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[Mesa]

Yes, I am fully aware of the infinite amount of magic threads. You don't need to tell me.

But after seeing this nifty little game called Magicmaker, I got inspired.
This is not a blatant rip-off, but some correlations between Magicmaker and this suggestion are to be seen.

This could also contain bits of alchemy, too.

There could be two/three ways of obtaining the power to use magical powers.
Deity gifts. Deities and gods could bless a handful of their followers with randomly-generated spells (within reason) that they could pass down onto their apprentices. Said spells would be more or less related to the deity's sphere(s). (this would also mean an extra skill related to magic, like Wizard/Sorcerer/Mage/whatever)

Spellcrafting. Using gems, magical workshops, and various extracts and other miscellanea, one could create random (again, still reasonable) spells...Or die trying. They could be also "enchanted" onto the gems (the better the quality of the gem, less likely the spell is going to explode in your face, so those perfect gems could finally become useful), which could be attached onto weapons (decorations) to give them the effects of the spell(s) within. (various HFS parts could be used to create spells as well, so syndrome-inducing spells are perfectly plausible)
You could enchant items other than gems, but effects might be less than ideal.

Most spells will not summon fire-breathing winged hydras, though (but a legendary spellcrafter wizard might make one, if the beasts doesn't burn him to a crisp afterwards) - so a *<<bone spear>>* enchanted with "Twindabbles the Waters of Spinning", which is actually a spell that generates a pool of water at the target location (equivalent to dumping a bucket, but without any buckets or water involved) might not be terribly useful unless you're somewhere where water is valuable (like a desert or some saltwater-heavy area).

Learning from books. Secrets of Life and Death style, mages could write down secrets of magic in books, to let aspiring mages learn from them in the future, whenever that may be.

Learning from other wizards. Powerful mages that have entire spellbooks can build towers/academies/keeps in which they gather their apprentices to pass down their power from generation to generation.

When creating (or casting) a spell, a mage in question may and will fail to cast it properly many times, and effects may range from nothing happening to misplacement to magma forming in his lungs.
While I don't necessarily think mana would be involved, casting multiple spells in a succession is probably not a good idea...

So while you flame me for making another magic thread, please at least tell me whether or not this is a good idea.

[Matoro]

Deity gifts. Deities and gods could bless a handful of their followers with randomly-generated spells (within reason) that they could pass down onto their apprentices. Said spells would be more or less related to the deity's sphere(s). (this would also mean an extra skill related to magic, like Wizard/Sorcerer/Mage/whatever)

Even if I don't like the whole idea of "generic magic", I like this one. Maybe not even spells, but... power. Like "At 267, Deity Armok the Blood God blessed Dwarf Zefon Uristal with undwarvenly luck/strenght/agility/wisdom". Like reversed thing for curses. Also, healing from curses and historical figures actively seeking cure for their curse.

Spellcrafting. Using gems, magical workshops, and various extracts and other miscellanea, one could create random (again, still reasonable) spells...Or die trying. They could be also "enchanted" onto the gems (the better the quality of the gem, less likely the spell is going to explode in your face, so those perfect gems could finally become useful), which could be attached onto weapons (decorations) to give them the effects of the spell(s) within. (various HFS parts could be used to create spells as well, so syndrome-inducing spells are perfectly plausible)
You could enchant items other than gems, but effects might be less than ideal.

Again, I don't like spells but this idea is otherwise good. Magical weapons, like battle axes with blessing of Armok's, would be awesome demi-articrafts.

When creating (or casting) a spell, a mage in question may and will fail to cast it properly many times, and effects may range from nothing happening to misplacement to magma forming in his lungs.
While I don't necessarily think mana would be involved, casting multiple spells in a succession is probably not a good idea...

Meh, spellcasting really doesen't fit to DF, like I have said before. Magic is ok as long as it isn't obvious and "public". Think about how Gandalf uses magic.

[Mesa]

Isn't necromancy considered spellcasting then?

[Matoro]

Necromancy is "invisible magic", you only see results of the spell as a reanimated body. You don't see magical blasts or lights or things like that.

[Mesa]

Necromancy is "invisible magic", you only see results of the spell as a reanimated body. You don't see magical blasts or lights or things like that.

