysticism spells?
A: Yes, Inscription gives a damage bonus to all spells that use Evaluate Intelligence to determine their damage.

Q: How will players acquire Mysticism spells?
A: To be determined.

Q: Can you inscribe Mysticism spells?
A: To be determined.

Q: Does garlic from Mysticism spells do damage to people in vampric embrace form?
A: Yes.

Q: Do the cast speeds of the offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?
A: Yes.

Q: Does the damage of offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?
A: Yes.

Q: What is the FC/FCR cap on mysticism? (ex 2/6 like magery 3/6 like necro or 4/6 like spellweaving)
A: Currently, 4/6 like spellweaving, though this may need to be carefully scrutinized.
Note: Leurocian later mentioned that 2/6 will probably be the cap.

Q: How does imbuing/mysticism impact the power of summons? Ex. is it how long the summon lasts, how many hp it has, the skills it has, does it add hit spells to the summon?, etc
A: Mostly all the above. It affects skills, stats, duration, etc.

*** Rank 1 ***

Nether Bolt
Description: Conjures a bolt of nether energy to assault the Mystic's target.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Chaos

Healing Stone
Description: Conjures a healing stone, usable only by the Mystic.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Imbuing

Q: How does Healing Stone Work?
A: You cast the healing stone spell and you summon a healing stone in your backpack. You can only have one at a time. Dropping the healing stone destroys it. Shares the same timer as a healing potion (10 seconds). In the case of the healing stone, imbuing (not evaluating intelligence) and mysticism scale the healing power. The Spellweaving spell: Arcane Empowerment can further increase the effectiveness of the healing.

Q: How is the healing Determined for the Healing Stone?
A: A Healing Stone is equivalent between a Heal and a Greater Heal spell when used.

The Healing effect is scaled based on the Mysticism and Imbuing skill levels of the caster.
Amt Healed = 1d6 + (((mysticismSkill + imbuingSkill) / 2) / 4)
31-36 @ 120;
The Healing effect can be augmented by the Spellweaving Arcane Empowerment ability
Enhanced Potions does not affect the Healing Stone

Q: Does a Mystic need a free hand to use a Healing Stone?
A: Yes.

Q: Does Enhance potions work with the healing stone?
A: No. Imbuing and Mysticism determine its potency. As already mentioned, the spellweaving arcane empowerment spell can augment the healing stone as well.

*** Rank 2 ***

Purge Magic
Description: Removes one beneficial ward from the target.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Details:
Ward removed is chosen at random.
If the victim doesn’t possess any wards, then this spell doesn't remove any wards.

Casting Purge Magic is a harmful act.

Wards that can be removed are the following:
Agility
Cunning
Strength
Bless

Animal Form
Cat
Dog
Kirin
Bake-Kitsune
Llama
Ostard
Rabbit
Rat
Giant Serpent
Toad
Unicorn
Wolf

Excluding Talisman Animal Forms: Cu'sidhe, Ferret, Reptalon, and Squirrel

Magic Reflection
Curse Weapon
Horrific Beast
Lich Form
Vampiric Embrace
Wraith Form
Corpseskin
Protection
Consecrate Weapon
Divine Fury
Enemy of One
Reactive Armor
Confidence
Arcane Empowerment
Attune Weapon
Gift of Life
Gift of Renewal
Immolating Weapon
Reaper Form
Enchant
Stone Form

Wards bestowed by items when worn are not affected by this spell.

Can be completely resisted by a successful resist check.

Q: Can Purge Magic remove Evasion and Confidence?
A: No on Evasion. Yes on Confidence.

Q: If you use Purge Magic to dispel Evasion, Confidence, Gift of Renewal, Attune Weapon or Ethereal Voyage is the target's cooldown timer reset?
A: No. Cooldown should still be in effect.

Q: Is mage polymorph effected by Purge Magic?
A: No.

Enchant
Description: Temporarily imbues one weapon with a hit spell effect.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Imbuing

Q: Can you enchant weapons being held by other players or creatures?
A: No.

Q: Can a Mystic choose what hit spell to Enchant onto a weapon?
A: Yes

Q: Does a hit spell effect added by enchant stack with other hit spells on the weapon?
A: No. And that include the ninja focus attack ability as well.

*** Rank 3 ***

Sleep
Description: Puts one creature into a temporary sleep state. In this state, the creature will be unable to attack or cast spells, and will move at a much slower speed. It will awaken if harmed or after a little bit of time passes.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence

Effects:
Target is forced to move at walk speed
Target Can not cast spells or attack (but can still use items)
Target's DCI is reduced by 45

Details:
Sleep is removed when a target is hit (just like paralyze)

Duration:
The Sleep duration is scaled based on the (Evaluating Intelligence + Mysticism) / 20 of the caster. 12 seconds @ 120 Evaluating Intelligence + 120 Mysticism.
The Duration is scaled down based on the target's Resist spells skill
Resisting Spells shortens the duration of this spell effect, identical to paralyze. 0 seconds @ 120 Resisting Spells, if Evaluating Intelligence and Mysticism of the Mystic are also 120.

In other words, If you have 120 Resist Spells, you are immune to the sleep effect.

The sleep spell is considered an attack (like paralyze)

Key Notes about Sleep:
NPC spellcasters such as Satyrs and Dryads cannot calm a player, player's pet, etc. if he is currently under this Sleep spell.
Peacemaking will not work on any creature, player, etc. if the calmed target is currently under this Sleep spell.

The following conditions make the target immune to the sleep spell:
Target is currently immune to paralyze due to recent paralyzing special moves.
Target is already paralyzed, stunned, calmed via Peacemaking, or already asleep.
Target is immune to bard abilities.
Target is a shopkeeper.

Taming is not penalized with the Sleep spell, even though Paralyze does penalize Taming. In other words, you can sleep/tame a creature assuming the creature isn't immune to sleep.
Honor checks to see if the target is under the sleep effect.

Q: Do pop boxes remove the sleep effect?
A: Yes. Taking damage will break the sleep effect.

