((As for affinity. I think we may want to redo essences a bit to make it more worthwhile. My preposition:
1) Make essences only store POT, not CMP.
2) Give bonuses to spell CMP & LUCK for stronger affinity.
3) Make chaotic essences more powerful, yet roll LUCK for each chaos essence used.
+) Some LUCK-changing events might be interesting.
This will change the game, making it much more useful to gather shards and spending them on self-empowerment, though it will make POT stat semi-obsolete - just like now. It is not really useful while you have essences on hands. Perhaps, we should think of something else for it (instead of 12 shards/+1 POT)? on second thought, POT stat influences essence crafting and, as such, speed of restocking. Seems fine.
Reason for preposition: as of now, mages simply stockpile essences and cast without a chance of failure (chaos essences excluded). Not enough danger here, in my opinion. And no incentive to gather shards.))
((I'm going to make a logical argument
against this.))
((1. A few turns ago, Old King Coal conjured a bone shovel. This spell had 3 -1s (I presume maluses effect CMP, correct me if I'm wrong). If Old King Coal couldn't store CMP in his essences, he would have had to use shards or just not cast the spell. The reason? The most CMP you can get without shards and without essences and without other factors(blessings, magic items) is 6. If you subtract 3 from that, you get 3(a slight success/failure). And that's the best-case scenario.))
((2. But less personally... here's a little scenario for you.))
"I am the legendary fire mage Bob! Prepare to be roasted alive!"
"I am the great and powerful sound mage Phill. Prepare to die."
Bob cast using half his essences, sending a huge fireball at Phill, which he dodged. A second followed, dodged again. Bob realized that he had no essences left, and no other preparations.
Then Phill blew his eardrums out. And shattered his bones. With one spell using all essences. Bob reached for his shards, only for them to be blasted out of his hand.
((Okay, not very legendary.))
((My point? Having essences allows for more strategizing and planning ahead, not to mention more usage of powerful spells. Overall, it makes the game more exciting. If Bob and Phill didn't have CMP essences, those spells had a pretty high chance of backfiring.))
((No essences with CMP, and this game becomes "Roll to Bash Skulls or Throw Magical Dice, with An Occasional Good Result Fueled by Shards".))
((And 3: If CMP essences wasn't an option... I'm pretty sure that castle(the magic one) might not exist or may be... deadly to all who enter or some such.))
((In short: I feel that removing CMP from essences will make this game much less fun and strategic. And it will slow to a crawl.))
((Though I agree that chaotic essences should get more power.))
((And 4: not enough danger? Danger from self... not from others. No incentive to gather shards? First up, you need 100 shards to win. And second, shards have a variety of other uses, from granting new affinities to summoning minions to improving stats to acting as a last-resort spell fuel. Having CMP essences makes the game much more strategic and builds tension... (MMM, my essences are running out! Let's try this...)))
((And action:))
"My goodness. So... TIME FOR SOME EXPLORING!!!"Old King Coal paused. Then he began to craft using magic.Old King Coal creates(-1) a set of glowing(-1) durable(-1) bone climbing claws(-1 or -2). All non-chaotic essences. After doing this, he makes two bone essences and opens the temple door. If he still has time, he begins to descend into the temple, using his newly made climbing claws.((And about Marcus: he only has 3 essences, according to the sheet. What's more notable are the two displayed items: "soulified chainmail" and "orb of unmarked paths". I suspect the chainmail is what's making him immaterial and the orb is either creating illusions or acting as a getaway plan.))