Doesn't mean all "regular" magic would be flashy, either.
The water-creating spell could just, I don't know, have a large blob of water spawn from thin air and make a pool at desired (or not) location, without any lights or anything.

Also, magic wands are overrated.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I think there's a bit of confusion on what you mean by "spells". I thought you meant that specific, simple-to-learn, and so forth things to do with magic don't fit. I was thinking you meant spells like "Raise Dead," "Fireball," "Create Water," etc, didn't fit.

I agree that "flashy" magic wouldn't fit with DF most of the time, but it IMHO should happen sometimes. Maybe in "high magic" worlds, whatever that comes to mean.

[Mesa]

I think there's a bit of confusion on what you mean by "spells". I thought you meant that specific, simple-to-learn, and so forth things to do with magic don't fit. I was thinking you meant spells like "Raise Dead," "Fireball," "Create Water," etc, didn't fit.

I agree that "flashy" magic wouldn't fit with DF most of the time, but it IMHO should happen sometimes. Maybe in "high magic" worlds, whatever that comes to mean.

Or perhaps...
Instead of being just a generic mana system...

Mana could be a magical (duh) energy in the air, which creates various anomalies when in high concentration (yeah, it's up in the air, literally). Some manage to control its flow and thus cast spells, either directly or via items.
If you cast a lot of spells in a quick succesion the area will eventually run out of mana, and you won't be able to cast anything in that place for some time - either that, or the spells will have much weaker effects (to the point when you will literally just fire sparks, water drops and mere blows of wind instead of hellfires, tsunamis and tornadoes)

Good/evil areas are filled with much more mana, therefore husks and unicorns.

Average mana concentration can be set when creating a world, leading to magic-filled or completely magicless worlds.

...I think I nailed it.

[inEQUALITY]

Or perhaps...
Instead of being just a generic mana system...

Mana could be a magical (duh) energy in the air, which creates various anomalies when in high concentration (yeah, it's up in the air, literally). Some manage to control its flow and thus cast spells, either directly or via items.
If you cast a lot of spells in a quick succesion the area will eventually run out of mana, and you won't be able to cast anything in that place for some time - either that, or the spells will have much weaker effects (to the point when you will literally just fire sparks, water drops and mere blows of wind instead of hellfires, tsunamis and tornadoes)

Good/evil areas are filled with much more mana, therefore husks and unicorns.

Average mana concentration can be set when creating a world, leading to magic-filled or completely magicless worlds.

...I think I nailed it.

I really dig this way to handle it, and it definitely has some chances for !!FUN!!.

As for the question of 'flashy magic', I know not everyone thinks it fits, but some of us enjoy it regardless; at the bare minimum, there should be some way to mod that in, if not an option slider for it when gen'ing a world.

[Mesa]

Or perhaps...
Instead of being just a generic mana system...

Mana could be a magical (duh) energy in the air, which creates various anomalies when in high concentration (yeah, it's up in the air, literally). Some manage to control its flow and thus cast spells, either directly or via items.
If you cast a lot of spells in a quick succesion the area will eventually run out of mana, and you won't be able to cast anything in that place for some time - either that, or the spells will have much weaker effects (to the point when you will literally just fire sparks, water drops and mere blows of wind instead of hellfires, tsunamis and tornadoes)

Good/evil areas are filled with much more mana, therefore husks and unicorns.

Average mana concentration can be set when creating a world, leading to magic-filled or completely magicless worlds.

...I think I nailed it.

I really dig this way to handle it, and it definitely has some chances for !!FUN!!.

As for the question of 'flashy magic', I know not everyone thinks it fits, but some of us enjoy it regardless; at the bare minimum, there should be some way to mod that in, if not an option slider for it when gen'ing a world.

Summoning creatures (if that would make it in) would definitely be a flashy thing.
Even if it's just as flashy as a campfire turning into a fire man. (which makes some sense, but you know - Dwarf Fortress)

[Neonivek]

As for the question of 'flashy magic', I know not everyone thinks it fits

Honestly judging by HOW people object to flashy magic. It get more of an impression that they are objecting to a very specific form of it.

Or rather people are objecting to the idea of Final Fantasy Black Mages.