Eagle Strike
Description: Conjures a magical eagle-like creature as a projectile that assaults the target with its talons.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Energy

*** Rank 4 ***

Animated Weapon
Description: Conjures and animates a weapon to attack nearby foes.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Imbuing
Control Slots: 4

Stone Form
Description: Infuses the caster with the essence of solid stone, making him slow to move and fight and cast spells, but gives him resistances to damage and a slight bonus to physical damage attacks.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Imbuing
Details:
This form also renders the stone formed character immune to poison, strangle, bleeding, sleep, paralysis, str/dex/int reduction magics, and removes all of these afflictions.

Note: Peerless attacks such as Gaze of Despair that reduces str/dex/int by 20 will still work on Mystic.

The form’s resistances and bonus to physical attacks are scaled based on the Mysticism and Imbuing skill levels of the caster.

Movement slowed. (Forced to walk)

-10% Swing Speed Increase
-2 Faster Casting
Bonus to Resists = ((mysticismSkill + imbuingSkill) / 24) (+10% to all resists @ 120 Mysticism and 120 Imbuing)
Bonus to Resist Cap ((mysticismSkill + imbuingSkill) / 48) (+5% to all resists @ 120 Mysticism and 120 Imbuing)
Melee Damage Increase = ((mysticismSkill + imbuingSkill)/ 12) (+20% melee damage increase @ 120 Mysticism and 120 Imbuing)

Characters cannot be mounted while in Stone Form; gargoyles will be forced to walk as well.

Keep in mind that any talismans that remove wards or the purge magic spell can remove stone form.


Leurocian is currently requestion player feedback on the design for Stone Form at this thread.
http://vboards.stratics.com/showthread.php?t=108773

*** Rank 5 ***

Spell Trigger
Description: Allows a Mystic to store a Rank 6 or lower Mysticism spell on a spell stone to be invoked later.
Skills Used: Mysticism/Imbuing
Details: Leurocian has stated that at 120/120 Mysticism/Imbuing you would be able to store up to a Rank 6 Mysticism spell.

I interpreted this to mean that the system is using this equation to determine what rank of spell you can trigger.
(Mysticism + Imbuing)/40

Total Mysticism and Imbuing Skill Points Requirements
Rank 1: 40
Rank 2: 80
Rank 3: 120
Rank 4: 160
Rank 5: 200
Rank 6: 240

Q: How does spell Trigger work?
A:Once triggered, the spell will take immediate effect, provided that all the normal validations pass such as enough mana, available control slots, reagents, appropriate skill level, valid targets/locations, etc. If any of these validations fail, the Spell Trigger cannot be activated.
Note: Spell Triggers can trigger stored spells even if the Mystic is frozen, stunned, calmed, slept, etc. However, Spell Triggers can not be triggered if the player is in no play mode (like character transfers)
The Spell Trigger remains in tact until triggered or until the magic is cancelled (i.e., logging into the game cancels buffs and debuffs).
Spell Triggers cannot be purged (Mysticism: Purge Magic).
Spell Triggers brought within an area of no-magic are suppressed and cannot be activated.
Only one Spell Trigger can be on a Mystic at a time. Recasting a Spell Trigger replaces any existing Spell Triggers on the Mystic.
The Spell Trigger spell can never be selected as a spell to trigger. All other Mysticism spells are valid provided that the Mystic has sufficient skill levels in Mysticism and Imbuing.
There is a 5 minute cooldown after a Spell Trigger is triggered before a Spell Trigger can be invoked again.
The Spell Stone is deleted upon the player logging into the game.

Q: When casting a spell from a spell trigger, does it do a reagent check when the trigger is invoked? Specifically, does triggering a spell that uses garlic while in vampire form damage the caster.
A: I believe it should. I'll verify that and confirm.

Mass Sleep
Description: Does the same thing as Sleep, but area effect around the targeted creature.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Targeting: AoE(2x2) Around Target

Q: Does mass sleep hit friends and foes alike?
A: No. Just Foes.

*** Rank 6 ***

Cleansing Winds
Description: Soothing winds cure poison, lift curses, and heal all characters in a party within a small area of effect.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Targeting: AoE(2x2) Around Target

Q: Does cleansing winds also heal pets? It would be really cool if it AoE healed party members and pets of party members (pack tamers would LOVE this).
A: The current design is no. Cleansing Winds functions similarly to the magery Arch-Protection spells. It heals all characters in a party.

Q: Does cleansing winds cast about as fast as Energy Bolt?
A: Yes.

Q: How does the remove curse and cure poison and healing aspects of Cleansing Winds work? For Instance, does it cure poison like arch cure?
A: Cures poison like arch cure. 85% chance at 120 mysticism and 120 eval

Q: Does it remove multiple curses?
A: Yes. 85% at 120 mysticism and 120 eval

Q: Does it heal like Greater Heal?
A: The Healing effect is between a Heal and Greater Heal in power


Bombard
Description: Conjures a magical boulder projectile that is hurled at your target. This spell also has a chance to knockback and stun a player victim for 2 seconds.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Physical

Q: How does Bombard Determine its chance to knockback/stun?
A: The % chance to knockback and stun the victim is (Mysticism + Imbuing / 20)
120 + 120 / 20 = 12 (12%)
Resisting Spells reduces this percent chance (120 / 10) (i.e., 120 Resisting Spells completely neutralizes the knockback and stun effect)

*** Rank 7 ***

Spell Plague
Description: Inflicts one or more victims in its area of effect with a terrible curse. Each time the victim hits with a harmful attack (spell, melee, ranged, etc.), there is a chance that the victim will take an explosion backlash of fire damage.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Fire
Targeting: AoE(4x4) Around Target
Details:
The Spell Plague chance is determined based on the Evaluating Intelligence and Mysticism of the Mystic and the Resisting Spells of the victim.
If (Eval + Mysticism)/2 of Caster = Resist Spells of target, there's a 50% chance for the curse to harm them.
Damage is equivalent to a 7th circle Mysticism/Magery spell.
Damage can be enhanced by the following (same as Magery):
Inscription Bonus
Intelligence Bonus
Spell Damage Increase (capped at 15% for PvP)
Slayer Spellbook
Evaluating Intelligence Bonus
If Every time Spell Plague harms someone, there's a 50% chance the plague will expire.
Spell Plague expires after 15 seconds assuming it wasn't removed.
There is a 30 second cooldown, meaning the Mystic can only cast a spell plague once every 30 seconds.

