Individual Spell type damage/resistance

[Darkfire1408]

So I'm wanting to do something a little different. I've renamed the stats from their defaults so now the player's stats are HP, MP, Atk, Def, Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Cure.


Basically, I'm planning on having these all act as magic attack and magic resistance for that element. So a basic fire spell would be like a.mat - b.mat because the Fire stat replaces magic attack in the system.


The cure spell I've worked out is this, (a.luk / 2) * (b.mhp / b.hp). So, the higher your cure stat and the lower the targets current HP, The more the cure spell will do. so, say you have 4 cure, and your target has 10/25 HP. 2 * (25 / 10) = 5, not nearly enough to heal them fully. but if they have 15 HP, it would come out to 3.33. again, not enough to heal them.


Now if you had 8 cure, your healing would double 10/25 would heal 10 and 15/25 would heal 6.66.


This way, the Healing spell is more effective at lower HP when it's really needed. and it's less effective when it's not needed. So, people who are more experienced than me, is this a good way to handle magic?

 

[Wavelength]

It's certainly a novel idea and a very streamlined stats system.

I worry about the effect it will have on your characters' skillsets.  If a character has high Fire and low Thunder, for example, aren't you basically setting the player up to never want to choose any of their characters' Thunder skills?

 

[Darkfire1408]

That's a good point Wavelength. Right now I have a makeshift level up system that gives the player random boosts to their stats at level ups, so essentially, each playthrough will lead the player to use different spells. Also, Each enemy will have different resistances. Say, a fire monster has a high fire stat, but an extremly low blizzard stat. even if your highest stat is fire, it'll be much more effective to go with a blizzard spell. I'm not sure what to do with Thunder though, It doesn't have an obvious weakness, maybe I could split the weakness between fire and blizzard, make it fairly tanky all around.

 

[Murd]

Your theory is something new to me but quite interesting. So let's say you are using stat for both element attack power and defense. It sounds a good idea but it may lack of character creation versatility.

If you have a strong mage with very high Fire stat so you can do serious fire damage while also almost being immune to fire spell from enemies. I would love to have a character who can do high magic damage while you need to stack mdf stat from equipments or states. Or creating a nearly-god tanker with very high def and mdf while can not even skill a slime with his/her spell.

I have found a script that let you add new stats as tou wish and can be used for damage formula of skills. Try searching in the script completed forum and you may find one.

 

[Darkfire1408]

Your theory is something new to me but quite interesting. So let's say you are using stat for both element attack power and defense. It sounds a good idea but it may lack of character creation versatility.

If you have a strong mage with very high Fire stat so you can do serious fire damage while also almost being immune to fire spell from enemies. I would love to have a character who can do high magic damage while you need to stack mdf stat from equipments or states. Or creating a nearly-god tanker with very high def and mdf while can not even skill a slime with his/her spell.

I have found a script that let you add new stats as tou wish and can be used for damage formula of skills. Try searching in the script completed forum and you may find one.

For most spells I'm factoring in defense in the equation. So it's not just the fire stat, its the fire stat and the defense stat. I thought it would be more balanced this way. Otherwise I would constantly run into this issue.

Thunder-Based spells will be the exception. I want to have each spell have a 'thing' you know? Fire is accurate and has high single target damage, Blizzard has medium damage but is multi-target, and Thunder cuts through defense but has low damage.

I might try that script later, but I really like the way it's set up now. I think it will really make the player think rather than fireball fireball fireball. Having to think about strengths and resistances through the game will provide a bit of a challenge, especially with randomized stats applied at each level. I'm trying to make the spell cost very high relative to their MP too, so they have to think every cast through.

 

[Samven]

Hrm... It's certainly an interesting idea. It's worth experimenting with.

As for your elemental triangle, so to speak, Thunder could go either way. It could be strong against Blizzard (ice is water, after all), or have it lose to it (on the other hand, it's solid, sooo would it actually conduct well?) It could also serve as a "non-elemental" sort of deal if need be.

In any case, might I ask what you mean when you say you'll make the spell costs high "relative to MP"? Do you mean that the spells are just going to be expensive to cast in general or something else?

 

[Darkfire1408]

To clarify, the spells are going to be expensive to cast, and they will get more expensive as you progress through the game. Right now I have five levels for each of the spells. Each level the spells double in cost and don't quite double in strength. It's kind of hard to balance because the stat gains are random, but, preferably, each spell should take no less than half of the players maximum MP. I want the player to really think about their spellcasts. whether it's timing their cure so it'll be most effective, or saving that fireball for a crippling blow. I've made a MP restoring skill that uses AP and restores MP based off their magic stats. I'm also debating whether I should have no Ethers/Magic Waters, have them only work out of battle,  or if I should just make them really expensive. I don't want restoring MP to be easy so the player has to sort of ration their spells in battle

I thought about it being strong against Blizzard. But I can't see it being weak to Fire. I think Fire will be effective against Blizzard and vice versa (Fire melts Ice which then puts out the fire) and have Thunder cut through Physical defense making it the clear choice for Tanky opponents and nearly useless otherwise.

I'm also thinking of making a mixed Blizzard/Thunder spell, kind of an electrically charged rain. I'm thinking it could cut through their defense, and be strong against fire.