Magery

Magery in Ultima Online

Magery is a complex skill requiring the addition of evaluate intelligence, inscription and meditation if it is to operate at full power.

The basic requirement of any spellcaster is his spell collection. There are a total of 64 spells of magery, which can be added into a spell book for his convenience. The spells are divided into eight circles. Each circle progressively requiring more skill, more mana expenditure and more time to cast. A full description of the spells, their effects and costs in terms of time, reagents and mana can be found by following the ‘spells’ link at the bottom of this page.

It is possible to equip spellbooks with useful properties to add to the mage’s effectiveness, including slayer spellbooks to target specific monster types. (slayer bonus is only applied to direct damage spells).

Magery Only Spells

There are a few spells that call only on the caster’s skill in magery and his intelligence for full effect. Intelligence gives 1% spell damage increase for every 10 points, or (intelligence / 10). These spells include:

• Mind blast (Damage based on Magery + Intelligence)

• Poison (Chance of poisoning = Your Magery vs Targets Resisitng Spells)

• (Strength of poison = Magery + Poisoning / 2)

• Less than 65.1 : Level 1 poison

• 65.1 to 85 : Level 2 poison

• 85.1 to 99.9 : Level 3 poison

• 100 and higher : Level 4 poison

• Poison field (Strength calculation same as Poison spell)

• (Duration 3 + (Magery * 0.4)) seconds

• Heal (Hit Points healed = Magery/10 + 1-3)

• Greater Heal (Hit points healed = Magery*0.4 + 1-10)

• Cure (Chance to cure % = (Magery * 0,75) + (110 – (Poison level * 33))

• Arch Cure (More reliable at higher levels of magery)

• Unlock (Magery determines what level of chests it can open)

Casting Spells

Minimum Requirements for Casting Spells
Spell Circle	INT/Mana	Minimum Skill
First	4	0.1
Second	6	0.1
Third	9	10.1
Fourth	11	24.1
Fifth	14	38.1
Sixth	20	52.1
Seventh	40	66.1
Eighth	50	80.1
Having a high Inscription skill gives a bonus to Protection and Reactive Armor. Having a high Poisoning skill helps mages cast more powerful levels of poison. There is also a minimum magery requirement to enter the city of Wind: Intelligence 20, Magery skill 72

It is worth noting that when casting the spell from a scroll the magery requirement is two circles lower. For example it is possible to cast gate (a level 7 spell) from a gate scroll with only 50 magery, though it may take several attempts. Failure to cast will not consume the scroll. For a 100% chance to cast the spell without a scroll the skill requirement is 106

The spell scroll ‘recall’ is a special case, when used to charge a rune book. Casting recall by using a runebook charge requires no magery skill.

Magery with Evaluate Intelligence

Eval Int is the skill that allows a mage to function offensively, without it spells will do less than 10 damage. The formula for damage increase through evaluate intelligence skill is: ((Evaluate Intelligence * 3) / 100) + 1.

Which means that if you have 120 Evaluate Intelligence, your base damage would be more than quadrupled, ((120 * 3) / 100) + 1 which would be 4.6.

Even bless and curse type spells rely on Evaluate Intelligence for their powers, a grand master mage can fizzle casting a simple 3rd circle bless.

There is no real need to train evaluate intelligence separately, it will go up quite naturally as you cast spells to raise your magery skill.

Magery with Inscription

Inscription can add spell damage increase to your spells as well as affect the result of buffs. Grandmaster Inscription adds 10% to damage spells. This is not on a pure sliding scale, the damage bonus is 1% for every 20 points of Inscription with a 5% GM bonus. This 10% SDI bonus at GM isn’t part of the PVP SDI from items cap.

Which means if you take the 20% or 25% SDI cap in PVP and add the 10% from GM Scribe on you get 30% or 35% SDI. Spells affected by this damage bonus are:

• Magic Arrow

• Harm

• Fireball

• Lightning

• Energy Bolt

• Explosion

• Chain Lightning

• Flamestrike

• Meteor Swarm

Inscription adds Casting Focus – from Apprentice to Grand Master a 1% increase to base casting focus per 10 points of Inscribe. (5% at Grand Master)

The potency of the following ‘buff’ spells mainly depends on the caster’s inscription skill:

• Reactive Armor: Increases caster’s Physical Resistance by ((Inscription / 20) + 15) points, decreases caster’s Fire, Cold, Energy and Poison Resistance by 5 points each. Lasts until cast again.

• Protection: Allows you to cast spells without being interrupted. Lowers physical resistance and resist magic skill, increases spell casting delay. Lasts until cast again.

• Magic Reflect: Decreases caster’s Physical Resistance by (25 – (Inscription / 20)) points, increases caster’s Fire, Cold, Energy and Poison Resistance by 10 points each. Almost opposite of Reactive Armor spell. Lasts until cast again.