Note: victim will not take damage from the spell plague if the Mystic is on a different facet or the like.

Hail Storm
Description: A torrent of rain brings down a storm of hailstones upon the caster's enemies in the surrounding area.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Cold
Targeting: AoE (2x2) around target Damage all done at once.

Q: Is Hail storm damage split the same way as meteor shower and chain lightning? (full dmg on first 2 targets, but reduced dmg if more than 2 targets are hit)

A: No. Not currently. But that is something we can scrutinize and adjust if need.

*** Rank 8 ***

Nether Cyclone
Description: Sends a gale of lethal wind in the direction of foes.
Skills Used: Mysticism / Evaluate Intelligence
Damage Type: Chaos
Targeting: AoE(2x2) Around Target

Q: How does Nether Cyclone damage work? I'm assuming the spell is Energy, because it was an energy spell in past ultima game. If so, how does the spell differ from the mage spell Chain Lightning?

A: The damage inflicted is 100% Chaos.

In addition to doing damage, mana and stamina of the victims can be reduced by up to 20% of their max values.

Resisting Spells of the victim can reduce this % reduction.

The mana and stamina depletion are scaled based on the Mysticism and Evaluating Intelligence skill levels of the caster.

Mana & Stamina reduction calculation:
% reduction = ((Mysticism + Evaluating Intelligence) / 120))

Then, take Resisting Spells into account:
% reduction = % reduction – (Resisting Spells / 80)

Example: 120 Mysticism and 120 Evaluating Intelligence has a base 20% Mana and Stamina reduction to victims.

If a victim has 120 Resisting Spells, then the percent becomes 5% (i.e., 120 / 8 = reduced by 15%).

Rising Colossus
Description: Summons a colossal stone titan that will attack nearby foes.
Skills Used: Mysticism/Imbuing/Evaluate Intelligence
Control Slots: 5

Mysticism, Imbuing, and Eval Int determine the stats, skills, and abilities of the Rising Colossus.

 

[Leurocian]

I have a really busy day today. I'm tagging this thread so I know to come back to it.

Patrick "Leurocian" Malott
Lead Game Designer, Ultima Online
Mythic Entertainment, an EA Studio

 

[Sarphus]

I have a really busy day today. I'm tagging this thread so I know to come back to it.

Patrick "Leurocian" Malott
Lead Game Designer, Ultima Online
Mythic Entertainment, an EA Studio

Thanks Leurocian. You are awesome

I gotta get back to work too, but I'm doing really mindless and easy stuff today, so I'm sure mysticism will be rolling around in the back of my head all day.

 

[Leurocian]

Hi Sarphus,

I haven't forgotten you all in this thread. I have answered all the questions and then some and provided these answers to Jeremy for this FoF.

Figured that would be juicy for the FoF

Thanks again to everyone asking all these questions and providing feedback. The more we work out early, the less likely we'll have balancing issues and stuff.

Patrick "Leurocian" Malott
Lead Game Designer, Ultima Online
Mythic Entertainment, an EA Studio

 

[Sarphus]

Thank you for answering so many questions. I'm pretty obsessive with new stuff, so I've been thinking a lot about mysticism lately. I have a have a few more questions to fill in some of the blanks and I'll try to point out any possible balance issues I see. Please, everyone feel free to point out potential balance issues.

Q: Do the cast speeds of the offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?

Q: Does the damage of offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?

Q: What is the FC/FCR cap on mysticism? (ex 2/6 like magery 3/6 like necro or 4/6 like spellweaving)

Q: Does Enhnace potions work with the healing stone?

Q: Can Purge Magic remove Evasion and Confidence?

Q: If you use Purge Magic to dispel Evasion, Confidence, Gift of Renewal, Attune Weapon or Ethereal Voyage is the target's cooldown timer reset? My thought is that someone could intentionally have their buff dispelled so they can recast it sooner than intended.

Q: Can Purge Magic remove morph forms (ex. Vampric Embrace, Wraith Form, Polymorph, Ninja forms, Reaper Form)

Q: When casting a spell from a spell trigger, does it do a reagent check when the trigger is invoked? I'm thinking specifically about triggering a spell that uses garlic while in vampire form.

Q: How does imbuing/mysticism impact the power of summons? Ex. is it how long the summon lasts, how many hp it has, the skills it has, does it add hit spells to the summon?, etc

Q: Does cleansing winds cast about as fast as Energy Bolt?

Q: How does Bombard Determine its chance to knockback/stun?

Q: What damage type is bombard? (physical?)

Q: How is Hail storm Targeted and what damage type is it? I made the guess that it's basically a cold-based version of Meteor Swarm, but wasn't sure. For those who don't know, Meteor Swarm is an AoE around target 2x2 radius spell. If Hail Storm isn't a cold-based clone of Meteor Swarm, does it do all its damage at once or is it a DoT (damage over time) spell?

Q: I just want to confirm I understand the FOF... is this how Spell plague works?

If (Eval + Mysticism)/2 of Caster = Resist Spells of target, there's a 50% chance for the curse to harm them.
If Every time Spell Plague harms someone, there's a 50% chance the plague will expire.
Spell plague has a 15 second duration
There is a 30 second cooldown timer for spell plague that resets every time someone is harmed by a spell plague cast by the mystic.

Q: Does Imbuing make Rising Colossus stronger?

 

[Maplestone]

Concerning purge magic, is there going to be a way to gain insight into what buffs a target has? (I can see it as a very difficult skill for many players to learn to use successfully)

Is shapechange (polymorph or changling ability) considered a buff?
(more generally - will any green buff icon be affected ... hmm, wait, that would have a weird interaction with accelerated skill gain as it stands now)

 

[Sarphus]

Concerning purge magic, is there going to be a way to gain insight into what buffs a target has? (I can see it as a very difficult skill for many players to learn to use successfully)

Is shapechange (polymorph or changling ability) considered a buff?
(more generally - will any green buff icon be affected ... hmm, wait, that would have a weird interaction with accelerated skill gain as it stands now)

Actually, this is something I have been interested in. I'm hoping that the devs add buff icons to the KR target gump so you can see what buffs are present on your current target.

