Game Mechanics the spellcasting rework: an alternative magic resource system for combat, and supporting concepts.

Venus ♀✦

Steampunker
hey, everyone! this suggestion is going to be a bit long, so i'll add a preamble.

this is a proposed alternative to the existing magic and mana system that terraria uses, as well as a redesign of most magic weapons and equipment to match. in this concept, four things are done:
  1. a mechanic based on charges and cooldowns is introduced to encourage rotation between magic weapons, in place of mana;
  2. magic weapons are reworked to feel satisfying in rotational use, with damage disparities between them being equalised, and damage progression being transferred to a new class of accessory;
  3. a dedicated interface is conceived to make casting and switching between spells easier; and
  4. the mana concept is reimagined in an optional, supporting role.

i've also attempted to work through all magic equipment that i think would be deeply affected by this change (viz. requiring a mechanics change and not just a rebalance), including all magic weapons.

i'll explain in much more detail below. if you're interested, here we go!

table of contents;
  1. motivation.
  2. charges and cooldowns—the essential mechanics.
  3. the staff slot: flattening damage values and reintegrating progression.
  4. interface changes and the five-point pattern.
  5. reimagining mana bonuses and mana-based mechanics.
  6. weapon-to-spell redesign list.


motivation.

although i don't think the game's existing magic system is necessarily bad or unfun, there are two things about it that have never quite agreed with me. i'd like to emphasise that this isn't a performance criticism—i don't think magic is the worst class in the game or anything, and i'm not a spectacularly skilled player in the first place! this is just an alternate system which i think people might enjoy.

the issues that prompted me to write this are the following:
  • that magic weapons are extremely varied and display a wide array of interesting mechanics—but over the course of progression, and particularly towards endgame, the pursuit of equipment with better stats encourages players to abandon most of these as inadequate or inferior, often avoiding certain of them altogether, so that they end up using only one or two;
  • that the mana system as it exists doesn't add anything particularly interesting to the game, unlike the resource mechanic for ranged players and the flask mechanic for melee players; it is ignored in the best circumstances and only a source of frustration in the worst.
the first issue extends to much of the equipment in the game, but i think the nature of magic weapons makes it stand out for them—there is no endgame cognate to tools like the nimbus rod, the magnet sphere, or the clinger staff; and as in the case of the first of those, what tiered sets exist are incomplete. personally, even with the system as it is, i've always enjoyed the versatility of having at least four magic weapons on my hotbar at all times, so this new system is based around developing that into an entire new style of play, as well as anticipating and addressing any frustrations that might arise from such a style.

charges and cooldowns—the essential mechanics.

this proposal entirely replaces the current implementation of mana—mana potions, mana capacities, mana sickness, and the mana costs assigned to various tools and weapons. mana is currently designed to limit and control how people use magic weapons. this system is one which instead does that by assigning each magic spell two custom properties: a recharge amount, and a charge maximum. a magic spell requires one charge to use each time. once a magic weapon goes below its charge maximum, it begins to recharge. all magic spells take the same time to recharge. whenever a spell finishes recharging, it gains a set amount of charges, and if it is not at maximum it immediately begins to recharge again. if a magic spell is out of charges, it can't be used until it gets at least one charge back.

summoning weapons do not get charge limitations—they can now be used freely and without cost.

naturally, this doesn't work very well with magic weapons as they are currently designed. only being able to fire your crystal storm once every ten seconds or so sounds like a nightmare, even if you can do other things in between! that's why this new system comes with a complete redesign of all magic weapons, with a focus on persistent, versatile effects that can be satisfyingly overlapped and combined—the three weapons i mentioned earlier, the nimbus rod, the magnet sphere, and the clinger staff, are good examples of what inspired me to suggest this. overall, each use of a magic weapon should feel discrete and meaningful; this is why i've started calling them spells.

in normal play and exploration, fully expending a single spell should easily deal with a couple of equal-level enemies, or a larger number of them clustered together, over its duration. during invasions and boss fights, the idea is that you'll be constantly using different spells, switching between them as you consume charges, and trying to maximise the effect of each with your positioning and timing.

specific spell designs are proposed in the "weapon to spell redesign list" section if you'd like to take a look at that right away, and get an idea of what kind of things i'm imagining.

the staff slot: flattening damage values and reintegrating progression.

since this already involves radically redesigning all the magic weapons, there's no reason not to mess with their respective damage values. under the charge system, you'd have to use a bunch of different magic spells—of course you'd resent having to do so, if some of them were obviously and in every way better than the others. spells will be balanced so that, in terms of numerical combat effectiveness, the lunar flare and the wand of sparking are roughly equal.

of course, you can't have people being able to do endgame damage quantities as soon as they get their vilethorn. so individual magic weapons wo'n't have fixed base damage values—rather, they'll have "weights" which modify a player's universal base magic damage. spells that hit lots of times will, of course, have generally lower weights than spells that hit only a few times, and spells that have lots of charges will have lower weights than spells that have only a few charges. but overall, each spell's average dps shouldn't differ very much from that of other spells, especially during prolonged boss battles.

meanwhile, the thing that determines a player's base magic damage is instead the staff they have equipped. when you're starting out, this will be a very basic item--probably a wooden staff, or something like that--with a value in line with your other starting gear. the gem staves will probably be the next step up—i say this because they're designed to fill in progression gaps already, and lack the unique styles of most other magic weapons. after that, tiers of staves will be roughly equal to tiers of melee and ranged weapons: there'll be a meteorite one, a demonite and crimson one, a cobalt and palladium, adamantite and titanium, and hallowed one, and so on.

in terms of acquisition, staves will generally be craftable, while the majority of spells will drop from enemies. spells that you do craft will use entirely different resources from staves—while the chlorophyte-tier staff would use chlorophyte, the venom staff might have a crafting recipe wherein the poison staff is combined with life fruit and stingers—stuff you would naturally collect on your way to mine chlorophyte. this means that staff crafting costs can be the same as weapons of their tier, and magic users aren't forced to progress significantly slower than players of other classes (if they want to craft spells from a tier of content), or allowed to progress faster (if they just want the staff).

each staff has three relevant stats: (1) its base damage value, which is used to determine the damage of all your spells, (2) its recharge rate modifier, which affects how long it takes your spells to recharge, and (3) the number of spells that you can equip (in flavour, the number of spells that the staff can "power") at once. spells must be equipped in a staff to be effective: otherwise, their damage, knockback, and debuff chance are zeroed. (you can still use an unequipped spell without concern for charges, if all you want is a light show or to cut some grass. also, this doesn't stop you from using specialised magic weapons, such as the ice rod, as non-combat tools.) a staff's slots must be filled with all different spells. the starter wooden staff might have two slots; the first gem staff has three, and endgame staves allow for five. the recharge timer varies from ten seconds (with starting equipment) to about six seconds (with a maxed-out staff and optimal armour and accessories).

i haven't statted out specific staves in this post, partially because the integrity of this idea doesn't inherently rely on those stats, although i'd like to work them out, and partially because staves at present have no unique properties and are therefore quite boring in themselves. (i think special bonuses and effects should remain the province of magic-focused armour and accessories.)

due to the abundance of weapons and tools in the game already called staves that have nothing to do with magic, it's possible that either those items may be renamed, or the staves in this concept may instead be turned into "magic focuses" or something similar.

interface changes and the five-point pattern.

giving up three to five hotbar slots, and constantly having to switch between them, doesn't sound very practical. in addition, how are you supposed to keep track of what's essentially a separate ammo counter for all these spells in the middle of a firefight? it's a huge nuisance! clearly there'll need to be some additions.

first, there's no need to put spells in the hotbar any more—spells are equipped to your staff, via a new swappable equipment interface: you now have one for armour and accessories, one for special equipment such as hooks and light sources, and one for spells and staves. the spell interface is roughly circular in design, with spell slots at the corners of a triangle (if you have three slots), diamond (if you have four slots), or five-pointed star (if you have five slots). when a spell is equipped, it starts recharging as if you'd just completely used it up. if at any point you change or remove your staff, all equipped spells will be returned to your inventory—and ejected if there's not enough room for them. (the idea of being able to quickly switch between "loadouts" by keeping spells inside staves when you remove them is cool, but terraria currently doesn't support that for other equipment.)

the triangle/diamond/star shape reoccurs throughout the interface, and the specific slots in which you place your spells is important to remember.

using one weapon or item and then immediately switching to another is a bit clunky in the present interface, and since switching is so important with the charge system, there's a new interface specifically to enable it. the new interface for casting is based on the grand design, an existing item:
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of course, the grand design's interface is also quite slow and clunky, and i'm very glad i've never had to use it in a fight—it's a basis, no more. there are two similarities that i'd like to launch off of, though:
  • when you have the grand design selected in the hotbar, you see five dots below it, indicating which settings are active. likewise in the charge system, when you have a staff equipped, dots corresponding to your spell slots will be visible either underneath or surrounding your cursor, indicating what proportion of charge your spells have, as well as showing when they recharge.
  • when you right-click with the grand design, it brings up a five-pointed interface on top of your cursor which you can immediately interact with. with a staff equipped in the charge system, right-clicking will do something similar, although in a way intended to be both smoother and less intrusive.
so here's how it works: as long as you have a staff equipped, your cursor is surrounded by three to five dots, each corresponding to one of your spell slots, and in the same pattern as your spell slots—a triangle, diamond, or pentagon. if all your spells are fully charged, the dots will be faded and nearly invisible, so as not to get in the way during everyday activity. when a spell is fully charged, its corresponding dot will have a ring around it, visually enlarging it; if it has at least one charge, it will have no ring but a solid white outline, with a smaller circle inside (the size of this circle indicates what proportion of charges the spell has left—whether it is mostly full, about half full, or almost empty); and and if it is totally spent it will be greyed out. each time a spell finishes recharging, the corresponding dot will visually pulse to highlight this fact. a setting may be available to hide these dots, or to have them display around or under your character instead.

