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Official Game Library
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New User's Guide
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MAGIC:
Magic is part of the lifeblood of Eaxia. Scholars, clerics, and even the Gods agree that magic stems from what most mortals have come to know as "The Flow". Mortals still poorly understand the Flow and its ways, but they have learned to tap into a part of it. This ability to harness and channel it is one of the greatest gifts a creature can have in the world.
The Cleric's Guild and the Mage's Guild both train its members in the secrets of how to wield this awesome energy. Later, when a character has learned enough to evolve to a new guild, they can learn magics from those other guilds, as in the case of Rangers and Druids, both of whom use Life Magic.
In the world of Eaxia, magic, be it Arcane, Life, or Holy/Unholy magic, requires freedom of movement; armor interferes with the complicated gestures and postures required for casting spells, and so spellcasters risk a chance of their spells failing when they wear armor. Armor takes time both to remove and especially to put on, so repeatedly donning and doffing armor in the middle of combat in order to effectively cast spells can prove deadly.
For Clerics (who use Holy/Unholy magic), magic is a divinely given gift; a priest's faith in the gods and selfless service on their behalf is rewarded with the ability to cast useful spells. Clerical magic is largely based on the strengthening and restoring of health to the body, whether through the healing of physical or magical injuries, the purging of poison and disease, and in the strongest of Clerics, the ability to restore life to the fallen. Clerics are able to use their powers to harm and weaken the body as well, when the need calls for it using such spells as Inflict Light Wounds (ILW).
Mages (who use Arcane magic) trust in their own keen powers of reasoning and learning to unlock ancient secrets of harnessing mystical forces. To learn how to control arcane magic takes years of painstaking study; in fact, most Mages must devote their whole lives and livelihood to their art, at great cost to themselves. A well-trained and practiced Mage can smite down foes with just a few mystic words and fleeting gestures of the hands before these foes are able to come anywhere near the Mage-- but if caught by surprise, or if the enemies manage to get close to the Mage, he or she is vulnerable, for a Mage are generally poorly skilled in the ways of melee combat, and his or her body is often frail and unable to withstand much physical punishment, for the long hours of tedious research and study come at the expense of physical fitness.
Spells are learned from various scrolls. Scrolls, tablets, notes, charts, papers, etc. containing spells can be found as treasure on creatures. If the spell is usable by your class, and you are advanced enough to use it, you can LEARN FROM (scroll, tablet, chart, etc.) to learn the spell.
Once you know how to cast the spell, once you intend to cast it, you must go through the procedure of the proper incantations and gestures required to harness and channel the energy that forms the spell. This is done by typing PREPARE . For example, to cast the Magic Missile spell, you would type PREPARE MAGIC MISSILE GOBLIN (or just PREP MM GOBLIN for short). This will make your character begin speaking the necessary incantation and executing the proper hand gestures to cast the spell.
Almost all spell names can be abbreviated. Type SPELLS 1 to see all your 1st level spells, SPELLS 2 to see all your 2nd level spells, etc. You will be told what the correct abbreviation for each spell name is.
Some spells require you to specify a target. For example, to cast the Mage spell Chilling Touch at a black rat, you must type PREP CT RAT. The Cleric spell Magic Weapon requires you to specify the weapon you want to cast the spell on. For example, if you were wielding a light mace or heavy mace, you would type PREP MW MACE.
In some cases, you might need to specify which of several targets to aim or cast a spell at. For example, if you are fighting a black rat, and just before you choose to cast the Chilling Touch spell at it, another rat walks into the room, you must type PRE CT SECOND RAT to aim it at the rat you were previously fighting; otherwise it will target the rat that just walked into the room.
When you are told, "You feel fully prepared to cast your spell," it means you have charged up the spell sufficiently and now only need to actually cast it. If you specified a target while preparing the spell, you now only need to type CAST in order to cast the spell at the correct target. Otherwise, you must name a target along with the CAST command; i.e. CAST RAT or CAST SECOND GOBLIN.
If you were a Cleric casting a curing or healing spell on an ally, you would type their name as the target. You will be able to abbreviate their name, but be careful about preparing or casting a spell on your friend Bardon by typing PREP CLW BAR, if another person named Barclay is in the room. In this case, typing one extra letter, PREP CLW BARD, will make sure the spell goes to the correct target.
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