I realize it is unlikely that 2d would let you see the same information, but going forward it would be good for UO to have that sort of information available.

 

[Leurocian]

Q: Do the cast speeds of the offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?
A: Yes.

Q: Does the damage of offensive Mysticism spells roughly correspond to the same tier of magery spell?
A: Yes.

Q: What is the FC/FCR cap on mysticism? (ex 2/6 like magery 3/6 like necro or 4/6 like spellweaving)
A: Currently, 4/6 like spellweaving, though this may need to be carefully scrutinized.

Q: Does Enhance potions work with the healing stone?
A: No. Imbuing and Mysticism determine its potency. As already mentioned, the spellweaving arcane empowerment spell can augment the healing stone as well.

Q: Can Purge Magic remove Evasion and Confidence?
A: No on Evasion. Yes on Confidence.

Here are the complete details on Purge Magic...

Ward removed is chosen at random.
If the victim doesn’t possess any wards, then this spell doesn't remove any wards.

Casting Purge Magic is a harmful act.

Wards that can be removed are the following:
Agility
Cunning
Strength
Bless

Animal Form
Cat
Dog
Kirin
Bake-Kitsune
Llama
Ostard
Rabbit
Rat
Giant Serpent
Toad
Unicorn
Wolf

Excluding Talisman Animal Forms: Cu'sidhe, Ferret, Reptalon, and Squirrel

Magic Reflection
Curse Weapon
Horrific Beast
Lich Form
Vampiric Embrace
Wraith Form
Corpseskin
Protection
Consecrate Weapon
Divine Fury
Enemy of One
Reactive Armor
Confidence
Arcane Empowerment
Attune Weapon
Gift of Life
Gift of Renewal
Immolating Weapon
Reaper Form
Enchant
Stone Form

Wards bestowed by items when worn are not affected by this spell.

Can be completely resisted by a successful resist check.

Q: If you use Purge Magic to dispel Evasion, Confidence, Gift of Renewal, Attune Weapon or Ethereal Voyage is the target's cooldown timer reset? My thought is that someone could intentionally have their buff dispelled so they can recast it sooner than intended.
A: No. Cooldown should still be in effect.

Q: Can Purge Magic remove morph forms (ex. Vampric Embrace, Wraith Form, Polymorph, Ninja forms, Reaper Form)
A: Answered above.

Q: When casting a spell from a spell trigger, does it do a reagent check when the trigger is invoked? I'm thinking specifically about triggering a spell that uses garlic while in vampire form.
A: Yes.

Q: How does imbuing/mysticism impact the power of summons? Ex. is it how long the summon lasts, how many hp it has, the skills it has, does it add hit spells to the summon?, etc
A: Mostly all the above. It affects skills, stats, duration, etc.

Q: Does cleansing winds cast about as fast as Energy Bolt?
A: Yes.

Q: How does Bombard Determine its chance to knockback/stun?
A: The % chance to knockback and stun the victim is (Mysticism + Imbuing / 20)
120 + 120 / 20 = 12 (12%)
Resisting Spells reduces this percent chance (120 / 10) (i.e., 120 Resisting Spells completely neutralizes the knockback and stun effect)

Q: What damage type is bombard? (physical?)
A: Physical.

Q: How is Hail storm Targeted and what damage type is it? I made the guess that it's basically a cold-based version of Meteor Swarm, but wasn't sure. For those who don't know, Meteor Swarm is an AoE around target 2x2 radius spell. If Hail Storm isn't a cold-based clone of Meteor Swarm, does it do all its damage at once or is it a DoT (damage over time) spell?
A: AoE around target. Can target a person/creature or a location. AoE is centered around target. 2 tile radius. Damage is currently delivered all at once.

Q: I just want to confirm I understand the FOF... is this how Spell plague works?

If (Eval + Mysticism)/2 of Caster = Resist Spells of target, there's a 50% chance for the curse to harm them.
A: Correct.

If Every time Spell Plague harms someone, there's a 50% chance the plague will expire.
A: Correct.

Spell plague has a 15 second duration
A: Correct. Unless it expires sooner.

There is a 30 second cooldown timer for spell plague that resets every time someone is harmed by a spell plague cast by the mystic.
A: What this means is the Mystic can only cast a spell plague once every 30 seconds.

Q: Does Imbuing make Rising Colossus stronger?[/QUOTE]
A: Sure does. Mysticism, Imbuing, and Eval Int scale the stats, skills, and abilities of the Rising Colossus.

 

[Leurocian]

Actually, this is something I have been interested in. I'm hoping that the devs add buff icons to the KR target gump so you can see what buffs are present on your current target.

I realize it is unlikely that 2d would let you see the same information, but going forward it would be good for UO to have that sort of information available.

I reasoned that any shapeshifted form that provides some benefit could be affected by purge magic. I just answered this question a moment ago. With that stated, polymorph is not currently affected by purge magic.

 

[Sarphus]

Excellent. Thank you for answering my quetions.

I updated the first thread, so people can get a better understanding of what mysticism is all about. I really like what I see so far.

At first I was concerned that Spell Trigger was going to be a horribly broken ability. After getting some insight on how it is restricted I am confident that it won't be a big problem. I love how you tied it to imbuing, because that greatly restricts how "gimpable" it is. If I understand correctly, someone needs to invest 120 skill points to be able to spell trigger a rank 3 spell.

About casting speed. I think it would be a really good idea to limit Mysticism to 2/6 casting. That would make sleep cast roughly as fast as the mage spell Fireball. I still have concerns that EO/Sleep will be too powerful of a combo, because EO/Paralyze is really powerful and sleep will be a faster spell in general.

At 4/6 casting, I think the rank 7 spells would be a little too fast. Also, I think the rank 6 spells would probably be as fast as 4th circle magery spells are now, which could be really bad. People already use lightning bolt when chasing down a running opponent, so 4/6 casting would allow people to use bombard instead (ouch).

