Greetings,

As of right now, the changes to the Telekinetic Throw, Dazzle, Steelstar and Moonblade spells are live. A summary of said changes is as follows:

1) Telekinetic Throw's overall power will be reduced significantly, as the current power is by far too high. This is being done by a pair of "soft caps" -- one is based on skill, and one is based on mana input into the spell. The caps do not work independantly; if your casts are being capped by your skill, no amount of mana put into the spell will increase damage until you get more skill. Likewise, if you have the skill to do significant damage but aren't achieving it, using more mana will be the solution.

Put simply, the higher level mages will notice less of an impact than the lower level mages. I intend to do a lot of monitoring, particularly of the lower level ones to be sure that you can continue to learn Targetted Magic and to make sure the downtweak isn't overdone.

Be warned though -- just because you can't kill something at your level with a five mana cast anymore doesn't mean the downtweak is overdone. ;)

2) Moonweapons will now give information when FOCUSed upon. This includes both normal and Heavy Moonblades, as well as the Steelstars.

3) When casting Dazzle on a Moonblade, Heavy Moonblade or Steelstar, the moonweapon will explode harmlessly into tiny slivers... some would say... wee slivers. <g> These slivers will orbit the caster's head and be the first item chosen in the Telekinetic Throw spell. The number of slivers has to do with several factors, including size of the moonweapon.

4) When casting Dazzle against someone hold a Moonblade or Heavy Moonblade, they will instinctively attempt to block the spell with the Moonblade. If they succeed, their weapon will explode harmlessly into tiny slivers and orbit their head, but they will be unaffected by the Dazzle effects. Note that a Steelstar is too small to parry the spell with, thus will not work as above.

5) You will be able to CONCENTRATE (or POWER, or PERCEIVE) and sense the number of slivers floating around your head. Over time, these slivers will drift away from the person they're orbiting.

6) Dazzle, when cast on a critter that has a Steelstar lodged into it, explodes the Steelstar much like above. However, since the weapon is under the skin, it will do damage. How deep the weapon is lodged has much to do with the resulting damage. No slivers are formed.

7) The Guildleaders will now tell you about this combo when you ask them about the Dazzle spell.

* Telekinetic Storm will not be updated at the same time, and will continue to function as currently. This is just temporary. *

As always, bugs and comments should be reported here on the boards. Thanks.

GM Rigby

PS: At least this one has nothing to do with boxes, unless you count throwing boxes. <smirk>