SORCERER FORUM!  GM Romulus will be hosting a
    forum for Sorcerers on Saturday night (980207)
    starting at 9pm EST.  Type: FORUM INFO for more info about forums.
    Striped tents will be set up at: The Landing, Teras, RR and IMT
    and will only allow access to Premium Sorcerers and Hosts.

You see Lord Romulus Conundrum the Giantman Sorcerer.
He appears to be in his 140's, has short, wavy black hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin.
He is in good shape.
He is wearing some rare black myklian scale armor, an enruned gold aventail, a plain ordinary pouch, a dark shadowy manteau, a rare black myklian scale shield, a diamond helm, a belt pouch, and a heavy backpack.

 [Global Assembly Room]
The room is so full you can see nothing around you!  The only thing that you can make out is the stage with a podium on it.  A lone light shines down upon the podium.
Obvious exits: out.

 Romulus says, "Anyhow, I'd like to thank you for your patience as we were opening this up.  I'll have a few things to say, then I'll open things up for a few questions."
 Romulus says, "Oh folks... DO NOT use the LOOK command, it will likely dump you from the game."
 Romulus says, "Anyhow, lets get this thing started.  :)"
 Romulus says, "This is my first opportunity to host a forum, so the mechanics are new to me.  I'll try to be as accomodating as possible and do my best to answer any concerns you may have."
 Romulus says, "Much of what I have to say is macroed in so that you won't have to wait for me to share what info I have to to initiate the points I want to make."
 Romulus says, "This should help to increase the quantity and the quality of the informatin significantly.  In order for us to accomplish the most in the time we have, I must ask that you do your part too:"
 Romulus says, "1) Please ensure all questions or comments are on topic.  Straying from the topic will make it difficult to maintain the flow of this forum, and more difficult to cover all of the topics planned."
Romulus says, "Some of your questions/concerns may be relevant in a later topic.  If we do not cover something that concerns you in this forum, you should post your concern in the appropriate Sorcerer BB topic."
Romulus says, "If you refuse to stay on topic, you may be ejected from the forum.  If you're really bad I may lock you in a room until the forum is done so we can have a talk later.  I don't want to do that."
 Romulus says, " 2) Please be respectful of the opinions and concerns of others.  Never attack the character or the person behind the character for any questions or concerns they may have."
Romulus says, "Nor should you user your comments or questions as a method to attack another personally.  Failure to show proper respect, or if you are disruptive, may subject you to ejection from the forum."
 Romulus says, " 3) Please have any initial questions or comments macroed if possible, or in your command line buffer.  This will save us a great deal of time."
 Romulus says, "Waiting for someone to compose a question reduces the amount of time available to cover the planned topics."
Romulus says, " 4) Depending on the size of the forum, I may turn on the ability to do stuff and have open discussions.  I would prefer to be able to do this if there aren't too many players participating."
 Romulus says, "However, if the room gets too disruptive or the screen scroll gets too bad, I will turn this ability back off."
 Romulus says, "Which, apparently it is. ;)"
Romulus says, " 5) Disruptive or rude players will be ejected from the forum at my descretion.  I have very little tolerance for either.  Please purport yourself with the dignity of your profession."
 Romulus says, "GENERAL NOTE: For those of you who do not keep up with or monitor the Sorcery related topics on the player boards, much of this may be new information to you."
 Romulus says, "If you want detailed answers to any questions or concerns you may have, or if you have suggestions you would like to make, the player boards are a very useful tool for you to use for that purpose."
 Romulus says, "The player boards afford us all a better opportunity to compare and explore any suggestions or problems at length and reflect on ideas and possible solutions in a way not available in the forum."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus asks, "The list is open for pertinant questions about what I just covered..  Any questions?"
 Romulus says, "Well, none of the first 10 questions had anything to do with what I just covered. ;)  However, I will be answering most of those questions as we move on."
 Romulus says, "I will erase the queue and give you another opportunity to ask questions about what I have covered so far."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Well, I still see no questions about what I have already covered.  Try to not do anything that might dump your character."
 Romulus says, "Since I have only covered preliminary stuff, I'll move onto more important stuff."
 Romulus says, "With all of that preliminary stuff out of the way, now it is time for the main course of the forum."
 Romulus says, "It might be best to start by clarifying what I am not prepared to cover in detail in this forum: The Sorcerer's Guild, Demons, the Animate Dead spell or specific changes to caster CS and target TD."
 Romulus points up
 Romulus says, "So please do not ask questions concerning those topics."
 Romulus says, "YOu guys can stop rubbing your chins too."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "We are still workig on some of this forum code in the background."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Anyhow.."
 Romulus says, " a) Reputation:  The Sorcery profession has a few PR problems, many of which seem to be self-inflicted."
 Romulus says, "oops"
 Romulus lost his place..
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, " 1) Problems with Sorcery (where we are comming from):"
 Brevelan rubs Romulus gently.
 Romulus says, " a) Reputation:  The Sorcery profession has a few PR problems, many of which seem to be self-inflicted."
 Romulus says, "First is the tendancy to draw a few undesireable characters (not the majority by any means) due to the powerful nature of our profession."
 Romulus says, "Those who desire to abuse others or desire to have control or power over others tend to gravitate to what they preceive to be the most powerful professions."
 Romulus says, "We aren't the only profession with this problem: warriors, rogues and to some degree wizards have a similar problem.  But the problem they have isn't within the realm of our responsibility."
 Romulus says, "We have taken several steps as needed to deal with abuse on an individual basis, but the problem still exists that abusive players need to be identified early so they can be dealt with promptly."
 Romulus says, "To facilitate this, I have begun to code in certain PvP and mechanics abuse checking and monitoring code that will look for abuse of the Sorcery spells."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "This code will also message any onduty GMs, other GMs if none are onduty, of this suspected abuse, and record the abuse or attempted abuse in the appropriate player logs."
 Romulus says, "In the case of mechanics abuse to benefit empaths, the abuse or attempted abuse will also be recorded in the logs of the empath about what I have just covered."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Silentwrath says, 'romulus does this coding take into account self defense since the courts dont?'"
 Romulus says, "This change will only record and message what is happeing with the spell.  We cannot tell with code why a player casts something.  But if we see a lot of this type of activity (casting spells to harm others), we can be awefully suspicious of the activity."
 Romulus says, "Silentwrath says, 'romulus does this coding take into account self defense since the courts dont?'"
 Romulus says, "Well, depends on what we find.  If we see you injuring yourself or another on purpose to benefit an empath, were gonna warn you and the empath officially."
 Romulus says, "If we see you have a long history of harming other players, well yer gonna have problems."
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, "Off topic."
 Romulus says, "Their opinion means nothing."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "The Reality is that we do have problems.  We can fix them.  We can filter out the worst offenders."
 Romulus says, "There will be a lot of changes comming, but I'll cover many of these later."
 Romulus says, "I will be covering this later, but Maelstrom and Implosion will have a 'focusing' (aiming) option added to them eventually.  This will allow us to use the spell in crouded rooms provided we train properly.  More on this later."
 Romulus says, "You can always defend yourself.  How enthusiatic you get at it is something that might cause problems.  You don't alwyas have to kill to solve a problem."
 Romulus says, "Also, remember that if you cast a damaging spell at another player, you just might be effective.  Be responsible with your powers."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Answered already."
 Romulus says, "Off topic."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus points up
 Romulus says, "Presently I don't plan to put the same monitoring code in Mind Jolt unless it becomes an abuse problem."
 Romulus says, "I did not come prepared to talk in depth about changes to CS or TD.  Although I will be covering some TD changes that are already going in."
 Romulus says, "Yes, I hope to be able to code who imbedded Maelstrom or Implosion on an item.  Have not asked for premission to do that yet, or even researched it."
 Romulus says, "Also, this code will not 'prevent' abuse, simply help us to identify and dispose of the abusive players who refuse to modify their activities."
