Hedge Wizard Class Idea (work in progress)

[edge2054]

Spell idea, Contagious Slumber.

Basically a daze that does a 1 turn confuse when broken and jumps to a nearby target.

[Marcotte]

The artificing talent only encourages scumming on cast if it creates random effects. I'm sorry if I implied that it does.

My idea was I could use a wand of this well I have two wands of this that I don't need so I'll burn them and now I have the wand I want. The power of said wand would be determined by the talent level and may even have a runic flag to override the random properties wands are generally created with.

Ha, ok, that indeed seems better. Although you should make sure that there is no (or always no) randomness in the created items. For example, when used on runes, it could produce a rune that is of the average power at level = talent level * 10 or something like that.

I don't see how Investitures cause a lot of micromanagement. You'd cast it once to swap out a rune (though after some discussion with DG this talent tree may need to be reworked anyway to be more feasible with current code). The idea I'm going for with Investitures is something modular to supplement holes in the character's casting and staff trees. If you want more defense you Invest in defensive slots, if you want more elemental attacks so you're not boned if you run across something that resists your current staffs damage type you invest in offensive runes. Once invested you use a secondary talent.

Right now the current thought is you sustain an Investiture and it pops open a dialogue box that lets you learn Runeish powers. As long as the sustain is active you know the talent you selected and can use it. These probably won't be real runes but powers that mimic rune or wand effects. Once the sustain is canceled you'll unlearn the 'Rune' talent. If the cooldown is pretty hefty on the Invest it'll discourage mid-fight micromanagement. Otherwise you have to cast once to sustain to get talent X before a fight, I don't think that's a lot of micro for something so modular.

Anyway I'm open to suggestions on how to improve things. If someone has a better idea for the Artifice tree I wouldn't mind seeing the wand/rune creation talent replaced with something else.

So it is not a skill that give you extra rune slots (with bonuses depending on the slot), but instead gives pseudo-runes that are pretty much like normal talents, but with the ability to switch which ones you want? Then you are right that my initial reason for disliking that tree is unfounded. However being able to switch runes at no cost beside the cooldown seems to run counter to the current design of inscriptions...

Anyway, if you want a tree which main purpose is to give access to more rune slots, then I will suggest making one with 4 talents that improves all runes (lower cooldown, stronger damage, stronger healing, activated talent to cooldown all runes, etc.), and then give the player an extra inscription slot whenever he reaches level 5 in one of the talent. Or even better, whenever his total talent levels for the tree reach 5, 10, 15 and 20.

[Grey]

Some other trees they could have:

- Nature, though it's a bit of a crap tree in general at the moment and could use some work to shape it up
- Phantasm. The light, defensive and shield abilities are all perfect utility spells for the Enchanter. However I think the full Invisibility spell is wrong for the class. A short-term "Vanish" spell would be better. To be honest this might be better in general for this spell - the huge cost Invisibility is both too expensive for many casters, and too powerful for those who rig their build around it.

Another couple of talent tree ideas:

Cantrips
These are small effects that can make big changes when used well. They are such simple spells that none take any significant time to cast.

1. Ventriloquism
Make an enemy think you are elsewhere, or even confuse some lesser enemies, especially animals.
Chance of success increases with talent level and cunning.

2. Fumble
Cause an enemy to fumble their weapon, disarming them for x turns.
Chance of success increases with talent level and cunning, duration increases with talent level.

3. Fleetfeet
Increase your movement speed by x% for y turns.
Effects increase with talent level and magic.

4. Float
Rise into the air for x turns, improving defence by y and giving z% trap evasion. Does not work in water.
Effects increase with talent level and magic.


Dweomers
Powerful spell effects that can only be used by master enchanters (available at char level 10).

1. Hold
Root an enemy to their spot for x turns.

2. Blink
Move instantly to a space in sight up to x distance away. At level 4 it can be targetted at others.
(Note that this is different from Phase Door in that it gives 100% control from the start, but will have a much shorter range and can only ever be targetted in sight.)

