Spells

Having magic is something that most people aspire to, but when they do get it it's usually under-utilised. MUD2 has two parallel hierarchy of levels each for protected/non-protected personae and for male/female personae - one for magic-users and one for non-magic users. Type levels in-game to see this. Everyone starts their first game as a non-magic user and in order to have magical powers a visit to the Cave of Stars is required. The Cave of Stars does not provide guaranteed magical powers though; there is a chance of death. The probability of living after an attempt to gain magical powers increases with level, but weighing up the difficulty in gaining levels without magic, the loss in points and the chance of survival most people chose to visit the Cave of Stars once they reach champion(ne) (level 7).

If you're lucky enough to survive this experience, you are rewarded with a range of spells. Typing spells will produce this table:

*spells
For an explanation of this table, the command is SpellsHELP.
SPELL------------%-----AUTOMATIC---COST
BLIND 5 7 7
CHANCE 11 1 1
CHANGE 8 4 4
CRIPPLE 5 7 7
DEAFEN 5 7 7
DIAGnose 8 4 10
DISable 5 7 28
DUMB 5 7 7
GLOW 10 2 2
IGNite 7 5 5
ILlusion 5 7 7
RePair 8 4 4
ReSite 10 2 2
SITE 10 2 2
UNBLIND 6 6 6
UNCRIPPLE 6 6 6
UNDEAFEN 6 6 6
UNDUMB 6 6 6
UNGLOW 10 2 2
Type NeXt or SPELLS for the next chunk...
*nx
uninVISible [2] 10 2 7
uninVISible [2] 10 7 7
UNSITE 10 2 2
WHere [1] 11 1 1
Notes:
 [1] A form of WHERE will work in the Elizabethan Tearoom for everyone.
 [2] If you uninVISible yourself, the 10%/2/7 version is taken; if you
uninVISible <obj>, the 10%/7/7 one is taken for EVERY invisible object of class <obj>,
with an extra magical cost of 5 whether any are invisible or not.
 Note that this can work out rather expensive!

The table at mage (level 10) level is about twice the size of this one! The command spells lists the spells that you can use at your current level but this doesn't stop you from attempting spells you know become available to higher levels. The chance of successfully casting these spells however is greatly decreased.

In the table above the second column labelled percent (%) indicates the chance of successfully casting a particular spell but this figure needs to be multiplied by the level of the caster, e.g. for a sorcerer (level 7) the chance of successfully casting a glow spell is 10 multiplied by 7 = 70%. However the next column may override this equation. The automatic column indicates the level at which the ability to cast that spell is assured. So for the glow spell it is assured to be cast at level 2 (soothsayer) and above so therefore overrides the previous example. The cost column indicates the amount of magic used to cast any particular spell regardless of whether it works or not (except for the force spell which is calculated differently, but doesn't appear on the spells command until level 10 with an explanation of its own). Another thing to note is that successfully casting a spell according to the probability doesn't necessarily mean it will work if trying to cast against another player. Players have natural magic resistance depending upon their level that may affect your spell casting abilities.

Once you gain magical abilities you should notice that you have another attribute listed when you type score (or sc for short) under stamina. This is your magic quota and the maximum is the same as your maximum stamina. Like stamina you can increase your magic by sleeping. Be warned, if your magic goes below 1 you'll lose your magical abilities permanently and you'll have to go back to the Cave of Stars again.

To actually cast a spell you type the spell you want to cast followed by the name of the player or mobile you want to cast the spell on, e.g. blind ram or unblind madeupname. If you want to cast the spell on yourself you only need to type the spell on its own, you don't need to type unblind me.

There are various objects in The Land that either let non-magic users cast certain spells, or aid the successful casting of a particular spell for a magic user. There are hints and clues about these objects mentioned in the libram that is often found in the bookcase in the cottage. There are also objects and rooms that protect you from other players either casting a specific spell on you, or from casting any spell on you.

The trick with magic is to experiment with spells, but please don't go casting aggressive magic on an unsuspecting low-level player! Once you've become confident with the use of spells it could make the difference between life and death in a fight! Magic will most certainly make playing more interesting and open up whole new possibilities for you.