when the right mouse button is pressed, these dots are replaced with the spell interface—the icons of all three, four, or five of your spells surrounding the cursor in the same triangular, rhomboid, or pentagonal pattern as in the equipment menu. the exact charge count and recharge progress of each spell is visible. if you keep holding the right mouse button, move your cursor in the direction of one of the spells, and then let go, you will "select" that spell (indicated by a sound effect and change in cursor graphic), and it will be cast the next time you left-click. this is intended to work as a mouse gesture—you don't need to move your mouse directly over the icon of the spell you want to cast, just towards its segment of the screen. if your magnet sphere is in the bottom left slot, then right-clicking, dragging your mouse all the way to the bottom left corner of the screen, and letting go will select magnet sphere. once you have a spell selected, you can click several times or hold down to keep casting—the spell will be only be deselected if you right-click, if you select another spell, if you press a hotbar key, or if you pick up an item in your inventory.

the spell interface only remains visible while the right mouse button is held, and it takes about half a second to fade into view (unless you move the mouse while holding the right mouse button, in which case it becomes visible instantly); so you normally wo'n't notice it while right-clicking to interact with npcs or objects. having an item selected in the hotbar that has a right-click function will suppress the spell interface.

reimagining mana bonuses and mana-based mechanics.

currently, a number of armour pieces, potions, accessories, buffs, and modifiers affect mana: that is to say, either they
  1. increase maximum mana,
  2. decrease mana consumption,
  3. enhance mana regeneration,
  4. grant mana directly, or
  5. improve collection of mana stars dropped by enemies.
roughly, we can sort these entities into a few categories. let's go over some proposed changes to them!

star power: mana crystals, clairvoyance, and synergy.

this section concerns two kinds of magic-focused items that can't quite be sorted into any other category—the mana crystal, and the crystal ball. in a world without mana, neither of these serve any use, but i think it'd be a shame to just get rid of them, and particularly a shame to remove the association between stars and magic.

in the charge system, fallen stars and mana crystals will be merged: you'll be able to consume fallen stars directly (the animation for this is already in the game!) to gain a newer, more specialised kind of mana resource. although this new mana is still represented by the blue stars on the right of the screen, it serves a very different use. instead of representing 20 mana, each blue star represents 1 mana, and you're capped at a maximum of 5 (with maybe an accessory or set bonus increasing this by 1, at the most), with no natural regeneration. for each point of mana you have, you gain 2% additional recharge rate, up to a maximum of 10% recharge rate. in the beginning, this will be one of your first significant boosts to recharge rate. mana persists between sessions and through death, so at first, it'll serve as a well-wanted permanent buff—sufficient for the early game, in which classes are less differentiated and most people will be using hybrid builds of some kind.

on reaching hardmode, you gain access to the crystal ball, a unique piece of furniture that provides a long-duration buff when interacted with. since the role of this (essentially) permanent boost is filled by the new mana, in the charge system, the crystal ball's buff is changed to fill a new role. clairvoyance now grants no explicit stat boosts. instead, while under the effects of clairvoyance, you gain a special ability: while you have a spell selected, you can press the button currently keyed to "use mana potions" to instantly recharge it at the cost of one mana. this ability lets you "spam" spells in a way you wouldn't otherwise be able to. however, as soon as you use at least one mana in this way, you gain a mana sickness debuff that lasts for one minute and prevents you from consuming fallen stars until it expires (much like potion sickness). this version of mana sickness doesn't refresh if you use mana again while it's active.

what this is meant to do is move you towards a more dynamic, frenetic playstyle for hardmode, once you're (presumably) familiar with the charge system and how it works. you can spread your mana out over the course of one minute, or spend it all at once for a burst of damage.

mana potions and magic buff potions.

the magic power potion remains unchanged. the mana regeneration potion would probably be renamed to the magic regeneration potion, and grant an important 15%-20% spell recharge rate when used—the largest single boost to recharge rate in the game, and important for maximisation of recharge rate, if you're into that kind of thing.

mana potions are a trickier topic. it's possible that they could be diversified into a new class of buff potions, roughly similar to the melee class' flask system: although rather than applying specific debuffs, these mana potions would enhance your spells for a period of time, adding armour ignore, crit chance, duration, and so on.

accessories.

the celestial magnet, magic cuffs, and their derivatives currently provide alternative mana recovery options during fights. while the magic cuffs only require a small alteration to keep them relevant—i'm thinking either a 10-20% chance to instantly recharge all spells on being hit, or a 40-50% chance to recharge one spell—the celestial magnet requires a bit more of a change, since mana stars no longer drop from enemies.

my idea is that the celestial magnet would instead have a property described in its tooltip as attracting falling stars. what this means practically is that, while you have the celestial magnet equipped, fallen stars drop at a massively increased rate at your location, making them much easier to harvest for the purpose of gaining mana. (you'll see 4-8 per minute; over the course of a night you'll see about as many fallen stars as would land in the whole world otherwise.) fallen stars summoned by the celestial magnet behave differently from natural falling stars: they fall even during the day (although they disappear on hitting the ground), they always aim to land near you, and even if you're underground they will phase through solid blocks in order to "target" an open space near you. while onscreen, any fallen stars will fall somewhat more slowly (though still quickly), and be weakly "pulled" towards your character during descent, meaning that if you're sitting still there's a high chance that they'll hit you directly. if a falling star (natural or invoked by the celestial magnet) comes close enough to you while it's falling, you'll instantly catch it without needing to be directly under it. catching a falling star in this way, rather than picking it up from the ground, wo'n't actually give you a fallen star: instead, it'll immediately give you one mana, even during the mana sickness debuff. naturally, the celestial emblem inherits all these properties.

armour set bonuses.

as i've previously mentioned, magic armour will continue to provide its own special set bonuses—sometimes recharge rate, stacking with the recharge rate boosts of staves and other sources; maybe spell slots; but more often, especially in the late game, certain kinds of special effects. the majority of magic armour will probably keep its current set bonuses, or have set bonuses that affect mana usage changed to affect spell recharge or duration.

a unique case is the meteor set, which currently neutralises the mana cost of the space gun: in the charge system, the meteor armour would provide an extra spell slot when fully equipped, in which only the space gun spell can be placed—combined with a late-game staff this would make it possible to increase one's number of spell slots to six. it's possible that later armour sets might provide a similar reserved spell slot with a thematically suitable spell.

weapon-to-spell redesign list.

this is the fun part for me, although compared to the game-mechanical details above, it's probably the least relevant section to the core concept. i'll be going over and proposing an alternate form and some stats for every single magic weapon, excluding the gem staves, which are not spells in the charge system.

a few notes before i begin:
  • because spells are designed to be used concurrently, and often against the same targets, i've chosen to avoid the piercing mechanic, which effectively prevents damage from multiple sources at once. i'll do my best to specify exactly how and where spells deal damage. when i say a spell "ticks" damage six times a second, i mean that it essentially attacks in an area at that speed, in the same way that other rapid-firing weapons do, not that it has a piercing attack which grants 1/6 seconds of invincibility, as piercing weapons do.
  • the reward for getting new spells is supposed to be variety and spectacle: not even the most basic spell should feel completely useless or boring at any point, meaning i've tried to do away with tiered sets. critique would be appreciated!
  • i've tried to make the mechanics of each spell interesting enough that a good amount of consideration has to be made in order to use each of them optimally in combat, and versatile enough that they'll be usable in exploration, invasion events, and fast-moving boss fights—often in different ways.
  • since the staves have been removed, there's a call for a few more early-game magic spells—i just haven't thought of any.
  • please imagine fancy graphics and sound effects! i'm not very good at that stuff.
now, here we go! i've put everything under spoilers, for once.

update: i've added all early hardmode spells!

wand of sparking.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • fires 3 spark projectiles with fair spread and greater velocity than current version, although still susceptible to gravity.
  • projectiles have two behaviours, depending on whether they first impact a block or an enemy.
  • on impacting a block, a projectile will spawn a "bonfire" entity lasting five seconds. the bonfire rapidly (approx. 10/sec) emits damaging "embers" in a random upwards spray: these are susceptible to gravity and hit enemies once each, applying the 'on fire!' debuff. the bonfire itself does no damage, but friendly players in its vicinity will gain a small life regeneration buff.
  • on impacting an enemy, a projectile will deal damage and inflict a special "lantern" debuff that creates a zone of fire centred on that enemy for four seconds, similar to the ring projected by the inferno potion. this ticks at approximately six hits per second, damaging and taunting enemies around the afflicted enemy, while also applying the 'on fire!' debuff. the "lantern" debuff does not stack on an enemy, although overlapping lantern rings can damage an enemy at the same time.
  • if an enemy afflicted by the "lantern" debuff dies before the debuff expires, a bonfire lasting three seconds will spawn at its location.
  • notes: this is designed to serve as easy-to-use crowd control early on, when magic damage is... unremarkable at best. later on it has valid uses in boss fights and high potency in most invasion events or when otherwise combating multiple enemies.

vilethorn.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • range increased to approx. 35 blocks and width doubled. now extends faster, and tends to "wander" slightly and spawn small offshoots. lingers for 4.5 seconds; segments fade individually.
  • enemies that come into contact with a vilethorn segment take damage, and if they survive, are "stuck" in place for approx. 0.5 seconds, unable to move or fall. after this period expires they "break free", destroying the segment, but taking about three times the vilethorn's base damage as they do. multiple enemies can get "stuck" on a segment at once, and will all take damage when it breaks. bosses, minibosses, and worm-like enemies will not be trapped: they will destroy the segment and take both initial and final damage immediately.
  • the leading segment of the vilethorn will stop if it hits an enemy, halting the vilethorn's extension. however, enemies hit by this leading segment are trapped for twice as long and take double the damage when the segment breaks: if the vilethorn head successfully deals its breaking damage, the spell's recharge is instantly advanced by one second.
  • notes: similar "finisher" effects to this are present among other spells.