3. Fearsome Aura
Surround yourself in an aura of fear for x turns, causing enemies up to y distance away to run away in fright.

4. Contagious Slumber
What Edge said above :)


In general I'm not that keen on the proposed Investures tree - seems a little dull. Artificing seems boring as a talent too, and does encourage scumming somewhat. Could maybe work, though I'd suggest it allows ring creation too. Empowerment and Runic Focus should maybe be passives instead of sustains. Imbuement should have more detail about the explosion - perhaps it could have tactical uses :)

I think the class should have few sustains and most spells should have a low mana cost. It would thus differ from archmages in requiring less willpower, but some of its trees should require a bit of cunning or dexterity.

[shwqa]

I don't really like many of these ideas. They seem pretty weak and slightly random. A starting character should be fairly easy to play (i.e. not so random) and should be able to beat the game.

Edit: That wasn't helpful, so let me add more to this. I feel hedge wizard should focus more on status effects and weaken your enemy compared to archmages major damage. Also here is a tree idea. The idea is the hedge wizard is naturally attracted magic which makes them able to resist it and absorb magic from others.

Drawn to Magic

-Drain Magic
Small Mana Cost, 10 turn cooldown, Range 15
Drain Magic from your enemy. Raises with cunning and talent level (starts at about 50 end game should be about 300ish).

-Elemental Resistance
Sustained 40 mana
Raises elemental resistances are raised. Raises with cunning and talent level (starts at about 6% end game 20%ish)

-Magical Resistance
Sustained 40 mana
Raises other resistances (dark, light, arcane, acid, slime, nature but not physical). Raises with cunning and talent level (starts at about 6% end game 20%ish)

-Magic Eater
Sustained 100 mana
There is x% chance that any magic spell that hits you will do not damage and you'll gain that damage in mana. Raises with cunning and talent level. (starts at 2% end game 15%ish)

[teachu2die]

i love the cantrips concept, although agree with shwqa that some of them seem a tad underpowered - marginally useful at the beginning of the game, but pretty quickly outclassed, even with zero cooldown (EDIT: by zero cooldown i meant instant casting time). i don't really imagine investing points in many of them, particularly when the class already has so many viable abilities that daze/charm/etc.
perhaps the cantrips could function like the rogue trap skill, with five different cantrips residing in a single talent, unlocked sequentially as points are invested, with all of them scaling off of magic and cunning. this way they could be tacked onto a tree with some more beefy abilities. perhaps a skill could be removed from the dweomers tree and replaced with cantrips (hold seems like a viable candidate due to all the other dazing abilities), and the tree could be made available at level 1 (the class appears to lack early level abilities).
an additional cantrip (to fill out 5 talent levels) could be the long range item fetch or door locking ability mentioned elsewhere.

in the artificing tree, the last two abilities kind of bother me. runic focus seems possibly very overpowered or unbalancing? and the rune/wand creation seems either confusing, scummable, or maybe just boring to me. i might suggest replacing them both.
i suggested a talent for a magic device tree a while ago that i think might be desirable - a runic surge. rune/wand is used with significantly increased power, and is destroyed. this ability could be used while the rune is on cooldown or the wand is out of charges. an ability that protects wands/runes from destruction while in the pack would be desirable as well, for a class that relies so heavily on them (this could be tacked onto another talent in the tree, probably.)

[Sirrocco]

For another way to make cantrips viable - a "cantrip storm" power. It's a active power with a generated effect, high mana cost, fairly high cooldown, turns off cooldown iteration, turns off mana regen, jacks your base speed through the roof, and breaks as soon as you do anything at all that is not casting a cantrip. Then you give all of your cantrips a base cooldown of 1. Higher levels of the power make it last more turns. Fire up a high enough level cantrip storm, and you can cast every cantrip you have, once, as long as you have the mana for them all. Of course, finding an effective use for 12 different low-powered effects simultaneously (or whatever) might be an entertaining tactical challenge all its own. This, in turn, gets *really* entertaining if you go with the "every skill point gets you another cantrip" thought from teach's post.

