maybe I'm misunderstanding here.. This 'element' word seems to be the pivotal point of debate... I think, and we all know my thoughs aren't always the most invited, well if they are invited they're also given hints they overstayed their welcome... anyway, i think;
The concept is really to make some Npcs (not just the animal ones, right?) a certain scale of immunity, reduced damage & increased damage depending on the way of magic...
I have to admit i see little to no 'benefit' to the community, the way the idea is presented, could be rpish, but have to agree still seems lacking...
What it did remind me of was waaaay back when I had thought (& soon dismised the thought as there isn't even anti-magic) that anti-magic seemed a bit too much like a "Gun at a knifefight" skill vs mages... I mean sure there are armor & agil, but no anti-combat skill... & perhaps another approach would be to reduce the damage one takes from spells in 'ways' in which their rank is high... This could benifit mages wishing to allign themselves more with certain ways, give more value to spells of combined ways, allow beneficial spells to work better (if i have high crystal way & you cast life infusion on me it heals more than were my crystal way lower)...
With this concept the more humanoid npcs could have training in logical magic ways, and those are the ones that affect them (negatively) less, the ones they havent trained in affect them more... This adds another level of realism to the npcs as a gladiator might have trained high in a certain way to cast strength on himself, or a Rogue might have learned darkness to cover his crimes... maybe bandits learned to heal themelves ...(umm does freeze do anything as it is?)... making each less vulnerable to certain magic (so by comparison) more vulnerable to others... as we all know religious alignement, parents, birth events etc can all give us magic skills.. So it makes sense that the same could be true of NPCs.. Actually, they could even have magic skills already, but unlless they cast a spell there is no way to tell...
I don't know all the formss magic is intended to be implemented, so my ideas may be waay off base, but i think this concept follows with logic & rp. like how, realistically, higher rank in most combat skills should in theory make you better against a foe who is using that form of combat (but i'd better leave that one for another thread another day). The additional layer to magical combat would allow magic to become as worthwhile to train as various stats & combat skills.. even if one doesn't intend to be a mage most of the time..No amount of intelligence or will or charisma seems to protect us from spells currently, while strength & endurance remain pivotal in how much damage you can withstand [and to be honest i don't know, but get the feeling agil doesn't figure into magic beyond hp...and i am similarly unsure about the armors]... At the least this would add passive defence to magic, assuming that anti magic was more an active concept (yes i know i should have re-read all the magic ways description etc before posting, but i'm tired, just got home froom work, and i think we all agree & said way more here than i should have anyway...Those of you still reading; i'm sorry, please bare with me.. you're almost there..thanks..)...
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I know it's probably asking a lot, but it would also be pretty impressive to also have a few evil npcs who cast darkness or weakness in combat & a few good ones who cast Life-In if you are injured... This would definitely make the characters less 2 dimensional, especially for combat [but only touch range please... don't need to enter arena & have all the humanoid npcs execute you with more summoned missiles than a nation recieving an imposed democracy]...
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Just trying to say that 'elements' of this idea could have merit is all...
Also, I know i've been accused of rudeness before, but phinehas, that was cold.
[and you really don't have to quote the entire post that came right before yours in the same thread... Unless you're trying to show the reason you could sniff out a noob is that we can smell our own
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