I think it would be interesting to see traders become to lunar magic what bards are to elemental magic. Lots of cyclic utility/buffs, a few + armors, and perhaps a shamanistic type mystic ability to summon creatures out of the smoke.

A few random ideas:

Obvious + armor, + balance, + shield buffs to support their armor secondary talents, but I'd like to see more cyclics and stronger "buffing" abilities than a moon mage.

A few "illusionary summons". Essentially a cyclic animal spirit that provides a self-based bonus. It travels with you, but non-traders can only see it briefly
A Yak to return attunement, bonus charisma, and give save vs will bonus.
A mule to return health, bonus Stamina, and give a save vs strength bonus
A horse to return fatigue, bonus stamina, and give a further save vs stamina bonus
etc...

The utility should support their trader life style.
A spell that speeds up caravans
A spell/cantrip to boost store prices/speculate ability, independent of charisma.
A summon that creates phantom objects all over the ground (ie gold?) making intelligent creatures reach for them and fall over, or even turn on each other.

Anyway, just my two coppers (ha ha)

>>"illusory guard"

That sounds like an awesome beginner (first tier?) spell. Could even have it scale to summon more at higher levels so that it can remain viable at higher levels.

Also something like an SOP spell would seem appropriate, or a ranged disabler like a floating crystal empowered with lunar energy that has a % to block missile attacks.

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* SPLAT! * You destroy the annoying thing!

illusion coin - masks a lesser value coin as a higher value (and vice versa) reducing the cost of purchased items (criminal charges may apply if caught), and decreasing the likelihood of high value coins being stolen when robbed

illusion disorient - creates false obstacles on the field of battle, impacting a target's ability to determine where to stand, thereby reducing it's balance and/or combat position

negotiation misjudge - hampers an opponent's ability to size up their combat situation, reducing their offensive effectiveness

negotiation alibi - reduces the likelihood of being caught by guards when wanted and improves the odds of successfully pleading not guilty when caught

fabrication gemstone - imbues a crystalline construct with the properties of a gem in hand; has a chance to destroy or damage (ie reduce its value) the gem

> A "fake money" spell in particular is something I've thought about and want to do if I can wrestle the appropriate systems into shape.

I don't think a guild as tied into the economy as Traders are would want a spell that diminishes people's faith in the currency. Not to say don't have this spell, but it should be one of those spells the guild doesn't officially teach, and you need to go to some effort to acquire.

These are just a few minor suggestions. Not really balanced but just thrown out there to act as potential seeds.

Illusion disguise -- "It wasn't me!" Bonus to pleading innocent. "I'm really an orc, really." Makes enemy critters not advance on you.

Illusion attraction -- Smooths out those wrinkles, makes your smile brighter. Bonus to Charisma and Performance.

Illusion unfold -- Makes a light-based "copy" of an item that you can then twist, bend, blow up, or unfold in order to learn more about its nooks and crannies. Bonus to Appraisal, Crafting.

Illusion blind -- Surrounds you with light, perhaps taking a naturalistic form like a kind of blizzard. Major bonus to stealth and penalties to hit for everyone in the radius (including enemies). Basically good for when you really need to get out, or for backtraining hiding.

Illusion nature -- Increases the appearance of plants growing in an area, covers cobblestones with grass, etc. Increases Ranger bonus. (Might be a nice cantrip for auctions, shops, events.)

Illusion veins -- Lights up crystalline substances, metals, metallic woods and other rare substances. Light source and bonus to Outdoorsmanship (foraging/mining).

Illusion movement -- Draws out lines of color, making for a slightly blurred existence but enhancing detection of movement. Debuff to enemy Stealth.

Negotiation/Illusion see what you want -- The Trader uses subtle psychic cues to guess what the customer wants -- and what enemies want too. Creates a desired item that acts as a distraction.

Negotiation money -- Smooths out transactions. Bonus to Trading.

Negotiation argue -- Strengthens one's logic, sensitizes one to debate opponents or students. Bonus to Academics.


-- Player of Eyuve

>>Not to say don't have this spell, but it should be one of those spells the guild doesn't officially teach, and you need to go to some effort to acquire.

I really like the idea of a shadow organization dealing in black market good and spells, where you could learn something like this. Also, it'd be cool if the concept was expanded to incorporate black market contracts (pay more but with some chance of being caught, either just fined or possibly attacked by guards that spawn along the route).

I could even see the illusion book having a spell that duplicated commodities, making it appear that you're selling more than you actually are. Again, there could be consequences to getting caught doing this.

>>Can you say more about what this would do?

I was thinking of it being context sensitive. I'm not sure how feasible it'd be since that could obviously quickly get out of control in terms of development time. I guess it depends on what other spells are in the fabrication book. I was picturing this book creating things like shields, barricades, and possibly even crafting tools. To use a few examples:

Trader summons crystalline shield. They then pull out a gem and cast this spell at the shield to modify the shield, effectively using money (ie the value of the gem) as a resource pool. Effects could be increasing the size, defensive stats, or adding crystalline spikes to the shield depending on what gem is used.

Trader summons a crystalline crafting tool. This spell could modify the tool to become a faster version or make the tool able to be used as multiple tools at once, depending on what gem is used (ie a hammer that could also be used as tongs). Basically reducing the number of tools you have to fiddle around with.