 Romulus says, "In trouble, perhaps not.  But it will be recorded in your logs.  If you do it a lot, and it seens that the players keep dying afterwards...  Well, you get the picture."
 Romulus says, "Also, if you do it and they are taking damage that an empath can learn from.  That will be recorded also as possible mechanics abuse."
 Romulus says, "Off topic so far.  Will cover that later."
 Romulus says, "If a Sorcerer is casign damage spells on themself or another player, this is game mechanics abuse.  A warnable offence."
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, "Sorry folks, just found out yer not seeing the questions."
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, "Prestius says, 'Can you specify which spells in particular will be targeted? I assume Blood Burst (in reference to Empaths), but what others?  Remember .. some people *need* .. ahem .. "attitude adjustments".'"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Any damaging spell will be targeted for abuse monitoring."
 Romulus says, "Phobo says, 'is the use of mind jolt "for fun" considered abuse?'"
 Romulus says, "Yes."
 Romulus says, "Using mind jolt to shut up a snert may not be abusive, if you give them a chance to leave after it wears off."
 Romulus says, "Gespry says, 'Romulus, is the sorcerer spell circle ever gonna be fully implimented?..if so, when?'"
 Romulus says, "Yes, and I have no idea.  It will be several years at least."
 Romulus says, "We have a lot of new changes comming.  A full list isn't all it's cracked up to be either.  But this is off topic."
 Romulus says, "Drexla says, 'What about those times say when you are fighting a titan, and Titaniia wanders in just as you cast.  At this point, you will always hit Titaniia, will you get a permanent mark for that?'"
 Romulus says, "The mark will be there, be we can tell the difference between a stupid cast like 'cast t', and a possible mistake like what you describe."
 Romulus says, "Omenz says, 'I Have Many Times Casted 702 on myself By Mistake trying to cast 102 ,, and Needed Empuff Attention. How would you tell the diffrence between that and someone 705'ing themselves to help an Puff learn ?'"
 Romulus says, "I suggest you be more careful. :)"
 Romulus says, "A lot would be weighed on how often you make 'mistakes'."
 Romulus says, "Finngus says, 'we do not know the questions or comments that you are responding to. We just hear cryptic answers.'"
 Romulus says, "I hope that is fixed now.  :P"
 Romulus says, "Jezbelle says, 'Off topic...and just a general statement.  The TD changes that have been made hurt our profession considerably, the only way we can boost CS is though training & 425.  I find that I no longer have fun being a sorcerer in the realms and have almost completely abandonned playing this character that I rerolled at 34 and then retrained to 33.  I want to have fun hunting again, not just frustration every time I try to hunt something my own level.'"
 Romulus says, "yep, off topic.  When I have more info on the CS and TD changes, I'll probably request to do another forum.  yes, I am that crazy. :)"
 Romulus wonders if Jaxxon saw that.
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "Lylia says, 'Romulus, will this force me to change my way of life? Will I have to be nice to puppies and children? Will our hands be tied, or will we still be beholden to the same authority, no more no less, than anyone else? Or will we be held to a higher standard? '"
 Romulus says, "For the near future a higher standard.  You should expect this type of abuse monitoring to bleed through to other preofessions though."
 Romulus says, "Perhaps you should just ignore the children and eat the puppies till then. :)"
 Romulus closes the question box.
 Romulus says, "That is enough on that topic for now.  Moving on."
 Romulus says, "Another area that is being looked at is recording in the caster logs any time that a spell of mass destruction (Malestrom / Implosion) is successfully imbedded into a rub or raise activated item."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Possibly, this may extend on to all damaging Sorcerer spells since raise and rub usually effect the person with the item."
 Romulus says, "We sorta covered those areas earlier."
 Romulus says, "The last item under Sorcerer reputation is the power of the profession of Sorcery.  I realize this is a delecate subject..."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "And I wish to assure all of you from the onset that I have no desire to 'ruin' the profession of Sorcery."
 Romulus says, "Just hang on for a bit, got a lot to say before the question box will be opened again.."
 Romulus says, "But we do need to find creative ways to bring our profession in line with the power range that the Produce Manager, Assistant Product Managers/SGMs have in mind."
 Romulus grumbles.
 Romulus says, "still typoed it."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Ok, so yer all vegtables."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "'This means that for the next few years several aspects of Sorcery may be in flux.  Any changes that we do implement..."
 Romulus says, "I hope to be able to give the players enough advanced notice so that they will be able to adjust their training regimine so that they can adapt to forthcomming realities."
 Romulus says, "All of the spells will be looked into in time, and some spells will be adjusted in power to more correctly reflect the amount of mana invested for the damage done."
 Romulus says, "Stance and OHC, or Hand Held Encumberance (my preferred method) will likely play a more important role in the future.  More info on this later."
 Romulus says, "I will open the question box now for any questions you may have relative to what we have covered so far."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Charagos says, 'When and how will spell aiming be implimented?'"
 Romulus says, "Ugh.  I really didn't come prepared to answer thjat since the code is still under development.  Mostly I am still brainstorming it."
 Romulus says, "The Spell aiming for the focusing options will not be like the regular AS type spell aiming."
 Romulus says, "Nor will it require as much spell aiming skill.  (under present plans)  Mainly since most Sorcerers don't train for it, nore do we want wide-scale reallocation, or any at all if possible."
 Romulus says, "Stardrake says, 'How will the new changes affect our hunting?'"
 Romulus says, "Hm..  Changes implemented so far, no change.  I do have a new version of MD that is under consideration that is more powerful if you have a higher failure, but less powerful for lower failures."
 Romulus says, "I hope to give Sorcerers more options on how to tort/ um, kill their prey."
 Romulus says, "There is alot of room for improvement in our list.  I hope to make full use of that asset."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Veralynn says, 'do you suggest training in brawling now?'"
 Romulus says, "I cannot say yet.  I don't want us to require OHC.  But I do want open handed casting to give us more power than casting with items in our hands."
 Romulus says, "OHC practically requires brawling skill, which should only be an option, not a requirement."
 Romulus says, "I mentioned a hand held encumberance that I prefer.  This is a fairly new concept.  It means that you would have a modifier based on your ST or possibly another bonus that could be compared to the weight of the items in your hands."
 Romulus says, "Basically, the less encumbered your hands are, and the better you could normally hold items, the better you would be at casting with those items in your hands.  But, if you had ligher, or no, items in your hands, you would recieve an even higher bonus."
 Romulus says, "Note: this is all in the conceptual stage at the moment."
 Romulus says, "Kiestad says, 'When you say targeted does that mean spells use the skill spell targeting (or whatever it is called, wizzies would know)?'"
 Romulus says, "yep."
 Romulus says, "But not to the extent that is required of them.  I am thinking of a target of about half what they train for, but there would be other modifiers too."
 Romulus says, "Spindar says, '"If a Sorcerer is casting damage spells on themselves, this is game mechanics abuse."  Will self-casted 708 be considered abusive?'"
 Romulus says, "Yep.  If it is used to harm another, put them in danger or so that an empath could learn from it."
 Romulus says, "Hereafter says, 'What do you plan to do to keep other vocal advocates for hamstringing sorcerers, such as GM Gorlash, from doing so?  He seems quite intent on making us fight like wizards, stance dancing, one handed casting, and so forth.  If I wanted to be a wizard, I would roleplay an annoying hobbit, I suppose.'"
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, "I don't agree with everything other GMs think.  But, I am the Sorcerer Guru and I do plan to take the best care possible of the profession.  The vote is unanimous from the top staff I have talked to.  Sorcerers will be 'adjusted'.  I'll do my best to reserve any adjustments to be done by me.  However, I must also defer to higher staff members on what and how much must be adjusted."
 Romulus says, "I respect the opinions of other GMs."
 Romulus says, "I don't want stance or OHC to be as important to Sorcerers as it is to other professions.  I don't think it should be."
