“A minute to learn, a lifetime to master” - well, maybe not a lifetime, but Atlas’ custom-coded Magic system is so robust that the spell possibilities are nearly endless! So let’s start with the basics:
Casting Spells
There are 2 major elements to spellcasting: Wands and Spellbooks (more about crafting those below.) To cast a spell, you must be holding a Wand in the off-hand, and a Spellbook in the main hand.
Casting spells costs Experience. You can see a spell’s cost by hovering over its Spellbook.
In addition to the Experience cost, casting spells also reduces the Durability of the Wand used to cast it. So be sure to carry backup Wands if you plan to do a lot of spellcasting!
Mana (Experience)
Your mana is your Experience bar! Gain levels with vanilla methods like killing mobs, as well as custom methods like eating Cooked Foods that match your flavor preference!
Players will lose their Experience points when they die. However, players can bottle their experience and store it for later use! Simply right-click on a regular Enchanting Table while holding an Empty Bottle to store a small amount of your Experience.
Wands & Wandcrafting
Wands are the “expendable” tool of Magic - thus, they are cheap and easy to make at any Crafting Table!
The recipe here shows how to make an Iron Wand - but you can replace the Iron Ingot with a Gold Ingot or Diamond to make different versions! Different types of Wands have varying statistics, which modify whatever spell is being cast:
- Cast Speed - Number of seconds it takes to cooldown after casting a spell (in addition to the spell’s cooldown)
- Cast Effectiveness - Amount of damage added to the spell
- Range - Number of blocks added to the effective range of the spell
In the future, we will be adding a Smeltery and Fletchery tie-in, so that you can make dozens of additional Wand types by substituting different unique ores and wood types!
Spellbooks & Spellcrafting
Spellbooks represent the individual spell being cast - since they are held in the main hand, mages can quickly scroll between different spells on their hotbar to have easy access to their preferred set of spells.
All usable Spellbooks start as a Blank Spell Book - craftable at any Crafting Table using the recipe here. Once you have the Blank Spell Book, you’ll need to use a custom spellcrafting workstation: the Arcane Altar.
Building an Arcane Altar is easy - simply place an Enchanting Table on top of a Lapis Block. You can right-click an Arcane Altar while holding a Blank Spell Book to place it on the altar and begin chanting.
Once you’ve placed your Blank Spell Book, anything you type into chat will be “chanted” into the Spellbook (if you want to cancel this, simply remove the Blank Spell Book from the Arcane Altar by Shift-right-clicking it. If you walk too far away while your Blank Spell Book is still on the altar, it will self-destruct and you will not get it back!)
Each spell word must be “chanted” separately into the book - so you’ll need to hit Enter after each word to make it stick, before adding more. Chanting multiple words in the same chat line will result in a useless spellbook.
There are 2 types of spells: Common and Uncommon:
Common Spells
There are currently 30 Common Spells on Atlas. You’ll recognize them quickly, as they have particular spell names such as Firebolt or Raise Steed. All players who have learned the Magic skill can view the spell words used to create all Common Spells by typing /recipes.
All Common Spells are made up of 4 spell words. If crafted correctly at an Arcane Altar, the completed Spellbook will appear as the name of the Common Spell, rather than the individual words used to create it.
Uncommon Spells
While all players have access to the Common Spells, there are thousands of additional spell variations! New combinations of spell words, and even new words, have the possibility of resulting in unique spells with varying attributes - only discoverable through trial and error!
To be viable, a Spellbook must have anywhere from 3 to 8 individual spell words. Completed Spellbooks of Uncommon Spells will only appear as a combination of the spell words used to craft it.