Spells of Gold Character Development
Spells of Gold Character Development
Codex Preview - posted by Mistress on Wed 19 March 2003, 03:56:00
Tags: Buka Entertainment; Spells of GoldA quick peek at the options available to your in developing your character in upcoming trade focused RPG, Spells of Gold.
Set to hit our shelves sometime soon, Spells of Gold is an RPG with a bit of a twist. Billed as a "role-playing game with strong trade influence", developers Jonquil Software have created a non linear game with a focus on trading activities. Set in the fantasy universe of Lokatrien, Spells of Gold comprises over 25 different worlds, each with several cities for your character to explore and trade with. Your character travels between worlds via portals, using his trusty Magic Sack of Monroke to haul around the goodies for trade. Of course, the life of a travelling salesman is never an easy one, and your character will often be set upon by bandits and other nasties. On many such occasions, you will have the choice of taking the offensive and chopping your way through your assailants, or, paying them off to gain safe passage as you explore the gameworld and unravel the story of Spells of Gold.
As you make your way through the gameworld, your character will of course gain experience, and develop according to the way you wish to play the game. Which is where the main focus of this article comes in; character development. Time for a closer look at the options available to you in developing your character in Spells of Gold.
Your character, as you would expect, has a selection of abilities, and as you gain experience and increase levels in the three areas of combat, magic and trade, you will be able to raise the values of these abilities. The cost of increasing abilities will depend upon which area you have leveled in. So, if your character is a warrior, you will have to spend more points on raising your intellect, and for mages it will be more costly to increase strength.
The main abilities are fairly standard, being; strength, dexterity, intellect, constitution, willpower and charisma. Values for health, mana, defense, damage, armour, luxury, maximum weight and the number of student points you are allocated, are tied to your abilities.
The skill system in Spells of Gold consists of 23 skills, divided into three groups, Military, Spiritual, and Common. They have varying levels of mastery, ranging up to 20.
Passive Skills
Active (mana-draining) Skills
Skills in Spells of Gold are learnt and improved by using schools in the various cities you will travel through. Each school has a limit to the level of knowledge it can impart to its students, and so, in order to advance past this level, you will have to go in search of a better place of learning. You must pay for your education, both using gold and student points. Student points are based on your character's intellect and literacy skill. Spent student points are replenished over time, the speed at which they are recovered also being dependent on your intellect and level of literacy.
Some skills are passive, and as such do not need to be activated, and do not drain mana. Active skills need to be selected to be used, and often drain mana levels.
Teachers may refuse to teach you new skills, in which case, you may opt to solve some quests for them, in order to improve their attitude and encourage them to part with their knowledge.
There are 5 different gods for your character to worship in Spells of Gold:
You can choose any or several gods to worship, although you must be aware of the fact that some gods do not get on, and so an increase in favour with one may well cause a decrease in your favour with another.
To increase favour with the gods, your character can make donations at temples, and solve quests for priests. This will result in a reward from the gods, augmenting your abilities.
Each god has a number of prayers for your character to learn, and these are available in temples. After saying a prayer, the relevant gods will favour your character with a blessing. Learning prayers works in the same way as learning skills.
There are five different guilds for your character to choose from, and as one would expect, they carry various requirements as listed below:
So there you have it, character development in Spells of Gold. Hopefully you will get to see it for yourselves in the near future. ;-)
As you make your way through the gameworld, your character will of course gain experience, and develop according to the way you wish to play the game. Which is where the main focus of this article comes in; character development. Time for a closer look at the options available to you in developing your character in Spells of Gold.
Your character, as you would expect, has a selection of abilities, and as you gain experience and increase levels in the three areas of combat, magic and trade, you will be able to raise the values of these abilities. The cost of increasing abilities will depend upon which area you have leveled in. So, if your character is a warrior, you will have to spend more points on raising your intellect, and for mages it will be more costly to increase strength.
The main abilities are fairly standard, being; strength, dexterity, intellect, constitution, willpower and charisma. Values for health, mana, defense, damage, armour, luxury, maximum weight and the number of student points you are allocated, are tied to your abilities.
The skill system in Spells of Gold consists of 23 skills, divided into three groups, Military, Spiritual, and Common. They have varying levels of mastery, ranging up to 20.