crimson rod.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • clouds are twice as wide and fire twice as many droplets over their breadth. droplets apply a three-second confusion debuff, and do not pierce.
  • as before, casting fires a fast-moving "spawning" projectile to the cursor position. if the projectile fired reaches the cursor position, or impacts a block, it will spawn a stationary cloud at the target location. if the projectile instead hits an enemy, it will spawn a cloud above that enemy which follows it, and its droplets will phase through blocks between it and the enemy. stationary clouds last for 10 seconds, while clouds following an enemy last for six; if a cloud's target dies it will become stationary, and last the full ten seconds, measured from its initial spawn.
  • if a cloud is following a target, then during the final second of its lifetime it will burst open, releasing a torrent of viscera that deals a large amount of damage to everything below it. after this death animation has initiated, it wo'n't be cancelled by the death of the target.
  • notes: most magic spells aren't intended to last as long as sentries or the clouds summoned by the crimson and nimbus rods—not more than a few seconds. damage is scaled up and made more pronounced, instead.

space gun.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • while the cast button is held, fires a continuous, non-piercing beam with a range of 40 blocks that does low damage, visually similar to the charged blaster cannon's. this does not consume charges.
  • while firing, a small glowing orb will begin to grow in front of the space gun, and a rising tone will play that ends in a distinctive beep after one second. if the cast button is then released, one charge will be consumed, and the orb will be fired as a a high-velocity projectile that explodes on impact in a large radius for high damage. surviving enemies caught in this explosion will also explode in a smaller radius half a second afterwards, dealing half the damage of the initial explosion.
  • if the space gun has no charges, it can still fire, but the charge-up will not occur and it will not play the corresponding visual or audio effects.
  • notes: this is one of a few spells that have a low-damage "default" firing mode, giving magic users something to do if they somehow spend a long period of time without any charges—something that might easily happen in the early game, although it should occur less often later on. the beam helps to finish off low-health enemies, as well as providing knockback, and emitting a small amount of light and efficiently clearing grass and vines during exploration.

book of skulls.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, a large floating skull darts at the speed of a bullet to the cursor location. it is stopped by blocks and does not harm enemies while in transit.
  • upon arrival, it will slow to a more average speed (continuing to move in the same direction unless there are blocks in the way) and begin to spawn smaller skull projectiles, in groups of three and at the rate of two groups a second, that circle around it and home towards nearby enemies, exploding on impact for damage in a small area (approx. 4 blocks in radius). these projectiles can pass through walls but will not target enemies through them.
  • as it moves, the large skull will making rhythmic biting motions. these bites are an attack with strong knockback. when they hit, they deal damage, taunt, and extend the large skull's lifetime by one second, allowing it to spawn two more sets of skulls. the base lifetime of the large skull is three seconds, and it can be extended up to three times, for a maximum of six seconds and 36 spawned skulls.
  • on expiration, the large skull falls to the ground, damaging enemies below it based on its speed. any remaining spawned skulls will continue to pursue their targets, unless the large skull lasted the full six seconds, in which case they will explode instantly in a much larger area than normal.

water bolt.
charge maximum: 5. recharge: 3.
  • projectiles are about three times larger and move somewhat more slowly. they still bounce off blocks and can pass through one-block gaps. projectiles no longer do damage or interact directly with enemies.
  • on cast, one water bolt projectile is launched. the projectile lasts 10 seconds, and periodically (once per 0.8 seconds or so) pulses a "current" of blue particles (really an explosion effect) which damages enemies, knocks them in the direction that the water bolt is moving in, and applies one stack of the unique "drowning" debuff.
  • the drowning debuff lasts for five seconds: it slows most enemies and ticks for damage on them twice per second. this is not a dot effect, but magic damage based on the damage of the spell—it works more like the piranha gun. the debuff displays as a blue bubble of water surrounding the enemy.
  • the drowning debuff can stack for increased damage and duration up to 3 times, maxing out at double the initial damage per tick, and refreshing its duration each time. as drowning stacks accumulate on an enemy, the bubble effect increases in size and becomes darker and more opaque.
  • if an enemy gets a fourth stack of drowning, the bubble will burst, removing the debuff and instantly dealing 2.5 times the damage that a single stack of drowning would have done over its duration.

aqua scepter.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, creates a circular "portal" entity directly in front of the caster (in the direction they were aiming) which releases a continuous cone-shaped jet of water. the portal lasts for four seconds and follows the player when they move, although its direction cannot be changed.
  • the jet ticks for damage six times a second. it has a maximum range of maybe 35-40 tiles and an arc of about 60°. the damage and knockback of the jet is lower on targets further away from you: at maximum range, damage reaches a minimum of 50% and knockback reaches a minimum of 10%.
  • only one portal can exist at a time. if the aqua scepter is cast again while the portal is still active, the old portal will expire immediately, playing a distinctive sound effect and firing a final wave of water that does high damage.

magic missile.
charge maximum: 12. recharge: 12.
  • on cast, fires a guidable missile that follows the cursor as long as the cast button is held down, and flies in a straight line if it is released. this costs no charges.
  • as long as the missile is guided, it will leave a trail of floating blue-white spheres, spawning four per second and consuming one charge for each that it spawns. on impacting an enemy, the missile dissipates, doing damage, and each of the floating globes turns into a glowing, homing projectile that flies rapidly towards the struck enemy, phasing through blocks. if the struck enemy dies, or if the magic missile dissipates or is released without hitting an enemy, these additional projectiles will seek nearby targets instead (but will not acquire targets through walls).
  • each hit from the secondary projectiles adds to an invisible stacking buff. whenever this buff reaches a count of 3, a lightning bolt leaps from the caster to the target, dealing high damage to it and anything in between, and the buff resets.

bee gun.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • bees travel and turn much more quickly. they follow the cursor instead of seeking enemies, and bounce off blocks infinitely.
  • on cast, 20 bees are fired over the course of about 1 second, which home towards the cursor. on arrival at the cursor location, these bees add themselves to a buzzing "swarm" entity hovering at the cursor's location, which tracks how many bees are in it, becoming denser and noisier as the count increases.
  • working like the magnet sphere, the swarm attacks up to 3 enemies within a short (~10 block) radius per tick at a rate of 3 per second, consuming one bee per enemy hit, until exhausted.
  • bees attach themselves to targets hit, much like the piranha gun, and tick for damage twice a second for a total of four seconds.
  • bees that collide with enemies while travelling to the cursor (i.e. before reaching the swarm entity) will immediately attach to them.
  • if an enemy dies with bees attached, then each bee has a chance to respawn and return to the swarm.

demon scythe.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • fires a non-damaging purple projectile at the speed of a bullet towards the cursor. upon reaching the cursor location, striking an enemy, or travelling 24 blocks, a circular "slash" effect plays, damaging enemies in the area, and the scythe projectile spawns.
  • the scythe projectile is identical in appearance and motion to the current demon scythe projectile, moving slowly at first and gradually accelerating. however, upon striking an enemy, it becomes "stuck" in that enemy (again, much like the piranha gun) and deals up to 5 hits of damage, including the initial hit, to that target over the course of about 0.8 seconds. only the initial impact applies knockback.
  • if the target is killed by the fifth hit, or before the fifth hit occurs, the scythe will respawn where it dies and seek nearby enemies, with about the same speed and agility as the razorblade typhoon. the scythe can respawn in this way to hit up to five enemies, including the original.
  • if the scythe does not kill a target with the fifth hit, a distinctive effect will play, and it will deal a final hit for massive damage. this final hit will cause the scythe to dissipate, but instantly advance the spell's recharge by one second.

flower of fire.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, fires a gravity-affected bouncing, burning projectile in the direction of the cursor.
  • an enemy hit by this projectile will grow a "flower" above it, which shoots up to four fireballs per second at nearby enemies for four seconds. these projectiles can phase through blocks.
  • the flower "blooms" by one stage per second, dealing a tick of damage to the target and increasing the size of its fireballs and the rate at which it shoots them. if the host is still alive after the fifth second, the flower detaches from them, dealing a final tick of damage, and bursts in an infernal explosion a half-second later for massive damage.
  • if the host dies before the flower is finished blooming, the flower immediately explodes, creating a lingering inferno (with the same animation as the inferno fork) that does five discrete ticks of damage, and the spell's recharge is instantly advanced by one second. this also happens if the host is struck by a second projectile from this spell: a new flower will replace the old one.
  • the initial impact, the fireballs, and the infernal explosion all apply the "on fire!" debuff. the fireballs taunt enemies to follow the flower. the bouncing projectile and the fireballs will dissipate on contact with water, but the flower will not.

flamelash.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, creates a burning projectile that follows the cursor while the cast button is held, gradually growing in size and intensity over the course of two seconds.
  • the projectile does not interact directly with enemies, but after two seconds, it will emit an intense shower of damaging embers over the course of one second. at the end of this one second, or if the cast button is released during it, the projectile will fall suddenly straight downwards, continuing to emit sparks and exploding on impact for high damage.
  • charges are only consumed when the projectile falls; if the cast button is released before the flamelash is "powered up", the projectile instantly disappears. however, the projectile can't be fired if the spell is out of charges.
  • both the sparks and the damaging explosion apply the "on fire!" debuff. the ember and both forms of the projectile disappear on contact with water.


laser rifle.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • while cast button is held, projects a "laser sight" beam that hits enemies but does no damage (see water gun, slime gun).
  • releasing the cast button causes the last enemy hit by the beam to be designated as the "target": a thin line will connect them to the player. after one second, three barrages of three massive purple bolts each are fired along this thin line, phasing through blocks and seeking the target; these will not interact with other enemies, and will disappear if the target dies (just as the phantasm's secondary projectiles). the third shot of each barrage does higher damage and explodes on impact.
  • if the target is killed by one of these bolts, the total amount of laser damage it has received is added up, and up to four lightning bolts leap from its death location to nearby enemies, doing that amount of damage to them.
  • if the final hit lands, the spell's recharge timer will be advanced by one second.

