Players Guide/Magic

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The magical energy usable by the players Yliakum comes from the Azure Crystal. That energy is divided into six Ways of Arcane Lore: Crystal Way, Azure Way, Red Way, Dark Way, Brown Way, and Blue Way.

Each Way has a color and a mental stat associated. The color gives an indication of which of the realms that Way is closer to. The mental stat will give bonuses to the casting of spells that pertain to that Way.

Every Way has one opposing and two that are more close to it:

Each Way is allied with two other Ways, and opposes one other. There are three mental stats (Charisma, Intelligence and Willpower) and three groups of Ways. Each group of Ways is associated with a particular stat.

Each Way has a certain spell domain, so all spells of a particular Way are somewhat related to the same energy and same concepts. That doesn't exclude non-related spells, but they are special cases and are rare.

The Ways

Each way is composed of a set of spells and each spell can be cast by the wizard only with the composition of a set of runes that are called "glyphs".

Crystal Way

Glyph Color

White

Relationships

Opposed to Dark Way and friendly with Blue Way and Azure Way.

Focus

Energy, life and light

Mental Stat

Charisma

Description

Gets the pure energy of the Crystal, more directly than all other Ways. Famous for the ability to heal, and cure the most terrible wounds. Someone says that if you reach a great knowledge, you can even bring back a person from death. Nonetheless there are many powerful offensive spells, particularly effective against evil and dark creatures. Warriors and farmers with injured animals are more then happy to see these practitioners around, around most towns people feel the appearance of these practitioners is a bad omen of bad times to come.

Dark Way

Glyph Color

Black

Relationships

Opposed to Crystal Way and friendly with Brown Way and Red Way.

Focus

Entropy, darkness and death

Mental Stat

Charisma

Description

This Way is one that congers more myth then any of the others, its practitioners have a history of being the most innovative of any practitioners of the Ways of Magic, but with all innovation there is both good and bad. It's known that many disasters and epidemics were caused by the adepts of this ancient Way, that holds some spells with terrifying effects. Things can become even worst if you lose the control of its power. Some spells enables the control of horrific creatures, such as undead, demons, spirits. Some enable the caster to control objects and people in a subtle manner, at distance.

Azure Way

Glyph Color

Light Blue

Relationships

Opposed to Brown Way and friendly with Red Way and Crystal Way.

Focus

Mind, illusion and the element of Air

Mental Stat

Will

Description

It's basically a sneaky and insidious energy, that can control the will, the perceptions and the intentions of any intelligent being. It's power comes from the deep knowledge of the mind and the way to influence it, but it relies also on mind potentials to influence the surrounding areas and objects, mainly all that is related to the air element.

Red Way

Glyph Color

Red

Relationships

Opposed to Blue Way and friendly with Dark Way and Azure Way.

Focus

Strength, chaos and the element of Fire

Mental Stat

Will

Description

The spell caster is able to invoke the power of Chaos, and to bend to his will the devastating fury of fire, summoning it for its both damaging and purifying qualities. Spells of the Red Way can also instill courage and strength into companions or other creatures. Most spells in this Way are fire related, and the majority of metal workers have knowledge of it.

Blue Way

Glyph Color

Blue

Relationships

Opposed to Red Way and friendly with Crystal Way and Brown Way.

Focus

Divination, purification and the element of Water

Mental Stat

Intelligence

Description

Many diseases and poisons will be incurable without the help of the spells of this Way. The offensive and defensive potential of this art, resides mainly on the control of the water element, but also of cold and ice that are strictly related to it. Equally inestimable are the divination spells that can provide very useful information on the past, present and future.

Brown Way

Glyph Color

Brown

Relationships

Opposed to Azure Way and friendly with Blue Way and Dark Way

Focus

Nature, protective magic and the element of Earth

Mental Stat

Intelligence

Description

The glyphs of this Way give to the wizard the ability to cast different protective spells, to summon natural creatures and some monsters and to influence their will. This Way is really close to the element of Earth and can control well all that's related to it. Call nature spirits for assistance, mark themselves and allies as friends of nature.

Glyphs

Glyphs are the base of every spell. They are found in quests, left by ancestors, stolen or purchased. They are found in nature with no real explanation, no one knows exactly why they form, but when some type of energy is strongly present in one place a glyph can appear. Glyphs appear as marks on very different materials from a leaf to the fur of an animal, and usually of any type of rock.

During the centuries many glyphs have been found and studied and so the wizards learned to recognize them. Wizards discovered that each glyph can create a spell effect and that many glyphs can be combined to obtain greater effects. To simplify casting of spells the glyphs are associated with a concept and wizards combine those concepts to form new spells.

It is possible to combine glyphs of different Ways to obtain special and rare spells. In some rare cases glyphs of opposing Ways can be combined.

The glyphs are kept normally in a safe and hidden place by the wizard, losing one can be a great loss as the caster will not be able to cast any spells that require that glyph.

When the spell is cast the wizard must have the glyphs at hand, in his backpack or in the pockets of his robe. Glyphs are not consumed during casting.

Any glyphs you have purchased will appear in your Inventory. and the Glyphs window in your Spell Book.