 Romulus says, "Kessi says, 'will retraining be offered to us after to correct our training ?'"
 Romulus says, "Not if I can help it.  I want to make changes in such a way so that re-training or reallocatoin will not be required."
 Romulus says, "I do have a plan on how to build in a compromise in cases where normally the profession would be significanly effected.  However, I haven't run that possibility by teh Seniors yet, so I shouldn't say anything here."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "I want any changes I make to be reallocation-proof.  But I'm sneeky that way."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Mayko says, 'Along with all these changes is it remembered why they were made? Is it not seen that we still maintan the highest cost for 21 out of 28 skills?  Or that the majority of us do not have well over 120 health to deal with things?  Or that our armor is limited to full for max effectiveness when using our most fluant abilities? '"
 Romulus says, "Ah, I remember this from the boards."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "I can't comment on the armor changes.  I was not involved in that project nor have I discussed the changes with any other staff memebers."
 Romulus says, "Changes will be made.  That has already been decided.  But you will have to trust me that a lot of 'good' changes will be intertwined in the the 'bad' changes."
 Romulus says, "I am trying to take my time with some of the more significant changes.  I want to be sure I get it right, rather than put something in that will have to be re-patched over and over again."
 Romulus says, "As far as the skill training costs; the Art of Sorcerey is, has been and always will be a difficult path.  That will probably never change.  It is the price of power."
 Romulus says, "Bloodsnake says, 'romulus you say you'll give us enough time to adjust our training regimine...how bout those of us who have next to no way to advance...i.e. too old to learn from hunting or anything else and therefore havent trained in a long time and won't be training for a long time to come....theres quite a few of us out there...or are we talking about a timeframe of years here.'"
 Romulus smiles at Bloodsnake.
 Romulus says, "Good point.  I have a plan that will not require reallocation."
 Romulus glances around nervously for Banthis.
 Romulus says, "Anyhow, there is a way to allow players long periods of time to 'catch up' with their training.  And I bet a few GM's are wondering what the heck I'm talking about right about now."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "Let me pass the idea by the senior staff first before I say more about that.  You old folks are not forgotten in these changes."
 Romulus says, "Elysis says, 'will you make it so the imbedder or the person that uses the imbedded item will git marked, because some times imbedded items like that are good an' wat is the imbedder to judge the character of the other person, i mean when you are in a swarm alone, implosion would make for good things'"
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "Another good question."
 Romulus says, "Accountability for the imbedder.  Well, you won't get charged with the crime, but if we learn through logging the imbeds that your a Sorcerer that tends to imbed things for someone to blast meetings and such, well I don't have much sympathy for your lack of self control with your powers."
 Romulus says, "We will learn who you are and how often you contribute to mass mayhem."
 Romulus says, "For most Sorcerers this won't apply.  it would take more than one or two occourances for us to consider this a problem though."
 Romulus says, "Charagos says, 'When and how will spell aiming be implimented?'"
 Romulus says, "hm.. I though I answered that one before."
 Romulus says, "Spell aiming will be used for the focusing options of Maelstrom and Implosion.  These options will allow you to focus the energies of the spell on a specific target.  Provided you have enough training."
 Romulus says, "Ah, ya aksed two questions."
 Romulus says, "I'm gonna clear this list and allow more questions since this is an important part of this forum.  Please keep your questions on topic."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Prestius says, 'I realize you cannot comment on specifics of some of the upcoming changes (i.e. Demons, Walking Wiz .. er Dead spell .. Targeted 720, etc ), but can you give us some direction as to what types of training regimens we should undertake in order to take advantage of the 'adjustments' you foresee?'"
 Romulus says, "So far.. Train in Spell Aiming and Perception."
 Romulus says, "If/when I have more info about other training changes, I'll post them as soon as possible on the player boards."
 Romulus says, "I can't help but encourage yo to keep up with the Sorcery topics on the player boards.  I usually visit them and post 3 or 4 times a week."
 Romulus says, "Astharot says, 'if you tie CS and TD to stance, wouldn't that go against the nature of the spells themselves?  I thought the reason CS-based spells didn't affect stance is because they are not physical attacks, but rather attacks to the spirit. Therefore, tying them to stance would seem innaprorpiate.  Stance aids against elemental spells because you are diverting more or less efforts to blocking a tangible attack (fireball, lighting bolt, etc.)   not so with our spells...'"
 Romulus says, "I don't know if you have noticed, but Mana Disrupt has been tied to stance and OHC since it's creation."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Suprised?  You don't see it in the calculation, but it does change the final damage calculation.  Experiment with it."
 Romulus says, "Other spells may be the same.  I haven't checked all of them."
 Romulus says, "Somehow you have survived with MD for the last several years being tied to stance and OHC."
 Romulus says, "As I stated earlier, I don't see stance, OHC or any hand held modifier as being as significant for Sorcerers as it is for those casting AS-type bolt spells."
 Romulus says, "Mildu says, 'Empaths heal/transfer damage magically from the living. Sorcerers use their biomagic for the opposite effect. Might there be a closer aligning between the two professions in terms of effects on the magician? As in the sorcerer receiving gradual damage with spell use and/or experience exemption for the empaths treating them?'"
 Romulus asks, "Huh?"
 Romulus says, "If I understand the question correctly, the answer is no."
 Romulus says, "I see no reason why a Sorcerer should be damaged for using the Art.  Nor do I see a reason an Empath's learning from healing a Sorcerer should ever be modified."
 Romulus says, "Zeeleeia says, 'does the aiming mean if a maelstorm is embedded in a wand and given to a Wizard they will be more effective in using it?  also since some of trained in with the knowledge we would be casting from stance defense what spells do you anticapte requiring the change in stance and will the airwall (102) interfer with the spell like it would with a blade or Wizard spell?'"
 Romulus says, "First of all, no one casts from a defensive stance.  I'll assume you mean guarded stance."
 Romulus says, "Sorcerers will recieve a negative modifier simply because they are attempting to use a Sorcerer spell."
 Romulus says, "I don't anticipate any change in how airwall is used or effects our casting ability."
 Romulus says, "If it were required to be changed, then I would argue for a minor change at most since Sorcerer's spells are typically both elemental and spiritual.  Mentally based spells; Mind Jolt, Torment, Nightmare, Evil Eye, etc, really should not be effected by physical boundaries anyhow."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "not in my opinion anyhow."
 Romulus says, "Trevic says, 'Will the aiming of Maelstrom and Implosion only affect the creature that you cast at or all the critters and not players? and When will the spell aiming come into affect?'"
 Romulus says, "I am working on the basic utilities for this now.  I may be over-reaching, but what I have done to date is far more complex that the present casting TD/Defence code.  I hope to have a much more realistic AS and TD modification code in place.  Spell focusing options (aiming) will not be in place for at least a month."
 Romulus says, "The present plan is that if you have trained enough, the focused option will only effect that target, and no one/thing else."
 Romulus says, "Siraris says, 'I don't know if someone else asked this (just got here myself) but if you have one handed casting, how will our DS be affected?  '"
 Romulus says, "Depends on your training.  I don't really want stance to be as important to Sorcerers as it is to wizards or sword swingers.  This needs to be hashed out among the staff though."
 Romulus says, "There must be some consideration about the trade off of DS for added CS though.  That will be considered."
 Romulus says, "Penstar says, 'Does that hand encumbrance include gauntlets and gloves? And any items in them?'"
 Romulus says, "no, just items that are held in the hands."
 Romulus says, "Sassee says, 'Why do we need "adjustments"?  Does the staff think we are all that powerful?  Have them watch us fight side by side with other professions.  I get less kills than warriors and ambushers younger than me.'"
 Romulus says, "Yes, we are all that powerful.  We have all 5 fame pages full of legend level+ Sorcerers."
 Romulus says, "The MD spell alone is far more powerful than any spell even close to its mana cost."