Mind you, it again makes this not so much a newbie class.

...and actually, there's a problem with the hedge wizard concept in and of itself. "Half-baked mage who has to use his wits and weird little tricks to make up for a lack of raw power and true understanding" is a cool concept, but it really doesn't lend itself to being a starter class. Once you've blocked out the space defined by arcane blades, shadowblades, and alchemists, there's not all that much space left to be a unique, interesting mana wielder who's still viable as someone's first PC - and what there is actually heads in exactly the *opposite* direction from the image of the hedge wizard.

so, the hedge wizard, with all of his little tricks is a fantastic concept on its own, but not well-suited to being someone's first mage. What is well-suited?

- Wild Mage. Basically, mage writ simple. He's some poor kid who woke up one day with magic shooting out of his fingers, and he's basically learned to deal. He's essentially all power and no finesse. His tools are simple, reliable, inflexible, and effective. He basically does nothing but arcane damage.

- Arcane Blasting Tree
-- Arcane Blast: single target, cheap, no cooldown, deals arcane damage. Doesn't beam, but winds up doing a bit more damage against a single target than fire/lightning. not a bolt spell (ie, cannot be blocked by intervening critters. The standard go-to attack power for the class. Only has one.
-- Arcane Beam: cooldown of 5, but a fair bit of punch behind it.
-- Arcane Detonation: area effect, cooldown of 5-10. Beam to area effect.
-- Arcane Font: sustan. Increases arcane damage and reduces resist arcane for all opponents.

- Mental Assault Tree
-- Crushing Guild: single target range 5 psychic damage and stun
-- Wave of Despair: area effect light psychic damage and daze
-- Consuming Nightmares: Single target ongoing psychic damage and blind
-- Mental Warding: sustain, boosts mental save, psychic resist, minor boost to armor, and a damage shield(psychic).

...and so forth. Basic idea is that the character is a touch overpowered, but rigid. Powers are generally stronger, higher mana cost, and same or slightly higher cooldown than the archmage equivalent, with fewer choices and things to manage, but no real loss in overall effectiveness, at least until the higher levels. At higher levels, the difference in raw power starts losing out to the archmage's superior tactical options. It's basically the exact opposite of a hedge mage.

(Alternately, if the Wild Mage idea never gets off the ground, feel free to poach anything that might be of value here.)

[itastelikelove]

I agree with DG, this is an interesting idea but really not what I was implying by an untrained wizard. This isn't a guy who woke up one morning and said, "Wow, I can do magic!!" but rather the guy who spent years and years studying wands, runes, magical staves, and whatever little bit of knowledge he could get his hands on.

I like where this is heading. I think of the Hedge Wizard as someone who learned magic by picking apart and analyzing everything magical around them, and then putting the pieces back together. I disagree with all of the randomness people are suggesting - if anything, they should actually have more control over the exact effects of their magic than an academy-trained Archmage, albeit without the raw power, finesse, and intricacy of an ages-old tradition. I also don't like tying them completely to item use and creation, and item-like abilities - that makes them feel like a trained artificer, rather than a self-taught Wizard. They should have at least one actual spell. With that in mind, here's a modular spell/talent tree. It's probably a bit clunky and micromanaging, but I think it would work.

Spell: Energy Blast - 10 Mana, range: 10, cooldown: 4, Automatically Known
Fires a bolt (I think that's the right one...single target, slow moving) of raw magical (Arcane) energy, dealing (unimpressive) damage.

Talent Tree: Energy Modulation

Energy - (each point in this talent unlocks one or more Sustained talents, each with a cooldown of 0. Sustaining any one of these talents changes the damage type of Energy Blast, and increases its damage by 10% [compensating for the general lack of Arcane resistance in the world]. You may only have one of these talents sustained at a time. Elemental effects [Burn, Freeze, etc.] should be hard to get, or very short-term, to make all of the damage types equally useful. Each point spent on this talent also increases the general damage of Energy Blast, regardless of any sustains.) 1/5 - Fire Modulation and Cold Modulation. 2/5 - Lightning Modulation and Earth (physical). 3/5 Acid and Blight. 4/5 Light and Dark. 5.5 Mind and Nature.