ice rod.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • mechanically, combines the grand design's auto-placement mechanic with a line of sight requirement.
  • holding down the cast button enables you to "draw" a line of ice blocks. when you let go of the cast button, all drawn blocks within line of sight (and in free space) are created, up to a maximum of 18.
  • ice blocks will break when enemies collide with them, or 15 seconds after being conjured, releasing a spray of damaging ice shards, which are affected by gravity and phase through blocks.
  • as soon as you press the ice rod's cast button again, any ice blocks that currently exist will immediately shatter.
  • notes: this version of the ice rod isn't quite so useful for creating barriers, but should still function for the ice rod's main use: letting you place blocks in midair for floating builds. (also blocking projectiles and providing temporary platforms while flying). in fact, an unequipped ice rod will not do damage, but will actually also work for most of these purposes.

magic dagger.
charge maximum: 6. recharge: 3.
  • name finally updated to "magic daggers", and sprite now displays a set of three. daggers fly further before slowing and being affected by gravity.
  • the cast button can be tapped to fire a single dagger, or held for 0.5 seconds and then released to fire a narrow fan of three daggers that travel further.
  • when the dagger strikes an enemy, it continues to teleport to and attack that enemy about eight times a second for four seconds, using the same mechanic as the influx waver. the dagger will respawn and fly towards other enemies nearby, phasing through blocks, if its original target dies, but its total lifetime (after the initial hit) cannot exceed four seconds.
  • every hit by a dagger applies a debuff called "dazzled" for 1 second, which reduces attack damage by 20%.
  • a thrown dagger that hits a dazzled enemy doesn't trigger the flurry of attacks described above, instead instantly damaging them by a large amount and advancing the spell's recharge timer by 0.5 seconds.
  • if a dagger can't find any more enemies within its attack range, or if a thrown dagger strikes a block instead of an enemy, it will fly back towards the caster instead. if it reaches them without timing out, it will instantly refund one charge.
  • notes: i've tried to bring out the "magical returning dagger" theme a little more with these mechanics.

crystal storm.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, calls up a circular "storm" directly in front of the caster, with a crystal eye at its centre. the storm is about the same size and shape as the inferno potion's ring, and lasts eight seconds. it follows the player as they move, remaining in the same place relative to them. the crystal eye fires a continuous stream of classic crystal storm projectiles that travel slightly faster.
  • the crystal eye automatically aims at enemies within range, but prefers enemies within a 60-degree cone of the direction the cursor is facing. it fires about 10 shots/sec.
  • the crystal storm also hits enemies within its radius about 10 times/sec. the storm has knockback, while the projectiles do not.
  • only one storm can be active at a time. if the spell is recast while a storm still exists, the existing storm will redden in colour, expand its radius slightly, and gain boosted area and projectile damage. this also refreshes the duration.

cursed flames.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, fires a bouncing, gravity-affected green flame projectile that lasts for ten seconds or four bounces.
  • the projectile does not interact with enemies. instead, it leaves a scattered trail of tiny green particles, which float in the air and home towards enemies within 10 blocks. they move faster when their target is closer, behaving similarly to the nebula armour's booster pickups.
  • the particles explode on impact, doing no damage, but applying one stack of the unique "accursed" debuff to enemies within a small radius (not to be mistaken for the existing "cursed" debuff). accursed enemies are marked by a small green flame icon floating above them; the buff lasts 8 seconds and refreshes with each stack.
  • if an enemy acquires 3 stacks of accursed, it bursts into flame, taking a large amount of damage, receiving the cursed inferno debuff, and emitting 2-3 gravity-affected cursed flame projectiles that can damage nearby enemies. the enemy can immediately begin stacking accursed again once this happens.

golden shower.
charge maximum: 5. recharge: 3.
  • renamed to "marrow bath".
  • on cast, fires a loose spray of 20-25 dark red and bright gold particles. these travel at variable speed for variable distances, a bit like the classic bubble gun, settling in a "cloud" pattern that extends about 45 blocks from the caster's initial position. particles drift slowly downwards and disappear on contact with blocks.
  • on impacting an enemy, gold particles do damage and inflict the ichor debuff, which now reduces the target's armour by 1/5 of the spell's base damage for 10 seconds. red particles cause the target to emit three bloody spike protrusions, each one damaging both them and any other enemies hit.
  • notes: the change to the ichor debuff would also apply to enemy ichor attacks, and is intended to make sure the debuff remains relevant and significant as player damage per hit increases.

sky fracture.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, slashes open a shining fissure in the air at the target location, which lasts for six seconds.
  • three times per second, the fissure spawns a spread of three swords made of blue light, which spin in place rapidly for 0.5 seconds and then dart quickly towards enemies, seeking them. each sword does damage on impact, and then one second later (or instantly if the target dies) shatters into four molten fragments that damage enemies.
  • the fissure also immediately fires a large, purple "commander" sword. this homes towards the mouse instead of enemies, accelerating faster than the other swords but not phasing through walls. it sticks in the first enemy it hits, doing high impact damage, and debuffs them with "cut down", making other swords prioritise that enemy for as long as the purple sword is stuck in it. if an enemy afflicted by "cut down" dies, the purple sword respawns at its location. it dissipates once the fissure disappears.
  • at the end of its lifespan, a large blue sword slashes through the fissure from the other side, closing it. if enemies are somehow on top of the fissure at this time, they will take massive damage.

meteor staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, summons a large, fast-falling meteor projectile from the sky that phases through blocks. the meteor angles towards the cursor, but if it reaches the cursor's height without hitting anything, it'll just keep going. (it will also lose its phasing ability after reaching the cursor.)
  • the meteor explodes on impact with fair radius and damage, then summons a prolonged shower of smaller meteorites to its location, tracking the target (if the meteor hit an enemy) or the impact site (if the meteor hit a block, or if its target is dead). the shower starts out focused on the target area, then gradually widens to the left and right.
  • there are about 25 small meteorites in total. on impact with an enemy, each one has a small chance (approx. 10%) to summon a homing, fast-moving blue rocket from the sky, which explodes on impact for high damage in a large radius.
  • the initial meteor and the small meteorite projectiles both inflict the "on fire!" debuff.

magical harp.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • soundfont improved to be more audible and reverberate more.
  • on cast fires a fast-moving, non-interacting projectile that turns into a bobbing musical note entity at the target location, or when it hits a wall.
  • the entity hovers in place for ten seconds, playing a soft harp melody in time and harmony with the background music the caster is hearing (or a preset melody if this is too complex to code). with each note of the melody it ticks damage on all enemies in a large radius, adding up to about 5 hits per second. with each note it also emits a "ripple" effect which expands to the edge of its range and fades, though this is purely cosmetic—each tick of damage is an explosion effect.
  • the entity's attack has sufficient knockback to keep most enemies at bay. if an enemy comes into contact with it, however, it will "absorb" the musical note, causing the melody to become muted. the enemy will take double damage from the note, while enemies within the radius take half and are taunted towards that enemy until the music expires or the enemy dies. if the enemy dies, the entity will respawn at its death location and continue playing until it expires.
  • the musical note entity uses the same sprites as the classic magical harp's projectiles, cycling between them every time it plays a sound. only the most recently created entity in audio range will be audible at a time.
  • the music can affect enemies through walls.

rainbow rod.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • when the cast button is pressed, conjures a floating, spinning, guidable projectile that cycles through rainbow colours. this does not consume charges and can be cast at any time.
  • the projectile does not interact with enemies, but pulses a non-damaging explosion in a moderate radius twice a second, taunting enemies to follow it.
  • after ten seconds, or when the cast button is released, one charge will be consumed, and the projectile will freeze in place for one second, emitting a spray of rainbow particles while chirping rapidly. after this one second, it will explode, doing high damage to all enemies in a large radius.
  • up to five enemies within range will also be marked with the "fool's gold" debuff for five seconds, visually represented by bright white sparkles that follow them around. this debuff has two effects: (1) every time one of these enemies is hit by an attack, it will explode in a moderate radius, doing the same damage as the attack did to all enemies in that radius, including itself; and (2) if it dies during the debuff, it's guaranteed to spawn its highest possible coin amount.
  • notes: this is probably the only debuff-dedicated spell, so i've tried to make it powerful enough to be worth the slot.

crystal serpent.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "crystal serpent egg". sprite changed to match.
  • on cast, conjures a worm-like crystal serpent entity at the cursor location over a period of 1 second (starting with the head and finishing at the tail). the serpent follows the caster, keeping its head about 5 blocks in front of them and roughly in the direction of the cursor. it blocks incoming projectiles if they hit it.
  • the serpent's head fires pink piercing lasers at enemies from its mouth (same graphic as heat ray, shadowbeam staff) at a rate of about 4 lasers a second. the serpent's tail fires the same delayed explosions as the rainbow crystal staff, one at a time and twice per second.
  • the serpent protects the caster for about 2.5 seconds after being fully conjured. at the end of its lifespan, it rushes towards the cursor in a straight line, passing through blocks and turning to seek nearby enemies if it reaches the cursor location. the head shatters on impact with an enemy and explodes in a burst of pink flame; an enemy can take damage from both the direct hit and the explosion. its headless body keeps going until the tail hits something, also dealing damage, at which point the whole thing will shatter, each segment bursting into 2-3 damaging shards.
  • notes: starting from hardmode, you'll start to get spells that let you cast effects on the cursor location, regardless of whether you have line of sight. i've tried to limit these in their effectiveness, so that you don't get free damage and vision of unlit caverns all the time—until endgame, at least.