I could easily see sleep becoming the spell people cast to see if someone has resist. If they start walking slow, you know that you can basically shut them down easily AND they will be disabled long enough for you to get off some high-end combos. In general, I'm not too worried about sleep being overpowered with its current design (but I am concerned about evil omen possibly being a little bit too fast)

I think with the current design I would use every spell but stone form. I would use most of the damage spells either as pre-casted spells in pvp or as slayer spellbook spells in pvm. I am excited to try them out in pvm and I am especially excited to see a physical-based spell added to the slayer spellbook arsenal. I'm also excited about the addition of a cold-based Targeted AoE that's also in the slayer spellbook arsenal

 

[Leurocian]

Excellent. Thank you for answering my quetions.

I updated the first thread, so people can get a better understanding of what mysticism is all about. I really like what I see so far.

At first I was concerned that Spell Trigger was going to be a horribly broken ability. After getting some insight on how it is restricted I am confident that it won't be a big problem. I love how you tied it to imbuing, because that greatly restricts how "gimpable" it is. If I understand correctly, someone needs to invest 120 skill points to be able to spell trigger a rank 3 spell.

About casting speed. I think it would be a really good idea to limit Mysticism to 2/6 casting. That would make sleep cast roughly as fast as the mage spell Fireball. I still have concerns that EO/Sleep will be too powerful of a combo, because EO/Paralyze is really powerful and sleep will be a faster spell in general.

At 4/6 casting, I think the rank 7 spells would be a little too fast. Also, I think the rank 6 spells would probably be as fast as 4th circle magery spells are now, which could be really bad. People already use lightning bolt when chasing down a running opponent, so 4/6 casting would allow people to use bombard instead (ouch).

I could easily see sleep becoming the spell people cast to see if someone has resist. If they start walking slow, you know that you can basically shut them down easily AND they will be disabled long enough for you to get off some high-end combos. In general, I'm not too worried about sleep being overpowered with its current design (but I am concerned about evil omen possibly being a little bit too fast)

I think with the current design I would use every spell but stone form. I would use most of the damage spells either as pre-casted spells in pvp or as slayer spellbook spells in pvm. I am excited to try them out in pvm and I am especially excited to see a physical-based spell added to the slayer spellbook arsenal. I'm also excited about the addition of a cold-based Targeted AoE that's also in the slayer spellbook arsenal

Excellent feedback.

Two comments I'd like to make on the feedback.

1. Good chance spellcasting for Mysticism will be 2/6. That feels more balanced. This includes ensuring paladins get fast cast of 2 if they have >= 70 mysticism (i.e., same behavior as a paladin having >= 70 magery)

2. Stone Form will most likely get some rework. I'll provide more information on that when we have it available.

Thanks again!

I just realized it's 6 pm on a Saturday and my daughter is wanting my attention. I better go for now

 

[Maplestone]

( thank you for the extra-hours Q&A )

Has it been decided how many control slots Rising Colossus expected to be?

 

[Leurocian]

( thank you for the extra-hours Q&A )

Has it been decided how many control slots Rising Colossus expected to be?

Sneaks online for a moment to answer the question...

5 control slots is the current design for the rising colossus.

 

[Sarphus]

Sneaks online for a moment to answer the question...

5 control slots is the current design for the rising colossus.

Oh wow!
Cool

BEHOLD! THE COLOSSUS!

I also like the direction you're going with 2/6 mysticism and the 2/6 chiv if mysticism or magery are over 70. I actually missed that one, but that probably would have been a problem.

Have fun with your family. Thanks again for all the information.

EDIT:
I updated the first post to reflect the new information about the colossus. While I was doing that I realized that the rising colossus is an uncontrollable summon. That makes it a truly unique creature (very cool). It's basically a 5 slot EV who's overall power and abilities are determined by 3 different skills. I can't wait to see this one.

Also, One of the things that most excites me about mysticism is how it's a really dynamic skill that encourages people to play a wide array of templates. That aspect of the skill is the embodiment of what UO's skill-based system is all about.

 

[Maplestone]

5 control slots is the current design for the rising colossus.

whoa!

*takes a step back from the colossus so as to not be crushed under foot*

( now shoo and get back to your family )

 

[Sarphus]

Q: If you have Protection on and you go into Stone Form can that give you negative FC?

It just occurred to me that it may make sense for a Mystic/Mage to use protection while in stone form. If you're stuck casting at FC 0, it might make sense to use protection to prevent getting interrupted.

Also, another benefit you may want to consider for stone form is poison immunity. Be careful, though. One of the primary weaknesses of protection is that people can repeatedly poison you to prevent you from healing. I think the forced walk you have from being in stone form would still balance it out alright.

I was thinking about how I would change Stone Form, and I think the following effects would make sense. Also, if anyone sees a hole in this, point it out please.

Stone Form Mods:
Forced walk
Can't use other morph spells
Can't mount or fly
Poison Immunity
Attacks ignore physical resist over 60
Forced FC 0
Damage taken reduced by 1-6 (Imbuing + Mysticism) / 40

I'll explain this a little...

When I say attacks ignore physical resist over 60, I'm saying that any physical damage (probably excluding spell damage) you do acts as though your target's cap on their physical resist is 60. It's kinda like cursing a target and then casting attack spells on it, but this would only restrict their physical resist and only when you are hitting them.

Forced FC 0 is a little stronger restriction than FC -2, but not much. It limits how stone form can be used with bushido, ninjitsu, chivalry and spellweaving. I don't think it's too harsh of a punishment. Also, this would mean that a mage could use protection and stone form together to have uninteruptable spells, but FC 0.

Poison immunity is a big one. There's 2 ways this could be done. One would be to have it only apply to the kind of poison applied by assassins and mages. Another would be to have stone form give you 100% poison resistance. I'm not sure what the implications would be of each, but I think poison immunity would make sense from a fantasy standpoint and I think it's the kind of ability that would convince some players to use the ability.

Can't mount or fly is mostly a balace restriction, but it also makes sense from a fantasy standpoint. As long as you restrict mobility to unmounted walk speed, you make the ability fairly well balanced.

The "Can't Morph" restriction is probably already there. Basically, this is to prevent people from being a stone wraith, stone lich, stone ki-rin, etc.