Meditation and Focus

These skills provide the mana the mage requires in order to cast his spells. Traditionally mages use meditation and warriors use focus, however the two skills do stack. Some mages will train both skills to give them the extra ‘fire power’ With 120 medi/int and 120 focus, you will have 2.1 passive mana regen. Focus is a totally passive skill, unlike meditation which can be passive or active. Pvp mages wishing to benefit from the single casting school sdi cap of 30% will want to avoid adding Focus skill to their template as the skill is grouped with Mysticism and is therefore part of a second casting school. (see the page Spellcasting Introduction for more details)

Mana regeneration can also be enhanced by using armor which has the mana regeneration property. This is not capped however it is subject to diminishing returns. For example the difference between 0 MR and 3 MR is substantially greater than the difference between 15 MR and 18 MR

Meditation and Armor

Some armor types impede active meditation unless it has the magic property “Mage Armor”.

• Medable Armor: – Leather armor (human or gargoyle), Leaf Armor, Gargoyle Cloth Armor

• Non-medable Armor: – Studded leather, Bone armor, Hide Armor, Ringmail, Chainmail, Platemail (human or gargoyle), Dragon Armor, Woodland Armor, Gargoyle Stone Armor

Item Properties Applicable to Mages

• Lower Reagent Cost (LRC): This property can be found on both jewelry and armor. Each 1% LRC gives a 1% chance of a spell not requiring ANY reagent to cast. So at 100% LRC you will not require ANY reagents to cast any spell whatsoever.

• Lower Mana Cost (LMC): lowers the mana cost of spell casting. This property is capped at 40% Example, if you have 35% LMC and cast a flame strike, the amount of mana consumed would be 40 – 35% = 26.

• Spell Chanelling: Normal spell casting causes you to drop any item you have in your hands, an item with spell channelling property will not be dropped.

• Mage Weapons: Mage weapons are weapons that use your Magery skill as if it were the appropriate weapon skill. These, with a few artifact exceptions, lower your Magery skill. Example: A kryss with the property Mage Weapon -25 would lower your magery by 25. i,e 120 – 25 = 95 Magery whilst it is equipped. You would be capable of melee fighting as if you had fencing skill of 95. If fencing skill is set to rise you could gain in that skill, however if fencing is locked it is possible to gain magery skill while melee fighting with the weapon. You would not be able to use the Special Moves associated with the weapon, only the actual weapon skill applies in that case.

• Mage Armor: This property allows normally non-medable armor types to allow active meditation as if they were a medable armor type.

• Faster Cast/Faster Casting Recovery: Faster casting reduces the casting time of spells, each point of this effect reduces the time by a quarter of a second. The cap for magery is 2, so the maximum casting time reduction is half a second. Faster cast recovery reduces the time you have to wait before casting your next spell. The unadjusted time between spells is one and a half seconds. Each point you have in this ability will reduce that time by a quarter second. The most you can have of this effect is 6, which negates the wait time completely.

Magery and Melee

Ideally the mage should avoid his/her opponents getting close enough to melee. Anatomy, when added to evaluate intelligence, gives a mage defensive wrestling.

(Anatomy + Evaluate Intelligence + 20) / 2 = defensive wrestling (capped at 120.0)

However it does not give any offensive capability, for that you will need Wrestling skill.