Shape - (Similar to above, each point gives a Sustain, and only one from this set can be sustained at a time. These ones change the shape of the spell, at the cost of reducing the damage it does. Ideally these reductions should function like giving your enemies extra points of resistance. That way, your enemies can be immune to your damage with less than 100% resistance. No slack, since you can just switch elements any time.) 1/5 - Burst (small AoE centered on caster), -10%. 2/5 - Bomb (a bolt that explodes on contact, small radius) -15%. 3/5 - Cone (relatively small) -15%. 4/5 - Beam (line, same range as basic spell), -20%. 5/5 - Field (Large AoE) -25%

Reach - Each point in this talent increases the range of your Energy Blast by 2, and the AoE by 1, if applicable.

Effect - (Sustains again, same method. Each one adds an effect to the spell, and increases the Mana cost. Once you have five points in this talent, you can sustain two effects at once.) 1/5 - Knockback (3 spaces, possible battering damage) +30 Mana. 2/5 - Lingering Energy (Targets take 15% damage each turn for 3 turns) +40 Mana. 3/5 - 50% chance to attempt a pin (3 turns) +35 Mana. 4/5 - 50% chance to attempt to Slow (3 Turns). 5/5 - 50% chance to attempt a stun (3 turns) +50 Mana

So essentially, you've got one spell that you can add three different modifications to. It looks like a lot to keep track of, but since all of the modifications are sustains, you can just pick one mix that works for you, and then run around with that until you find something that it doesn't work against, or you find enemies standing in a different pattern. And then you change it.

I was thinking about having the sustains deactivate and go on cooldown any time you cast the spell, so you can't use the same spell twice in a row, but that's not exactly friendly for a beginning class. I just like things that are needlessly complicated and fidgety.

[Grey]

Sounds too Archmagey to me. It's already been stated that the class shouldn't have bolt spells and such. Its offensive capability comes through use of staves and runes. Everything else should be utility and status effects on enemies. If these are deemed too weak then perhaps we need to consider how to make them more useful. Personally I'd like to see them have stuff that will seem weak in the early game, but later on could be hugely useful in overcoming bosses.

Here's another debuff spell idea that will prove very handy in the next beta:

Seal Skin
Increases the cooldown on all of an enemy's inscriptions for x turns.

[Nevuk]

I think using intangibles is probably the best way to handle most magic a hedge wizard can do. They should be capable of pretty much anything a mage could do that could be explained by something other than magic. So a hedge mage would generally just appear to be incredibly lucky - they miraculously dodge arrows, attacks, seemingly randomly find weaknesses, etc. The vanish idea fits perfectly into this. Maybe they should use different stats than archmages - magic and cunning with a small amount of dexterity ?

[edge2054]

Some more brain storming.

Channeling (requires a staff to use)

Channeling is defined as a sustained effect that breaks on movement or talent usage.

Elemental Fury - Channeled; While channeling this spell you fire elemental bolts (type based on equipped staff) at random targets. Base elements will have added effect (lightning dazes, acid blinds, cold freezes, fire burns).

Elemental Absorption - Channeled; Absorbs up to %d elemental damage (type based on equipped staff). When the effect ends (either by reaching max capacity or movement/casting another spell) an elemental nova emanates from you dealing damage equal to the amount of damage absorbed in a %d radius. Base elements will have added effect (as above).

Elemental Storm - Channeled; Surround yourself with an elemental storm, inflicting %d elemental damage (type based on equipped staff) on all targets in the affected area. Base elements will have added effect (as above).

Elemental Calling - Channeled (kinda); Summons a powerful elemental (type based on equipped staff) which you fully control. Your character will be helpless while the spell is being channeled and any damage done to your character will break the effect.

I also liked shwqa's Staff Mastery tree and this is a further spin off of that. I'd like to modify shwqa's ideas a bit though.