Damage taken reduced by 1-6 is intended to happen after an attack is applied to your resistances. I would make it so that there's a minimum damage of 1 on all attacks. The idea is to make Stone Form a powerful defensive spell. Many people run around with max or near max resists, but this would give people something unique that they gain from this spell defensively (aside from poison immunity)

The only question is whether this is going too far. The way you test that is you build a char that has 120 Imbuing/Mysticism/Parry/Bushido/Weapon and 120 in various other things.
You probably want to test it in a max resist suit with high HPR.

If HPR proves to break it, you could always make HPR half as effective in Stone Form

People would probably use Protection with this version of Stone Form.

 

[Maplestone]

Poison immunity feels like a scary road to go down. It completely negates the poison skill in PvP and potentially makes the character invulnerable to some monsters for effortless farming and restricts the kinds of traps that can be used in the future as a major barrier.

(but I don't have enough experience with the impact elven energy resistance going from 70-75 to provide better analysis)

 

[Sarphus]

Poison immunity feels like a scary road to go down. It completely negates the poison skill in PvP and potentially makes the character invulnerable to some monsters for effortless farming and restricts the kinds of traps that can be used in the future as a major barrier.

(but I don't have enough experience with the impact elven energy resistance going from 70-75 to provide better analysis)

OOH! Good catch...

I forgot about putrifier... 100% poison resist would definitely be a bad thing.

 

[Gildar]

Stone Form proposal

• +10 resists
• +20 DI
• +20 Direct Damage resist
• +5 resist cap
• -1 poison level (orange petals should act before this reduction)
• -2 fc
• -2 fc cap, does not stack with protection's -2 FC cap
• -5 ssi
• -5 ssi cap
• -20 dex (minimum of 10)
• -20 dex cap

Protection (a reference for those who don't know)

• -15 physical resist, reduced by 1 per 20 inscription
• -35 resisting spells, reduced by 1 per 20 inscription
• -2 FC
• -2 FC cap
• No spell interruption

Stone Form + Protection with GM inscription would be...

• +10 elemental resists
• +20 DI
• +20 Direct Damage resist (before the 35 PvP DD cap)
• +5 resist cap
• -1 poison level (orange petals should act before this reduction)
• -4 fc
• -2 fc cap, does not stack with protection's -2 FC cap
• -5 ssi
• -5 ssi cap
• -20 dex (minimum of 10)
• -20 dex cap
• -30 resisting spells
• No Spell Interuption

Why -20 dex? Bandages. Stick two stone-form archers next to eachother at a chokepoint and they'd be exceptionally difficult to stop.
Why the negatives to the caps? Items easily let people go over caps.
Why the direct damage resistance? If you're going to make a tank, it should be a tank!

This, hopefully, would make a stone-form user a character that takes damage slowly, but also deals damage and restores health slowly.
Some good tactics that should be possible, but also not overpowering are...
1. Summon mage tanking for higher-damage, but low-health summons (pixies, air elementals...)
2. Melee warrior taking the damage from a heavy-hitting monster while other stand back and attack with higher-damage ranged.
3. 2-4 archers blocking a chokepoint in PvP.


One thing that may also need to be factored in is explosion potions. An alchemist mystic wouldn't be slowed down at all with their explosion potions, which they could use to deal damage in addition to the occasional spell (mass sleep, perhaps).

 

[Maplestone]

I think that many modifiers starts to feel (to me) a bit unwieldly ... especially when introducing cap-modifying mechanics to three stats at once.

And although it's an interesting idea to modify caps, other racial-transformation spells don't do this (do they?), so it feels like going down this road would require a pass through reexaming all polymorphed forms.

 

[Sarphus]

I have a few more questions to flesh out how some of the other stuff works.

Q: How is the healing Determined for the Healing Stone?

Q: Does a Mystic need a free hand to use a Healing Stone?

Q: How many control slots is Animated Weapon?

Q: How does the remove curse and cure poison and healing aspects of Cleansing Winds work? For Instance, does it cure poison like arch cure? Does it remove multiple curses?, does it heal like Greater Heal? I'm trying to understand what happens if someone has multiple nasty effects on them like Bleed, Mortal Wound and Lethal poison.

Q: Is Hail storm damage split the same way as meteor shower and chain lightning? (full dmg on first 2 targets, but reduced dmg if more than 2 targets are hit)

Q: How does Nether Cyclone damage work? I'm assuming the spell is Energy, because it was an energy spell in past ultima game. If so, how does the spell differ from the mage spell Chain Lightning?

 

[Gildar]

I think that many modifiers starts to feel (to me) a bit unwieldly ... especially when introducing cap-modifying mechanics to three stats at once.

And although it's an interesting idea to modify caps, other racial-transformation spells don't do this (do they?), so it feels like going down this road would require a pass through reexaming all polymorphed forms.

Other polymorph forms don't adjust caps... but they also have a history of being used for things not originally intended due to new and better items coming out that let them basically ignore the negatives.

 

[Leurocian]

Hi Gildar!

I actually created a separate thread to discuss Stone Form. There were some details that weren't mentioned that I'd like your feedback on.

 

[Leurocian]

I have a few more questions to flesh out how some of the other stuff works.

Q: How is the healing Determined for the Healing Stone?

A: A Healing Stone is equivalent between a Heal and a Greater Heal spell when used.

The Healing effect is scaled based on the Mysticism and Imbuing skill levels of the caster.
Amt Healed = 1d6 + (((mysticismSkill + imbuingSkill) / 2) / 4)
31-36 @ 120;
The Healing effect can be augmented by the Spellweaving Arcane Empowerment ability
Enhanced Potions does not affect the Healing Stone

Q: Does a Mystic need a free hand to use a Healing Stone?
A: Yes.

Q: How many control slots is Animated Weapon?
A: 4.

Q: How does the remove curse and cure poison and healing aspects of Cleansing Winds work? For Instance, does it cure poison like arch cure?
A: Cures poison like arch cure. 85% chance at 120 mysticism and 120 eval

Q: Does it remove multiple curses?
A: Yes. 85% at 120 mysticism and 120 eval

Q: Does it heal like Greater Heal?
A: The Healing effect is between a Heal and Greater Heal in power

Q: Is Hail storm damage split the same way as meteor shower and chain lightning? (full dmg on first 2 targets, but reduced dmg if more than 2 targets are hit)

A: No. Not currently. But that is something we can scrutinize and adjust if need.