 Romulus says, "I have no problem with Sorcerers being 'more powerful' than other professions.  Sorcerers should be.  The question is on how much more powerful and at what cost."
 Romulus says, "Not all of the changes are going to weaken Sorcerers.  In fact most of the changes I have planned will simply give us more variety and a greater reward for diversity.  Also a pinch of realism will be added."
 Romulus says, "I also want to add changes that will encourage roleplaying and association with more players.  I don't have time to go into that aspect though."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Omenz says, 'Howcome Any of theze Changes are Being Made in the first place ? i Musta Missed the Reason somewhere ,, I'm perfectly Happy the way i Is ,, why Now You makin us train in skills that was never realy needed as a sorc before ?  Seems Like it Be Bad ta have a Younger Sorc Be able to use a spell that a Legend Sorc Couldnt Because the Younger had the oppertunity to Train from his birth ,, Kinda Unfair'"
 Romulus says, "Not everything in life is fair."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Well, the upper staff, including myself agree that changes need to be made.  We are looking at what we see from a gamewide aspect, not a single professoin or a single player point of view."
 Romulus says, "Imbalances exist."
 Romulus says, "Spindar says, 'wasn't OHC originally conceptualized to differentiate pure-wizards from war-mages?  Whats the objective in bringing this to the Warding sphere?  Increase offenses, or reduce defenses? (If to reduce defenses, why not simply ignore right hand defenses when recieving an attack during spell prep and RT? This would blanket brawling as well)'"
 Romulus says, "Actually OHC was initially concieved as a Sorcerer requirement."
 Romulus says, "Mana Disrupt was initially named Touch of Disruption.  It was supposed to require that you actually touch the target with your bare empty hand."
 Romulus says, "To put special checks in gamewide code for Sorcerers would be more imbalancing, not less.  Changes need to be made within the Sorcerer code, not in the game-wide code."
 Romulus says, "It seems that so may are thinking that these changes will radically effect their viability.  That is not the intended result."
 Romulus says, "er so many..."
 Romulus says, "We are basically just beginning down this path.  A lot of work needs to be done."
 Romulus says, "Ok, that was the last question on that list."
 Romulus says, "I will open up to general questions at the end of the forum.  At least until my hands completely die on me."
 Romulus says, "Ok, for those of you who don't keep up with the Sorcerer topics on the player boards (shame on you!), you are probably wondering what changes are comming for our spell list."
 Romulus says, "Some spells will be combined, such as the Limb Break/Limb Disruption and the Pain Infliction/Throes of Pain spells."
 Romulus says, "Some spells will gain new features: A focusing (aiming) option for the Maelstrom and Implosion spells.  The option will require some Spell Aiming skill, so start training in that skill."
 Romulus says, "Possibly one spell (Quake, since it's just an illusion) will be removed from the list and turned into a Sorcerer's Guild illusion skill."
 Romulus says, "I said 'Possibly'.. ;)"
 Romulus says, "At least two more instant damage spells will be added to our list.  I am looking at Disintigrate or a Disintigrate clone so that it doesn't become a ray/bolt spell (requiring Aiming skill)."
 Romulus says, "I don't want any 'normal' base spell to require Spell Aiming skill."
 Romulus says, "Options are a different matter altogether."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "I am also considering Plasma, but have yet to come up with a way to make it a non-aiming spell.  I would happily consider other possible instant damage spells on the BB.  (Not here or now)."
 Romulus says, "I like Plasma.  But it's so darn elemental, I don't know how to make it ours."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Some spells will gain new features: A focusing (aiming) option for the Maelstrom and Implosion spells.  The option will require some Spell Aiming skill, so start training in that skill."
 Romulus says, "oops."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "I wish to remove the caps on spells so that greater failures will result in greater damage.  Though less failure will be less effective."
 Romulus says, "Some spells, like MD have a cap of a failure of 80.  Can't do any more damage."
 Romulus says, "The version I have under consideration doesn't have a cap.  Well, the 'cap' is a failure of over 670, so I don't really consider that a cap."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "This means that a high level Sorcerer should be able to obliterate a kobold with a low level instant damage spell.  Thalior should be able to knock the army boots off of a dead kobold's mother."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "I have already begun the process of altering the TD penalty for damage causing self-cast (such as rubbed imbedded items, or simply casting at yourself) Sorcerer spells."
 Romulus says, "The new TD penalty is a negative TD modifier equal to the number of Sorcerer spells you know, or equal to the level of the player or creature if not a Sorcerer."
 Romulus says, "The old TD modifier was a set -50 when self-cast.  I will be adding the new TD modifier to the spells as I go through them."
 Romulus says, "This means that Imbedded items and scrolls with Sorcerer spells on them will have less chance of success and cause less damage to young Sorcerers or non-Sorcerers."
 Romulus says, "For older and more powerful Sorcerers the effects can be devastating.  You will be held more accountable for your magics."
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "In the future, I would like to add more options and more features to present spells like Eye Spy."
 Romulus says, "These types of features would be learnable as a Sorcerer grows in power."
 Romulus says, "Future training requirements:  At present, the only training changes I see that a Sorcerer needs to make from 'traditional' Sorcerer training are Spell Aiming, and Perception."
 Romulus says, "Full training in those skills will not be a requirement.   If any other skill requirement changes appear neccisary in the future, I will post them as soon as possible on the player boards."
 Romulus says, "I hope to have another forum in the late spring to bring you up to date on developments and future plans."
 Romulus says, "I will not open the question box again.  Please keep your questions on the topics we have discussed.  This is the end of the basic information I have prepared."
 Romulus says, "er, I will now..."
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Kentaur says, 'Will higher spell aiming training make the spell more effective when targeted?  And wouldn't this lead to experimentation to see if one has enough training?  Possibly killing half yer party in the process?  Or will thar be some sort of message ta tell yas if yas don't have enough training to target the spell, rather than it goin off in an area fashion?  And could we have a recap on the more immdiate changes we face?'"
 Romulus says, "Most immediate changes I am workign on now are the focusing (aiming) system for the options of Maelstrom and Implosion.  I am also re-coding the self-cast modifiers and adding spell abuse code as I go through the spells."
 Romulus says, "There should be a functional limit on how much Spell Aiming skill will be required.  Mainly because the older players need a way to catch up."
 Romulus says, "As far as what happens if you fail the focused option, that is still being decided upon."
 Romulus says, "Seldom says, 'since I can't stand in front of a miner(at age 36) with one hand empty how do you expect to implement ohc '"
 Romulus says, "As I stated, traditional OHC is not the only option.  Using lighter weight weapons/shields is an option I am persuing that would positivly modify your abilities."
 Romulus says, "This is part of the utility that is under development now and hasn't even been seen by other staff members, so I can't be specific."
 Romulus says, "Silentarmagedon says, 'will sorcerers receive a teleport in spell since we have the teleport out spell. and if so... will it be something horrid?'"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "For Sorcerers, everything in the Art is 'horrid' to the target."
 Romulus says, "There has been no dicsussion about a teleport spell for Sorcerers."
 Romulus says, "Lorekinn says, 'Even though you say you want to make changes so that training in certain areas will not be required but if we do not train in these areas will it not hinder our abilities at least somewhat, and with one handed casting would you have to have nothing in your hands or could you get say half the bonus for having just one hand free?'"
 Romulus says, "Anytime you have a bonus for following a particular training path, no matter how significant or insignificant the bonus, to not follow that path when others do would be considered a penalty in reality."
 Romulus says, "Any bonuses or penalties would be based on a variety of factors, including what was in either or both hands."
 Romulus says, "I don't want to see any single factor be so awsomely important that you simply 'must' take advantage of it."
 Romulus says, "To my thinking that would be counter productive."
 Romulus says, "I want a lot of modifiers that would allow you to become varsatile in a variety of skills, yet allow you the ability to basically ignore some modifiers without suffering."
 Romulus says, "Without suffering significantly anyhow."
