EverQuest II Magic System Overview, Part One My name is EJ Moreland, and I am the primary magic system designer for EverQuest II. I've been on the team for almost three years, serving in several different capacities. Since joining the team, the magic system has been something of a passion for me and I have been closely involved in its design and implementation.
Resources
Our magic system is based on several key resources. Foremost among them is power, which is analogous to mana in EverQuest. Power is tied to different statistics for each class; the power of mages is based on intelligence whereas for priests it is based on wisdom. Mage professions receive lines of spells that help restore power faster, both in the form of regenerative buffs and instant replenishment.
Another important resource is concentration. Certain spells that are persistent over a given duration have a concentration requirement. Casters have five points of concentration available; that number cannot be increased by gear or other means. Unlike power, concentration doesn't regenerate, nor can it be replenished via spells. You only regain concentration when a spell that consumes it is released or expires.
Though not a resource per se, another new aspect of our magic system is spell foci. Foci are enchantments that can be adorned onto a variety of items, but they do not actually enhance spellcasting like focus effects in EverQuest (i.e. decreased casting time, increased damage, or increased range). Instead, a type of foci exists for each casting skill. A caster needs items adorned with the proper foci to use those skills to their full potential. There is a limit that the lack of proper foci can adversely affect a character, because the magic user can still cast spells at a baseline level of effectiveness. The primary goal of this system is to encourage the same desire for gear upgrades in casters that has long existed in non-casters. For example, say a 30th-level wizard has a Disruption rating of 150, but only has a Disruption foci of 120 equipped. His Disruption skill would be capped at 120, regardless of its actual rating above that because his foci is inferior to his rating.
Skills and Spell Lists
There are six skills that impact how the caster functions:
Focus - Offsets the chance of interruption when casting a spell
Spell Avoidance - Determines how well you avoid magical attacks
Ministration - Affects heal and cure spells
Ordination - Affects buffs and debuffs
Disruption - Affects magical damage spells
Subjugation - Affects pets and control spells
The first two skills are given to characters of all archetypes. The other four represent the schools of magic; every spell draws upon one of these four skills according to its classification.
Spellcasting skills increase through use and impact several elements of a spell's success, such as whether the target avoids the spell, fizzle rate, etc. Skill helps determine the caster's chance to land a given spell, similar to the way a melee character's crushing skill determines how well he hits with a club or staff.
Each spell comes from a specific spell list and is associated with a specific school of magic. Character level and skill level work together to determine when the caster learns new spells and how potent those spells are if they actually succeed in affecting the target.
As casters progress in level and their spellcasting skills increase, new spells and abilities are gained several different ways. For spells directly related to the caster's archetypal role, the basic version of these spells will be gained automatically. Players can often obtain upgrades to these spells with the help of artisans or as adventure loot. For secondary spells not related to the character's core abilities, the caster may be required to manually obtain even the basic versions of the spells.
EverQuest II Magic System Übersicht, Part One
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