Gem use question.

[Borg]

I can't figure out how to make a wizard cast a spell of higher lvl.

I have an Air1 mage, I have the air Gems, and when I pop open the roster to point out his battle spells to cast , some of the spells are shaded (like Lightning Bolt).

I guess he can cast a spell above his lvl if he uses a gem for it , Correct?

But HOW EXACTLY do I do that ?

Sorry for the newb question

[archaeolept]

he can also have his spell casting level increased through communion.

as to using gems, I believe a mage can use up to 2 gems per innate level of ability. as such, if you wish your Air-1 mage to cast an Air-2 spell (a free one, not one which itself costs any gems), just script the spell and give him a gem. well, giving him two would be safer - as gems can also be used to lower the fatigue costs of the spell.

Originally posted by Borg:

I have an Air1 mage, I have the air Gems, and when I pop open the roster to point out his battle spells to cast , some of the spells are shaded (like Lightning Bolt).

I guess he can cast a spell above his lvl if he uses a gem for it , Correct?

But HOW EXACTLY do I do that ?

You can still select the shaded out spells. And as long as he has the gems or other path-enhancing boosts (communion etc) he'll cast them.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by archaeolept:
as to using gems, I believe a mage can use up to 2 gems per innate level of ability.

The amount of gems that can be used on a particular spell are the number that is required by the spell itself to cast, plus 1 gem per current level of magical skill for fatigue reduction. So an astral 8 mage casting master enslave can spend 16 gems on it. If casting solar brilliance, then he could only use 13 gems in total.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by archaeolept:
as to using gems, I believe a mage can use up to 2 gems per innate level of ability.

The amount of gems that can be used on a particular spell are the number that is required by the spell itself to cast, plus 1 gem per current level of magical skill for fatigue reduction. So an astral 8 mage casting master enslave can spend 16 gems on it. If casting solar brilliance, then he could only use 13 gems in total.

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Actually, the gems required by the spell count against the gems that can be used for raising skill level / reducing fatigue.

For instance - a D1 mage can not cast Summon Lammashtas by carrying two gems. Reading the manual, you would think that 1 gem would go for the spell's innate requirement, and 1 would raise the mage's level to cast it.

But no - the D1 mage carrying 2 death gems will cast a random spell, because as the manual states on page 17, "A mage may not use more gems than his skill level in the path of the gem being used."

Of course, the next sentence says "If a spell requires magic gems to be cast, the mage must pay that amount of gems in addition to the gems used to raise his skill level", which implies that the D1 mage could use 1 to raise her skilll level, in addition to the spell's requirement.

But no - a D1 mage can use 1 gem, period, and a F3 mage can use 3, period - if the spell requires 3, he can't raise the skill level or reduce the fatigue at all.

[Arryn]

Adding further to Cainehill's reply:

Please note that the example on page 17 of the manual uses Fireball, a L2 Evocation spell that uses NO gems. Hence a L1 caster can use a single gem (his limit as a L1 caster) to boost his casting ability to L2. If Fireball needed any gems whatsoever, the L1 caster could not cast the L2 spell at all (unless via Communion).

A L2 caster could use 2 gems to boost his ability to L4, but only with zero-cost spells such as Fireball. If the L2 caster was casting a spell that normally needs 1 gem, then his limit would be only 1 extra gem (for L3 effect). And, as Cainehill points out, if a spell needed 2 gems, a L2 caster cannot apply any extra gems at all.

[archaeolept]

ah ok, thanks for clearing that up guys

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
Actually, the gems required by the spell count against the gems that can be used for raising skill level / reducing fatigue.

The problem I have with this statement is that I know that I've seen both astral 4 and astral 5 mages cast solar brilliance when sent into battle solo. It's a spell that requires 5 gems to cast, which means that it should be impossible for them to cast it. The only way that an astral 4 mage can cast solar brilliance is for him to boost his power to 5 with a single gem, spend the required five gems to cast the spell, the spend another 2 gems to bring the fatigue cost down to 167.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by Cainehill:
Actually, the gems required by the spell count against the gems that can be used for raising skill level / reducing fatigue.

The problem I have with this statement is that I know that I've seen both astral 4 and astral 5 mages cast solar brilliance when sent into battle solo. It's a spell that requires 5 gems to cast, which means that it should be impossible for them to cast it. The only way that an astral 4 mage can cast solar brilliance is for him to boost his power to 5 with a single gem, spend the required five gems to cast the spell, the spend another 2 gems to bring the fatigue cost down to 167.

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Sure they didn't cast one of the two spells that would effectively raise their casting level first? (Power of the Spheres or Light of the Northern Star)

Or possibly there's a bug with level 1 mages, if they should be able to use 1 gem in addition to what was required by the spell, since they can't.

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
Sure they didn't cast one of the two spells that would effectively raise their casting level first? (Power of the Spheres or Light of the Northern Star)

I thought about that, but then how would you explain reducing a 500 fatigue cost down to something workable? The L4 mage needs to be L7-equivalent. The fatigue cost is a problem even for a L5 mage. There's an inconsistency between how some spells appear to be cast by certain mages, and how other spells are or aren't.