poison staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • renamed to "scepter of fangs". tooltip suggests you "click and drag".
  • when cast button is pressed, conjures a large pair of separated fangs that converge on the target location in a swift "bite" motion, dealing damage in an area where they meet and applying two debuffs: the "poisoned" debuff (for 10 seconds) and the unique "gripped" debuff (for as long as relevant). while the cast button is held, the fangs follow the cursor's location exactly, up to a maximum distance of 40 blocks from the caster.
  • gripped enemies are taunted towards the centre of the fangs' effect area (the cursor). if they leave the effect area of the fangs, either because they move or because the fangs are moved, they take massive damage. releasing the fangs while enemies are still inside the area doesn't cause this effect.
  • when the cast button is released, or three seconds after initially closing, the fangs stop following the cursor and spring open about 10 blocks to each side, stretching three lines of web between them. when an enemy hits one of these lines, it snaps, dealing damage in a rectangular area in front of it, and advances the recharge timer of the spell by 0.3 seconds.
  • notes: i'm heavily revamping most magic weapons that just fire a projectile.

frost staff.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "boreal wand".
  • while cast button is held, spawns a guidable projectile at the target location that follows the cursor, as the magic missile, &c.
  • the projectile lasts for up to two seconds. during the first second it leaves a trail of up to 30 large, translucent fog particles that are affected by wind. fog particles home towards nearby enemies, moving faster when closer to them, and impacting all but noiselessly. they do no damage, but apply a unique stacking "frostbitten" debuff that tints enemies blue. the blue tint becomes more saturated at higher stacks, enemies take 1 damage per second per stack, and walking enemies are also slowed by 2% per stack. the debuff maxes out at 20 stacks per enemy.
  • when the cast button is released, or after two seconds, the projectile hums and emits a large, glowing halo (indicating its effect radius) for 0.5 seconds, and then shatters, damaging all enemies in its radius. it does an additional 15% base damage for every stack of frostbitten an enemy has.
  • enemies killed while frostbitten send a small projectile towards the caster that heals them for {enemy's max hp * 1% * number of frostbitten stacks the enemy had}.
  • notes: thematically, this is intended to be a counterpart to the wand of sparking, providing some crowd control and some healing, but in a very different way.

flower of frost.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, fires a fast-moving projectile that, on impacting a block or reaching the target location, spawns a hovering flower entity.
  • the flower is surrounded by a circle of feathery frost. each half-second, the flower blooms a little, spreading the frost a little wider and hitting enemies in the area of the frost circle for slightly more damage each time. the frost draws on top of enemies, but is translucent towards the edges.
  • the flower ticks for damage a total of 6 times, including the tick on its initial impact. after its sixth tick, that is, after lasting 2.5 seconds, the flower bursts into six shard projectiles that chase the cursor at terrific speed, phase through blocks, and do high damage to enemies.
  • only one flower can exist per player. if a second flower is conjured while one already exists, the first flower will burst immediately, firing ten projectiles instead of six.

nimbus rod.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 2.
  • cloud is twice as wide and rains twice as many droplets over its breadth.
  • on cast, fires a projectile that, on impacting a block or reaching the target location, creates a thick black cloud at the cursor location that rains down non-piercing, non-damaging droplets which inflict the "wet" status on players, enemies, and npcs. the cloud stays in the same position relative to the player when the player moves. it glows dimly.
  • once per second, the cloud will target an enemy in a wide cone beneath it with a large, highly damaging lightning bolt that leaps to up to three nearby enemies, doing slightly less damage to each. lightning prefers wet targets, and does increased damage to them.
  • the cloud lasts six seconds and will attempt to fire a total of six times. the sixth lightning bolt, if it hits, does more damage and explodes on each target it hits in a small radius around them.

shadowflame hex doll.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, conjures a masked apparition directly in front of the player. (see: shadowflame apparition, with a slightly more stationary appearance). the apparition's movement is synced to the player's. it also moves in a circle around them as it targets enemies.
  • when summoned, the masked apparition selects a target by firing a hook-like homing tentacle projectile. it prioritises enemies near the cursor. once latched on, the masked apparition will continue to track that enemy, hitting it twice a second with a whiplike "lashing" animation that does high damage. this has a maximum range of 30 blocks; if an enemy exits that range, it takes a large amount of damage, the tether is broken, and the apparition seeks another target.
  • regardless of whether it has a target or not, the apparition also rapidly fires (~8/sec) tentacles of light in an area 35 blocks in front of it, which appear the same as the classic shadowflame hex doll's attacks. tentacles seem to pierce through enemies, but really only tick once for damage at the end of their travel animation, hitting everything currently in range. they apply the "shadowflame" debuff.
  • the apparition lasts for six seconds before dissipating, and only one can be active at a time per player. if another apparition is conjured while one already exists, the existing one freezes in place (no longer following the caster) and explodes in purple flame a second later, doing massive damage.

spirit flame.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, conjures 6 purple flames, scattered in a circle around the caster, in a flash of light and smoke. these home in rapidly on enemies.
  • the flames do not actually interact with enemies, but hover a few blocks away from them and "drain" damage off them (with a similar animation to the classic life drain). flames last for five seconds.
  • flames store the amount of damage they deal. when a flame expires or its target dies, the flame turns into a purple orb that flies quickly towards nearby enemies and explodes for {base damage + the stored damage}.

clinger staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 3.
  • renamed to "clinger's brew".
  • on cast, teleports the stomach of some unlucky clinger to you and fires it as a gravity-affected projectile. the projectile disintegrates, releasing up to six scattered pieces as it travels which have a very slightly different velocity from it.
  • the secondary projectiles damage enemies and turn into green fire entities on impact; these entities tick damage and apply the "cursed inferno" debuff in an area.
  • the primary projectile explodes on impact, and releases a series of seven successive explosions of green flame in a specific shape:
    • if it strikes a block, two lines of flame in opposite directions along the surface of the block;
    • if it strikes an enemy, a cone of flame pointing in the direction the projectile was moving when it hit.
  • these explosions will not actually apply cursed inferno, but will do bonus damage to enemies already afflicted with cursed inferno.

crystal vile shard.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, hurls a large, multicoloured crystal at the cursor. if this crystal hits a target, it does high damage and sticks in it.
  • the crystal then slowly splits open in five cracking motions, dealing a tick of damage with each, to reveal a crystal eye-creature inside. the eye creature fires three laser bolts at the target.
  • if the target isn't killed by the last laser bolt, the eye creature immediately shatters, doing damage in an area, and the crystal slams shut, dealing massive damage to the target only, before falling out in two pieces.
  • if the target is killed at any point before the last laser bolt, the eye creature breaks out of the crystal with the spines of its sea-urchin body, doing high damage in a large area. after a moment, it phases out of the world, advancing the spell's recharge timer by one second.

life drain.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • while the cast button is held, ticks low damage about 10 times a second in an area around the cursor location, if it is within line of sight. this consumes no charges and requires none.
  • while the spell has at least one charge, enemies damaged will have the "draining" debuff. draining enemies take 15 damage per second and stream red particles towards the cursor location, adding to a "bubble of blood" entity that grows gradually in size as long as at least one enemy is being drained.
  • the bubble of blood follows the cursor, much like the magic missile. it is destroyed on contact with blocks, as if released, but its hitbox does not change as it grows. it takes about two seconds to fill up; when it's finished, it'll make a wet, watery sound and start to glow and drip. the spell will also stop ticking damage.
  • when the cast button is released, the bubble of blood turns into a cluster of red particles that flood back into nearby enemies, splitting a massive amount of damage among them. the red particles can phase and target through blocks. if the bubble is released prematurely, the damage it does will be reduced—multiplied by {(seconds bubble spent growing/2)^2}.
  • the red particles spawned by the bubble can also home in on the caster if they're nearby, healing them for 5% of the damage that would have been done to enemies.
  • notes: despite changes, this should remain the only healing magic weapon likely to be useful in a boss fight.

unholy trident.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 3.
  • on cast, throws a large, purple trident projectile at the target location. (the cast button can be held for 0.5 seconds and then released to throw the trident with greater speed.)
  • the trident sticks in the first enemy it hits, doing high damage. 0.5 seconds later it hits the enemy again for significantly more damage, applying strong knockback in the opposite direction to the initial hit. the trident then remains stuck in the enemy for five more seconds.
  • if a trident strikes an enemy that already has a trident in it, the old trident will tear out, dealing massive damage.
  • enemies that die with a trident stuck in them go to hell, but this isn't mechanically represented.

medusa head.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "gorgoneion".
  • on cast, conjures up a floating shield in front of the player, and propels the severed head of a gorgon towards the cursor. the head drifts a few blocks, and then stops; the shield travels with the player, turning to face the cursor.
  • one second after the cast, the head damages all enemies within fifty blocks that can see it. two seconds after the cast, it hits again for much higher damage, and freezes enemies in place using the same mechanic as the new vilethorn's "stuck" effect for 1.5 additional seconds. (this doesn't affect worms or bosses.) after that period, it hits all enemies in range one final time for massive damage. the head then flies back to the caster.
  • the head also constantly emits a wide beam of golden light at the shield, which reflects it to illuminate a small circular area around the cursor (given that there is line of sight to that point from the player). anything in this area takes double damage from the head's attacks, and takes damage whether or not it's in the head's range or line of sight.
  • only one head can exist per player. if a new head is conjured while one is still active, the older one disappears in a flash of white light, heavily damaging all enemies in line of sight in a large radius (but not as large as its ordinary effect radius).
  • tooltip added: "to Athena".

venom staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • renamed to "scepter of threads".
  • on cast, instantly covers a conical arc in front of the caster (roughly 45° and 30 blocks long) in fine white webbing. up to six enemies hit by this attack are damaged and bound to the caster with white lines of web. the lines of web are connected to each other by horizontal strands at random points.
  • up to thirty-six small spiders, six per target, spawn at the caster's location over the course of three seconds and crawl rapidly along the web, crossing at random where the lines are joined to each other. on impact with an enemy, they deal damage and inflict the "venom" debuff.
  • if an enemy is hit with the spell twice, the web connecting to them will visually thicken, and a much larger spider will tunnel through it as a thick, white bulbous shape, bursting open on impact with the target and sinking its fangs into them for very high damage. this inflicts the "venom" debuff and instantly snaps the web connecting to that enemy.
  • if the web connecting to an enemy snaps, either because of the effect above or because the distance between the enemy and the player exceeds 60 blocks, all spiders travelling along that web are killed, but the target and all enemies intersecting with that web take damage.
  • arachnophobia censors will replace spiders with large, web-spitting geckos that otherwise behave identically.