With artistry coming out, I'd imagine that gems will get some stats: workability, hardness, etc. You could probably use those as hooks to determine the final effects. Something like grabbing the highest stat (if it is anything like metals, they'll have hardness, physical, electrical, thermal ratings) to determine the primary effect. Then durability determines the likelihood that the gem will sustain damage (another spell could perhaps repair the gem, and/or just straight up increase its value like clarify gem, which may be more useful once artistry is out).

Honestly, I'm not sure it isn't something that couldn't just be handled in a 'shape moonblade' sort of way (or just a natural part of the spell, or chosen at the time of cast, etc), but I do like the idea of using money similar to a resource pool, and chose gem value since it seemed like it could be used in a more analog way than carrying around millions of copper coins just to use an ability.

Thinking back though, spells with material components typically haven't gone over very well and usually the material component ultimately ends up being removed from the spell. So maybe it isn't such a great idea.

Alright, I still like the idea of gems powering some trader spells, so let's take another stab at this from a different angle.

fabrication Imbue Gem - Takes a gem from the caster's hand and charges it with lunar energy. This gem then hovers around the caster similar to Osrel Meraud (but it wouldn't hold spells). This gem would act as a source for spells requiring direct moonlight, thus allowing traders to use their magics in windowless negotiation rooms, or other back room activities.

The gem would degrade in value over time, with higher durability gems degrading more slowly. There is always a chance the gem will randomly shatter, with this chance increasing the longer the gem is under the spell's effects.

Casting the spell again increases the duration with added difficulty (similar to how Y'ntrel Sechra can be stacked but with increased difficulty and reduced effect with each cast). This increases the likelihood that the gem will shatter, since it will be under the spell's effects that much longer.

CHARGEing the gem helps save some of the value of the gem, but this too has its limits.

Each gem will be associated with a moon or combination of moons. The more moons a gem is associated with, the less effective it will be. That is the tradeoff for having access to more than one moon to power abilities. Only one gem could be used at a time, so there would have to be a decision on what the trader anticipated doing.

Since the gem lasts as long as the spell is on it (assuming it doesn't destroy itself first), this means that traders can slightly prolong their access to a particular moon. I can envision the spell lasting a maximum of about 20 - 30 minutes, therefore the caster can potentially have access to a particular moon's effects for that duration after the moon has set. To limit this, the gem could take extra damage if the moon isn't in the sky. Also, the spell can only be cast while the moon is in the sky, which means the caster would have to prepare for this before the moon set.

In addition to acting as a source for moon access, this could be a platform spell that would power other abilities (using the gem somehow to attack, to adding some flavor text to other trader spell creations, to RP activities like shattering the gem into a fireworks-like display in a show of wealth, and I'm sure there are other things we could come up with here that may be more useful than these). Higher value gems would be more potent in terms of how they impact other abilities.

The trader can cast a Dispel on the gem to return the gem to their hand. The gem will be at a reduced value due to the damage it took while under the effects of the spell.

A meta-spell enhancement could make the gem give off enough light to act as a light source.

Well I think ALL magic should have material components.

Down with magic!

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Weapons for Sale:
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Combat Balance List:
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>>Well I think ALL magic should have material components.

Including Barbarian dances? :3

~Leilond
http://tinyurl.com/Leilond-Portrait
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<<Tap shoes.

Screw that, I'll stomp you with BELLS on.

ballet slippers
http://textbasedshame.livejournal.com/2658.html

Nikpack

Let's not get too carried away. :-D

Zairyche
DragonRealms Board Monitor

If you have questions or comments, please email me at (Mod-Zairyche@play.net) or Senior Board Monitor Sidatura at (DR-
Sidatura@play.net) or Message Board Supervisor Annwyl (DR-
Annwyl@play.net).

Naw, Trader illusions will have access to life-like coloration. This is meant to be something Traders do better than the Moon Mages, who are so locked into the power and mystical associations of the moons that it can override finesse.

Not to mention that there are already examples of life-like illusions when greater-than-PC powers are at play. Nera's hologram is the first to come to mind (granted, since I wrote it).

-Armifer
"In our days truth is taken to result from the effacing of the living man behind the mathematical structures that think themselves out in him, rather than he be thinking them." - Emmanuel Levinas

<<And think of all the new titles Amifer will come up for us with this new magic. Cause everyone knows that traders don't have enough titles.

Arcane Trader, Trader Mage, Moneymancer, Magic Merchant...

Yep, there's a bright future for Trader titles.

<<Can I hire you to write Moon Mage titles?

I'm not sure, Moon Mage titles are pretty hard. There's only so many ways you can combine Arcane, Magic, Math, and Moon.

However you have clearly overlooked Andy Kaufman as a title.

Statement: Traders are getting magic.
Reaction: Woot!

Statement: Traders are getting cybpunk sci fi crap like holograms.
Reaction: <dies of happiness>

>>Statement: Traders are getting cybpunk sci fi crap like holograms.

Thieves are going to get so jealous when Traders start to hack the Gibson

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"hypocrite, thy name is teveshszat, and i just hope i'm there to see you when you're broght down." - GERSTEINJ2

Chatter[Gonifa] whatever, scripto-gnome.

I guess we could evaluate SoL as a hard-light hologram?

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Let's save us all some time: I'm a troll who rarely has anything helpful. There.

just want to say that i can't wait until this is finally worked on

i reactivated due to this news, as this seems to be the change i've been campaigning for, for traders, for a long time.

lets just not delay it until 2015, eh?

anyways, thanks for keepin traders in your mind, now get to work!