Arcana Q&A Thread

[Jade]

Arcana Q&A Thread

Any questions you have regarding the magic system and its different disciplines, please post them here!

[Alistair]

Alright, here's a few I've been wondering pretty hard about.

1. Are there a lot of restrictions around learning new magics? Do you just need to get a new conduit for a new school of Arcana and have the knowledge necessary to pursue it? Can NPCs teach you magic if you have permission/approval to play around with them? Basically just wondering about the rules regarding learning new magic types. (Mythic pretty much answered this one for me - neveermind)

2. Is Ensorcellment necessary to acquire amplified/special/magical conduits, or can we find them via Attunement or quests/etc with Narrator permissions?

3. Is Abrogation like the anti-magic? If a very powerful offensive mage (say Gravitation) and an Abrogationer fought, would they simply be able to negate everything and outlast them? It seems like the barriers/healing are really spankin' powerful.

4. Can artifacts be created by mages?

[Plague]

Yo good sir, lemme take a crack at your queries.

2. Ensorcellment is a good 'do it yourself' measure. Otherwise, no...you can get better conduits through Narrator permissions, quests, special rewards, etc. There are NPC Ensorcellers out there so it stands to reason that a modded thread could produce you some better magical bling.

3. Abrogation IS like anti-magic. Granted, how one chooses to use it is up to debate. Yes, an Abrogationer can attempt to outlast a Gravitation mage...but what if the Gravitation mage does something like uproot trees and hurl them at the Abrogationer? Not only are you trying to defend against gravitation magic...but also bludgeoning trees! Mages have to be innovative with their craft. I dunno if it would be a straight slog-fight with an Abrogationer shutting down everything...but it 'could' be. Nothing is a straight up decided match. Also consider that you may need equal power to oppose equal power coming at you...so if they were equally skilled, they'd wear out at the same time!

4. Yes. There is currently a magic in development for the creation of magical artifacts. It is coming soon...thanks for your patience!

[Adam Michaels]

So this one is a little simpler but still in a way complex questions concerning Empathy or maybe any magic in general.

1st How many times could a person could use there spells before slipping into dangerous territory as a competent user? I felt maybe it would be around 4-5. This is for social/mental magic like Empathy but the truth is I haven't a clue how to roughly guide my character around the danger zone.

2nd. Are all magics equal in mana consumption?

[Whisper]

Well I can talk about Empathy. What do you mean by... spells? Empathy isn't "cast" as such. It is a constant arcane ability with no real way to turn it off. Consider it much like you would mainstream telepathy in... X-Men or something. It works in much the same way in terms of constant use. As such, yes, at some point, an empath will be weakened/exhausted by use of the arcana but there is no true hard and fast limit on how many times you can 'use' it because it's always being used. It would really come down to common sense and good judgement on the part of the player. No empath can last forever in active use. They will be overwhelmed by the emotions long before they are tired out probably. But passive use is just that: passive and constant.

Like I said, consider X-Men: characters in the films can have massive surges of power for active use for a brief period in the deus ex machina moment of the film's ending and then they sort of... flop and fall unconscious or whatever. But the telepaths always have some low-level buzzing in their ears.. you know? Empathy is like that.

[Adam Michaels]

Well said and thank you very much I was able to pick up what you were putting down concerning both active and passive uses of empathy

[Rosamond]

I have been reading a bit about The Seekers. I’m wondering what happens with the mere practicalities like housing and wages after a person joins a cell.

Let’s say a character lives in the city where it grew up and has its family and friends, its home, its job. When they join The Seekers they can’t be open with it and tell everybody, because the cell and the arcana are secrets. But they can't just stop working and be away on mysterious secret activities without their social circles reacting to it.

How do characters IC deal with this in practice?

Is it possible for them to go for a double life with a “normal” job and own housing in combination with secretly being a cell member?

Or are new cell members supposed to leave everything behind, dedicate themselves to nothing else than the guild and arcana, “disappear” from the people who used to know them, and live in the cell’s location ?

Or something else ?

[Plague]

An excellent question.

It would largely depend on the cell. Mostly, when one joins a cell it becomes a focus of their life. Secrecy is paramount and so it would be up to the Cell leaders whether a new acolyte should maintain their old life on the surface for ease of transition or drop off completely.

I'd say it would be a case by case basis. Some Seekers actually have other jobs utilizing their own magics (with a weather eye by the higher ups), but just being strange jobless mages can actually be rather suspicious...so most mages have a sort of cover to keep from being discovered or leading suspicion back to the cell.

[Rosamond]

It's an excellent answer too. I like this way of thinking. It opens for many good and unique takes on the everyday life of the arcanists so they don't become "clones".

Thanks

[Anomaly]

Closed and unpinned, as the Arcana system was retired. Please refer to the Domain Magic Q&A for questions about the new system. This thread is archived.