--tba.--


i hope you like the concept! any comments or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
Great idea and massive support!
The Amber Staff is a bit different than most staves now so it can become a weapon - Amber Storm!
 
so i've finished all the early hardmode spells! i added them to the original post, but just in case you weren't going to scroll up there again, here they are also:

laser rifle.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • while cast button is held, projects a "laser sight" beam that hits enemies but does no damage (see water gun, slime gun).
  • releasing the cast button causes the last enemy hit by the beam to be designated as the "target": a thin line will connect them to the player. after one second, three barrages of three massive purple bolts each are fired along this thin line, phasing through blocks and seeking the target; these will not interact with other enemies, and will disappear if the target dies (just as the phantasm's secondary projectiles). the third shot of each barrage does higher damage and explodes on impact.
  • if the target is killed by one of these bolts, the total amount of laser damage it has received is added up, and up to four lightning bolts leap from its death location to nearby enemies, doing that amount of damage to them.
  • if the final hit lands, the spell's recharge timer will be advanced by one second.

ice rod.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • mechanically, combines the grand design's auto-placement mechanic with a line of sight requirement.
  • holding down the cast button enables you to "draw" a line of ice blocks. when you let go of the cast button, all drawn blocks within line of sight (and in free space) are created, up to a maximum of 18.
  • ice blocks will break when enemies collide with them, or 15 seconds after being conjured, releasing a spray of damaging ice shards, which are affected by gravity and phase through blocks.
  • as soon as you press the ice rod's cast button again, any ice blocks that currently exist will immediately shatter.
  • notes: this version of the ice rod isn't quite so useful for creating barriers, but should still function for the ice rod's main use: letting you place blocks in midair for floating builds. (also blocking projectiles and providing temporary platforms while flying). in fact, an unequipped ice rod will not do damage, but will actually also work for most of these purposes.

magic dagger.
charge maximum: 6. recharge: 3.
  • name finally updated to "magic daggers", and sprite now displays a set of three. daggers fly further before slowing and being affected by gravity.
  • the cast button can be tapped to fire a single dagger, or held for 0.5 seconds and then released to fire a narrow fan of three daggers that travel further.
  • when the dagger strikes an enemy, it continues to teleport to and attack that enemy about eight times a second for four seconds, using the same mechanic as the influx waver. the dagger will respawn and fly towards other enemies nearby, phasing through blocks, if its original target dies, but its total lifetime (after the initial hit) cannot exceed four seconds.
  • every hit by a dagger applies a debuff called "dazzled" for 1 second, which reduces attack damage by 20%.
  • a thrown dagger that hits a dazzled enemy doesn't trigger the flurry of attacks described above, instead instantly damaging them by a large amount and advancing the spell's recharge timer by 0.5 seconds.
  • if a dagger can't find any more enemies within its attack range, or if a thrown dagger strikes a block instead of an enemy, it will fly back towards the caster instead. if it reaches them without timing out, it will instantly refund one charge.
  • notes: i've tried to bring out the "magical returning dagger" theme a little more with these mechanics.

crystal storm.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, calls up a circular "storm" directly in front of the caster, with a crystal eye at its centre. the storm is about the same size and shape as the inferno potion's ring, and lasts eight seconds. it follows the player as they move, remaining in the same place relative to them. the crystal eye fires a continuous stream of classic crystal storm projectiles that travel slightly faster.
  • the crystal eye automatically aims at enemies within range, but prefers enemies within a 60-degree cone of the direction the cursor is facing. it fires about 10 shots/sec.
  • the crystal storm also hits enemies within its radius about 10 times/sec. the storm has knockback, while the projectiles do not.
  • only one storm can be active at a time. if the spell is recast while a storm still exists, the existing storm will redden in colour, expand its radius slightly, and gain boosted area and projectile damage. this also refreshes the duration.

cursed flames.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, fires a bouncing, gravity-affected green flame projectile that lasts for ten seconds or four bounces.
  • the projectile does not interact with enemies. instead, it leaves a scattered trail of tiny green particles, which float in the air and home towards enemies within 10 blocks. they move faster when their target is closer, behaving similarly to the nebula armour's booster pickups.
  • the particles explode on impact, doing no damage, but applying one stack of the unique "accursed" debuff to enemies within a small radius (not to be mistaken for the existing "cursed" debuff). accursed enemies are marked by a small green flame icon floating above them; the buff lasts 8 seconds and refreshes with each stack.
  • if an enemy acquires 3 stacks of accursed, it bursts into flame, taking a large amount of damage, receiving the cursed inferno debuff, and emitting 2-3 gravity-affected cursed flame projectiles that can damage nearby enemies. the enemy can immediately begin stacking accursed again once this happens.

golden shower.
charge maximum: 5. recharge: 3.
  • renamed to "marrow bath".
  • on cast, fires a loose spray of 20-25 dark red and bright gold particles. these travel at variable speed for variable distances, a bit like the classic bubble gun, settling in a "cloud" pattern that extends about 45 blocks from the caster's initial position. particles drift slowly downwards and disappear on contact with blocks.
  • on impacting an enemy, gold particles do damage and inflict the ichor debuff, which now reduces the target's armour by 1/5 of the spell's base damage for 10 seconds. red particles cause the target to emit three bloody spike protrusions, each one damaging both them and any other enemies hit.
  • notes: the change to the ichor debuff would also apply to enemy ichor attacks, and is intended to make sure the

sky fracture.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, slashes open a shining fissure in the air at the target location, which lasts for six seconds.
  • three times per second, the fissure spawns a spread of three swords made of blue light, which spin in place rapidly for 0.5 seconds and then dart quickly towards enemies, seeking them. each sword does damage on impact, and then one second later (or instantly if the target dies) shatters into four molten fragments that damage enemies.
  • the fissure also immediately fires a large, purple "commander" sword. this homes towards the mouse instead of enemies, accelerating faster than the other swords but not phasing through walls. it sticks in the first enemy it hits, doing high impact damage, and debuffs them with "cut down", making other swords prioritise that enemy for as long as the purple sword is stuck in it. if an enemy afflicted by "cut down" dies, the purple sword respawns at its location. it dissipates once the fissure disappears.
  • at the end of its lifespan, a large blue sword slashes through the fissure from the other side, closing it. if enemies are somehow on top of the fissure at this time, they will take massive damage.

meteor staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, summons a large, fast-falling meteor projectile from the sky that phases through blocks. the meteor angles towards the cursor, but if it reaches the cursor's height without hitting anything, it'll just keep going. (it will also lose its phasing ability after reaching the cursor.)
  • the meteor explodes on impact with fair radius and damage, then summons a prolonged shower of smaller meteorites to its location, tracking the target (if the meteor hit an enemy) or the impact site (if the meteor hit a block, or if its target is dead). the shower starts out focused on the target area, then gradually widens to the left and right.
  • there are about 25 small meteorites in total. on impact with an enemy, each one has a small chance (approx. 10%) to summon a homing, fast-moving blue rocket from the sky, which explodes on impact for high damage in a large radius.
  • the initial meteor and the small meteorite projectiles both inflict the "on fire!" debuff.

magical harp.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • soundfont improved to be more audible and reverberate more.
  • on cast fires a fast-moving, non-interacting projectile that turns into a bobbing musical note entity at the target location, or when it hits a wall.
  • the entity hovers in place for ten seconds, playing a soft harp melody in time and harmony with the background music the caster is hearing (or a preset melody if this is too complex to code). with each note of the melody it ticks damage on all enemies in a large radius, adding up to about 5 hits per second. with each note it also emits a "ripple" effect which expands to the edge of its range and fades, though this is purely cosmetic—each tick of damage is an explosion effect.
  • the entity's attack has sufficient knockback to keep most enemies at bay. if an enemy comes into contact with it, however, it will "absorb" the musical note, causing the melody to become muted. the enemy will take double damage from the note, while enemies within the radius take half and are taunted towards that enemy until the music expires or the enemy dies. if the enemy dies, the entity will respawn at its death location and continue playing until it expires.
  • the musical note entity uses the same sprites as the classic magical harp's projectiles, cycling between them every time it plays a sound. only the most recently created entity in audio range will be audible at a time.
  • the music can affect enemies through walls.

rainbow rod.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • when the cast button is pressed, conjures a floating, spinning, guidable projectile that cycles through rainbow colours. this does not consume charges and can be cast at any time.
  • the projectile does not interact with enemies, but pulses a non-damaging explosion in a moderate radius twice a second, taunting enemies to follow it.
  • after ten seconds, or when the cast button is released, one charge will be consumed, and the projectile will freeze in place for one second, emitting a spray of rainbow particles while chirping rapidly. after this one second, it will explode, doing high damage to all enemies in a large radius.
  • up to five enemies within range will also be marked with the "fool's gold" debuff for five seconds, visually represented by bright white sparkles that follow them around. this debuff has two effects: (1) every time one of these enemies is hit by an attack, it will explode in a moderate radius, doing the same damage as the attack did to all enemies in that radius, including itself; and (2) if it dies during the debuff, it's guaranteed to spawn its highest possible coin amount.
  • notes: this is probably the only debuff-dedicated spell, so i've tried to make it powerful enough to be worth the slot.

