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1eyedking How should a mage's playstyle/quests be like?

Neanderthal

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Reroll as a Barbarian?

In truth though the Avatar in Ultima got this fairly spot on for me.
 

RickOmbo

Learned
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May 24, 2019
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I like how magic works in Thieves' World, it's all about knowledge and preparation.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
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Not Europe
Even though all magic spells in dragon's dogma are combat focused, I like how they're not focused on buffs and nerfs like most other rpgs I've played.
 

V_K

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at a Nowhere near you
Interesting that you exclude U8, which is arguably the most magic-heavy of Ultimas and has one of the most creative magic systems.
 

Neanderthal

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Interesting that you exclude U8, which is arguably the most magic-heavy of Ultimas and has one of the most creative magic systems.

Never got on with the four/five elements thing, just rubs me wrong way somehow. It was creative I'll give it that. The leap of faith was taking piss though.
 

Ramnozack

Cipher
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I would want a system similar to the magic in The Master of the Five Magics. In that universe magic is a trade like blacksmithing is, and generally is used in non-combative ways unlike dnd or something like that, though it can be if used cleverly.

Having a game mostly centered around you hiring out your services as a magic craftsman of a particular school of magic to solve problems in cleverly efficient ways would be cool imo. Help this farmer harvest his crops using magic, help your lords army spy and scout the enemy, make potions that make mining a lucrative but deadly hot shaft possible, etc.
 

newtmonkey

Arcane
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It depends on whether we are talking about "story" based game or a tactical RPG.

For a tactical RPG, I like the idea of wizards starting out as glass cannons that get more and more powerful and ultimately end up being clearly the most powerful characters toward the end (but still completely useless if for whatever reason they cannot cast their spells). It's interesting as a gameplay mechanic, and it's also evocative of having to give up everything in pursuit of ultimate power. In this case, classic Wizardry games are tough to beat, but a lot of Wizardry like series (Bard's Tale, M&M) and of course anything that uses D&D rules works like this.

For more story-based games, nothing has topped the Quest for Glory series (and its love letters) in my opinion. Interacting with other wizards, solving puzzles with magic, it's just great.

I'd love to see a "life sim" like Taiko Risshiden series (sengoku era Japan) where you play a wizard in a Conan-esque setting where magic is a completely terrifying thing for most people, and covers everything from con men to actual wizards who have given up a part of their humanity to gain incredible power. Use some sleight of hand to bullshit your way into a position as an advisor to some warlord, and just hope that the greater resources your position provides allow you to actually learn some real magic before they figure you out.
 
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Gregz

Arcane
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The Desert Wasteland
Best Mage LARP I've ever seen was Raistlin from the Dragonlance novels.

At the start of the first book he faints from weakness after casting a sleep spell...by the end of the last book he wizard fites a God.

I'm not sure how you translate that into a cRPG, but it was really captivating.
 
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Vulpes

Scholar
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
148
Just play the Quest for Glory series if you want to see a mage playstyle done properly. It should basically revolve around three things: spells, rituals and magical artifacts of varying utility that you'd either have to research and/or gather some specific regents
 
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Darth Canoli

Arcane
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Jun 8, 2018
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Perched on a tree
I really like JarlFrank's take on environmental interactions.

There's also ToME alchemist path which i wish was used in more cRPG (M&M VII almost did it but didn't get through).
You build and upgrade your own golem, you do it through skills and gems in ToME, the building part could be improved, of course and you could have different types of golems, like a flesh golem requiring some fresh body parts, a wood golem, a stone golem, a clay golem all having different requirements even asking some artisan's help.

Once you built it, in ToME, he fights for you and doesn't just stay idle in your castle (MM7)
 

Kabas

Arcane
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Feb 10, 2018
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Speaking of ToME, a lot of it's class mechanics can be used as an inspiration.

I liked the demonlogist idea of using demons as a socket equipment that grants you stuff from basic resists and stat bonuses to passives and activatable abilities like the ice imp one that can pull those annoying wizards into your striking range. He can also summon these demons directly, but it's not a good idea on practice.
As an archimage/necromancer you're encouraged to actively use the arcane eye as scouting tool to avoid getting yourself into the bad position.
You also have the Paradox Mage which is just plain fun. Pushing people around with that gravity tree, teleporting yourself into your private space island in case of emergencies, triggering an anomaly that randomly teleports you across the whole map because you didn't check your paradox level.
 

Momock

Augur
Joined
Sep 26, 2014
Messages
644
It's quite simple in my mind: magic skills shouldn't duplicate other skills, they should be their own thing (so not about combat since we have warriors both melee and archers, not about stealth and traps since we have thieves, not about manipulating others since we have diplomats, no about movements since we have ninjas, etc). It should be about sci-fi shit you do with implants but that's magic instead because of medieval setting (freeze water, slowing time, invoke thing, softening/hardening materials, seeing the future or trough things, etc)
 

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