Sorcery is a school designed to be useful to a huge variety of character types and situations. It has very strong themes of metamagic abilities - changing how spells work or how they are cast for the Sorcerer. The abilities aren't necessarily better, just different.
The school has also been designed with "optioning" in mind; as in, there are clear packages that players can take to benefit specific types of characters. For example, 5 Intellect investment gets a fighter (among other things) Charged Clutch, Efficiency, Blood Magic (since they don't have much mana) and (most notably) Devotion, which will help with holy and unholy dedicated weapons in PvP.
Level 3 is hybrid and/or Qor focused, bringing us some cold and acid damage masteries, stronger reservations, and a mana-intensive ability to help casting when it is really needed; and level 4 is bit more magey, focusing on fire and shock and a much larger resource pool for long fights. Levels 5 and 6 are just plain awesome in their own right and change how a character is played now that they're more Sorcerer than not.
Ideally, a character with levels in Sorcery is one finding a variety of benefits regardless of build. There are purposeful tensions all throughout the school: do I reserve more buffs, thus restricting my mana? I might do that as a fighter. Do I focus on spells to take advantage of all the casting benefit skills? Or do I go halfway to benefit a little from everything, especially damage masteries? It's all up to you. Maybe my favorite little tension is the fact that Crystalize Mana (Jala 6) is weaker the more buffs you reserve, thus killing any "super optimum" mage build and likely splitting mage archetypes into two different paths (huge mana pools or Sorcerer abilities, but not both).
Final skill list looks like:
Level 1Efficiency - generalized vigor cost reduction for spells, extremely slow to improve, max 20%
Minor Spirit Link - reserve level 1 buffs
Charged Clutch - empower weapons with your active touch spell for mana per swing, min 4 mana
Level 2Devotion - damage mastery for holy/unholy, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction)
Moderate Spirit Link - reserve level 2 buffs
Blood Magic - use health if out of reagents (min cost in health is the spell's mana cost)
Level 3Entropy - damage mastery for cold/acid, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction)
Spirit Link - reserve level 3 buffs
Force Spike - use extra mana to cast anyway despite a fizzle (min cost is spell's mana cost again)
Level 4Energy - damage mastery for fire/shock, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction)
Major Spirit Link - reserve level 4 buffs
Will Surge - use vigor if out of mana (no synergy with Efficiency) (min cost is spell's mana cost)
Level 5Master Spirit Link - reserve level 5 buffs
Volatile Focus - cast immediately if trance disrupted, unable to attack or cast for duration of time penalty
Level 6Empowerment - a master Sorcerer applies increased status effects (for example a normal player would deal 20 STATUS_SHOCKED with 20 shock damage, but a 99/99 high myst Sorcerer will apply 35 STATUS_SHOCKED with 20 shock damage). In addition, the Sorcerer's spells have a chance to penetrate Deflect (at 99/99, between 66% and 83% depending on Myst). Empowerment includes a percentage property to adjust its effects live, because it can be INCREDIBLY powerful (i already cut it in half from where I initially thought it'd be good). Remember, Sorcerers are also doing +2 bonus damage that ignores resists thanks to lower-level masteries, and that bonus damage does count for status effects applied.
Level 1: Efficiency
"Initiates of Sorcery first take on the arduous task of practicing "
"spellcasting over and over until it becomes almost automatic. This "
"endless journey often lasts until long after the initiate has become "
"a master."
Has a chance to reduce vigor costs of spells up to 20% at 99. Improves extremely slowly.
This spell rounds out level 1 with a skill that is useful to every character type, and which is "weak", but also subtly powerful and useful.
Mana reservation
This pull includes the five mana reservation skills for testing purposes.
If you have, for example, minor spirit link, level 1 personal enchantments you cast become self-cast only, reserve a percentage of your maximum mana, and never expire. The percentage of your max mana reserved depends on your % in the link skill and your Mysticism stat (to a much smaller degree). Each spell has its own base reservation amount. Incredibly useful spells like Invisibility or Detect Invisibility will obviously have higher reservations than spells like Night Vision.
