An Expansion of the Magic System

[ZanaLyrander]

I really like the magic system in Three Houses. The whole certain number of casts of each spell per battle thing is actually really good design that makes a lot more sense to me than the magic tomes of previous FE games (a sword that breaks after 20-30 swings is stupid enough already, but how do you run out of book? Just read it again, what do you tear out the page after reading it?)

However, I had an idea inspired by the magic tomes of previous games, as well as the crest items of New Game+: a set of magic tomes, one for each spell, that when in a character’s inventory, give that character access to that spell. You’d only have one tome per spell, so you’d have to ration them among your army, and they take up an inventory slot (perhaps you might also be limited to only one tome per character), but I just thought it would be a really neat way to add a certain amount of flexibility to various characters’ spell lists, and get some use out of the less common spells. I doubt we’ll get this, but it’d be a fairly easy and useful DLC item set that would add a little more freedom and customization to the magic system. 

Edited August 21, 2019 by ZanaLyrander

[ZanaLyrander]

Decided to rename this topic to be a little clearer what I’m talking about. 

Edited August 21, 2019 by ZanaLyrander

[Boomhauer007]

Oh man imagine being able to give Lysithea meteor or even just Thoron. Or Mercedes giving Warp.

It's a cool idea but you would get some busted characters so quickly.

[Hyper L]

I just want non-mage classes to be able to use magic.

Imagine Armored Mage. Even if not optimal it would be super fun.

And don't forget Armored healer A.K.A Impregnable Health Generator.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Hyper L

[wissenschaft]

3 hours ago, Hyper L said:

I just want non-mage classes to be able to use magic.

Imagine Armored Mage. Even if not optimal it would be super fun.

And don't forget Armored healer A.K.A Impregnable Health Generator.

Those are left for master classes. Mortal savant. Magic based lance attacks for Dark and holy knight. Would be nice if they came up in lower tier classes,

[ZanaLyrander]

6 hours ago, Boomhauer007 said:

Oh man imagine being able to give Lysithea meteor or even just Thoron. Or Mercedes giving Warp.

It's a cool idea but you would get some busted characters so quickly.

Very true. It would be tough to balance, but it would give some prominence to less used mages as well, Those Who don’t get a lot of attention simply because they don’t have a good spell list.

That, and it would give some underutilized spells a chance to shine. Poor Bolting: a fun spell for sniping enemies from far away, but it’s only learned by two characters, Manuela and Hilda, the first of which I didn’t use because her stats suck and I have access to better choices for Warp users, and the later of which is completely wasted as a mage, and much better off as a Wyvern Lord, or even a Great Knight if desperate for variety. Being able to use Bolting on an actually decent mage would be nice. 

[paladin21]

For starters, I think anima and dark magic should have different competences. However, the idea of having tomes allowing the use of certain spells is interesting, but difficult to implement without breaking the game.

Maybe, if tomes were permanently added to fill character's free magic slots, maybe typically non magic users who be usable in different classes.

What I've had added is a favourite weapon for each character, so he'd have access to all the unlocked arts and spells (half normal amount of uses like in the noble/commoner classes) added to the regular amount. This would make regular mages have some magic while in other classes, and physical classes be able to access some secondary weapon or mobility arts without losing some of their signature weapon's. I just hate it to have to choose between axe skills for my war master because he has four (and the self-healing one from brawling).

[X-Naut]

I've had my own thoughts about tomes, although they'd be weapons like in the older games.

• Spells from tomes may have different statistics from spells learned naturally, i.e. the Nosferatu tome has 6 Mt.
• If you don't know the spell naturally, you can cast it from the tome.
• If you DO know the spell, however, you'll cast a version more powerful than either if you have the tome! When doing this, you must cast from the tome.
• In addition, if you know the spell naturally, you can use the tome regardless of weapon rank. Not that that perk would have much use here...

[DefyingFates]

I'd love this too! I know the game may have been too exploitable if everyone could use magic, but I was upset at how few classes could use it at all, so a compromise like using magic through items would be perfect!!

[sunshinescj]

I also wish more classes could use magic and that magic + weapon combos weren't always saved for master classes. It's frustrating to have it right at the beginning of the game only for it to disappear for so long. Also I know this is probably technically redundant with the magic bow existing but I'd really like to see some sort of bow mage class. We've got classes that combine magic and swords, magic and lances, and magic and axes, but not magic and bows. I know the other weapons are primarily 1 range hence the added utility of magic but I still want it.

[paladin21]

12 hours ago, sunshinescj said:

I also wish more classes could use magic and that magic + weapon combos weren't always saved for master classes. It's frustrating to have it right at the beginning of the game only for it to disappear for so long. Also I know this is probably technically redundant with the magic bow existing but I'd really like to see some sort of bow mage class. We've got classes that combine magic and swords, magic and lances, and magic and axes, but not magic and bows. I know the other weapons are primarily 1 range hence the added utility of magic but I still want it.

Magic+axe classes don't exist in this game. And the bow+magic class could be called arcane archer. I think it would be a fitting name.

[sunshinescj]

5 hours ago, paladin21 said:

Magic+axe classes don't exist in this game. And the bow+magic class could be called arcane archer. I think it would be a fitting name.

Oh I know Malig Knight isn't here I just meant in general. Also arcane archer sounds cool! I guess it could promote to arcane sniper and then dark bow knight (a combination of dark and bow knight that trades lances for bows.)

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I like this idea. I had thought before of consumable "spell scrolls", that can be consumed to permanently add a spell to a character's list. But I like equippable tomes better (presumably, only usable by units with a high enough reason or faith rank?). They should definitely be rare, though, like one-time enemy drops or chests, and maybe the Dark Merchant could sell one or two Dark tomes.

Another change I'd like to see to magic is limiting the number of spells you can bring into battle (like Combat Arts). Obviously it's 0 for non-magic classes, but I was thinking Nobles/Commoners could each get two spells, Monk/Mage/Priest/Dark Mage/Dancer gets three, and all other magic classes get four. Tomes could exist outside these limitations, so you could bring and use one even if you've got an otherwise-full spell list.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Shanty Pete's 1st Mate
Typo.