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Questions about certain spells


Fireball Fodder

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So I have a few questions about certain spell mechanics, and I was hoping someone with knowledge of the code could enlighten me...

 

Spark - what kind of damage is it?

 

Dumbfound - does it reduce enemy magic levels, or is it just a Mage version of the Curse spell?

 

Wall of Ice - does it last longer than Wall of Force? Or is it just the same spell, but with a different damage type?

 

Major Haste - is there any reason to cast this instead of Major Blessing (i.e. is the effect more powerful or does it last longer?)

 

Symbiosis - is there any reason to cast this instead of a healing spell?

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So I have a few questions about certain spell mechanics, and I was hoping someone with knowledge of the code could enlighten me...

 

Spark - what kind of damage is it?

 

Magic damage, the same damage type as shock fields or the Kill spell.

 

Dumbfound - does it reduce enemy magic levels, or is it just a Mage version of the Curse spell?

 

It does in fact reduce the enemy's spellcasting level, just like it does when enemies use it against you. Unfortunately it's ineffective against monsters with immunity to magic, which a lot of higher-level spellcasting enemies have.

 

Wall of Ice - does it last longer than Wall of Force? Or is it just the same spell, but with a different damage type?

 

According to this thread it's the same damage, same duration, just a different damage type.

 

Major Haste - is there any reason to cast this instead of Major Blessing (i.e. is the effect more powerful or does it last longer?)

 

The effect of Major Haste depends on the caster's experience level: if their level is 24 or higher, Major Haste will give a stronger haste effect than Major Blessing does. You're usually still better off with Major Blessing, though: if you really need more hasting than one casting gives you, you can just cast it twice.

 

Symbiosis - is there any reason to cast this instead of a healing spell?

 

Not really. It's conceptually interesting but not very good.

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Field spells do not have a duration per se; instead, they have a chance of fading each round. According to the code, Ice Wall should in fact last longer on average than Fire wall, but the same as Force wall - Ice/Force have a 1/6 chance to expire each turn, while Fire has a 1/4 chance. (And Blade Wall is unique in having a 1/5 chance each turn to fade.)

 

I consider the Spark spell to be an electrical spark rather than a fiery spark, since there are other situations where magic damage is used to represent electricity.

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I've experimented in Exile II and can confirm that Force and Ice walls have the same duration (ok, chance of disappearing to be precise) even in that game, despite the fact that the in-game help claims otherwise.

 

Off-topic, but minor issue: is it just my copy of the game, or does Feodoric (male name) from the pre-generated party in Exile II use a female graphic by default?

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I've experimented in Exile II and can confirm that Force and Ice walls have the same duration (ok, chance of disappearing to be precise) even in that game, despite the fact that the in-game help claims otherwise.

 

Off-topic, but minor issue: is it just my copy of the game, or does Feodoric (male name) from the pre-generated party in Exile II use a female graphic by default?

 

The character graphics in the Exile series are small and low-res enough that a lot of them look pretty much gender-neutral to my eyes. I recall that being one of them.

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I've experimented in Exile II and can confirm that Force and Ice walls have the same duration (ok, chance of disappearing to be precise) even in that game, despite the fact that the in-game help claims otherwise.

Perhaps he meant to write "fire" but instead wrote "force".
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Perhaps he meant to write "fire" but instead wrote "force".

 

Yes, that's the most likely explanation.

 

The character graphics in the Exile series are small and low-res enough that a lot of them look pretty much gender-neutral to my eyes. I recall that being one of them.

 

I figured Feoderic was male but androgynous looking. Might be bias, dunno.

 

(Actually, I always thought his graphic looked like Michael Jackson...)

 

Do you guys mean the person with the red shirt and black cloak with some kind of spell suspended above his/her hand? That's the graphic he gets in BoE, but in my copy of Exile II "he" is what looks like a woman with long hair wearing blue robes.

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@Fireball Fodder

 

You know, I don't have a working copy of E2 on hand, but I think that might be a deliberate touch. The kind of "crimes" that get people Exiled are crimes against the Empire's silly social standards. Falling outside the Empire's gender norms would probably qualify, and then some.

 

(Welcome to the Spiderweb forums. Please leave your normative social standards at the door.)

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Perhaps he meant to write "fire" but instead wrote "force".

 

The problem with this theory is that the documentation would still be inaccurate either way. It claims that ice fields do the same damage as force fields but last longer: ice fields do last longer (on average) than fire fields, but they also do more damage. There's no field that has both a shorter half-life and the same damage as an ice field; fire and force fields both meet one criterion and fail the other. It's more likely that Jeff just misremembered the damage and decay chance of the various fields while writing documentation, or changed it in between writing the documentation and releasing the game.

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The change in PC icons is almost certainly the accidental result of the total graphics replacement in Mac v2.0 (and whatever the corresponding PC version was). Some of the other PCs also have different-looking icons, they just didn't happen to end up with an icon with a different gender presentation.

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Um it doesnt matter which last longer or causes more damage, It really matters if the Enemy who is to be damaged by the Field Spell is resistant or immune to it. So just cast Scry Monster to see which spell may damage more. however diesnt enemys Armor reduce The damage of field spells tho?

 

Nope. In the Exile series (including Blades of Exile), armour only reduces physical damage, so the only field it has any effect against is Wall of Blades.

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