Staff Magic mastery 1.30

Staff Bolt
Cast a bolt of magic for %d damage. Element is the same as staff you currently wield. At talent level 3 becomes a beam. Damage is based on Magic

Fountain
Deals %d elemental damage in a nova around you if you target yourself or a cone of varying length and width if you target an enemy (cone width based on enemy distance with furthest enemies creating nearly a beam effect, tiger_eyes idea ). Element is the same as staff you currently wield. Different elements can have added effects.

Attunement - Passive
When hit by an elemental attack that matches your staff's damage type you gain %d resistance to that element and +%d damage for that element.

Cascade
Each turn for the next %d turns you produce three elemental bolts that will circle you out to a radius of 3. The first bolts damage types will match your staffs and following bolts will each be of a different damage type (not random, it should follow a set progression, think Ureslak's color changing pattern). Any creature with in the radius may be hit by a bolt (%d chance each turn based on the number of active bolts) and any elemental attack directed at you may be negated (same chance as above). Once a bolt negates an attack or hits a creature it is consumed (like bone shield), otherwise the spell ends after 10 turns.

[Nagyhal]

I really like this class idea, so I'm going to go ahead and post some ideas of my own. There've been a lot of lovely contributions since I started writing this, hence why I've failed to take them into account. All of these trees attempt to reinforce the ideas we've spoken about regarding the feeling of a low overall power level—an aversion for flashy archmage-style effects and a dependency on magic or infused equipment—yet without being smacked-upside-the-head useless. The costs and scaling are as vague as ever:

Spell/ Lesser Divination

Suspicion/ Sustain, 30 cooldown, 20 MANA
You tingle with the vague apprehension of forthcoming dangers. Each turn as you draw close to nearby foes (up to 2+TL squares out of line of sight) and traps (radius 1+TL/2), you have a chance to feel an awareness of their presence, though their location will not be known to you. At talent level 3, you will detect the presence of mighty creatures and fell places [read: vaults] on any level. At talent level 5, you will be warned of perils and opportunities that lurk beyond any given portal, stair or doorway that leads on to a distant area.

Detect Items/ Activate, 20 cooldown, 10 MANA
You detect items within a range of 10+TL*2. At higher talent levels, you may assess the power and value of the items you detect. At talent level 3, you can see the wielded equipment of any enemy. At talent level 5, you are immediately aware of the presence of powerful artefacts on any level, and may also gain knowledge of the runes and inscriptions worn by any foe.

Toss the Stones/ Activate, 12 cooldown, 5 MANA
Toss gems onto the ground, leaving the trajectory of their fall to the hands of fate. This spell leaves a random glowing gem in a random square within a radius 6 which will glow for 3+TL turns. Collecting this gem will award a beneficial effect for 4+TL turns as you read the wisdom of the stones. This bonus will depend on the colour emitted and may be: increased critical chance, a damage-shielding effect, improved defense and saves, or enhanced speed. As the talent level increases, you may toss more potent gems with greater effects; at talent levels 3 and 5, you may throw an extra gem this way.

Haruspex/ Sustain, 12 cooldown, 30 MANA
You see signs in the gory bodies of the slain. Each enemy you kill reveals the location of the next nearest unseen enemy (range: 10+TL*1.5) on the map for 4+TL turns. TL increases strength, duration, and number of creatures revealed in a single kill.

NOTE: This has secondary utility against stealth, invisibility and darkness.


Spell/ Runic Mastery

NOTE: I've added no mana costs as I think this could be a cool reward tree for classes without mana, and to fit the present theme and functionality of runes. I think it's quite reasonable to expect mana costs, though. Something like this could potentially become a reward from Angolwen to mirror the Antimagic tree from Zigur, if you can conscience the thought of what might amount to one-upping an already underpowered AM.

Greater Runecraft/
You apply the powders and admixtures from magic or alchemical gems to enhance the effects of basic runes. At each talent level, you unlock the secrets and formulae of higher level gems.