Example:
Gar buys the level 3 spirit link. He casts Night Vision. It automatically targets himself (as it is now self-cast only), never expires, and his max mana drops by 10%. If he works level 3 spirit link to 99%, his reservation cost for Night Vision will drop to 5%. At the same time, Magic Shield starts out reserving 20% of his mana, and drops to 10% when he maxes spirit link. If he has 128 mana, Night Vision would end up costing 7 max mana, and Magic Shield 14. If he kept both up, his max mana would be 107.
Any potions he uses for buffs work normally (i.e. don't reserve mana).
Currently there are five skills, one for each level up to five. Gaze of the Basilisk, being the only level 6 personal enchantment, cannot be reserved.
Reserved spells can't be passively improved.
Reductions due to reservation do not hinder mana regeneration. If you normally have 128 max mana, and you reserve down to 30, you will still regenerate at the same rate as if you had 128 max mana. Circlets are also accounted for and do help.
Also included are a variety of sacrifice skills. They all range from an initial 300% casting cost penalty down to 100% penalty at 99 in both the skill itself and the spell being used.
Charged Clutch, level 1. If you've got a touch spell going, and you use a melee weapon, you have a chance to empower your strike with the element of that touch spell for a mana cost between 4 and 12 depending on skill in charged clutch and the touch spell. Riija Sword deals random damage out of the main four types. Nerudite Sword resists elements and doesn't work with Charged Clutch.
Blood Magic, level 2. If you're out of reagents, sacrifice an amount of health based on casting cost to power the spell anyway. For example, if you don't have two blue dragon scales, you can still cast Armor of Gort. It's just going to cost you at least 15 health, and as much as 45 if you're low % in both Blood Magic and Gort (i.e. working spells this way is not recommended). Blood magic can't kill you - it'll simply fail - but that doesn't mean you won't find yourself at extremely low health and prone to a gruesome death.
Force Spike, level 3. If you fizzle, sacrifice an amount of mana based on casting cost to ensure the spell fires anyway. For example, you go to Blind someone, and your spell would fizzle - instead, you expend as little as 14 more mana (blind's cost) and as much as 42 (if you're terrible) and the spell no longer fizzles.
Will Surge, level 4. If you're out of mana, sacrifice an amount of vigor based on casting cost to ensure the spell fires anyway. For example, if you're out of mana, and you go to cast blind, you expend an extra 14 vigor (minimum) up to 42 (if you're terrible) and the spell fires anyway. Obviously, it's a terrible idea to rely on this ability, but, as with all these skills, it will help your magic remain reliable when you REALLY need it.
Volatile Focus, level 5. If you're focusing on a spell and it gets disrupted by any means, sacrifice an amount of time based on trance time to ensure the spell fires anyway. (Example: you begin casting Earthquake and then run or get hit. The Earthquake fires immediately. You can't attack or cast spells for a number of seconds based on the time remaining in the trance, your skill at Volatile Focus, and your ability in the spell).
Epiphany, level 6. If you're out of reagents, out of mana, and you fizzle an attempt at a focus spell, (i.e. all of your other sacrifice skills activate all at once), you get a free T-shirt that says "I survived reading the Sorcery school pull request."
Note that none of these skills take spellpower into account except where it factors in naturally (mana costs, trance times, and so on). Low spellpower punishes itself in terms of spell effectiveness. These are skills, and therefore useable at any time.
Damage Masteries
Three skills, in levels 2, 3, and 4, each have a chance, based on %, to
add up to 2 damage to the elements they master.
level 2 - devotion - holy and unholy
level 3 - entropy - cold and acid
level 4 - energy - fire and shock
This is bonus damage that does not get factored into resistances or
weaknesses - it will cut through resists, but will also not be enhanced
by weaknesses.
It also contributes from ANY source - touch spells, enchanted weapons,
walls, bolts, you name it. The order in terms of levels were chosen to
encourage players picking up parts of Sorcery on characters that aren't
pure mages. Holy and Unholy, in level 2 for example, is a great 5 int
option for fighters who want to do 2 more damage with holy and unholy
dedicated weapons.
level 3, cold and acid, could be interesting for qors and players with
level 2 faren (often taken for resists). Because charged clutch cold or acid +
entropy boosts damage.
level 4, fire and shock, clearly for mage heavy characters.