Before they can be combined, glyphs must be purified.

Purification

Before your character can use a glyph, he or she must purify it.

There is a strong magic link between the wizard and his glyphs. That requires a process of purification when the wizard gains a new glyph that may take some time (hours or one day). After that purification process the link is established and if the wizard dies the glyphs will be destroyed with him (or taken to the Death Realm with him).

A wizard can trade a glyph, but in this case the glyph can be used by the other wizard only after purifying it and after creating a new magic link with it.

To purify a glyph, open the Glyph window from your Spell Book. Pick up the glyph to be purified and drop it on the Purify Glyph< icon. You will see a message in your Chat Window indicating that purification has begun.

Once the purification process has finished, you may use the glyph in combinations to create spells.

Combining Glyphs

Once you have one or more glyphs, you can start to create spells. To combine glyphs into spells, open your Spell Book and click Combine Glyphs.

Shown above is a glyph screen with three glyphs. The six main boxes represent the glyphs for each path of magic. The small box at the bottom is where you put glyphs in order to combine them.

In this example, the Freeze glyph has been placed in the combination box and has formed a valid combination.

When you have a valid combination of glyphs in the bottom box, a description of the spell you have created will appear. You can then click Save Spell to add it to your Spell Book.

Casting Spells

To cast a spell, you must first target a player or NPC if the spell requires it.

Next, determine the Spell Power to use for the spell.

Next, open your Spell Book, select a spell and click Cast Spell.

A window will appear that counts down the time to cast for the spell. When the count down is finished, the spell will be cast.

Casting a spell requires Mana Points. See Section 2.5.4, “Mana Points” for information on Mana Points.

Spell Power

The spell caster can decide to channel more mana into casting by setting the additional spell power, allowing the caster to cast a more powerful spell.

The additional spell power factor is expressed as a percentage value, from 0% to 100%. If you set an additional spell power factor of 50% then you will channel an additional 50% of the base mana requirement for a spell into the spell.

The more you push the additional spell power, the more you must have affinity with the Ways and its associated Mental Stat to control the effects. The power level of the spell is raised by the additional spell power, so the spell will be more powerful.

The use of additional spell power has the side effect that the spell can fizzle or even produce damages to the caster, depending on how much the spell goes out of control.

To set your additional spell power, use the slider in your Status Window.

NPCs

Interacting with NPCs

One of the most important aspects of the world of PlaneShift are the Non-Player Characters ( NPCs). They are intelligent beings controlled by the game itself. They can speak, move, sell and buy objects, fight, sleep, perform a job and so on.

NPCs are the primary means for your character to get quests. With some NPCs, it may be as easy as saying “Give me a quest”, whereas with others, you may have to talk to them for a while to find out what their problems are, so you can offer to solve them.

NPCs may sometimes give you items to use in quests, or may require that you give them an item to complete a quest. You can use the normal trading process to do this.

While speaking to NPCs you should try to use natural language, as if you were speaking to a player, while keeping your phrases simple. So a question like: “quest” doesn't mean anything. If you want to ask for a quest you should say: “Give me a quest, please” or something similar.

So how do you know what to talk to NPCs about? Well, a lot of the fun and discovery in PlaneShift is finding out!

Targeting NPCs

Before you can interact with an NPC, you must have them targeted. To target an NPC, click on them with your middle mouse button, or press 9 to target the nearest NPC. Press 9 repeatedly to cycle through the nearest NPCs.

When you have successfully targeted an NPC, you will see his or her name and hit points displayed in your Status Window.

Use the ‘’’Say’’’ button in your Chat Window to talk to the NPC once they are targeted.

Press Escape to stop targeting an NPC.

Common phrases

When dealing with an NPC you should remember that he or she will normally answer standard questions such as:

• Greeting words like: Hi”, ‘’Hello”, etc. Most NPCs will answer you back with a greeting, and will perhaps tell you how they are feeling or give you an indication of their troubles.
• How are you?” type of phrases. Usually, the NPC will tell you something about themselves and may reveal some useful information, such objects they require or tasks they wish performed.
• “Tell me about yourself” and similar. With this you are asking about the NPC's profession, role in the society or something about what he or she likes. This may also reveal some useful information.
• “Goodbye”. A way to politely finish a conversation with an NPC.
• ‘’I would like a job”, “I would like a beer”, “I would like a sword” sorts of phrases. Don't just ask “job” or “sword” because it will not work. The phrase must be meaningful.

You should use one word answers only when the NPC formulates a direct question such as: “Do you want a sword or an axe”? In this case you should answer either “sword” or “axe”.

Quests

NPCs are the best way to get quests. They can ask you to discover something, to bring an item, to perform a task.

When you receive a quest, it will appear in your Quest Log.

Don't spoil the fun of others

By publishing on the web quest solutions you are lowering the realism of the game and you are spoiling the fun of other people. We are not against players teaming up and giving hints to each other, but we think that this should be done in game, with role-playing. Having a web page that simply list what to do to achieve more money and experience in less time should be considered something against the role-playing aspect of the game.