 Romulus says, "Baisal says, 'Why would sorcerers benifit any differntly in perception then they do now?'"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Part of the utility code that I have written so far and that has received good comments is one of the modifiers that requires perception to help you locate the target you are attempting to focus on (focused option only) when that target is in a darkened room is blurred, in a fogged room or some other effect that should normally require good perception."
 Romulus says, "The amount needed isn't what I would call excessive..  Again, even in the skill there would be a functional limit required for now so that older players could catch up if needed."
 Romulus says, "Kaledor says, 'You say train in spell aim....well I use straight CS and my weapon (when feeling a little crazy in the Pyros), since I'm almost 70 its a little late for me, and I know a bunch of older sorc's in the same boat with me, are we going to get to reallocate, I know you said you are going to try to make it so we don't, but if spell aim is required, we are out of it then, or are you going to let some of us reallocate?'"
 Romulus says, "So far, reallocation will not be needed, nor is it an option.  I'll do everything in my power to prevent reallocation from being required."
 Romulus says, "As I stated eralier, there is a way to get around reallocation.  I haven't run it by the higher staff yet, so I can't divulge it here, but I think they will like it as a viable option."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "There is always a way for a flexible mind."
 Romulus says, "I have an older practitioner of Sorcery too, and these will be changes for mine too.  Several of the areas I am expected to make changes in, my character is not trained in either."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Kessi says, 'could you please hint at what the perception skill will be helping us with?'"
 Romulus says, "I answered that already."
 Romulus says, "Duelstar says, 'Why are spells and mechanics that work and are already implemented being worked on rather than implementing spells that have been LONG promised (ie. demons) and getting the spell lists fully implemented and THEN tweaking them ?'"
 Romulus says, "Demons are being worked on.  They are a massive project that will not be done soon.  GM Banthis wants Demons in by the end of the year.  Whether they will be or not, I cann't guarantee.  Demons will not be some Sorcerer familiar or toy." on rather than implementing new ones...  Well, I'm less concerned with filling up a list than I am in ensuring what we have is stable first and fulfills all of our needs for now and in the future.  There have been a lot of bugs and just plain, um, well, improper coding in many of our Sorcery spells."
 Romulus says, "The choice for Implosion and Maelstrom was to either make them viable and 'safe', or get rid of them."
 Romulus says, "I like them being on our list.  They are sort of a hallmark of Sorcery."
 Romulus says, "So the question occours, if we are to keep them, how do I keep them useful, deadly and safe at the same time."
 Romulus says, "The only thing I could come up with is a focusing option.  I don't want to neuter Sorcerer spells.  I don't want to remove the mystique of the profession and tame our spell list."
 Romulus says, "I think Sorcerers should be powerful and deadly.  So I want to give us the option to be different than those who are losing their mass effect spells."
 Romulus says, "Striict says, 'Romulus, you talk of these changes and briefly comment on things like STR and Dext being factors. Are not those tasks an issue for "physical" warriors, we are "mental" warriors and the changes that you talk of I belief should reflect that fact and depend on our INT, WIS, DISC skills..... Comment? Warriors would not be told that they are being changed in some way and that their "low" INT is the deciding factor...yanno?'"
 Romulus says, "Yes, we are mostly 'mental' spell casters.  That should never change.  However, wea are also in this physical world and are subject to how it effects us."
 Romulus says, "Soem spells, like mind jolt, evil eye, torment, forget and nightmare are basically pure mental spells and should not be effected by teh physical realm.  I would like these spells to be less effected by elemental based defenses.  However, that is not up to me to decide."
 Romulus says, "Sorry, my hands are getting really tired."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Prestius says, 'OK ... I missed the whole Plasma thread on the BB (damn Sorcs are a talky bunch).. can you elaborate?  What is it .. where would it fit on the list. . and how can I use it for world domination...'"
 Romulus says, "Well, I am having trouble with plasma.  It's so darn elemental.  I can't see how to implement it without it being a bolt-type spell."
 Romulus says, "I'll listen to any suggestions on the BB for how to implement it or any replacement instant damage spell."
 Romulus says, "While ensuring they are warding spells, not some silly bolt spell that requires aiming."
 Romulus says, "I don't want any base spell to require aiming skill in its initial form.  Optional spell usages are a different matter."
 Romulus says, "We need two more instant damage spells on our spell list.  I really want Disintigrate, or some mutate form o fit and one other spell.  I like plasma but haven't figured out how to make it work for us yet."
 Romulus says, "You don't need plasma for world domination.  Your a Sorcerer, we already dominate."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Kentaur says, 'If the purpose of the changes is ta make the area attack spells safe, why not just make em player friendly, like yall did with the cloud spells?  Same effect fer critters, no harm to players?'"
 Romulus says, "As I said before, I don't like neutering the spells.  I prefer having options.  Making the spells 'safe' in my opinion weakens the profession.  This may not be popular or policitally correct thinking on my part, but I think i'll survive it."
 Romulus says, "Seldom says, 'since I can't stand in front of a miner(at age 36) with one hand empty how do you expect to implement ohc '"
 Romulus says, "Oops, old question."
 Romulus says, "I'll empty the question bin and  open it back up again for more."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus glances warrily at the question box as it fills up in a flash.
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Dromen says, 'we live in a wild untamed land in a frontier type society, there must be dangers, even in the most tame of society a child or someone jest plain stupi...err not very smart may wel pick up a sword or a firecracker<implosion amulet  and hurt themselves or others, so why is there so much worry over such spells and implode and mael..?'"
 Romulus says, "Well, this kinda started at a wwedding where a newbie (an obvious throw away character), cam running into a wedding and rubbed and implosion amulet.  Another one happend later at a bard singing event at one of our Houses at the Landing."
 Romulus says, "Some of you may remember this."
 Romulus says, "This type of activity must be stopped.  One way to stop it is to find out who created imbedded implosion.  We know who rubbed it.  We need to find the source of the problem, not the end result."
 Romulus says, "Karhl says, 'Will warding spells in other spell circles be affected by the alleged 'bonus' to be provided in a more agressive stance?  If not, why not? Also, will non-warding spells in the sorcerer circle (maelstrom, implosion), and non-warding spells in other circles (call lightning, boil earth) require stance changes to be effective, or more effective?  If not, why not?  '"
 Romulus says, "They already are.  Spell AS is already effected greatly by stance."
 Romulus says, "I have nothing to do with spell changes in other circles."
 Romulus says, "presently, I only plan for stance changes to initially effect the focused optoins to Maelstrom and Implosion.  This will give us a limited test run of how or where we need to make any modifications prior to any further implementations."
 Romulus says, "Kenste says, 'why not just make 710 and 720 unimbeddable?'"
 Romulus says, "That is a thought.  I don't like it, but if I have to, I'll do that."
 Romulus says, "I do not desire to remove the ability of a Sorcere to be dangerous.  I would prefer us to be powerful and to be able to control ourselves.  95+% of you can handle yourselves and your power.  I don't want to cripple you because the remainder are unable to control themselves."
 Romulus says, "However, in order to do this I must build checks into the code because there will always be those who have little or no self control."
 Romulus says, "or who think they can get away with abusing the system or other players."
 Romulus says, "Hadiar says, 'Any chance Sorcerers will get a maneuver based attack spell, such as a Wizards Boil Earth? Also, any plans to make Phase a tad more...::cough::...useful?'"
 Romulus says, "There is no manuver based spell planned."
 Romulus says, "About Phase, yes.  But I would like to add features to Phase (and Eye Spy) that can be learned as a Sorcerer gets more skilled.  it will be a while before any of this would see implementation though."
 Romulus says, "Teritt says, 'why not make items imbedded with spells like maelstrom and implosion similar to vultite where younger characters cant handle them?'"
 Romulus says, "That is a possibility too."
 Romulus says, "Actually, I had not considered that one.  Thank you for the suggestion."
