Fatigue 100- ?

[Corinthian]

Yes.

A lvl 4 D mage casting darkness would normally get 200 points of fatigue. But the spell is 400 points and it requires lvl4 you say? Yea but fatigue from a self-cast spell maxes out at 200. Even it it say that it will give 400 it will never give more than 200.

Thus a lvl 5 mage is equally bad as a lvl 4 mage for casting this particular spell, because they both end up with 200 fat at the end of it.

This is necessary if you think of it. Consider the spell master enslave that is lvl 8 and requires 8 pearls to cast. It also gives 800 points of fatigue. If the above was not so, the only way that anyone could cast this spell and live would be to have astral 10 and 10 pearls and that would be a little excessive dont you think?

[Starbelly Geek]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

This is necessary if you think of it. Consider the spell master enslave that is lvl 8 and requires 8 pearls to cast. It also gives 800 points of fatigue. If the above was not so, the only way that anyone could cast this spell and live would be to have astral 10 and 10 pearls and that would be a little excessive dont you think?

The most pearls you can use on an 8-pearl spell is 9, so the 10th pearl would be pointless. At most one gem can be used to boost caster level.

You could still use a communion. A really big one, with Power of the Spheres and Light of the North Star, to avoid instapopping all of the communion slaves.

[Corinthian]

You misunderstood.

The extra pearl is not to increase the caster level. Its to prevent the caster from dying. Every 10 fat over 200 gives you 1 point of HP damage. If there was no 200 cap and you cast a spell that caused 800 points of fat with a lvl 8 caster then you would take 60 points of damage. Even an oracle pretender would die from that.

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Every 10 fat over 200 gives you 1 point of HP damage.

Noooo, at least I don't think so! If you read back from what has been said in posts here, and I think the manual, the claim is: you don't get fatigue->hits over 200 as a result of the action causing that fatigue --- you only get it for future fatigue.

At least, that's the kind of thing I'm asking...

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Thus a lvl 5 mage is equally bad as a lvl 4 mage for casting this particular spell, because they both end up with 200 fat at the end of it.

Umm, not quite (or it depends just what you mean). In my example, I'm claiming that a lvl 5 mage who boosts by 1 by having 5 gems comes out with 133 fatigue. (If anyone disagrees, please explain.) Whether that's "worth it" for the reduction seems to me debatable...

[JonBrave]

Originally Posted by Starbelly Geek

The most pearls you can use on an 8-pearl spell is 9, so the 10th pearl would be pointless. At most one gem can be used to boost caster level.

But the manual does not say that!
It says, you can spend 1 more than your skill level. (In this case, 10->11, which could be used to reduce fatigue.)
Where does it say you can only spend 1 more than the spell cost?

[Corinthian]

Guys, guys. Dont fight. You are both wrong.

A mage can spend as many gems on a spell as he has power in the relevant path. However, only one gem can be used to boost the casters casting level and that extra casting level cant be used to burn further gems. The rest of the gems can only be used to boost the caster lever for the purpose of mitigating fatigue. It will not boost caster level for other purposes.

[Corinthian]

Originally Posted by JonBrave

Noooo, at least I don't think so! If you read back from what has been said in posts here, and I think the manual, the claim is: you don't get fatigue->hits over 200 as a result of the action causing that fatigue --- you only get it for future fatigue.

At least, that's the kind of thing I'm asking...

No, I am right. However it is only possible to get over 200 in a communion so in most cases this point is moot. In normal cases you simply stop getting fatigue at 200.

However, above I was discussing a hypothetical case were this cap would not exist. And what consequences this would have.

Sorry if was confusing people.

[Starbelly Geek]

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Guys, guys. Dont fight. You are both wrong.

A mage can spend as many gems on a spell as he has power in the relevant path. However, only one gem can be used to boost the casters casting level and that extra casting level cant be used to burn further gems. The rest of the gems can only be used to boost the caster lever for the purpose of mitigating fatigue. It will not boost caster level for other purposes.

So, to roll things back to something more common, an A5 caster with 5 air gems could cast Wind Guide with an effective level of A6 (net 1/5 fatigue), but could reduce fatigue by a factor of 1/8 by expending all five gems?

Have you ever actually gotten a caster to do something like that? I thought that as a practical matter the spell-casting AI would never use more than (gems required by spell) + 1 in casting a spell, and the other three gems in my example would then get used for later spells if at all.

[Corinthian]

I am told that the AI will spend gems until the cost of the spell falls under 50 fat. Or possibly so that the caster remains under 50 fat. I have not tested this though.

But yes, an A1E3 rain of stone caster will easily spend 3 gems in a single casting of rain of stone, if allowed. This is why I used to use A1E2 casters instead if I wanted them to cast it more than once. A A1E2 caster can only burn 2 gems per turn and will thus have gems over for the next battle due to only burning max 4 gems before falling permanently unconscious.

An A1E3 caster would remain awake and continue to waste gems on misc spells until the enemy had left the battlefield.