NOTE: Expected enhancement is nothing more than to grant stat scaling with basic runes, but use your imagination with this one!

Runic Sigil/
You fling your hands into the air as they glow with rune-infused energies, creating an arcane sigil that hovers overhead. You must draw upon one of your damage-dealing runes, which will be on cooldown so long as this sustain is in effect, and all enemies who pass your sigil will be blasted for this rune's usual damage and effect. Your sigil may trigger up to 3+TL times. At TL 3, your power of sigil manipulation increases, and you can use the utility effects of runes to the same effect. Phase door runes will displace your foes, as will teleport runes but with a 25% chance of functioning. Shield runes instead form an arcane apparition in place of a sigil trap, which will obstruct enemies until damage equal to the shield rune's total shielding is dealt. Other, special runes may have a single-use effect.

Runic Thesis/
You meditate for days upon a single rune, working hard to understand its secrets at an intrinsic level. You must use this spell in a town, at which point a rune you choose becomes your Runic Thesis. This Runic Thesis does not consume a rune slot. The cooldown on this rune is reduced by 50% +TL*5%, up to a minimum of 6-> 5 -> 4 -> 3, but its damage or its effect is reduced to 20% +TL +getMag(8). This percentage will scale with the Magic stat.

NOTE: The idea of this talent and this tree in general is to give you, ultimately, a single basic archmage-style bolt spell in the format of a rune.

Cipher of the Ages/ cooldown 50-TL*5
A vivid storm of secret symbols surges in the air around you, as you call upon the glyphic narrative of truths that stood the test of ages. Reduces the cooldown on all your runes by 1+TL.


Spell/ Staff Focus

EDIT: I DO like the other ideas for Staff Mastery trees, but I've always had a crazy yearning for a dual-wielding staff maniac who fires a colourful spray of bullets like it's some bullet hell shoot-em-up. Also... staff turrets. I've changed this tree from Staff Mastery to Staff Focus out of respect.

Staff Fury/ Activated, cooldown 22-TL*2, instant.
For a duration of 3+TL, you heighten your staff focus while forgoing traditional techniques of weapon combat and defense. A staff in your second weapon slot is equipped in your off-hand as you ready a flurry of the latent energies of mystic artifice. Grants -10 to attack and defense while allowing dual hits on Channel Staff and all weapon attacks. Unequipping one of your staves will end the effect.

Triple Shot/ cooldown 6, MANA 10, range 6
Channeling your staff's power, you fire a barrage of elemental bolts toward your enemies.

NOTE: Works like Dual Arrows.

Double Threat/ Sustain, 20 MANA
Your adept command of both ends of a staff allows your timely jabs to inflict harmful effects on your enemies after you block their blows. As Riposte, but with added status effects: Daze for lightning, burn for fire, etc.

Staff Turret/ Activate, 12 cooldown, 25 MANA, melee range.
You thrust one wielded staff into the ground, creating a turret that fires automatically for 5+TL turns. Be warned, for enemy attacks will disrupt the staff's effect. At level three your affinity increases, allowing you to deploy your staff turrets with a range of 3->4->5.

NOTE: Could potentially gain mobility (a reactive phase door, a "recall" effect) at higher talent levels.

[lukep]

Liking Nagyhal's Runic Mastery tree above, here's my thoughts on it:

Greater Runecraft: The requirement for alchemical gems locks this skill off for most classes, reducing its utility. I imagined that the alchemical gems would add their gembomb effects to the runes. This leads to some very good combinations (Phase Door(bloodstone) for escape and +10% of max life, or Acid Wave(quartz) for a blast of damage and knockback for example), some weak ones (teleport(zircon) for daze self and teleport), and some that are quite overpowered (Acid Wave(topaz) for non player centered blast, fire beam(quartz) to knockback an entire row of enemies) and some that could be...odd (Shield(citrine) for shielding escorts?)

EDIT: This interpretation of Greater Runecraft is wrong, disregard it.