crystal serpent.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "crystal serpent egg". sprite changed to match.
  • on cast, conjures a worm-like crystal serpent entity at the cursor location over a period of 1 second (starting with the head and finishing at the tail). the serpent follows the caster, keeping its head about 5 blocks in front of them and roughly in the direction of the cursor. it blocks incoming projectiles if they hit it.
  • the serpent's head fires pink piercing lasers at enemies from its mouth (same graphic as heat ray, shadowbeam staff) at a rate of about 4 lasers a second. the serpent's tail fires the same delayed explosions as the rainbow crystal staff, one at a time and twice per second.
  • the serpent protects the caster for about 2.5 seconds after being fully conjured. at the end of its lifespan, it rushes towards the cursor in a straight line, passing through blocks and turning to seek nearby enemies if it reaches the cursor location. the head shatters on impact with an enemy and explodes in a burst of pink flame; an enemy can take damage from both the direct hit and the explosion. its headless body keeps going until the tail hits something, also dealing damage, at which point the whole thing will shatter, each segment bursting into 2-3 damaging shards.
  • notes: starting from hardmode, you'll start to get spells that let you cast effects on the cursor location, regardless of whether you have line of sight. i've tried to limit these in their effectiveness, so that you don't get free damage and vision of unlit caverns all the time—until endgame, at least.

poison staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • renamed to "scepter of fangs". tooltip suggests you "click and drag".
  • when cast button is pressed, conjures a large pair of separated fangs that converge on the target location in a swift "bite" motion, dealing damage in an area where they meet and applying two debuffs: the "poisoned" debuff (for 10 seconds) and the unique "gripped" debuff (for as long as relevant). while the cast button is held, the fangs follow the cursor's location exactly, up to a maximum distance of 40 blocks from the caster.
  • gripped enemies are taunted towards the centre of the fangs' effect area (the cursor). if they leave the effect area of the fangs, either because they move or because the fangs are moved, they take massive damage. releasing the fangs while enemies are still inside the area doesn't cause this effect.
  • when the cast button is released, or three seconds after initially closing, the fangs stop following the cursor and spring open about 10 blocks to each side, stretching three lines of web between them. when an enemy hits one of these lines, it snaps, dealing damage in a rectangular area in front of it, and advances the recharge timer of the spell by 0.3 seconds.
  • notes: i'm heavily revamping most magic weapons that just fire a projectile.

frost staff.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "boreal wand".
  • while cast button is held, spawns a guidable projectile at the target location that follows the cursor, as the magic missile, &c.
  • the projectile lasts for up to two seconds. during the first second it leaves a trail of up to 30 large, translucent fog particles that are affected by wind. fog particles home towards nearby enemies, moving faster when closer to them, and impacting all but noiselessly. they do no damage, but apply a unique stacking "frostbitten" debuff that tints enemies blue. the blue tint becomes more saturated at higher stacks, enemies take 1 damage per second per stack, and walking enemies are also slowed by 2% per stack. the debuff maxes out at 20 stacks per enemy.
  • when the cast button is released, or after two seconds, the projectile hums and emits a large, glowing halo (indicating its effect radius) for 0.5 seconds, and then shatters, damaging all enemies in its radius. it does an additional 15% base damage for every stack of frostbitten an enemy has.
  • enemies killed while frostbitten send a small projectile towards the caster that heals them for {enemy's max hp * 1% * number of frostbitten stacks the enemy had}.
  • notes: thematically, this is intended to be a counterpart to the wand of sparking, providing some crowd control and some healing, but in a very different way.

flower of frost.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, fires a fast-moving projectile that, on impacting a block or reaching the target location, spawns a hovering flower entity.
  • the flower is surrounded by a circle of feathery frost. each half-second, the flower blooms a little, spreading the frost a little wider and hitting enemies in the area of the frost circle for slightly more damage each time. the frost draws on top of enemies, but is translucent towards the edges.
  • the flower ticks for damage a total of 6 times, including the tick on its initial impact. after its sixth tick, that is, after lasting 2.5 seconds, the flower bursts into six shard projectiles that chase the cursor at terrific speed, phase through blocks, and do high damage to enemies.
  • only one flower can exist per player. if a second flower is conjured while one already exists, the first flower will burst immediately, firing ten projectiles instead of six.

nimbus rod.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 2.
  • cloud is twice as wide and rains twice as many droplets over its breadth.
  • on cast, fires a projectile that, on impacting a block or reaching the target location, creates a thick black cloud at the cursor location that rains down non-piercing, non-damaging droplets which inflict the "wet" status on players, enemies, and npcs. the cloud stays in the same position relative to the player when the player moves. it glows dimly.
  • once per second, the cloud will target an enemy in a wide cone beneath it with a large, highly damaging lightning bolt that leaps to up to three nearby enemies, doing slightly less damage to each. lightning prefers wet targets, and does increased damage to them.
  • the cloud lasts six seconds and will attempt to fire a total of six times. the sixth lightning bolt, if it hits, does more damage and explodes on each target it hits in a small radius around them.

shadowflame hex doll.
charge maximum: 1. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, conjures a masked apparition directly in front of the player. (see: shadowflame apparition, with a slightly more stationary appearance). the apparition's movement is synced to the player's. it also moves in a circle around them as it targets enemies.
  • when summoned, the masked apparition selects a target by firing a hook-like homing tentacle projectile. it prioritises enemies near the cursor. once latched on, the masked apparition will continue to track that enemy, hitting it twice a second with a whiplike "lashing" animation that does high damage. this has a maximum range of 30 blocks; if an enemy exits that range, it takes a large amount of damage, the tether is broken, and the apparition seeks another target.
  • regardless of whether it has a target or not, the apparition also rapidly fires (~8/sec) tentacles of light in an area 35 blocks in front of it, which appear the same as the classic shadowflame hex doll's attacks. tentacles seem to pierce through enemies, but really only tick once for damage at the end of their travel animation, hitting everything currently in range. they apply the "shadowflame" debuff.
  • the apparition lasts for six seconds before dissipating, and only one can be active at a time per player. if another apparition is conjured while one already exists, the existing one freezes in place (no longer following the caster) and explodes in purple flame a second later, doing massive damage.

spirit flame.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • on cast, conjures 6 purple flames, scattered in a circle around the caster, in a flash of light and smoke. these home in rapidly on enemies.
  • the flames do not actually interact with enemies, but hover a few blocks away from them and "drain" damage off them (with a similar animation to the classic life drain). flames last for five seconds.
  • flames store the amount of damage they deal. when a flame expires or its target dies, the flame turns into a purple orb that flies quickly towards nearby enemies and explodes for {base damage + the stored damage}.

clinger staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 3.
  • renamed to "clinger's brew".
  • on cast, teleports the stomach of some unlucky clinger to you and fires it as a gravity-affected projectile. the projectile disintegrates, releasing up to six scattered pieces as it travels which have a very slightly different velocity from it.
  • the secondary projectiles damage enemies and turn into green fire entities on impact; these entities tick damage and apply the "cursed inferno" debuff in an area.
  • the primary projectile explodes on impact, and releases a series of seven successive explosions of green flame in a specific shape:
    • if it strikes a block, two lines of flame in opposite directions along the surface of the block;
    • if it strikes an enemy, a cone of flame pointing in the direction the projectile was moving when it hit.
  • these explosions will not actually apply cursed inferno, but will do bonus damage to enemies already afflicted with cursed inferno.

crystal vile shard.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • on cast, hurls a large, multicoloured crystal at the cursor. if this crystal hits a target, it does high damage and sticks in it.
  • the crystal then slowly splits open in five cracking motions, dealing a tick of damage with each, to reveal a crystal eye-creature inside. the eye creature fires three laser bolts at the target.
  • if the target isn't killed by the last laser bolt, the eye creature immediately shatters, doing damage in an area, and the crystal slams shut, dealing massive damage to the target only, before falling out in two pieces.
  • if the target is killed at any point before the last laser bolt, the eye creature breaks out of the crystal with the spines of its sea-urchin body, doing high damage in a large area. after a moment, it phases out of the world, advancing the spell's recharge timer by one second.

life drain.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • while the cast button is held, ticks low damage about 10 times a second in an area around the cursor location, if it is within line of sight. this consumes no charges and requires none.
  • while the spell has at least one charge, enemies damaged will have the "draining" debuff. draining enemies take 15 damage per second and stream red particles towards the cursor location, adding to a "bubble of blood" entity that grows gradually in size as long as at least one enemy is being drained.
  • the bubble of blood follows the cursor, much like the magic missile. it is destroyed on contact with blocks, as if released, but its hitbox does not change as it grows. it takes about two seconds to fill up; when it's finished, it'll make a wet, watery sound and start to glow and drip. the spell will also stop ticking damage.
  • when the cast button is released, the bubble of blood turns into a cluster of red particles that flood back into nearby enemies, splitting a massive amount of damage among them. the red particles can phase and target through blocks. if the bubble is released prematurely, the damage it does will be reduced—multiplied by {(seconds bubble spent growing/2)^2}.
  • the red particles spawned by the bubble can also home in on the caster if they're nearby, healing them for 5% of the damage that would have been done to enemies.
  • notes: despite changes, this should remain the only healing magic weapon likely to be useful in a boss fight.

unholy trident.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 3.
  • on cast, throws a large, purple trident projectile at the target location. (the cast button can be held for 0.5 seconds and then released to throw the trident with greater speed.)
  • the trident sticks in the first enemy it hits, doing high damage. 0.5 seconds later it hits the enemy again for significantly more damage, applying strong knockback in the opposite direction to the initial hit. the trident then remains stuck in the enemy for five more seconds.
  • if a trident strikes an enemy that already has a trident in it, the old trident will tear out, dealing massive damage.
  • enemies that die with a trident stuck in them go to hell, but this isn't mechanically represented.

