Twilight magic

Something that we're expecting later on when magic combos come in the game is hybrid magic formed from the combinations of Elemental schools. So, for instance, Fire and Water combos might deal with steam, Earth and Fire might deal with magma, Air and Earth might deal with sand, Fire and Air might deal with smoke, etc., and so on, similar to the para- and quasi- elemental magics in AD&D.



But then we have what I call the Astral schools, which are Life and Death and Sun and Moon.

Personally, I think something that would be cool would be to give twilight hours some special meaning in the game. In real world lore, twilight is the "witching hour" -- magic is stronger and the borders between worlds are thinner.



"Twilight Magic", or whatever it might be called, would be the combo of Sun and Moon magic. Similar to how game conditions are planned affect other forms of magic -- like sunlight will boost Sun magic, rain will boost Water magic, heat will boost Fire magic -- it would be most powerful during the limited window of the twilight hours in the game. It might also have boosted power in places like the Lost Vale, which is in perpetual twilight.

Some examples of possible spells --

* * * *

AURORA = Moon Beams (Moon) + Dazzling Rays (Sun)
Powerful at twilight, like Moonbeams and Dazzling Rays, perhaps with lower fizzle chance.

STAR SHOWER = Light (Sun) + Moon Beams (Moon)
Creates a twinkling shower of small points of light; for those in AoE decreases accuracy, crit chance, increases magic resistance, increases power of Moon Magic / Moon Damage within radius.

STARDUST = Fireflies (Moon) + Dazzling Rays (Sun)
Creates a field of shimmering stardust around a target, increases the power of Sun Magic / Sun Damage against that target, and the max and avg damage of critical hits.

STARLIGHT PRISM = Elysian Illumination (Sun) + Cocoon of Night (Moon)
Surrounds the player with a shimmering and moving field of auroral lights and stardust, fading in and out the players visibility with the movement of the light; slowly heals and strongly increases resistance towards magic.

STARLIGHT = Light (Sun) + Night Vision (Moon)
Creates a white, cold light that illuminates a wide radius around the target in a way similar to a moonlight tower; picks up luminance from the moon and stars.

STARBURST = Searing Ray (Sun) + Meteor Shower (Moon)
Like meteor shower, but with radiant meteors that randomly burst into explosions of light, doing sun damage.

STARSHINE = Searing Ray (Sun) + Moon Beams (Moon)
An AoE version of Searing Ray, though with less damage per target.

BLUR = Shadow Form (Moon) + Dazzling Rays (Sun)
A powerful 'phase shift' type spell which gives the player the temporary ability to move through other targets and avoid damage, but without being able to hit them either. The visual effect is a time-delayed chromatic blur on the caster, which has a kind of prismatic rainbow trail as he moves around.

* * * *

Then, the devs have talked about putting animal mobs on day/night schedules similar to fish. The most obvious of these are animals that only come out frequently during dawn and dusk hours, like wolves, for instance.

Another example, however, might be the unicorn. To make the unicorn more elusive, they might only might be found during twilight. And you could even vary it for the light/dark unicorn, so the light one might be found during dawn hours, and the dark one during dusk hours.

The unicorns will also have a rainbow attack. Why not make this rainbow attack Twilight magic? I mentioned Aurora as a possible spell, and that's because auroras become visible at dusk and fade after dawn.



Another similar phenomenon are the nacreous clouds, or polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which are best observed at twilight. The name is taken from nacre, which refers to the mother of pearl, for their iridescence. Wikipedia -- "Forward-scattering of sunlight within the clouds produces a pearly-white appearance. Particles within the optically thin clouds cause colored interference fringes by diffraction."



Rainbows also will appear at dawn because of the morning dew as its hit by sunlight, which acts as a prism and refracts the light into colors. You have a feature of Sun magic (light beams) and a feature of Moon magic (the dew which forms overnight) coming together. This would make rainbows a perfect example of Twilight magic.



In fact, some of the most "magical" illustrations of unicorns show them depicted in the colors of twilight, showing twilight sky features like auroras.

 

also related: the scenes where the sun and moon are always in the sky, e.g. oracle colossus and the isle of storms

 

I didn't realize the Oracle Colossus had a unique sky. Was too busy trying to survive while I was there. I'll have to go back and check it out.

 

i think sunless barrens has it, too

 

What is planned for melee and ranged then?

I mean magic is already plenty powerfull .... adding to it means we soon are neck deep in mages...

 

Yep, the Oracle Colossus scene seems always frozen in time.

 

Alternatively, I suppose, it could be fashioned into something like "Star magic", and other spells could have names like Stardust and Starshine.

I added a reference to "nacreous clouds" in the OP.

 

Interesting ideas here!

The combo system remains the great unexplored possibility of SOTA's skill system.

 

I added a couple of more ideas for spells in the OP.

 

Wow, @redfish ..... you really put a lot of thought and effort into that post - and I love the concept(s) .
Givin' 'ya a +1

 

I also just had another idea, as I was thinking about what the equivalent hybrid school would be for Life + Death combos. At first I was thinking about some type of 'Nether' magic, but then, I had this thought.

Sun + Moon --> Star Magic
Life + Death --> Soul Magic

Groovy

 

As a roleplayer roleplaying a shaman-type character that handles life and death magic (both equally poorly due to not being able to specialize in either) I strongly support this! I'd definitely be a soul magician.

 

This is sort of the chromatic blur effect I was thinking of for the phase shift effect in that spell, RGB ghosting,


With more tinting, transparency, and more of a trail. I was trying to look for movies with this effect, because I swear I've seen it before used for different things.

 

Very interesting concept we're expecting. Would love to see it in action.

 

Hey redfish, since you trolled me in the other thread, I hate to tell you this but your D&D cosmology is out of date. There's now the Elemental Chaos where Limbo and The Abyss get lumped in with all those planes you're talking about.