I know and agree that a level 1 minor spell should have limited damage potential, but is it intended for there not to be any apparent variance in the damage done by this spell? I have gotten as much damage from a 102 end result as from a 160 end result. Seems there should be at least some type of DF/scaling associated with the spell.

Am I missing something? Do extreme levels of manipulation lore or really high end results yield more damage or better injuries or something? Or is there a hidden damage component not visible...like with Mana disruption? It seems like right now its a pretty worthless spell unless there is some hidden capacity I just cant see. It would be better (at least to me) if there were some additional benefits to higher end rolls. If not damage wise then let it cause an MM push down or potential knock down or something?

I know not everyone would agree...but I think it would be preferable for the spell to have scaling mana costs like some of the other spells with better damage potential and/or end results, than be totally useless for anything but killing rats and kobolds.

GOLDENOAK2

I know and agree that a level 1 minor spell should have limited damage potential, but is it intended for there not to be any apparent variance in the damage done by this spell? I have gotten as much damage from a 102 end result as from a 160 end result. Seems there should be at least some type of DF/scaling associated with the spell.

As you note, it's a level 1 spell, so it's not going to deal a lot of damage. However, we also have to make sure it's worth using for low level casters and as a finisher (vs. spending more mana on a higher spell). To be up front, the spell is almost entirely designed for Savants. As a Square, Monks have far better options for attacking under the aforementioned conditions.

Since we have to make sure the spell is worth casting even for 1 mana, the minimum damage also accounts for a large majority of the total damage. The spell does scale with warding margin, but it's only going to be a few more additional points of damage. Mental Lore, Manipulation adds a set amount of damage, regardless of the warding margin.

GameMaster Estild

This should be the correct damage formula. The lore bonus uses seed 1 of the summation chart but ranks are first divided by 2 and rounded down. The warding margin damage can also be expressed as a .050 damage factor. This is the same formula as Heal/Harm but the base damage, damage factor and lore ranks are halved.

Force Orb (1201) Damage Formula:

8 Base Damage + [trunc(Endroll - 100) * .050] + Crush Critical Damage + ML, Manipulation ranks/2 (seed 1).

See KP for additional info including a lore bonus table.

http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Force_Orb_(1201)

Mark