Passive Skills
| Skill | Skill Description |
| Literacy: | The art of reading and writing. Affects the number of student points available, and as such is important in learning new skills. |
| Speech: | The art of conversing and of logics. Influences the attitudes of NPCs towards your character. |
| Monstrology: | Knowing your enemy. Allows you to see enemy stats and their weaknesses. |
| Trade: | Gives you advantages in good selection, gives better rates for goods and has an effect on effectiveness in using the magic sack of Monroke. |
| Geography: | A combination of travelling, cartography and pathfinding skills. Speeds up your travelling across the map. |
| Portal: | The skill of travelling between the worlds via portals. |
| Repair: | Proper care and handling of your weapons and armor. Get more wear out of your equipment. |
| Self-control: | Ability to control your body and mind. |
| Stamina: | The skill of using your inner body strength. Gives you a higher weight allowance. |
| Athletics: | Strong body fights diseases better and heals faster. |
| Martial Arts: | The ancient art of battle craft. The skill of parry and hit. |
| Sword: | Requires high strength, speed and dexterity. |
| Axe: | Requires high strength. |
| Mace: | The art of wielding maces, clubs and cudgels. Looks simple enough but can prove lethal in the hands of an experienced fighter. |
| Shield: | The skill of using shields properly. |
| Crossbow: | The crossbow skill. Crossbows are slower and used at lower ranges than bows, but the bolts are deadly. |
| Bow: | Bows are next to ancient weapons.Nevertheless, a skilled ranger never ceased to be a deadly opponent. |
Active (mana-draining) Skills
| Skill | Skill Description |
| Concentration: | (drains mana when striking) Concentration in battle. Makes each of your strikes more precise. Active skill. |
| Meditation: | (drains mana when used)The skill of using your magical energy to heal your wounds. |
| Iron Skin: | (drains mana when hit)The skill of using your magical energy to fortify your body. |
| Thunderstrike: | (drains mana when striking)The skill of breathing properly thus augmenting your striking force. |
| Spot Strike: | (no mana drain)Accurate aiming before striking. Your attacks take more time to prepare. |
| Avoidance: | (drains mana when hit)The art of concentrating in combat to improve the reaction. You become a much harder target for the enemy. |
Skills in Spells of Gold are learnt and improved by using schools in the various cities you will travel through. Each school has a limit to the level of knowledge it can impart to its students, and so, in order to advance past this level, you will have to go in search of a better place of learning. You must pay for your education, both using gold and student points. Student points are based on your character's intellect and literacy skill. Spent student points are replenished over time, the speed at which they are recovered also being dependent on your intellect and level of literacy.
Some skills are passive, and as such do not need to be activated, and do not drain mana. Active skills need to be selected to be used, and often drain mana levels.
Teachers may refuse to teach you new skills, in which case, you may opt to solve some quests for them, in order to improve their attitude and encourage them to part with their knowledge.
There are 5 different gods for your character to worship in Spells of Gold:
- Oterion ~ God of Warriors
- Balaor ~ God of Mages
- Enaryth ~ God of Traders
- Tennara ~ Goddess of Night
- Joella ~ Goddess of Nature
You can choose any or several gods to worship, although you must be aware of the fact that some gods do not get on, and so an increase in favour with one may well cause a decrease in your favour with another.
To increase favour with the gods, your character can make donations at temples, and solve quests for priests. This will result in a reward from the gods, augmenting your abilities.
Each god has a number of prayers for your character to learn, and these are available in temples. After saying a prayer, the relevant gods will favour your character with a blessing. Learning prayers works in the same way as learning skills.
There are five different guilds for your character to choose from, and as one would expect, they carry various requirements as listed below:
| Name | Type | Requirements | Guild Services |
| Brotherhood of Sword: | White Warriors Guild | Combat experience, prevalence of white karma | Increase in combat skills, Strength and Dexterity |
| Night Ravens: | Mercenaries Guild | Combat experience, prevalence of dark karma | Increase in combat skills, Strength and Dexterity |
| The Monroke Order: | Trade Guild | Trade experience | Increase in Wisdom, Charisma, the Magic Bag of Monroke space; goods quality improvement |
| White Circle: | White Mages Guild | Magic experience, white karma | Increase in Intellect and Magic abilities |
| Dark Mages Guild: | Dark Mages Guild | Magic experience, dark karma | Increase in Magic abilities |
So there you have it, character development in Spells of Gold. Hopefully you will get to see it for yourselves in the near future. ;-)
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