New events, new spells, new caravan traders, bug fixes, tweaks and more.
New events: arcane drain and arcane surge - these events boost or sap mana. If the mage loses all their mana during a mana drain event, they will start to become sick and can even die. Pain/pain threshold and consciousness contribute to the drain event and will have increased affect on these mages. Mana pots are an effective way to combat the mana sickness.
New faction - arcane fold. A rare faction that specializes in the arcane. Creation of this faction is also a first step in creating events centered around magic. The Arcane Fold will now send caravan traders; you will find a a good selection of spells and magical artifacts in their stock.
Reworked Gladiator Cleave to improve overall functionality and ease of use - this ability is now instant cast and searches for nearby targets around the Gladiator, if a target is found, it will instantly apply cleave to this target.
New disease - Arcane Sickness. Though rare, and usually not deadly, the disease absorbs mana in the body of the mage and will prevent any mana gain while it is present. It also has significant physical side affects if left to fester. The disease attaches to microorganisms so standard treatments can applied by eliminating the microorganism carrying the disease.
Two new stand-alone spells - siphon mana and transfer mana. Siphon mana will drain a significant amount of mana from another mage to be absorbed by the caster. The amount of mana drained will never exceed the current amount held by the victim. If the victim is not a mage, this spell will drain life force from physical capacity and can act as a significant debuff and can cause death in extreme cases. This spell can be applied multiple times to a target to increase the effect. Transfer mana functions similarly, however, the caster will lose mana and the recipient will gain mana. If the recipient is not a mage, they will gain significant physical enhancements from the controlled surge of mana into their body. However, like siphon mana, too much can be harmful and even deadly.
Lastly, some casting behavior changes have been made to improve the feel of abilities. If a spell is cast and meets criteria for range and line of sight, it will instantly cast. Pawns will no longer move to a "preferred" location to cast the spell, as long as it can be cast immediately. If a spell targets another pawn, and does not meet cast requirements, your caster will still move to get into position. Ground targeted abilities will still be used without any affect, so pay attention to the target indicator.
Some abilities now ignore line of sight. These spells include: summon, blink, all buffs (eg AMP, Ray of Hope, etc), and terra-form spells.
Some abilities can now be used with a shield belt (or shield generating item). These spells are generally the non-projectile or non-violent abilities. The list includes: blink, summon, teleport, all gladiator abilities, all paladin abilities, all buffs, and most of the utility, stand-alone spells. If an attempt to use an ability that does not work with shield-belt is made, when you click the ability icon it will now generate a message telling you it does not work with a shield belt, and what item is blocking the mages power.
