Magic & Spell Casting

Introduction to Magic & Spell Casting

Some of the tribes in Unicopia have magical abilities, though not all of them function exactly the same. This page is specifically concerned with the system introduced for Unicorns which allows them to both craft and cast highlight customised magical effects (spells) on their bodies and surroundings.

Part 1: The Magic Within

Unicopia's magic system is partially inspired by the magic systems of mods like Equivalent Exchange II with some unique aspects tied into the lore of the mod. Any Unicorn starting off will always have two basic spells, and an intrinsic ability available in their arsenal.

By defualt the spells given to unicorns when they start are:

1. Shield Spell
2. Catapult Spell

The intrinsic ability is Teleportation.

Shield Spell

The shield spell can be toggled with your primary ability (by default the R key) and will, predictably, produce a spherical shield around you to protect your body.

Catapult Spell

The catapult spell can be selected by holding shift to switch the target marker (arrow) to point to the second gem icon in the hud, and then toggled using the primary ability (by default the R key). When casting, the catapult spell will produce a beam of energy that will cause any block it collides with to be launched into the air.

Repeating the action on a block that is already flying will push it in the direction of the beam.

Casting catapult with the primary ability is slow, though, so you may want to switch modes to shooting instead (by default Page Up/Page Down). Shooting functions the same as casting, but it will prefer to produce a projectile rather than try to cast the spell on your body or at your location. Certain spells will perform different actions when used as one versus the other.

Teleportation

The teleportation spell acts as an ability and can be triggered using your secondary ability (by default the G key) to instantly travel to the location under your crosshair, assuming it is within your maximum teleportation distance.

Both consume mana, which you can learn more about in its specific section (TODO).

Without going any further into the magic system, these are your abilities. You're encouraged to experiment with them, try sneaking whilst teleporting, and see how far you can go, or pair it with the Bangle of Comradery, but if you need or want to explore further to find out what is possible, keep reading.

Part 1.A: A Unicorn and their Spellbook

Spells are meant to be discovered organically by a certain measure of trial and error, and practice as lore elements are unlocked by levelling up your character, thus any essential tool that any Unicorn has to have before they start learning to use magic, is the Spellbook.

The Spellbook is the gateway into learning everything there is, not just about learning to craft spells, but also the other types of magical implements available to find within the mod as well as the story about how they may have come to be.

To craft a spellbook, you're going to need both a gemstone and a book.

Using The Spellbook

Once you have the spellbook, place it down anywhere by right-clicking the ground, then right-click the spellbook again to open it for reading.

Upon first opening the book, you may notice most of the pages are unintelligable. Every page has a difficulty level associated with it that appears under the title of that page. If your character's level is below that number, you will be unable to read its contents, so you will only be able to read pages from the introduction section at first.

As you use magic and cast your spells, even trivial ones, you will gain experience and level up your character, so in time you will be able to read these pages.

TODO Needs expansion

Note

The spellbook is a living entity! You can hold shift and right-click to open and close it to toggle its open state. The spellbook will then proceed to "sleep" until the next day. It may also close on its own and require you to toggle it manually to get it to open again. If you're not a unicorn, you can read it too, but you may have to manually open it with your hoof.

Part 2: Basics of Spellcrafting

One of the things you'll notice in the spellbook is a hexagonal crafting grid. This is where you'll be spending most of your time throwing items into to create and customise your spells, and though it may seem complicated at first, it's really straight forward once you start unlocking things.

To start, all spell recipes require two types of inputs:

1. A base material This is the item you're going to funnel magic into, typically a gemstone
2. Donor materials These are the items you want to pull magic from in order to create your spell. Each donor item contributes different traits which controls the type and behaviour of the spell created.

Placing items closer to the center increases the amount of that item's traits that go into the spell. Typically you want to keep everything as close to the center as possible to maximise the return on the materials you put in, but later as your spells get more complicated you may find yourself putting items in the outer ring to fine-tune the exact amount of the traits that end up in the created spell.

Part 3: Traits

See Table of Item Traits for a cheat-sheet of item traits.

Traits are a similar concept to the "elements" introduced by mods like Equivalent Exchange. If you've played those mods before, then you may already know how this works. If you haven't, or you haven't played with such a system in a while, it may appear confusing at first but it's very simple.

Every item in the game is assigned one or more traits based on their physical properties, i.e. temperature, where they come from, or what they're made of. Things that come from plants have traits commonly associated with plants, things from the nether have darker/more evil traits. There are also more abstract traits, such as ones based on the elements of harmony, or discord.

The spellbook contains a lexicon of all the traits and the items that contain them, however, like the pages, these will appear blank for your at first. as you discover traits, these pages will gradually reveal themselves to you, the same as new details on previously unlocked pages become filled in as you discover the traits.

Part 3.A: Discovering Traits

How do you discover traits?

Take random items and throw them in the spellbook! Go wild!

You'll mostly end up with botched gems, but every time you craft a spell the traits for the items you used will be added to the lexicon, allowing you to find out what they are and later use them to make more useful spells.

Doing this and crafting spells can also earn your experience, allowing you to level up faster and unlock more pages describing other spells.

Part 4: Corruption

Intentionally left blank.

Part 5: Spells

This section is a placeholder and will eventually link to a separate wiki page detailing everything about the different spell types and their recipes. (I was going to put that here, but I think that might make this page too long)