Q: How does Nether Cyclone damage work? I'm assuming the spell is Energy, because it was an energy spell in past ultima game. If so, how does the spell differ from the mage spell Chain Lightning?

A: The damage inflicted is 100% Chaos.

In addition to doing damage, mana and stamina of the victims can be reduced by up to 20% of their max values.

Resisting Spells of the victim can reduce this % reduction.

The mana and stamina depletion are scaled based on the Mysticism and Evaluating Intelligence skill levels of the caster.

Mana & Stamina reduction calculation:
% reduction = ((Mysticism + Evaluating Intelligence) / 120))

Then, take Resisting Spells into account:
% reduction = % reduction – (Resisting Spells / 80)

Example: 120 Mysticism and 120 Evaluating Intelligence has a base 20% Mana and Stamina reduction to victims.

If a victim has 120 Resisting Spells, then the percent becomes 5% (i.e., 120 / 8 = reduced by 15%).

 

[Sarphus]

Q: Is Hail storm damage split the same way as meteor shower and chain lightning? (full dmg on first 2 targets, but reduced dmg if more than 2 targets are hit)

A: No. Not currently. But that is something we can scrutinize and adjust if need.

Q: How does Nether Cyclone damage work? I'm assuming the spell is Energy, because it was an energy spell in past ultima game. If so, how does the spell differ from the mage spell Chain Lightning?

A: The damage inflicted is 100% Chaos.

In addition to doing damage, mana and stamina of the victims can be reduced by up to 20% of their max values.

Resisting Spells of the victim can reduce this % reduction.

The mana and stamina depletion are scaled based on the Mysticism and Evaluating Intelligence skill levels of the caster.

Mana & Stamina reduction calculation:
% reduction = ((Mysticism + Evaluating Intelligence) / 120))

Then, take Resisting Spells into account:
% reduction = % reduction – (Resisting Spells / 80)

Example: 120 Mysticism and 120 Evaluating Intelligence has a base 20% Mana and Stamina reduction to victims.

If a victim has 120 Resisting Spells, then the percent becomes 5% (i.e., 120 / 8 = reduced by 15%).

Hail Storm
I think it would be good to make Hail Storm do exactly what Meteor Swarm does, but with cold damage. Although most people don't use Meteor Swarm, it is actually a very powerful spell when used correctly. If meteor swarm did full damage to all targets regardless of how many there are, I think it would be a bit too strong.


Nether Cyclone
I like the stat reductions you put on this spell. It would probably be a good idea to make sure they don't stack when multiple Nether Cyclones hit a target.

You probably want to scale damage down based on number of targets on this spell too. Otherwise a group of 5 or 6 Mystics could precast this spell from off screen and drop a stack of people.

You may want to consider making the damage from this spell exactly like Chain lightning / Meteor Swarm, but consider adding a penalty to Mana Regeneration and Stamina Regeneration to the effects.

I'd have to try it out both in pvp and pvm to know for sure if those mods would be too much. I like the idea of lasting effects from damage spells, though.

 

[Sir_Bolo]

Hi Leurocian,

a question about Mysticism reagents:

- In addition to the ordinary Magery reagents, Mysticism also uses some special reagents that are currently not sold on vendors: Bone, Fertile Dirt, Daemon Bone, Dragon's Blood.
Are you going to add new vendors for the mysticism reagents or not? I can see a few problems in both cases...

1) If the new reagents are not available for sale, Mystics will be the only spellcasters that have to hunt monsters to gather their reagents. This puts mystics without a 100% LRC suit at a disadvantage. In addition, one of the new reagents (daemon bone) is currently only available on monsters in a Trammel ruleset, making it impossible for red mystics to collect them.

2) If the new reagents are available for sale, this might interfere with their current intended use... For example, a player could just buy daemon bones from a vendor instead of collecting them from Doom creatrues to complete Victoria's quest for the golden skull.

Maybe it's better to use slightly different items as reagents instead of using items that already serve a purpouse in game?

 

[Hunters' Moon]

What will be the mana costs of the spells listed here? Will it have a heavy mana cost like the spellweaving skill or will it be more along the lines of magery? Oh and the stone titan....will it be as easily dispelled as the ev and the other mage summons?

 

[HeathBar]

Why is Corpseskin considered a beneficial ward with the Purge Magic spell?

 

[Gildar]

Why is Corpseskin considered a beneficial ward with the Purge Magic spell?

It raises physical and cold resistance. While less likely, since physical and cold damage is less common than fire and poison, corpse skin is beneficial in some situations.

 

[Sarphus]

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

What will be the mana costs of the spells listed here? Will it have a heavy mana cost like the spellweaving skill or will it be more along the lines of magery? Oh and the stone titan....will it be as easily dispelled as the ev and the other mage summons?

As far as I understand it, the mana costs are similar to those of magery spells. Rank 3 would be like 3rd circle Rank 8 like 8th circle and so on.

 

[Sarphus]

It raises physical and cold resistance. While less likely, since physical and cold damage is less common than fire and poison, corpse skin is beneficial in some situations.

Yeah. It's actually harder to do a crimson dragon if you have someone there constantly casting corpse skin, because it shaves about 10 pts of dmg off your withers.

 

[genghiskhan]

Serious concerns about purge magic....

I really don't think it should remove forms. This is one of the mysticism spells that will be purely for pvp so lets look at the common pvp forms:

wraith form: generally only usable in choke points and the spell plague seems
to be specifically designed to combat this, and there is already
the disadvantage of being unmounted, possibly have it affect only wraith form?

vampiric embrace: my biggest concern is this, in the pvp world you do not see many necro dexer templates. I have one that uses vamp form and it is already a very rare build because of how hard it is to make a char around it, you need to add the fire to your suit, have 100 minimum skill pts invested to cast it, and a second level spell removing it is like completely changing your character. You cant use cure potions, or cast any defensive mage spells pretty mcuh (the garlic thing) so as it stands now the only forms of curing dp on a vampire are healing/anatomy via bandaids, high chivalry (which is already near useless with necro) and thats it. I run neither on my vamp and already have to switch forms n chug cure pots when facing a dper. This form is not even close to overpowered in pvp either considering petals give the same poison resistance effect, the life leech is like 1hp in pvp, the stam regen is not even important with refresh potions, and the mr helps but is definately not enough on its own

animal form : you can already dismount/bola peopel out of these forms, the main idea of a ninja character is to be able to escape, smart players can dismoutn one out of form and it is pretyt balanced imo (i dont even have a ninja char but thought of this). A ninja getting ganked with a mystic in the picture might as well go get a drink cause hes toast.

almost all other forms are already never used in pvp, the rare build that uses something like horrific beast or lich form or reaper form will not exist with this spell.

