ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

The spell critical hit message "xxx's spell looks more powerful" should be reworded to something like : "xxx's spell looks like it scored a critical hit."

Scored? I really don't like the sound of that - doesn't really make any sense with spellcasting. I agree that the wording could be better though.

I had the same thought when yufra first suggested it... but I couldn't think of anything better so I kept my mouth shut

Still can't think of anything better.

Given how spells like healing light can crit, the initial message seems fine.

How about..

Foo's spell was cast with greater effect!

I think it's the 'looks' part that I really don't like. I'm not sure every spell would have a visible effect and I'm not sure every one would know what a greater effect would look like. Is a skeleton mages crits just as powerful as a liches normal casts? Probably and most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference from a rank 1 mana thrust crit and a rank 5 mana thrust non-crit.

Yes, it's a bit weird- it took me a while to figure out.

It suggests the caster's spell starts out at normal power, and becomes much stronger on impact or a little after casting.

First time I played, it had me raving, thinking "Why I am suddenly weak to this spell?" or "Who the hell amplified that mob's magic?"

It would be quite easy to keep the word "critical" within the log printout, e.g.:

<CASTER>'s spell attains critical power!

<CASTER>'s magical energies reach a critical level!

<CASTER>'s spellcasting focus exceeds a critical point!