How spellcasting works on BatMUD

Succeeding in the casting

The actual chance of succesfully casting a spell depends on the percentile you have in the spell, your knowledge of cast generic skill and in the knowledge of the certain spells category skill (eg. cast fire for fireball).

Both cast generic and cast <type> help in succeeding in the spellcasting, the main difference is that cast generic affects all spells, but the cast <type> only affects part of the spells.

The category of each individual spell can be found by reading the help on that spell (help spell fireball).

Spell effects

What affects the power of the spell varies alot. With some spells, such as light, the actual effect is the same every time you succeed. But even with light the length of the effect varies between different casters.

In contrast, most spells can have a variable degrees of success. What affects the level of success is dependant on the individual spells. Usual factors include, but are not limited to, random, relevant stat(s), percentage in mastery skill, player level, alignment, various guild based reputations and so on and so on.

Casting cost

The actual spcost of spells vary according to the phase of the moon, and with high enough a percentage in the spell in question the casting cost can be reduced.

Spell rounds

By training the skill essence eye you get reports on the progress of the spell you're casting. You can also see the spell you are currently casting by typing 'cast info', but that doesn't show how far the casting has proceeded.

Failing

All spells will fail occasionally, even with all the relevant skills trained to high levels. By training the skill mana control you can save part of the spells sp-cost during failed spells.