 Romulus says, "But that only limits who can use the imbedded item.  That does not give us information leading to the source of the imbedded item."
 Romulus says, "Trevalen says, 'when do you expect a new spell for us'"
 The tingling sensation and sense of security leaves Greentide.
 Romulus says, "Depends on what you consider new.  I really can't put any date on spell changes or option implementation or new spells.  In order to get a new spell or optoin implmented a lot of discussin must take place between staff members.  Thses people include Myself, Zamperon, Jaxxon, Banthis, Issigri, Mhorigan and if she has time Fawn."
 Romulus says, "Mmyng says, 'how about tying some sort of sentient spirit to the elemental plasma concept, and having a spell that attaches itself to the target and tries to reduce it to a plasma state?'"
 Romulus says, "I like that. :)"
 Romulus grins.
 Romulus says, "I'll have to chew on that idea for a while cause I really like Plasma.  :)"
 Romulus says, "Arstine says, 'Are the aim requirements going to be the same for focusing maelstrom and implosion or are there going to be 2 different codes for them?'"
 Romulus says, "Yes, same for both.  Focusing to actually be able to target the prey and your CS to hit it."
 Romulus says, "Sort of like direction and power."
 Romulus says, "Allequerie says, 'When will the combined break limb and limb disruption spell be implemented?'"
 Romulus says, "I wish they were already implemented.  The combination for them and the pain spells are partially coded now.  But I want the focusing options in first.  I already have a prospective version of MD in our development area for staff testing too."
 Romulus says, "I hope to have the combined spells in by late this spring."
 Romulus says, "Omenz says, 'With 710 and 720 Changeing Into a Targeted Spell ,, Will They Become A Single Critter Spell , Leaveing Us With No Room Spells ? if Not ,, How would they still Stay a room spell if there targeted ? And Will You Be Targeting The Spell at Yourself When you Just Prep And Cast At Nothing ? And Also How Bout Makin the Plasma thing Kinda a Cross Between MD and Disease, where it hits for damage immideatly , then continues to eat away at them ? :o)'"
 Romulus says, "They are not changing to a targeted spell.  They are aquiring a targeted option."
 Romulus says, "The optional use will allow you to target a single prey.  The room cast will still be there."
 Romulus says, "As with other aimed spells, if you cast at something and it leaves on you, you get a 'Cast at what?', or else your spell will disipate."
 Romulus says, "Your Plasma idea is a possibility.  Will have to consider it for a while."
 Romulus says, "Dromen says, 'you seem to be saying blame should be placed on a person who imbedds and item that will cause hurt to another ..... does the mean that when the weaponsmith sells a sword to a person and that person kills, maims or otherwise inflicts pain on a person with said sword we can expect the weaponsmith..tynkel? to get a mark on his record or a repremand ooh and how about the enchanter of said sword for making it more dangerous?'"
 Romulus says, "Apples and oranges...."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "No the 'blame' does not belong on the head of the imbedder.  However, if a particular Sorcerer is found to have been frequently supplying imbedded implosion of maelstrom amulets that are used for mass destruction, we need to know who that person is and have a discussion."
 Romulus says, "Ok, I have gone through this set of questions.  I'll clear it out for another set."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Baisal says, 'When stance and OHC become more of a factor, will it effect those of us with lower reflexes.. if so how much?'"
 Romulus says, "I don't think reflexes will be much if any of a factor in CS/TD modifications due to stance or OHC."
 Romulus says, "Spindar says, 'what say you about Combat Maneuver training?  The going forward answer is obvious (i.e: don't).  What about all those points many have devoted on this skill for DS purposes, now to find we'd have been better off spell tripling more often since a higher CS means higher DS, since we can then afford to cast from a more defensive posture? (creatures TD will undoubtedly continue to rise as a result of these new "bonuses", and on can never "catch-up" in triple-training's missed).'"
 Romulus says, "Hm..."
 Romulus says, "In the CS utility I am working on, CM is a factor for a certain portion of the modifier code."
 Romulus says, "I really can't go into detail since I have not shown this code to any other staff member yet, much less those who hav the responsibility to approve or disapprove it."
 Romulus says, "I'm not certain that a higher CS equals a higher DS.  Part of the trade off is that you give up some DS for added CS.  Take some risk for some gain."
 Romulus says, "Critter TD doesn't have to be increased if the player DS is decreased enough to compensate for any CS bonuses."
 Romulus says, "Not my decision though."
 Romulus says, "Achmal says, 'Is it safe to say that future creature tweaks will take OHC into account, and that those who don't choose that training path will be left behind?'"
 Romulus says, "Generally, any time a character does not take advantage of possibilities for betterment, they will be 'left behind'.  I hope to have enough options available that you will have to pic and choose how to train in order to create the characteristics of a Sorcerer that you like while being able to sacrifice other characteristics that you really don't need."
 Romulus says, "It's all about having more options than you can possibly have TP's for."
 Romulus says, "I hope anyhow."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Dharnyth says, 'You mentioned that some spells(e.g. Quake) may be removed from the list and replaced as a Guild Skill.  If this does happen, will the empty space be filled(For example, 710 would become 709, 711 become 710, etc.) or would a new spell replace said removed spell?(One of the spells you mentioned that you wanted, like disintegration, or plasma, if implemented at the time the change occurs.)'"
 Romulus says, "I have listed on the BB the spells I plan to combine and where I want to locate those combined spells.  We have two major types of Art that are comming our way.  They are ones that come from the proposed Amimate Dead (725) spell and the two Demon handling spells.  In order to make us more adept at these two Arts, I also want to implement a spell that makes Sorcerers less subject to fear effects, fear spells or mental control from outside sources."
 Romulus says, "This in a large way is the 'why' of the shuffling and combining of our spell list.  Another major reason is that we need more instant damage spells between MD and DC."
 Romulus says, "In order to get the Disintigration and possible Plasma spells into our spell list, something needs to move.  :)"
 Romulus says, "Hellishsoul says, ''do we have to start training in spell aim to use mealstorm and implode if we want to aim them and what else has been discussed, i just got here. have you discussed necromancy'"
 Romulus says, "You will need the Spell Aiming skill to use the focused option of Maelstrom and Implosion.  No, we really haven't discussed the Art of Necromancy yet.  Although I did mention the Animate Dead spell.  That project is not shot down, but it is pretty far back on the burner."
 Romulus says, "I haven't much to share with you about the Art of Necromancy."
 Romulus says, "Mortara says, 'Romulus, a question about damaging spells, if you don't mind... nightmare is often requested by the subject of the spell, I understand, and yet it does damage.  How is that looked upon by your PvP coding?'"
 Romulus says, "It would be recorded in your logs that you cast the spell on another.  If the player dies from your cast, you may be charged with murder.  If the spell was cast so that an empath can learn from it, a message will be logged in both yours and the empaths records stating that the spell was cast that that it may possibly be system mechanics abuse."
 Romulus says, "There will also be a message sent to onduty staff to monitor your activities."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "And if no gm is onduty, then any other staff memembers may get the message.  The message for the players is that though you may not actually be involved in mechanics abuse, if you are there is a good chance you will be caught."
 Romulus says, "Mildu says, 'How about an ebola spell?'"
 Romulus's face turns slightly pale.
 Romulus says, "Save that for the empaths."
 Romulus says, "We already have disease."
 Romulus says, "Tsalaroth says, 'In the case of targeted implosion/maelstrom, will multiple separate targets be possible with a single cast, or is it either all or one?'"
 Romulus says, "Initially the targeted option will only allow a single target.  However, the future may very well hold other possibilities."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Zeeleeia says, 'in regards to your response to Trevic's question are you saying that in a swarm if you cast 710 it will only effect the first critter you cast at?  If so wouldn't it be more effective to get rid of the spell totally and give us a spell that is useable for critter swarms? and how about giving us some less expensive spells for fighting undead?  Wizards have 4 relativly cheap spells that can be used on living and undead we have 702 as 703 is a useless spell 701 doesn't work on undead.'"