Sorcery is a school designed to be useful to a huge variety of character types and situations. It has very strong themes of metamagic abilities - changing how spells work or how they are cast for the Sorcerer. The abilities aren't necessarily better, just different.
The school has also been designed with "optioning" in mind; as in, there are clear packages that players can take to benefit specific types of characters. For example, 5 Intellect investment gets a fighter (among other things) Charged Clutch, Efficiency, Blood Magic (since they don't have much mana) and (most notably) Devotion, which will help with holy and unholy dedicated weapons in PvP.
Level 3 is hybrid and/or Qor focused, bringing us some cold and acid damage masteries, stronger reservations, and a mana-intensive ability to help casting when it is really needed; and level 4 is bit more magey, focusing on fire and shock and a much larger resource pool for long fights. Levels 5 and 6 are just plain awesome in their own right and change how a character is played now that they're more Sorcerer than not.
Ideally, a character with levels in Sorcery is one finding a variety of benefits regardless of build. There are purposeful tensions all throughout the school: do I reserve more buffs, thus restricting my mana? I might do that as a fighter. Do I focus on spells to take advantage of all the casting benefit skills? Or do I go halfway to benefit a little from everything, especially damage masteries? It's all up to you. Maybe my favorite little tension is the fact that Crystalize Mana (Jala 6) is weaker the more buffs you reserve, thus killing any "super optimum" mage build and likely splitting mage archetypes into two different paths (huge mana pools or Sorcerer abilities, but not both).
Final skill list looks like: Level 1 Efficiency - generalized vigor cost reduction for spells, extremely slow to improve, max 20% Minor Spirit Link - reserve level 1 buffs Charged Clutch - empower weapons with your active touch spell for mana per swing, min 4 mana
Level 2 Devotion - damage mastery for holy/unholy, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction) Moderate Spirit Link - reserve level 2 buffs Blood Magic - use health if out of reagents (min cost in health is the spell's mana cost)
Level 3 Entropy - damage mastery for cold/acid, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction) Spirit Link - reserve level 3 buffs Force Spike - use extra mana to cast anyway despite a fizzle (min cost is spell's mana cost again)
Level 4 Energy - damage mastery for fire/shock, max 2 bonus damage (no resistance interaction) Major Spirit Link - reserve level 4 buffs Will Surge - use vigor if out of mana (no synergy with Efficiency) (min cost is spell's mana cost)
Level 5 Master Spirit Link - reserve level 5 buffs Volatile Focus - cast immediately if trance disrupted, unable to attack or cast for duration of time penalty
Level 6 Empowerment - a master Sorcerer applies increased status effects (for example a normal player would deal 20 STATUS_SHOCKED with 20 shock damage, but a 99/99 high myst Sorcerer will apply 35 STATUS_SHOCKED with 20 shock damage). In addition, the Sorcerer's spells have a chance to penetrate Deflect (at 99/99, between 66% and 83% depending on Myst). Empowerment includes a percentage property to adjust its effects live, because it can be INCREDIBLY powerful (i already cut it in half from where I initially thought it'd be good). Remember, Sorcerers are also doing +2 bonus damage that ignores resists thanks to lower-level masteries, and that bonus damage does count for status effects applied.
Level 1: Efficiency
"Initiates of Sorcery first take on the arduous task of practicing " "spellcasting over and over until it becomes almost automatic. This " "endless journey often lasts until long after the initiate has become " "a master."
Has a chance to reduce vigor costs of spells up to 20% at 99. Improves extremely slowly.
This spell rounds out level 1 with a skill that is useful to every character type, and which is "weak", but also subtly powerful and useful.
Mana reservation This pull includes the five mana reservation skills for testing purposes.
If you have, for example, minor spirit link, level 1 personal enchantments you cast become self-cast only, reserve a percentage of your maximum mana, and never expire. The percentage of your max mana reserved depends on your % in the link skill and your Mysticism stat (to a much smaller degree). Each spell has its own base reservation amount. Incredibly useful spells like Invisibility or Detect Invisibility will obviously have higher reservations than spells like Night Vision.