Magery Spells

Circle	Spell	Description
First	Clumsy	Decreases target’s dexterity by (8 + (Evaluate Intelligence)/10 – (Resist)/10).
	Create Food	Creates food to maintain pet loyalty.
	Feeblemind	Decreases target’s intelligence by (8 + (Evaluate Intelligence)/10 – (Resist)/10).
	Heal	Heals ((Magery / 10) + (1 to 3)) damage. Provides a 50% bonus when healing others.
	Magic Arrow	Causes up to 14 to 18 Fire damage on a character with no resists. Damage determined by caster’s Evaluate Intelligence and Inscription skill.
	Nightsight	Provides light until dawn. Requires at least 10 points of Magery skill for effectiveness.
	Reactive Armor	Increases caster’s Physical Resistance by ((Inscription / 20) + 15) points, and decreases caster’s Fire, Cold, Energy, and Poison Resistance by 5 points each. Lasts until cast again or broken by death.
	Weaken	Decreases target’s strength by (8 + (Evaluate Intelligence)/10 – (Resist)/10).
Second	Agility	Increases dexterity points and stamina cap by ((Evaluate/10) +1)%.
	Cunning	Increases intelligence points and mana cap by ((Evaluate/10) +1)%. Can also increase mana regeneration speed.
	Cure	Cures poison. Success chance formula: % Chance to cure: (Magery * 0.75) + (110 – (Poison level * 33)).
	Harm	Distance-based cold damage spell. Damage based on Eval Int and Inscription.
	Magic Trap	Sets a magical trap on an object.
	Remove Trap	Removes a trap from an object.
	Protection	Allows casting spells without interruption. Lowers physical resistance, resist magic skill, and spell casting speed cap (by 2). Lasts until cast again or broken by death.
	Strength	Increases strength points and hit points cap by ((Evaluate/10) +1)%. Also increases weapon damage.
Third	Bless	Combines Agility, Cunning, and Strength into one spell. Counteracts the stat part of the Curse spell.
	Fireball	Quick Fire damage spell that can do up to 26-31 damage. Damage depends on Eval Int and Inscription skill.
	Magic Lock	Magically locks a chest.
	Poison	Poisons your target, preventing healing. Damage depends on formula ((Magery + Poisoning) / 2). Can inflict lethal poison at higher levels.
	Telekinesis	Allows manipulation of objects from a distance. Can trigger traps.
	Teleport	Teleports to a seen location up to 11 tiles away. Forces monsters to re-target in battle.
	Unlock	Unlocks magically locked or level 1, 2, or 3 treasure chests. Success based on Magery skill.
	Wall of Stone	Creates a barrier to block opponents. Lasts for 10 seconds.
Fourth	Arch Cure	Cures poison with greater success than normal cure spell.
	Arch Protection	Casts Protection on all party members (including self) within 3 tiles.
	Curse	Reduces player’s maximum elemental resistances by 10% (when cast by another player).
	Fire Field	Does 2 points damage per second with variable duration.
	Greater Heal	Heals (Magery * 0.4) + (1 to 10) points of damage.
	Lightning	Instantly makes a lightning bolt hit your target for max 30 to 34 points of Energy damage.
	Mana Drain	Decreases target’s mana level by (40 + caster Eval Int – target Resist Magic) points for 4 seconds.
	Recall	Instantly transports to a marked rune location.
Fifth	Blade Spirits	Summons spirits to attack in a 6 tile radius. Does up to 15 points of damage per hit. Lasts 120 seconds.
	Dispel Field	Dispels one tile of a field spell or a gate from a cast gate travel spell.
	Incognito	Temporarily changes name and appearance (not clothes). Lasts for (Magery * 1.2) seconds.
	Magic Reflection	Decreases caster’s Physical Resistance by (25 – (Inscription / 20)) points, increases Fire, Cold, Energy, and Poison Resistance by 10 points each. Reflects spells back to caster until pool is depleted.
	Mind Blast	Makes a mind blast hit your target for max 40 to 42 points of Cold damage.
	Paralyze	Paralyzes target for ((caster Eval Int/10) – ((target Resist Magic/10)) * 3) seconds or until broken by damage. Cannot be cast on a target already frozen.
	Poison Field	Creates a wall of poison. Damage levels based on Magery skill. Lasts (3 + (Magery * 0.4)) seconds.
	Summon Creature	Summons a low-level creature to assist. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds, up to 480.
Sixth	Dispel	Dispels a summoned creature.
	Energy Bolt	Makes an energy bolt hit your target for max 51 to 56 points of Energy damage.
	Explosion	After 2 seconds delay, makes an explosion hit your target for max 51 to 56 points of Fire damage.
	Invisibility	Temporarily hides caster from sight. Lasts for (Magery * 1.2) seconds.
	Mark	Enables marking a rune at a specific area for later recall or gating.
	Mass Curse	Casts Curse on all creatures within a 3 tile radius, reducing strength, dexterity, and intelligence by (caster’s Magery / 10 + 1)%. Damages hidden players.
	Paralyze Field	Creates a paralyze field. Effectiveness based on targets’ spell resistance.
	Reveal	Reveals hidden players or mobs.
Seventh	Chain Lightning	Hits multiple targets within 2 tiles with a lightning bolt for max 64 to 69 total Energy damage. Damages hidden targets.
	Energy Field	Creates a wall of energy to block passages. Lasts (2 + (Magery * 0.28)) seconds.
	Flamestrike	Hits the target with a burst of flames for max 64 to 69 Fire damage. Damages hidden targets.
	Gate Travel	Opens a moon gate to a marked location. Lasts for 30 seconds.
	Mana Vampire	Drains target’s mana by (caster Eval Int – target Resist Magic).
	Mass Dispel	Dispels multiple summoned creatures. Harder to resist than single dispel spell.
	Meteor Swarm	Hits multiple targets within 2 tiles with meteors for max 64 to 69 total Fire damage. Damages hidden targets.
Eighth	Earthquake	Percentage damage-based attack that does approximately 33% Physical damage (min 10, max 100) against total hit points. Can hit multiple targets within sight. Cannot damage targets without line of sight.
	Energy Vortex	Summons an Energy Vortex that attacks in a 6 tile radius. Does up to 26 points of damage per hit. Lasts 90 seconds. Takes 2 pet control slots.
	Resurrection	Restores a ghost to life.
	Summon Air Elemental	Summons an air elemental to cast spells in combat. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds. Takes 2 pet control slots.
	Summon Daemon	Summons a daemon with powerful melee and magic attacks. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds. Takes 4 pet control slots. Caster loses karma.
	Summon Earth Elemental	Summons an earth elemental with strong melee attacks. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds. Takes 2 pet control slots.
	Summon Fire Elemental	Summons a fire elemental with powerful melee and magic attacks. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds. Takes 4 pet control slots.
	Summon Water Elemental	Summons a water elemental to cast spells in combat. Lasts (Magery * 4) seconds. Takes 2 pet control slots.