 Romulus says, "ONce again. I am not taking away the base spell or its mechanics.  Implosion and Maelstrom will function as they do now, but, you will have the initial added feature of an optional focusing ability that will alllow you to target a single critter."
 Romulus says, "I plan to add more instant damage spells between MD and DC that should be effective on a variety of critters, even the undead.  Incorporeal undead or other incorporeal beings have not been addressed yet in relation to the proposed new spell additions.  I'll need to work on that."
 Romulus says, "Vadric says, 'Will break limb/limb disruption be targeted as well? I'd love to be able to specify which limb on a creature to smash. And.. will we be able to target large groups of hostiles in our room, with implosion and maelstrom.. IE.. if you're very good at aiming, be able to target all of the creatures in the room, and not any benevolent humanoids?'"
 Romulus says, "I hope that eventually we will be able to target these too.  Seems like a natural progression of these spells."
 Romulus says, "The extra Spell aiming provides good logical reasoning for the added ability to target more than one critter in a room at the same time.  However, I would have to look at the mechanics in the code first to see if it can be done."
 Romulus says, "Ok, I have gone though another queue of questions.  I'll empty out the box and start it up again."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Phobo says, 'followup to the nightmare question: so if you heal yourself or if the target heals themself using herbs/scrolls/etc, are we in the clear?'"
 Romulus says, "As far as mechanics abuse or murder are concerned, yes.  But the ercord would already have been recorded that the spell was cast and damage was done."
 Romulus says, "That record would be there to attempt to show any trend for mechanics abuse or PvP."
 Romulus says, "Kentaur says, 'I'm sorry to say this, but it seems that if yas make 710 and 720 player friendly, yas wouldn't have ta worry bout it being imbedded, monitoring who's imbedding it, and no one would have ta worry bout new training rituals.  Or is it that yas already have this partialy done and yer too stuborn to change what yas already have planned, like with yer plasma idea?  I don't see how it could be abused, and many share my opion.  Can we at least have a vote or sumthin like that?'"
 Romulus chuckles.
 Romulus says, "Well, it's not really a democracy here."
 Romulus says, "However, I would say that from what I have seen on the player boards, there are a lot of Sorcerers that do not want to loose the options they already have."
 Romulus says, "And yes, sometimes I am stubborn."
 Romulus says, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion.  You are more than welcome to visit the player boards and participate the the discussions on these matters.  These discussions have been active for several months on these very topics."
 Romulus says, "Spindar says, 'since we're told that the changes to CS based on stance will be "marginal," someone who triples-triples-triples will not ONLY have the best CS in offensive stance, but, can also reduce their stance significantly and maintain a CS near that of their peers forced to fight more agressively.  This structure would seem to promote the "vanilla Sorcerer spell tripling model" (triple whenever possible, as often as possible).  I'm confused as to how this adds diversity.  Can you critique this ? ;-)'"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "I could spend the next hour attempting to..  However the utility code is nowhere near finished that would outline and determine the weighting of all of the involved modifiers."
 Romulus says, "Consider how the room terrain, room environment, room effects, room spells, clouds and storms inthe room, multiple citters in the room of the same type, multiple critters of different types, number of players in your group, number of players who are not in your group, your blood loss, number and types of injuries to yourself or your target (player or criter), weight of the items in either hand, your stance, if your prone, kneeling or standing, spirit point loss, caster size vs target size and a whole slew of other modifiers.  it gets quite complex."
 Romulus says, "Many of these modifiers would be countered positively or negatively by stats and positively by training in several different skills."
 Romulus says, "There would be other things you could do, such as hunting in a group that would make it easier for you. The logic for that is that you don't have to worry about covering yor back.  (these are part of the utility that I have not even propoesd yet)"
 Romulus says, "Striict says, 'Romulus, my teacher Bloodsnake and I have a errr... odd sense of teaching. When I gain in power she tests me in one way or another (I die, plainly put). Will there be a system of sorts that She/I both could scroll Feedback to have such offenses cleared?'"
 Romulus says, "Ok, we are getting into a 'grey' area here.  Some of this happens to fall under the fact that we 'know' certain players.  Also, if you are not opposed to being killed this way, then I don't see where the 'conflict' part of PvP comes into this."
 Romulus says, "Roleplaying is an important part of this too.  But, if you get zapped and start hollering on the net, someone just may be hiding in the shadows watching what is going on."
 Romulus says, "net = GMnet (Report)."
 Romulus says, "Alecsys says, 'How about learning curses before being able to use them. (Curses for items and for creatures) , specific diseases with different effects (some could f.ex cause mayor damage, others might inhibit casting ... ) etc. (ie make your character's unique by choice). (In order to study these one may have to leave some tps free, and spend some cash paying to learn them .. . ||| re: plasma ideas, transform the armor of the target into plasma.. 100% succ. armor goes poof and burns the target for a few rounds.. etc . '"
 Romulus says, "You can always train ahead of your level."
 Romulus says, "Let me just say that Disease and Curse may not always remain as they are now.  I don't want to say any more on that now. ;)"
 Romulus says, "I have more than enough work to do now."
 Romulus says, "I don't see why anyone would need to spend cash to learn a spell."
 Romulus says, "I don't think we want players destroing each other's armor.  And the problem still exicst on how to get the plasma effect onto the target."
 Romulus says, "Khajel says, 'Any ideas floatin around about making races other than Darkelf more viable as a sorcerer, not to surpass a Darkelf but atleast some reason not to be one? We could really use a little more diversity in our profession. '"
 Romulus says, "There is already diversity to the profession.  Any Dark Elf benefits can be surpassed with proper training.  The CS difference can become minor in time.  Besides, I have found that when hunting, tactics is far more important than race."
 Romulus says, "I don't know of any plans to adjust the abilities of other races."
 Romulus says, "Duelstar says, 'Do you have any say in other spells that are either implemented or changed? One that I have in mind is the new mana leech. I think its VERY sorcish and they should not be memicking sorcerey as an art. Dont get me wrong, I think wizards needed a way to get mana other than by natural means....but not through sorcery. Perhaps 516 should have been a way for them to summon some type of element (ie. pillar of fire or ice) to suck mana from the elements. Were you consulted about this beforehand?'"
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "No, I was not consulted."
 Romulus mumbles something that you don't quite catch.
 Romulus says, "When I found out about mana Leach, I screamed bloody murder everywhere.  I also wasted my breath.  It was a done deal."
 Romulus says, "I agree with you that it is very much a Sorcery-type spell."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Raivella says, 'Romulus, how about making the plasma spell so that the plasma in a creature can be manipulated to cause damage internally then externally?'"
 Romulus asks, "Plasma in a creature?"
 Romulus says, "I supppose you mean that the plasma spell would start internal to the target then burn its way out."
 Romulus says, "If you mean that the creature already had plasma and that that plasma would somehow be drawn out of the critter.."
 Romulus says, "Ah, you are thinking of plasma as in blood/plasma..  ;)"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Wrong type of plasma.  Think of a highly active and intensly hot ionized gas or vapor."
 Romulus says, "Psycat says, 'It seems to me that a sorcerer does not have the defensive capability with their own spells to fight from an offensive stance. Would defensive spells be worked into the sorcerer circle?'"
 Romulus says, "Presently there are no plans for a defensive spell in our base circle.  With the single exception of one that would make us more resistant to fear type atacks.  But, you have hit on one of my main reasons for wanting to leave unimplemented slots in our base list.  It all depends on how far we have to go with all of these changes."
 Romulus says, "Wildlightningg says, 'Would it be possible to use the encrypting for the imbedds as well as a age limit <maybe my eye's only but I think just having it were a youngster couldn't hold it would stop 99% of the problem alone ? and if we would have more stance option spells is there a way to add more defensive capabilities to compensate some? And I've also heard a rumor never nothing in writing about Wall of force <150  being taken from the sorcerer's grasp... is there anything to this?'"
