copyright 1999 Roger White
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Casting a spell is one thing, learning to cast a spell is something else! Here are the basics of learning how to cast a new spell.
This section presumes that some how you have already discovered the proper ingredients for the new spell. Either someone else told you what the ingredients were, or by reading Spellcasting 102, you were able to analyze to discover the proper ingredients.
Quick review: 1) get the proper components, 2) put the components in the proper order, 3) target the proper target, 4) click "Test"
Learning a new spell takes place under the second icon, the spell casting icon. Select the tab there for "create a new spell". When you select this, a screen that looks like this will appear.
[[Learn spell screen]]
Before you can use the Create New Spell screen effectively, you must already have the proper components. Spell components come from a magic shop. There are magic shops in most towns and they are very easy to find. Just wander around until you see a tight cluster of people on your radar screen and you here a lot of nonsensical muttering such as "Malar Quasith". This is the "coffee klatch" of magic users researching spells. They hang around the magic shop owner to replenish their spell components as they research.
Magic uses up magic components. If you have high arcane lore and mana conversion and you know the spell you are casting, the usage rate is very low. If you don't know what you are casting, have low arcane lore and mana conversion (a typical "field" mage learning a spell) you burn through magic components at a rate that will take your breath away and make the shop owner a very busy person, so most mages hang around the shop keeper as they research and learn spells. Feel free to do the same.
Some magic shops are "full service" others have limited supplies -- they will not offer an entire category of components, such as tapers or scarabs. To learn first level spells you need herbs, powders, flasks and talismans. You need lead scarabs, but not the other kinds; you don't need any tapers. Before you learn or research, make sure the shop you are working with has what you need, if he or she doesn't then you may burn up a critical component, such as the lead scarab, not be able to cast spells you already know until you can find a replacement.
To cast a spell you need one each of the following: a scarab, a herb, a powder, a flask, and a talisman. These are the categories, and you must have the proper item from each category.
You drag the components to the empty slots at the top, in the order I just mentioned: scarab, herb, powder, flask, talisman. The create spell program is not user friendly. The only error message you get is "spell fizzled" in the dialog box when you click the "Test" button. It will let you put any combination up there -- possible or impossible -- and chew up your components happily as you click "test" and "test" again. So check and double check that you have everything right before you click "test."
In addition to having the proper components in the proper order, you must have the proper target selected. If the spell is a Self spell, such as Armor Self, you must select yourself as a target before you click test. If you select another person or an object, you well get "spell fizzled" even though you have the proper components for Armor Self in the proper boxes. If the spell is an "other" spell then you must select another PC to cast upon. Don't worry. You're not a play killer, so you can't harm other players even if you cast a harmful spell on them. You can select the shop keeper as an "other" target, but I don't recommend it. If the spell is not harmful, you can cast it successfully, but if it's harmful you'll get the classic "spell fizzled" even if everything is correct. So, better to be in the habit of selecting other players.
If you are learning an Enchant Item spell, you need to select an item, such as a piece of clothing or a shield someone nearby is carrying. Always select the proper target.
Keep in mind that each time you change something about the spell you are testing, you will need to reselect your target.
Get the components right, get them in the right order, select the proper target and "test"... what? I got everything perfect and I still got a "spell fizzled"! It happens sometimes. Just as your spells occasionally fizzle when doing standard casting, the test spells will sometimes fizzle even if everything is perfect. How often depends on your general spell casting ability: arcane knowledge, mana conversion and proficiency in the particular spell category (Life, item, etc.) you are casting and the difficulty of the spell -- some are easy, some are tough. Higher level spells are tougher than lower level spells. Don't expect to be casting 2nd or 3rd level spells as a beginning mage.
When you are successful you will see the Create Spell screen change to the spellbook screen, and your new spell will be highlighted. You will also get a congratulations message in the dialog box, and whomever you cast the spell on will get notified that you tried to cast a spell on them.