There was a small discussion about 4 path vokers and it got me thinking. I've toyed around with a 4 path voker in the past, and while the learning rate was fantastic, it seemed to be almost too fast, even as a svirf (what I tried to ~30). Perfecting spells wasn't a problem, as intended, but I ended up getting spells before I could use them with any efficiency, so I'd spend 4 or 5 levels after getting a new spell not using it because it cost too much mana.

So what I was thinking was that any affinity point above 5 gives you spells along that path 1 level sooner per affinity point, and any affinity point below 5 would give you them 1 level later. 7 path still plays the exact same, but even one path with 10 in it gives you a big step up as far as power and whatnot go. Obviously 1 would be the low bound, and 51 the high (although only 2 spells come after 46 anyway).

What do you think?

higher affinity should make relevant path spells more powerful across the board. INT is setup game-wise that even a svirf can get to a fully perfected 7 path spell set. This, imho, undervalues what INT should represent for a PC. Right now "Affinity primarily affects the rate at which spells are learned, and the amount of mana required to cast them, but may have more subtle effects as well." So I would rather see these subtle effects (I have really only noticed the first one listed) become more explicit: more damage, longer durations, less lag etc. As an example, if I am a 10-affinity earth path invoker that should have some tangible benefit relative to a 5-affinity invoker of the same path. Maybe say that the highest tier spells in a path can be had if affinity is greater than some threshold which should be more than the default. Obviously to get a 10 affinity path I need to, most likely, drop a path or two. So there should a trade off. Jack of all trades master of none vs specialist. Right now I see virtually no trade off except for practicing time. But, again, given how INT is done that is a small handicap.

IIRC, higher affinity already does what you want it to do. And isn't as subtle as the helpfile might imply...:P

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

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Might sound crazy, but what if a 10 in a certain affinity allowed a certain edge pertaining to that affinity to be chosen if a few criteria are fulfilled. These would be:

-Perfection of ALL spells in that path.
-Lots of Edge points, with Imm-XP being a definite must-have.
-Level 45+.
-A minimum age of at least 300 hours.

Now, what could be so damn costly? Well, the Edge system, in my opinion, is a perfect platform for allowing quest, or near-quest abilities into the game. This is a perfect example. I think Edges like this should be called "Greater Edges" and should stand out from the rest. A Greater Edge's main requirement is that it must change the gameplay experience once it is picked by a character. Some already seem to fit, like Champion of Man and Defiler (though Defiler really didn't do anything for me when I had it).

Back to the invoker thing, though.

Let's say you meet all the criteria and can pick an edge for your 10-affinity-in-Earth svirf invoker. You get the edge called "Essence of Earth," whose description is notably Nep-vaguesque, and states...

Essence of Earth: Your Earth magic is second to none.

What does it do? Well, it affects every Earth spell you have in a visible way. Maybe instead of tossing a single pebble-to-boulder you might toss a fistful of them at groups when they come at you (but you can only lag the main target...of course there is a better chance of that). When you cast Rain of Stone, maybe it can follow you if you move a room or two away, or persist after you leave. Your Earth Ripples might lift whole groups, or give a chance to lag them a round if they are tossed (like Brutal Drag). Maybe the pit you can create with Dig can hide your group. Maybe your earth-based shielding cannot be dispelled.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I like it, but I think all my ideas are genius. Pure genius.

Go me.

Man, that sounds like a lot of coding for something only a few people might ever have. I probably could sit down and bust out, say, druid edges (as in, all of them) for the effort involved in your Essence of Earth.

Granted, I'm a lazy bastard and haven't managed to get any of that done, but you get the idea.

You are right! It could be a lot of work, but I imagine that much of that could be done by copying code snippets from other abilities, right?

Also, you did not say anything about not liking the idea, so I consider this a minor victory. Maybe you'll even do it sometime!

*dangles a pocket watch*

Like, this weekend.

>You are right! It could be a lot of work, but I
>imagine that much of that could be done by copying code
>snippets from other abilities, right?

My estimate includes factoring that in where possible. :)

Before the mad scientist Mek starts going nutso with ideas for compound edges and metaphysical edges or whatever the hell else springs forth from his chaotic evil mind.

Except for semi-cool original ideas. Love 'em.

Yhorian

Thanks for reply. In my limited invoker experience I did not really "see" this. But I compare a 5x7 (default) to a 7x5 (5-path) only. Here, "subtle" seems right. But I really like the idea/fact that a 10 affinity path would be non-subtle. Maybe I'll finally roll the 4-path svirf I've been thinking of :)

Isn't worth it. I still think that getting more powerful spells sooner would do more toward making higher affinity more attractive at low levels than subtle or not so subtle effects that are really going to be most noticeable in the end-game IMHO.