medusa head.
charge maximum: 2. recharge: 1.
  • renamed to "gorgoneion".
  • on cast, conjures up a floating shield in front of the player, and propels the severed head of a gorgon towards the cursor. the head drifts a few blocks, and then stops; the shield travels with the player, turning to face the cursor.
  • one second after the cast, the head damages all enemies within fifty blocks that can see it. two seconds after the cast, it hits again for much higher damage, and freezes enemies in place using the same mechanic as the new vilethorn's "stuck" effect for 1.5 additional seconds. (this doesn't affect worms or bosses.) after that period, it hits all enemies in range one final time for massive damage. the head then flies back to the caster.
  • the head also constantly emits a wide beam of golden light at the shield, which reflects it to illuminate a small circular area around the cursor (given that there is line of sight to that point from the player). anything in this area takes double damage from the head's attacks, and takes damage whether or not it's in the head's range or line of sight.
  • only one head can exist per player. if a new head is conjured while one is still active, the older one disappears in a flash of white light, heavily damaging all enemies in line of sight in a large radius (but not as large as its ordinary effect radius).
  • tooltip added: "to Athena".

venom staff.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • renamed to "scepter of threads".
  • on cast, instantly covers a conical arc in front of the caster (roughly 45° and 30 blocks long) in fine white webbing. up to six enemies hit by this attack are damaged and bound to the caster with white lines of web. the lines of web are connected to each other by horizontal strands at random points.
  • up to thirty-six small spiders, six per target, spawn at the caster's location over the course of three seconds and crawl rapidly along the web, crossing at random where the lines are joined to each other. on impact with an enemy, they deal damage and inflict the "venom" debuff.
  • if an enemy is hit with the spell twice, the web connecting to them will visually thicken, and a much larger spider will tunnel through it as a thick, white bulbous shape, bursting open on impact with the target and sinking its fangs into them for very high damage. this inflicts the "venom" debuff and instantly snaps the web connecting to that enemy.
  • if the web connecting to an enemy snaps, either because of the effect above or because the distance between the enemy and the player exceeds 60 blocks, all spiders travelling along that web are killed, but the target and all enemies intersecting with that web take damage.
  • arachnophobia censors will replace spiders with large, web-spitting geckos that otherwise behave identically.



Great idea and massive support!
The Amber Staff is a bit different than most staves now so it can become a weapon - Amber Storm!

thank you!! i've considered that, since there's technically no need to have six tiers of staves for three tiers of armour. maybe something like:

amber storm.
charge maximum: 3. recharge: 2.
  • changed to drop from underground desert enemies, much like the mandible blade.
  • on cast, conjures a rectangular "wind" of sand particles up to 24 blocks in front of the user, facing away from them. the wind is stationary and lasts for two seconds.
  • the wind ticks for damage six times a second. in addition, 4-6 glowing orange shards of amber are randomly launched through it, doing high damage to the first enemy they hit. these can fly on past the wind's area of effect, and are affected by gravity.
  • only one amber storm can exist at a time. if a new one is summoned while one is still active, the old one will spray about 10 shards of amber over the course of 0.5 seconds and then disappear.

and something similar for two more staves; the remainder being reworked to use either gold or platinum, either silver or tungsten, and either copper or tin?
 
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Great idea! 100% support!
Random idea - maybe there could also be like spellbooks or something, that would be the same as staffs but with slightly different stats or something? No idea, really. Still support this though!
 
This straight out sounds some kind of MMORPG thing man, it's a cool feature. Though we have to see how the community gets use to it, as we are using the system we have for like 4 years or so. I support this as it makes mages QoL better i guess.
 
Great idea! 100% support!
Random idea - maybe there could also be like spellbooks or something, that would be the same as staffs but with slightly different stats or something? No idea, really. Still support this though!

thank you!! and that's a good point! aesthetically speaking, i think there should be more options for your iconic magical tool than just staves. while i'm not sure whether they should show up on your character in the first place, there's no reason a bunch of "staves" in the game couldn't be spellbooks, or magical glasses, or a weird triangular rock with a hole in the middle.

This straight out sounds some kind of MMORPG thing man, it's a cool feature. Though we have to see how the community gets use to it, as we are using the system we have for like 4 years or so. I support this as it makes mages QoL better i guess.

thank you for your support! i imagine this is more plausible as mod material (if i ever do that) than actual game material, since it's such a massive change, although i certainly wouldn't say no if it were implemented!

it's um kind of mmo-ish? i really admire the work that a lot of mmorpgs have put in to making combat flow engaging—it helps to make up for how dull their gameplay would otherwise get.
 
I like this suggestion and all but I've never really seen a problem with mana. Mages have the unique effect of having to deal with conserving mana, making their class harder.
 
I like this suggestion and all but I've never really seen a problem with mana. Mages have the unique effect of having to deal with conserving mana, making their class harder.
that's fair! although i explained my position at the beginning of the post, i'd like to go into a little more detail here. i personally feel mana is distinct from the other unique class effects in that it presents a requirement (you need mana to use spells) but doesn't make fulfilling that requirement fun or rewarding. prior to the introduction of mana sickness, it was essentially something you didn't have to think about—either you equipped a mana flower, or you just learned to press the potion button in time with mana usage during combat. doing this correctly conferred no benefit, and didn't alter the way you played significantly from what it would be if you didn't need mana.

the addition of mana sickness in 1.2.3 pressures mana users to conserve mana, like you said, but it still doesn't reward you in any way for doing so—and more importantly, it doesn't provide any way for you to do so, especially during boss fights. during events (except the celestial invasion and the old one's army), enemies, and especially tougher enemies, are guaranteed to drop mana stars, which makes the celestial magnet a useful and interesting addition to your kit—but that doesn't happen during boss fights. you either just keep on using mana potions and accept the penalty, exactly like you did before mana sickness, or you stop firing and wait for your mana to recharge in some way—a choice i don't think i've ever seen anyone make while using a magic weapon, even with the faster recharge granted by endgame armour buffs, because it's not fun to do as a magic user.

so mana sickness incentivises you to conserve mana and not use mana potions, but how? there's no reliable way for you to do so in a lot of situations, and so there's no interesting change in your playstyle. (maybe you reforge your last prism to mystic instead of demonic, but that alone isn't what i'd call engaging.) because of that, i feel it's an imperfect game mechanic.

of course, that alone doesn't warrant a complete redesign! i'm just coming up with this because it's fun, because i like the variation in magic weapon behaviours, and because i thought it might provide an alternative, more interesting way to "limit" magic usage and actually change the way magic users play.

in any case, i'm no great player, and i'm not very concerned with any class being made harder or easier—only more mechanically engaging and enjoyable.
 
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I really love the idea, but I think the staffs (staves are 'vertical wooden planks' fyi) should change more than just damage and recharge rates of the spells. I think it would be a lot of fun to have them heavily change the range, duration and side effects as well. To keep with the variety of choice so prevalent in terraria, it would let you choose between playstyles and make big differences in what spells do. You could have a 'Staff of slow' that will (have a chance to?) give slowness to any enemies hit with the weapon, and a jungle staff that makes all your spells much farther reaching while sacrificing damage a little.

Also, I'd want to interject that the higher level spells should still feel like an 'upgrade'. I agree that in a spell casters role, we don't really want to make the older spells obsolete, it's just worth keeping in mind.

Though I think the charges system could use some work, all in all it's an awesome idea I'd certainly use as a mod if it's a little drastic a change for the base game.
 
I really love the idea, but I think the staffs (staves are 'vertical wooden planks' fyi) should change more than just damage and recharge rates of the spells. I think it would be a lot of fun to have them heavily change the range, duration and side effects as well. To keep with the variety of choice so prevalent in terraria, it would let you choose between playstyles and make big differences in what spells do. You could have a 'Staff of slow' that will (have a chance to?) give slowness to any enemies hit with the weapon, and a jungle staff that makes all your spells much farther reaching while sacrificing damage a little.

Also, I'd want to interject that the higher level spells should still feel like an 'upgrade'. I agree that in a spell casters role, we don't really want to make the older spells obsolete, it's just worth keeping in mind.

Though I think the charges system could use some work, all in all it's an awesome idea I'd certainly use as a mod if it's a little drastic a change for the base game.

thank you for your support! i understand your concerns, and i do agree that having a variety of equipment effects is definitely a key part of terraria's design. however, i think even very powerful effects would mostly be outweighed in player choice by tiered damage values. it's not that i'm strongly against it—it's just that i believe magic armour both fills the same role, and highlights the problems with trying to promote variety of choice in tiered gear (in most cases, most people don't think it's worth taking gear with lower stats, unless the stat difference is quite small).

currently, my entire reason for introducing staves as a new equipment item is to have them embody tiered progression in line with terraria's existing system, and to take the burden of progression off the spells themselves. if it's possible to avoid that problem, then i'd prefer to not have staves in the first place! it'd be simpler that way.

of course, if you're suggesting we do away with equipment tiers altogether, i'm all ears! but that's not the focus of this topic.

i do agree that there should be some sense of becoming more powerful associated with acquiring more magical equipment. i think a combination of (1) doing more damage with all your spells, (2) getting more spell slots and recharge speed, (3) gaining access to the altered clairvoyance buff, and (4) having spells that are fit for a steadily greater variety of uses will help with that.

in addition, though, and in answer to your interjection, i've been aiming to design hardmode spells to introduce new, interesting mechanics and visuals, to bypass limitations that generally matter less towards endgame anyway (light, solid blocks, large numbers of enemies, and vision of caverns underground), and to be aesthetically connected to hardmode enemies, biomes, and bosses. there are lots of games that work on the basis of unlocking newer, but not strictly more powerful, alternate equipment!

Actually Staves is an official plural for staff. Both are grammatically correct.

yeah, it's one word with multiple senses (including the vertical wooden planks one): 'staves' is its older plural form, and 'staffs' is the more recent (and harder to pronounce) one, but they're equally valid!
 
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