Example: Gar buys the level 3 spirit link. He casts Night Vision. It automatically targets himself (as it is now self-cast only), never expires, and his max mana drops by 10%. If he works level 3 spirit link to 99%, his reservation cost for Night Vision will drop to 5%. At the same time, Magic Shield starts out reserving 20% of his mana, and drops to 10% when he maxes spirit link. If he has 128 mana, Night Vision would end up costing 7 max mana, and Magic Shield 14. If he kept both up, his max mana would be 107.
Any potions he uses for buffs work normally (i.e. don't reserve mana).
Currently there are five skills, one for each level up to five. Gaze of the Basilisk, being the only level 6 personal enchantment, cannot be reserved.
Reserved spells can't be passively improved.
Reductions due to reservation do not hinder mana regeneration. If you normally have 128 max mana, and you reserve down to 30, you will still regenerate at the same rate as if you had 128 max mana. Circlets are also accounted for and do help.
Also included are a variety of sacrifice skills. They all range from an initial 300% casting cost penalty down to 100% penalty at 99 in both the skill itself and the spell being used.
Charged Clutch, level 1. If you've got a touch spell going, and you use a melee weapon, you have a chance to empower your strike with the element of that touch spell for a mana cost between 4 and 12 depending on skill in charged clutch and the touch spell. Riija Sword deals random damage out of the main four types. Nerudite Sword resists elements and doesn't work with Charged Clutch.
Blood Magic, level 2. If you're out of reagents, sacrifice an amount of health based on casting cost to power the spell anyway. For example, if you don't have two blue dragon scales, you can still cast Armor of Gort. It's just going to cost you at least 15 health, and as much as 45 if you're low % in both Blood Magic and Gort (i.e. working spells this way is not recommended). Blood magic can't kill you - it'll simply fail - but that doesn't mean you won't find yourself at extremely low health and prone to a gruesome death.
Force Spike, level 3. If you fizzle, sacrifice an amount of mana based on casting cost to ensure the spell fires anyway. For example, you go to Blind someone, and your spell would fizzle - instead, you expend as little as 14 more mana (blind's cost) and as much as 42 (if you're terrible) and the spell no longer fizzles.
Will Surge, level 4. If you're out of mana, sacrifice an amount of vigor based on casting cost to ensure the spell fires anyway. For example, if you're out of mana, and you go to cast blind, you expend an extra 14 vigor (minimum) up to 42 (if you're terrible) and the spell fires anyway. Obviously, it's a terrible idea to rely on this ability, but, as with all these skills, it will help your magic remain reliable when you REALLY need it.
Volatile Focus, level 5. If you're focusing on a spell and it gets disrupted by any means, sacrifice an amount of time based on trance time to ensure the spell fires anyway. (Example: you begin casting Earthquake and then run or get hit. The Earthquake fires immediately. You can't attack or cast spells for a number of seconds based on the time remaining in the trance, your skill at Volatile Focus, and your ability in the spell).
Epiphany, level 6. If you're out of reagents, out of mana, and you fizzle an attempt at a focus spell, (i.e. all of your other sacrifice skills activate all at once), you get a free T-shirt that says "I survived reading the Sorcery school pull request."
Note that none of these skills take spellpower into account except where it factors in naturally (mana costs, trance times, and so on). Low spellpower punishes itself in terms of spell effectiveness. These are skills, and therefore useable at any time.
Damage Masteries
Three skills, in levels 2, 3, and 4, each have a chance, based on %, to add up to 2 damage to the elements they master.
level 2 - devotion - holy and unholy level 3 - entropy - cold and acid level 4 - energy - fire and shock
This is bonus damage that does not get factored into resistances or weaknesses - it will cut through resists, but will also not be enhanced by weaknesses.
It also contributes from ANY source - touch spells, enchanted weapons, walls, bolts, you name it. The order in terms of levels were chosen to encourage players picking up parts of Sorcery on characters that aren't pure mages. Holy and Unholy, in level 2 for example, is a great 5 int option for fighters who want to do 2 more damage with holy and unholy dedicated weapons.
level 3, cold and acid, could be interesting for qors and players with level 2 faren (often taken for resists). Because charged clutch cold or acid + entropy boosts damage.
level 4, fire and shock, clearly for mage heavy characters.