“Magic is the foundation for all life. In order to sustain life or inflict death, one must learn the use of magic.” - “Morgul”, Master of the Sorcerers’ Guild
 
 
Spells

 
 
Magic is the most important aspect of Ascension. Each guild teaches certain spells to its members. As a character learns new spells from joined guilds, they will be added to the character’s Spellbook, making them available for the player to ‘cast’. A player can also cast a spell by using an item with magical properties (e.g. ‘Potion of Sight’). When a player casts a spell from their Spellbook, some spell points will be used. The number of spell points that a spell will take depends on the level of the spell and the power of the character. A more powerful spell will require more spell points to cast. As you advance in the guild, lower level spells will take fewer spell points, allowing you to cast them more often. As with hit points, when in the City, your spell points will be restored to their maximum capacity if you reenter the dungeon (with a penalty of aging), rest at the fountain, or make a level in a guild. The maximum amount of spell points a character can have is based on the character’s natural Intelligence and Wisdom, although certain items can temporarily increase a character’s spell points beyond this maximum. A character cannot cast a spell if they do not have enough spell points. 

The effectiveness of a spell is based on the “Spell Level” at which it’s cast. A character will cast a spell at their Spell Level in the guild that taught them the spell (equal to half their level in that guild, rounded up). If a character is a member of several guilds that offer the same spell, then the best guild will always be used: A level 50 Mage who is also a level 20 Warlock will cast a shared spell (e.g. ‘Life Shatter’) using their Magi Spell Level (since it is higher than their Warlock Spell Level). However, if the Warlocks’ guild can cast the spell for less points than the Magi’s guild, the lowest points will be used! 

When using the special abilities of an item to cast a spell, the highest Spell Level from all of the guilds which have access to the spell is used, unless the item casts a spell at a specific level (which can be found out by getting complete information on an item). 

NOTE: You can teach your guild new and more powerful spells by finding certain items (e.g. Treatises, Grimoires) in the dungeon and turning them in to the guild! 

Example of Casting a Spell 
You can cast a spell while in the dungeon by pressing ‘c’ and typing in the full name (or the first few letters) of the spell you wish to cast, by double-clicking on a spell in the Spell Book, or by single-clicking and then clicking on the Crystal Ball icon. You may also ‘load’ a spell in one of the 10 buffers for easy access (see ‘Buffer Pane’ in the Game Screen section for more information). 

To cast a spell on another character, such as ‘Heal’ or ‘Resist Poison’, the character must be in the current area. For more information, please refer to the Parties section in this Online Information System. 

Some monsters have partial or total immunity to certain spells, while some have complete immunity to all spells. For example, fire spells won’t work on most dragons. The higher the level of the character, the better the chance of affecting a monster with partial immunity to magic (total immunity can never be negated). 

Spell Power & Damage 
Spells that inflict damage or heal hits have two numbers associated with them - a power & damage (or heal) rating (e.g. ‘15/2’). This rating includes a Base number and a Level Modifier number for the spell. The Base number represents the base (average starting) amount of healing/damage points the spell will do. Level Modifier is the rate at which <base> raises based on the caster’s Spell Level. So, a damage spell of 15/2 means that it starts with an average of 15 hits damage and raises at a rate of 2, which is not much at all. This means that a caster with a Spell Level of 25 probably wouldn’t do much more than 30 points of damage with this spell. However, if we had a spell of 15/15, a Spell Level of 25 would probably do damage closer to 100 hit points because the Level Modifier value is like a ‘focus’ value for the caster’s Spell Level (i.e. the higher the focus number, the higher the additional Base Damage from the caster’s spell level). 

There really isn’t an equation to tell exactly how many points of damage a certain spell (say 30/15) will do when cast at a given Spell Level since there can be too many other variables involved (e.g. target’s resistance, size, etc.). The player generally must learn by experience and get a ‘feel’ for how the Base/Level Modifier system works. 

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Base Level, Required Stats and Description 
The Spell Level at which a guild teaches a spell is called the Base Level for that spell (which may be different for each guild that has access to the spell). The Base Level also represents the lowest possible cost in spell points that can be reached by the guild. For example: 

Base Level: Sorcerer (3), Cleric (6), Explorer (9), Warlock (9) 

This information would mean that a Sorcerer will learn the spell at Spell Level 3, a Cleric will learns it at 6, while Explorers and Warlocks won’t learn it until they reach Spell Level 9 (guild level 17). In general, Guilds that specialize in spells (e.g. Clerics and Heal spells) will learn a spell before any other guild that has access to the spell. Note that if a spell has different Base Level in two guilds, the relative difference in spell cost between the two guilds (at the same Spell Level) will usually be even greater (i.e. a higher Base Level means you’ll also need a higher Spell Level to reach the minimum cost)! 

Required Stats 
If a spell has Required Stats, the caster must have the given stats to cast the spell. As with items, Required Stats for spells are based on your overall stats (natural and modified). 

Spell Information & Description 
Each spell has an one or more lines of information after the Required Stats information that state the effect of the spell, including if it affects the entire party, or how many groups of monsters and how many monsters in each group, and the range. Most spells are either combat or non-combat spells. Combat spells can only be cast in combat (or, if the monsters are peaced, will initiate combat when cast), while non-combat spells can only be cast when there are no monsters, or there are peaced monsters in the area. Below is an example of the Firebolt Fire Spell information:

Effect: Will Fry up to 4 Monsters in 2 Groups. 
Type: Combat   Power: 10/2   Range:

This means that if the spell was cast on group #1 of 12 monsters, it could potentially kill up to 4 monsters from that group before moving on to group #2 (which is the next monster group if it exists). Of course, monsters that are out of range will not be harmed. 

If you click on the small ‘turn page’ graphic (at lower left corner of Misc. Info Pane) when viewing the spell information, you will see a brief description of the spell so the caster has a better idea of exactly what it does and where the spell came from. 

Spell Classes 
Spells are broken down into “spell classes” that specify the nature of the spell. Below is a list of the spell classes, a brief description of the class origins, and the spells available within each class. 

Keep in mind that you will have to experiment with the spells to figure out exactly what they do. Some spells will not be very effective when you are first able to cast them, but will improve as your character becomes more powerful (gains levels). 

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To see more about the specific spell, click on the picture
 
 Spells by Class
 
 
Banish 
 
 
Bind 
 
 
Charm 
 
 
Cold 
 
 
Damage 
 
  
Dispel 
 
 
Electrical 
 
 
Element 
 
 
Fire 
 
 
Heal 
 
 
Kill 
 
  
Location 
 
  
Magical 
 
  
Mind 
 
  
Movement 
 
   
Protection 
 
  
Resistance 
 
  
Visual 
 
  
 Spells by Guild
 
 
Artisan 
 
 
Warrior 
 
 
Paladin 
 
 
Ninja 
 
 
Villain 
 
 
Explorer 
 
 
Thief 
 
 
Barbarian 
 
 
Magi 
 
 
Sorcerer 
 
 
Warlock 
 
 
Cleric 
 
 
 
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