G'day!
Contrary to certain rumors being circulated that circumstances might prevent Bards from recovering their enchantes, I'm pleased to announce the release of the new Bardic enchantes system, which will occur in the near future. [A recent power outage has caused minor delays, but we hope to have everything up and running shortly.]
The new enchante system was created by SGM Rigby this year, following the revision of the entire magic system in DragonRealms, though it took the cooperation and efforts of many, many members of the staff for us to get this far. What follows will be a series of posts explaining many differences you may find between the old system and the new, which I hope will help you learn to use it to your best advantage.
This first post will cover some basic changes and information about how the new enchante system will work. Following it will be a post covering the first tier enchantes (those which will be the first released) and one about the new verbs available to allow you to manipulate and control enchantes.
Changes from the old system to the new --
Part of the focus of the new system was to address the fact that enchantes weren't very musical. They were very much like spells, save for the fact that they were invoked by a different verb, and that they all worked similarly to held-mana spells. For an arena of spellcraft where the spell patterns were supposed to be sustained by music, this didn't make a good deal of sense. Nor did it serve to make Bardic magic unique, though in many cases it gave the illusion of doing so.
One of the first steps made to correct this was to give each new enchante a musical foundation to base its efforts from, and to let the magical effects spin off from the unique construction each enchante holds. So... just what does this mean? To start off with, each enchante is composed of different 'song parts', such as an introduction, a verse, and a chorus. Now, it isn't necessarily to memorize the different parts every enchante may hold, but you may notice when singing or playing them that certain enchantes produce different effects when you reach different parts of their song. An example of this would be the Phoenix's Pyre enchante, where with each chorus any fires in the area will suddenly flare up and burn more fiercely than before. By keeping an eye peeled as you play, you'll slowly become aware of the different effects each enchante holds, and learn to control them to your best advantage.
When asking your guildleaders about enchantes, you'll also notice that they give you some information at the bottom of their speech related to the tempo and key of each enchante. For those not musically inclined, you'll just want to note those enchantes that are performed at slow rates and fast, and those that are in entirely different keys. This is because some enchantes are performed in significantly different ways, and will take some skill in order to play them in the same room as each other. A slow, languorous lullaby meant to put all the creatures in the room to sleep isn't all that easy to keep up when your best bud's got a fast-paced ditty going a few feet away. :) Personal songs meant only to influence your own senses will not be affected by this musical clash, however.
By and large, most enchantes shouldn't be too difficult to play in the same room as each other once you reach a certain level of skill. It isn't our intent to make enchantes impossible to perform simply because the music they're made up of sounds different. By assigning each a certain key and tempo however, we open the door to creating enchantes that are specifically designed to be played only in the presence of certain others -- allowing for more interesting and powerful magic combinations in the future.
While we're on the subject of adding power to enchantes, many of you will also be pleased to note that Bards will be able to use cambrinth items in order to help fuel their enchantes. Rather than discharging the entire contents of the cambrinth item's charge with the 'cast' of the enchante, like it does with spells, an enchante will instead slowly leech the stored mana from a linked, charged cambrinth item and add the mana it gains to the enchante the Bard is currently performing. Yes, you will still need to link and hold or wear your cambrinth items before they devote their mana to the enchante.
You may also notice when playing enchantes that they no longer go on forever. Once in a while you'll encounter an enchante that automatically starts again when stopped, but most enchantes have a set duration of somewhere around 10-20 minutes. After an enchante has reached its conclusion, you'll need to start it again if you want to keep getting its effects.
Old enchante issues (that are no longer an issue) --
Several issues with the old system are evaporating entirely with the new one. Oddities with wounds, tools, wearing armor, enchante cycling that either stacked or never ended properly, are all amongst those things that won't be an issue anymore.
The problems with music clash, where two people trying to play area-effect enchantes in the same room stopped without any regard to circle or skill are also gone. Replaced by it is a new series of skill checks to determine who is the better, more persuasive performer, and also a new PLAY WITH system. Should both performers possess enough skill, when entering the same room one would simply begin to perform with the other, boosting their efforts with their own knowledge of magic and song. The ability to PLAY WITH someone is useable in several other ways as well, which I will cover in a later post on the new verbs available with the system.
Bards and Magic Resistance --
In the past questions have arisen about whether or not Bards should be affected by basic magic resistance, and the possible answers to this have far outstripped the number of times it has been asked. Should music factor in? Should Bards be able to use all the magic they want because it's conveyed on music? Or should they adhere to the same stringent restrictions all other magic does?
In the end it was decided that the magic of Bards, too, would be affected by the magical resistance that is inherent in all living things (most notably Barbarians). However, due to the fact that the spell structure for each enchante is incorporated into music, Bards have an edge when it comes to coaxing mana into the patterns they want. This gives them a higher success rate when it comes to influencing others with their own magic.
For reasons of playability, the checks for magic resistance (MR) will take place when you begin your enchante, and each time that you first move to a new room. There are ways in which you can increase your chances at overcoming magic resistance... but we'll get to that in another post.
More information about each individual enchante will be covered in the next post. :) If you have any questions, please click upon the link below to go to the topic where we will be answering your queries and dealing with any potential issues as they arise.
The Bard Team
This message was originally posted in The Bards, Suggestions and Discussion - Enchantes and Special Abilities. To discuss the above follow the link below.
http://www.play.net/forums/messages.asp?forum=20&category=15&topic=8&message=2300
