More Balance to Magick and Tech

In Arcanum, tech stuff required a lot of mixing of stuff to get other stuff. Why not have the same type of system for Magick. All the potions for health and fatigue are pre mixed. Why? Mages should also be able to mix items. Mix this plant with that plant to get this potion. For example mix a plain wooden staff with a leather strap and a special type of stone or object to get a magickal staff of xyz - The higher your Magickal ability the better the xyz. Need a Magick equivilant to the schematic. Seems like they spent a lot of time on the techie stuff and just gave you finished product for magick in the first Arcanum

 

Enchantments, perhaps.

 

Objection: that would eliminate the basic difference between magic and technology and make the game less fun in my opinion. But enchantments could be made in some way- suppose a temporary add of fire damage that lasts for as long as you can maintain the spell, or making a weapon lighter and faster. But generally a mage in Arcanum already has an advantage over techs, there is no need to enforce it by allowing them to improve already powerful items. But they indeed could make more rings and amulets, that's a real problem for mages I think

 

Off point! I wasn't suggesting that magick be made stronger. In fact, it shouldn't be as strong as it was. What I was saying is that in Arcanum, the magick system is all pre-made/pre-mixed. Magick users just find or buy items. Tech users can find, buy, or make items. Magick users need the "make" option.

For example.

1. A tech guy makes a healing salve by learning a skill and then mixing 2 plants that he has to find or buy. Majick users can buy or find red and blue potions but they are all pre-mixed. There is no option to find the components and making them.

2. A tech guy can make a feather weight axe by learning a skill and mixing two parts to get the item. Why shouldn't a magick user be able to do the same thing for a magical item.

Along the same subject line, the mixing of items for both tech and magick should be more complex. The more complex the item the more items you need to put together. For example: A bottle + XYZ root = xyz root, A bottle + xyz root + abc plant + ruby = Morgana's tears (and you have to have read Morgana's Magickal book of Healing, Basic staff + ruby + leather strap + enchanting spell = Magick Staff of X, Iron Shield + Item 1 + Item 2 + Item 3 = Shiled of X. The more complex the item being created, the more items and skill/knowledge necessary to create it.

 

A tech can't find or buy virtually anything worth using except maybe certain kinds of armor. All tech or neutral weapons you can find are plainly inferior and insufficient to finish the game using them. Magickers can find the most powerful items and use them right away, but they're forced to rely on pure luck. Sounds fair to me...

 

Arcanum’s magic system was very D&Desq with high level mages verging on god-like, I want to see mages enchanting items, and with weaker spells. If you were a competent technologist with a decent haggle skill in Arcanum; the world was your oyster you were rolling dough before you even left Tarant for the second time. There should be a system of enchantments and potions for mages instead of selecting spells at level X.

Just my two cents.

 

I don't think there's an underlying cause or main philosophical miscalculation which unbalanced magicians and technologists in this game, just way too many poor decisions in the small details: The useless spells and items of technology, the wimpiness of guns, the non scaling monsters and random encounters, and the huge discepencies between realtime and turn based.

 

How about a bit of Might and Magic style? I mean purchasing books to learn spells and not just getting them out of the blue? (The same could work for techs by the way, the University of Tarant could aslo teach the basic schematics. Its a bit unlikely to learn to make an arachnid all by yourself with no one to teach you).