 Romulus says, "I talked with Banthis about WoF.  He has no plans to have it moved from where it is now."
 Romulus says, "I see no reason that a Sorcerer who is too young to cast Implosion should not have the ability to use an imbedded item when hunting.  I don't care for age based limitations."
 Romulus says, "Cleaaring the question queue again and resetting for more questions."
 Romulus takes the lid off the question box.  Use ASK to submit a question.
 Romulus says, "Isault says, 'It seems like Gemstone is being neglected for the other games that Simu is creating, and will continue to be so.  Why don't they work on improving (and finishing) what they have rather than throwing off a number of half-thought out, half-implemented games? (I'm referring to the "several years to get the spell circle fully implemented" comment)'"
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Gee, we have about 40 GMs dedicated to GemStone.  I wouldn't call that 'neglected'."
 Romulus says, "Karhl says, 'The wizard Life Leech spell was recently replaced with a Mana Leech spell.  So far as I know, the Life Leech spell was in good working order at that time.  Has there been, or can you initiate, any discussion amongst the Gemstone staff about putting this spell somewhere on the Sorcerer base list?'"
 Romulus says, "I would like to."
 Romulus says, "I think I'll ask Banthis about the spell."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "Nodrah says, 'slightly off topic, but dealing with the advancing at higher levels that Bloodsnake eluded to earlier . Is there any plan to bring back gaining experience for imbedding? Currently Empaths/Clerics/Rogues can sit all day in town and advance  and wizards get some exp from enchanting. The little amount of experience we would get from imbedding would still be nothing compared to the exp the empaths/clerics/rogues get without having to hunt at all but would help a little.'"
 Romulus says, "Wizards don't get that much exp from enchanting."
 Romulus says, "Any profession can train in lockpicking for experience."
 Romulus says, "The exp for imbed is limited to one imbed a day I believe.  At least that was the last I heard."
 Romulus says, "The problem with imbed is that we had some who had it macroed.  They would be running in auto-mode while the player behind them was gone somewere.  I seriously doubt that any significant learning will be returing to that skill."
 Romulus says, "Duelstar says, 'can you give us an overall view of what the finished spell list will look like? (ie. 701 blood burst, 702 MD, 703 forget...etc) after the combination of some spells and other spells that will be added?'"
 Romulus says, "hm...  I have it around here somewhere..."
 Romulus says, "Blood Burst (701), Mana Disrupt (702), Forget (703), Phase (704), Damage spell (705), Mind Jolt (706), Eye Spy (707), Limb destruction (708), Quake (for now 709), Energy Maelstrom (710).  More comming..."
 Romulus says, "Word of Pain (711), Damage spell (712), Nightmare (713), Will enhancement (fear resistance and mental fortitude 714), Curse (715), Disease (716), Evil Eye (717) Torment (718), Dark Catalyst (719), Implosion (720), Animate Dead (725), Demonic Dispelling (730), Demonic Summoning (750), Counter warding (775)."
 Romulus says, "The damage spells are instant damage spells, such as Disintigration and possibly Plasma."
 Romulus says, "The Will enhancement spell would make Sorcerers more resistant to fear spells and make us better able to handle the animated dead and demons."
 Romulus says, "Wyrd says, 'What about phase quake and life burst anything goin to be done with them?'"
 Romulus says, "Yes, yes and I don't know.  The 'I don't know' depends on what if anything we need after go through this first series of changes.  The list I gave is a proposed list.  There are still other creative ways to compat the list even further, such as making diseas into a curse option and moving the will enhancement spell into the quake slot.."
 Romulus says, "Evocator says, 'perhaps this plasma idea can draw the necessary particles from the body of the critter cast at to make the cloud doing base damage and igniting and burning for a duration as second hand damage?'"
 Romulus says, "I dunno.  Plasma is such an elementalish spell."
 Romulus sighs.
 Romulus says, "Hard to see how you could get the kind of energy needed just from the body of the target.  Perhaps it should consume some of the targets mana too.  In order to feed the effect."
 Romulus says, "Trimie says, ''why is it that wizards have 2 spells implemented/improved ? we have had nothing? I heard that wizard have 2 more spells to be changed implementedsoon? is that true? Also, is there going to be any help for us in spotting a trap  not necessarily the type of trap, just that one is there.'"
 Romulus says, "No help for traps."
 Romulus says, "As far as Sorcerer spells vs wizard spells; their list has been actively worked on for years.  The Sorcerer list's code has been neglected for years and is in sorry shape.  Also, multiple GM's are working on the wizard list wearas I am working solo on our list.  Since I have started I have squashed several bugs in our list's code.  There are more in there too.  I have greatly re-coded the Blood Burst spell.  I have re-coded the MD spell and it is being checked to see if it will be approved.  I have developed some new methods for calculating damage and better logging of damage.  I have spent most of the last month working on this new set of utilities for our focusing options.  Stuff is happening."
 Romulus says, "Isault says, 'With 40 GM's working full-time on Gemstone, why aren't the spell lists fully implemented yet?'"
 Romulus says, "I could throw something in there pretty quick.  But then I would just have to take some right back out again due to changes comming down the road."
 Romulus says, "I would rather prepare our profession and do it right the first time."
 Romulus says, "Karhl says, ' Some have suggested that sorcerers be given access to lower level Major (closed) spell circles, in exchange for having no access to upper level Minor (open) list spells.  As this would also serve to reduce sorcerer defenses, has this   suggestion been given any consideration?  If not, why not?  Also, with stance affecting CS, how will this work with our current stanced based curses?  Will the increased CS simply not be available for some curses?'"
 Romulus says, "Initially, that was the plan from what I recall."
 Romulus says, "The part about access to the first 10 spells on the Major list as the origional plan I believe.  But it seems that plan was lost several years ago."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "I have never heard anything about losing access to the upper minor list."
 Romulus says, "The way the base code system is set up though, there are only three spell fields available."
 Romulus says, "To change to a system like that would require a change in the actual player data fields and in the base code that runs the game.  I don't think that kind of change will happen."
 Romulus asks, "If you will notice, the Stance offensive curse is exactly the same curse you get at stance advanced.  Leaves room for one more doesn't it?"
 Romulus says, "Actually, I see no reason we couldn't have a curse for every stance."
 Romulus smiles.
 Romulus says, "I like more options."
 Romulus says, "Changes in CS vs changes in stance based curses...  Well the value of each curse would need to be considered and which curse is avalable for which stance would need to be ordered by difficulty to success in cursing your target."
 Romulus says, "Astharot says, 'any planned changes to 707? Like the ability of communicating telepathically with others via the eye? (by focusing the eye on them)... And also, might Phase be enhanced? i.e. you could phase out a foe's heart, or their brains, or some other vital organ, depending on warding or stance or CM, or whatever? Any possibility of such offensive implem for the phase spell? It RPs well and seems a natural and logical extension of the spell. Last, mayhaps Plasma can reach target a bit like DC (suddenly engulfing it)?'"
 Romulus says, "Communicate via eye spy?  I think not.  it is only an eye. ;)"
 Romulus says, "I owuld like to see eye spy gain more abilities as a Sorcerer becomes more skilled though.  Some thoughts are ability to look in a container, ability to watch a room, ability to see people talking, etc.  Eyes don't talk though."
 Romulus says, "Yes, I would like to see Phase have added features too.  Possibly as an attack spell.  We will see what I can sneek in there. :)"
 Romulus says, "Ok folks, I'm all wore out."
 Romulus says, "I thank you for comming and showing an interest in your profession.  Please visit the player boards often.  We willbe able to discuss several details I wasn't able to cover here.  I hope to have another forum later this spring.  Perhaps we hcan have it run a bit smoother then. ;)"
 Romulus says, "IN case you haven't noticed, I'm bugging outa here."