Honestly the community is weird. We actually got a thread about how mages should have disadvantages based on weapon and armor because "magic is too powerful". Yet these are the same people who object to 'flashy magic'.

So honestly when it comes to magic and the dwarf fortress community... Just ignore them, they don't say what they mean.

[mastahcheese]

Mana could be a magical (duh) energy in the air, which creates various anomalies when in high concentration (yeah, it's up in the air, literally). Some manage to control its flow and thus cast spells, either directly or via items.
If you cast a lot of spells in a quick succesion the area will eventually run out of mana, and you won't be able to cast anything in that place for some time - either that, or the spells will have much weaker effects (to the point when you will literally just fire sparks, water drops and mere blows of wind instead of hellfires, tsunamis and tornadoes)

If magic is locational, this means that a wizard that moves very quickly, such as by a motorcycle minecart, then a wizard would have nearly infinite magic, possibly even allowing them to use magic to increase speed further. The applications would be endless, and some !!SCIENCE!! would certainly be in order.

[assasin]

If magic is locational, this means that a wizard that moves very quickly, such as by a motorcycle minecart, then a wizard would have nearly infinite magic, possibly even allowing them to use magic to increase speed further. The applications would be endless, and some !!SCIENCE!! would certainly be in order.

The way I'd do it would be to have magic be over a large area. An entire embark or adventure mode equivilant.

And of course I'd separate it by the different spheres. A lot of death in the air would cause the dead to rise, fire might cause spontaneous conbustion of things like alcohol, etc. What might be a better idea is if a wizard or whatever drained a lot of the fire in a spell or ritual, the water in an embark or whatever may freeze, but, if the source of the energy was something else (ie not drawn from the enviroment) [maybe rubies for fire, depending on the various spherical and alchemical properties of each material in game] in a ritual it might  the opposite effect and have the magic added to the enviroment cause some of the pools to evaporate.

Obviously the effects would be more minor most of the time and these'd be for major rituals, but they seem good enough for an example.

[Timeless Bob]

At its most bald and simple area, magic is <stuff> that permits entities to make <other stuff> happen.  When metallurgy was pretty much unknown, people turning rocks into steel swords were pretty much considered magical.  Likewise, when literacy was for a select few, people who didn't know something, who went and looked at squiggles  in a book and came back suddenly knowing all about whatever, because some other guy who'd been dead a hundred years ago told them (wrote it down) about it - that was so magical we still have the word "Magician" around.  (Incidentally, a Magician is technically someone who has mastered all the arbitrary rules of grammar enough to practice the science of the Magi -A word that can be translated as "wise men"-: "Magic".  This is why linguistic professors at colleges are all pretty much shoo-ins for the roles of wizards and witches for costume parties, using the original definition they already ARE.)

So flashy or not would depend on what the <stuff produced> was meant for.  I can't imagine non-flashy fireworks would be much fun, likewise crop magic wouldn't need the flash and glitter to bless the crops and keep the goats healthy.

One thing that springs to mind is boiling rocks that produce a powder or grit.  Stick most of these in the upper layers and have "magical" creatures like unicorns or FB's require the stuff be in their biome just to exist.  Call it "wizard's sand" or "mana" or whatever, but this stuff becomes the catalyst for any magical working.  In the begining, the stuff would be all over the place, but after awhile, the amount would get as scarce as living rabbits in a terrifying biome.  The reason Towers are situated out in the toolies is explained by rich "pockets" of the rock unexposed and therefore plentiful for a time.  Catacombs and sewers would be mined out to reach these veins of wizard sand, to support the undead tyrant or demon most of them seem to acquire - Not much would change, really, except that some areas would be instant death for magical creatures, from the absence of the <stuff> while others would be filled with magical this and that, bounded by the biome because the <stuff> is plentiful there.

[WisdomThumbs]

I'll just leave this here...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/criticalintel/10302-I-Hate-Magic

I wouldn't mind a Transfer Wounds spell/ritual in DF, so long as you could transfer said wounds to anyone. Like a bound and gagged bandit, for instance.

[Urist Mc Dwarf]

Also, certain races could be better at certain magic Dwarves earth, Humans air, Elves plant, goblins Fire, etc.