A few ideas for Ars Magica 2

Yay, Ars Magica 2 got voted in!   

Anyway, done with that. I have a few suggestions for how we should run things with Ars Magica 2.

First of all....

Keep Inventory on is outright essential for AM2. Spells are hard to make and expensive to boot, and because they are items, you can lose them on death. I say that we should avoid this by turning on Keep Inventory. This will avert quite a bit of heartache in the long run. Refunding spells would be more difficult, as they don't exist in the creative menu, and are custom made. And some of these spells are EXPENSIVE! One even requires a Nether Star to be made, for instance!

Secondly, within Ars Magica exists a fun mechanic called "Affinity." As you use a type of spell more and more you gain affinity with the element of said spell. Along with making it easier to cast these types of spells and the reverse of your affinity harder to cast, you get some bonuses farther down the line. Let's use Ice as a example here. When you aquire a high level Ice affinity, you get a few bonuses and a few disadvantages. While you do start to move slower with a high affinity for ice, you get the power to freeze water and lava by just sneaking near it, as well as slowing enemies apon hitting them.

While Affinites are fun, they take a very long time to build up. My suggestion is that we offer players a headstart in a chosen affinity from anywhere from a little to a specified point (Halfway, for instance.) So players can get a better taste of affinities in the month we have Ars Magica. To accomplish this, there is a command to set affinities, or books that you can read to increase affinity of a certain type that could be spawned in creative.


These are the main ideas I have for now, please tell me what you all think.

I agree with both of these points - while the spells in Ars Magica aren't very expensive at first, they're at least very various, coming from a variety of different biomes, sometimes. And yes, there is at least one spell that requires a Nether Star.

As for the Affinities, I've been playing for the past two days almost solid, and I'm not even at 2% in my chosen affinity, so I definitely agree that if we only have a month to play with Ars Magica 2, a 50% or more boost in affinities would really help everyone to get a good taste of what the mod has to offer.

Okay, another idea then, building off the affinity one, though this one is more debatable then the other two. Perhaps people who choose a affinity headstart can also get a basic starting spell of said affinity? Like, a Air affinity could get a projectile that flings things into the air, Frost, Fire, Lightning, Arcane, Ender, and Earth get a projectile with their corresponding element (Ender and Arcane both would have the same spell, so perhaps Ender could get some kind of low level teleport?) Water could get a projectile that causes drowning damage, Nature... I don't know, farming basics? Life would get a simple regeneration.. Just something to get people started, though, again, this idea is up to you lot.