Runic Sigil: change "hit x number of enemies" to "trigger x number of times" and at higher levels allow targeting of the sigil somehow. This would work similar to a trap in my mind, shooting a bolt/beam/blast when an enemy steps on it. The targeting ability would lead to it being much more powerful, perhaps too much so because you could shoot beams down corridors and target controlled phase doors.

Runic Thesis: In order to be useful in longer fights, it must be unaffected by Runic Saturation. I don't like the requirement to be in town, perhaps 100 turns with no enemies in sight instead, similar to meditation.

Cipher of the Ages: I find that Runic Saturation is at least as big of a problem as cooldowns for heavy rune usage. I would propose changing this to a passive skill giving -1 per talent level Runic Saturation duration, and +1 (instead of +2) cooldowns while saturated at TL 5.

Kind of hijacked your idea, but it was a really good one. To go wildly off topic now, looking at your comment about Zigur, perhaps an Infusion Mastery tree is in order.

[Nagyhal]

Oh dear. Thank you, lukep. I didn't mean at all that the alchemist's crushed gems should be used, indeed, just the whole ones you can buy from any gem store! I wrote of their 'alchemical' nature purely by association. I shall make an edit in order to change that!

And yes, runic saturation effects should definitely be reduced by some means, if not abolished completely at some point in the tree. Perhaps I took that as so much of a given that I forgot to scribble it down, eheheh. I've never found Saturation to be as great an impediment as I've been told it should be, too, so I'll take a look at exactly how it works before trying to figure something out.

EDIT: Your idea for Cipher of the Ages is actually really damn good.

About staying in town to use Runic Thesis: It, truthfully, was just something wild I threw in there, but the reasoning was: 1) To prevent having two separate activations, or two different tiers of rune slots, which would make the interface confusing. The same talent with the same keystroke applies the rune and also attacks, just under different situations. 2) It highlights the fact that your character is not wildly talented or the patron of vastly greater energies, but relies on the fruit of mundane studies and has to work hard to attain any accomplishment. 3) It makes a nice use of the calendar system if you can use an ability in town and see afterward that several days have passed.

Because it's quite obviously eccentric and inhibiting, however, it's not an implementation I'd ever fight for. Point taken. Can anyone think of a way to make the interface for lukep's Runic Thesis nice and clean?

Thanks for such pleasant, speedy commentary!

[lukep]

Revising some of my ideas now about Runic Mastery.

Greater runecraft sounds much better to me now, simpler and cleaner than my first, mistaken interpretation. It should not be able to be used on ego runes (eg. Brawler's) or the Rune of the Rift. Effects of gems now could include a (15-75 or maybe 20-100)% chance to not trigger Runic Saturation based on gem grade. The amount of scaling could also increase by gem grade. Possible effects:

Agate/Opal/Onyx/Ruby/Diamond- scales with Magic
Spinel/Topaz/Lapis Lazuli/Sapphire/Moonstone- scales with Dexterity
Zircon/Aquamarine/Emerald/Jade/Pearl- scales with Constitution
Ametrine/Amethyst/Garnet/Amber/Fire Opal- scales with Strength
Citrine/(no gem here)/Quartz/Turquoise/Bloodstone- scales with Cunning
There are not enough gems to scales with Willpower or grade 2 Cunning. No idea how to fix that without adding more gems.

With Greater Runecraft now covering Runic Saturation, my idea for a different Cipher of Ages is now:

Rune Dervish/cooldown 100
Reduces all rune cooldowns by (0.5+0.5 per TL, rounded down) turns each turn for (8+2 per talent level) turns.

This would reduce your rune cooldowns by two to four each turn instead of one for a short time.

I can't see a way for the UI for Runic Thesis to avoid having two buttons. What would work best would be a "Study Rune" button to gain the rune as your thesis, and a "Thesis: Heat Beam(or whatever)" one.

This skill tree isn't really feeling like it fits with the hedge wizard to me anymore. It feels like the reward for an Angolwyn equivalent to the Antimagic quest, blocking access to all nature infused items, including infusions. Perhaps this should move to a new thread.