I think this spell will be very good if balanced right. Perhaps put a cooldown onit similar to gift of renewal/attunement, or take out the form removing aspect, and i think it will be very balanced. One spell completely nerfing a rare template build seems unfair to me.

animal forms:

 

[genghiskhan]

To add to my previous post there are more reasons this spell will be overpowered and the main is the fact that it is a second level spell, meaning it is near disruptable.
This spell alone will make spellweaving near useless as well
renewal and attunement are the main spells used in pvp with weaving, both have a cooldown that is pretty long in pvp, one near insta cast spelll removing these seems a bit unfair as well. To be honest I'd consider this spell to be as powerful as mana vamp vs a char with noresist, mana vamp is prety balanced being a 7th level spell but imagine if it was 2nd level. I really think you need to look at this spell a lot more, also magic reflect and reactive armor will not longer be used by any char imo because of the hassle of it being removed all the time including scribe mages. I know that it is one random effect but a spell that fast is easy to spam and anyone who thinks it wont be spammed is kidding themselves. Either drastically increase the casting time or add a cooldown at least as long as renewa. For example if a mystic is fighting a weaver and the cooldown of purge magic is similar to renewal/attunement it would be fair as the mystic would only be removing one of these spells, where as it stands now if you actually manage to get renewal off in pvp, its instantly removed. Please look into this spell much more because it really seems like it will be only used in pvp and completely nerf so many unique builds out there.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Will casting mystic spells unequip any non-spell channeling weapon?

 

[Sarphus]

Will casting mystic spells unequip any non-spell channeling weapon?

I'm almost certain that your weapon will unequip when you cast. Everything else in mysticism seems to behave exactly the same as magery does.

 

[Sarphus]

To add to my previous post there are more reasons this spell will be overpowered and the main is the fact that it is a second level spell, meaning it is near disruptable.
This spell alone will make spellweaving near useless as well
renewal and attunement are the main spells used in pvp with weaving, both have a cooldown that is pretty long in pvp, one near insta cast spelll removing these seems a bit unfair as well. To be honest I'd consider this spell to be as powerful as mana vamp vs a char with noresist, mana vamp is prety balanced being a 7th level spell but imagine if it was 2nd level. I really think you need to look at this spell a lot more, also magic reflect and reactive armor will not longer be used by any char imo because of the hassle of it being removed all the time including scribe mages. I know that it is one random effect but a spell that fast is easy to spam and anyone who thinks it wont be spammed is kidding themselves. Either drastically increase the casting time or add a cooldown at least as long as renewa. For example if a mystic is fighting a weaver and the cooldown of purge magic is similar to renewal/attunement it would be fair as the mystic would only be removing one of these spells, where as it stands now if you actually manage to get renewal off in pvp, its instantly removed. Please look into this spell much more because it really seems like it will be only used in pvp and completely nerf so many unique builds out there.

I don't have a problem with purge magic having a recast timer. I think you're right that some people would probably spam it in pvp to keep other people debuffed.

I think purge magic will be used a lot by monsters in SA to battle some of the more commonly abused builds. A lot of the most abuseable pvm templates have a lot of problems if they have to continually re-add their buffs (they run out of mana). I also think that there will be bosses in SA that players will want to cast purge magic on (with enough mysticism and eval) to remove the boss monster's buff.

I don't think there's anything wrong with purge magic removing forms and other buffs. I think UO is long overdue for a spell to do just this. Perhaps such a spell should be a higher rank spell, but I think a rank 2 version is totally balanceable as long as its chance to remove the form is scaled based on the target's skills vs the caster's skills. You shouldn't be able to take 40 mysticism and 0 eval to remove vamp form.

I think purge magic was intended to be a counter for ninja forms in pvp. As things are now, a tamer can put ninja on and they can run around with 5 slots of pets without sacrificing mobility. With purge magic in the game, they can have that penalty re-instated. Animal forms should consume control slots...

Also, purge magic doesn't do anything that the purge magic talismans can't already do. People just don't use those talismans much on most shards.

 

[genghiskhan]

If purge magic is treated like mana vamp or something it would be fine(useless on chars with resist very good vs chars without it). Perhaps it compares mysticism to casters eval for mage buffs(or mage), necro or ss for necro buffs, spellweaving for weaving buffs. Even so if the chance is not minimal on lets say a all 120d mystic against a char with 120weaving, weaving is already an underused spell in pvp due to the necessity of a focus. If the chance was even say 20%, spamming it would make those 120 pts near useless. I think a cooldown would be the best way to balance this with or without a chance to resisst as it is going to be way overpowered if it is spammable with a good chance to remove because in pvp it looks like anyone with mysticism is going to have at least eval or imbueing to 120 if not both and maybe like 105 as it is with necro or whatever. Animal form already has a counter - dismount, it seems a lot of people don't know this but I have no problem catching those animal form tamers with a bola or dismount. Control slots would make sense for animal form maybe 1 or somethin to nerf the superdragon stealth animal form setups. Overall I just dont think that one low level spell, even if you invest 360pts into mysticism, should completely null every buff in game. You're going to see no more vamp form chars period, no more spellweavers, no more reactive armor n magic reflect used, a lot less people with ninjitsu, just please look at this spell with the pvp aspect in mind. If the pvm chars you're concerned with have this spell aimed at them it would work ok. Heres a perfect example, a all 120 mystic dispelling any buff compares to the skill used for that buff (ie 120 necro or ss for vamp). If both are 120 give it like a 10%max chance to dispel. And then give the bosses crazy stats like in doom with like 200 mysticism so theyre chance increases significantly.