Remove visual effects for most buff spells.

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The Fairy Feller
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Joined: Mon May 21, 2018 1:49 pm

Remove visual effects for most buff spells.

Post by The Fairy Feller » Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:39 pm

Remove the visual effects for most buff spells, the reasons:

1) Multiple people buffed up on screen actually causes performance for an area to dip, especially with the new particle effects brought in by EE.

2) A lot of these spells in DnD and in PnP do not have visual tips and must be found out through other means.

3) Some just look outright awful.

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Spells I suggest for the chopping block would be:

Stoneskin / Greater Stoneskin - these spells do not have a visual indicator in pnp. Stoneskin in DnD is meant to mean that your skin has the consistency of stone, not that you become stone.

Barkskin - similar reasoning to Stoneskin. You do not become a tree, you have skin that can deflect blows like bark.

Energy Buffer, Resist Elements, Energy Resistance - these spells do not cover you in sparkles. These drop rates TERRIBLY when there are a bunch of them in an area.

Protection from alignment spells / circle / aura - glowy sparkles that don't exist in pnp and generally just make people go LMAO RED GLOW = EVIL PERSON.

Premonition - one of the most powerful dmg resistance spells, its also a divination spell that would be playerside and not visible. It lets you see seconds ahead in the future, not alert everyone else you prepared for their beatdown.

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Along with this, I'd make the following addition to the inherent Arelith mechanics / meta.

Anyone with SPELL FOCUS (DIVINATION) (the first tier focus, which can also be found on items in the loot matrix) may, when examining other players you essentially get the spell effects of ARCANE SIGHT, a pnp spell that most people would have access to, as well as the cantrip detect magic.
You know the location and power of all magical auras within your sight. An aura’s power depends on a spell’s functioning level or an item’s caster level, as noted in the description of the detect magic spell. If the items or creatures bearing the auras are in line of sight, you can make Spellcraft skill checks to determine the school of magic involved in each. (Make one check per aura; DC 15 + spell level, or 15 + one-half caster level for a nonspell effect.)
Basically, if you have DIV FOCUS, you can see the spells someone has active on them and what they are if you make a spellcraft check.

Something along these lines would also allow for people to know when others are buffed but also give a soft advantage of coming prepared to dubious situations or allow you to see if people are cheating in an arena event, etc.

yellowcateyes
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Re: Remove visual effects for most buff spells.

Post by yellowcateyes » Wed Jun 13, 2018 10:52 pm

Being visibly warded is the trade-off for having active magical defenses. Visible buffs have social implications and alert others to possible hostile intent. Additionally, wards having a visual element is an important part of gameplay in player versus player conflict.

It is unlikely that this will be changed anytime soon.
Dinosaur Space Program is my working partner on Arelith-related projects. If my inbox is full or I take a while to get back to you, feel free to PM them questions or concerns.

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