What you can do is to join a Guild or Group and share information with other members, possibly depending on their rank. You may also accept in your own guild players that have at least completed a certain number of quests to prove their dedication to the game. Alternatively, you can use quest completion as a benchmark for promoting players within your own guild.

Cheating

What is cheating?

The word "Cheating" identifies, in computer games, a number of actions that a player can take to make the game easier for himself. Cheating is usually targeted at solving quests faster, gaining more money/resources/items faster, becoming invulnerable, etc... While cheating, the player uses workaround or tools that the game designer didn't create for him, basically spoiling the original creation of the designers.

Isn't cheating useful?

In single player games surely it is. It happens many times to be in an adventure game stuck at a certain point and no way to get around it, or to be facing an incredibly powerful monster in a first person shooter game, and have no way to solve it just because it's too hard. In those games cheats allows you to remove the issue, and to go further, enjoying even much the game since you removed the frustration of not going further. Since those are single player games the effects of cheating are just on yourself, so you can decide to cheat without any other impact.

Great! So can we cheat in PlaneShift?

In games like PlaneShift things are extremely different. You are not playing alone and using a cheat is not solely an advantage for you. An online role playing game is mainly based on the community of players and on the realism and balance that the simulated world recreates.

Like in any good movie or book, if you don't believe in the story being told, it will simply look silly and pointless. The same is for role playing games. These are based on imagination.

There are two main ways to capture the imagination of players, giving a more immersive experience, having them believe in the story behind the game and in the game itself:

• Realism
• Balance

Realism is primarily felt thanks to detailed graphics and interaction with other players . If someone cheats, it's like breaking a mirror with a beautiful image reflected in it. His actions will seem fake, the world will seem fake, everything will look again like a simple game, the beauty of believing in a simulated medieval world fades away quite fast. In a game where imagination is of primary importance, breaking realism is a real crime.

Balance in achievements of the players' community is what gives a defined "space" to each player. Balance tells him how much effort he needs to reach a particular objective (ranks, money, crystals, items, quests...). Cheating completely destroys balance in game and consequently reduce the will of players to reach certain objectives and their affection to the game. It also reduces realism.

Given the two points above cheating in PlaneShift is absolutely not allowed.

A player that cheats, has not understood what a role playing game is. If you believe in the simulated world, you cannot cheat, because you cannot break world rules.

A player that cheats is considered to disrupt the experience of other good players since he breaks realism and balance. He will not be tolerated in our online community.

What is considered cheating in PlaneShift?

Even if common sense is the best judge on what's considered cheating, it's good to give you some guidelines on what we consider cheating in PlaneShift.

As a general rule we can say that we consider cheating any voluntary action that a player takes hacking the client, hacking the server, publishing/using quests solutions on the web or exploiting a game bug to:

1. gain an advantage on other players OR
2. break realism of the game for other players

Some common hacks are for example: move faster than all other players, highlight hidden items/monsters, walk through solid objects or fly, change lighting to see in darkness, etc...

The "voluntary" part is quite important. The game can have bugs, so it may happen, for example, that one simple dagger present in your inventory is transformed into a very powerful item due to a bug. This case is obviously not considered cheating, you just have to report the fact to us (info@planeshift.it). Keeping the item without notifying the developers is considered cheating. The wrong item will be removed, and you will be rewarded for spotting the bug with another item or in-game money.

How you can identify cheaters, and what happens to them?

In Molecular Blue version we had just few tools to spot cheaters, but in next version we have a lot more tools. Basically the server logs all activities that are not considered legal, or are suspicious. The log is then manually read by developers and actions will be taken.

We do not tolerate cheating in any way, considering it a theft against all other players and a disruption of the work done by developers. For this reason cheaters have this destiny;

• their chars are deleted with all their possessions
• their IP address is banned from our servers. This means they cannot connect anymore
• they are banned from the forums
• they are banned from IRC channels

The duration of the ban depends on the gravity of the action. For evident and continuous cheating the ban is permanent, life-time.

It's important to note that we do not take actions immediately on a cheater. We collect info on him with the objective to stop all his actions at proper time. Cheaters tend to have more characters, party with other cheaters and so on. If a cheater is detected and flagged as a cheater, action can be taken against them even months later.

I'm a good role-player, is there any risk to be identified as a cheater by mistake?

Absolutely not. As we said our actions are not taken immediately when a potential cheat is detected and the ban is done when massively evident proof is against a cheater.

Here is some advice for you:

• Play the game with passion
• Respect other players
• Do not voluntarily try to cheat
• If something strange happens to your character contact us
• If you identify someone cheating contact us, he has no rights to disrupt your in game experience

I'm a developer, and I want to test hacks or mods, may I do that?

You should never test hacks on an official server. Download the CVS version of the PlaneShift server and test your hacks or mods locally, on your private server. Then report to us your findings, you will be rewarded if you find any good hack and a solution to it.

Modifications to the client content (graphics, sounds, ...) are not allowed by PS License. In particular we will not tolerate players using mods to connect to an official server if those allow cheating, or modify the visual aspects of the game or its design. If you want to add levels or graphics to PlaneShift you are more then welcome to participate in our development.

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