Shadow magic, how to "Use" it.

There was.

I'm just shamelessly going to plug the writings of Alph'el here on the nature of spellcasting, it might be of some inspiration to you.

You can find it in the in character section, right here:
http://www.defiasrp.com/t6474-magic-the-pursuit-of-cosmic-truth-article-2

Thank you, now for the changes that have happened on Martha.

- Martha looks older, her hair have become more gray after using Shadowform and Shadow magic.
- Martha now has two personality's, one is called Martha Moonshadow which is the old Martha Silverlight.
- Martha Moonshadow has become more addicted to Shadowmagic and hates it when people disturb her *Looks at Manderson*
- Martha Silverlight I don't understand much of since I just lost my plans on her, I think she is going to become one of those people who looks kind all the time but really is manipulating and consuming them.
- (WIP) Should Martha become like a vampire, absorbing people's negative emotions and life to stay alive?
- Martha Moonshadow is the one with memories, so if Manderson or someone who knows her meets her when she have stepped into the shadow they will maybe hear her say something about the past.
- Martha Silverlight used to be the shadow that was trapped inside Martha before she touched the spirit stone in Arathi.
- (WIP) Unsure if I should start using Martha Moonshadow or Martha Silverlight.

That is all I can remember for now.
A small question involving Saronit and Shadow magic.
- What effects would Divine Shadow magic have on it?
- Would Saronit repel Shadow magic?
- Would there be any negative effects on the Death knights if I used Shadow Magic on him?

- (WIP) Should Martha become like a vampire? Absorbing people's negative emotions and life to stay alive?

I'd not go for exactly a "vampire". Of course you can be a messed up person or just someone who likes to see people suffer (Sadist alert!). But i'm not that at this stage you'd need to do so to survive. Much easier to munch on some bread then go out use drain life and corrupt yourself even further (Which is basically the opposite in a way or does that side really want to turn undead or into a shadow thing?), then again depends on Martha.

The only beings close to vampires in WoW are the Darkfallen (http://www.wowpedia.org/Darkfallen) and yes they are generally dead dead. Feeding on suffering and misery and so on are generally the Death Knights, most undead so that doesn't seem to me like a thing, but i wouldn't go as far to say you're a Vampire or need to do so to survive or not go insane, for someone new in the shadow game.

There are Vampiric abilities and so on, Shadow Priests even have them, but your question is does she need it to survive?
If yes, then she probably has a reason why. Is the Shadow so far spread she needs to feed on more. Or has she just gone nuttcase insane. But that's just IMO.

Martha Silverlight wrote:A small question involving Saronit and Shadow magic.
- What effects would Divine Shadow magic have on it?
- Would Saronit repel Shadow magic?
- Would there be any negative effects on the Death knights if I used Shadow Magic on him?

1) Limited effect. It is a strongly shadow-aligned item and therefore using shadow on it isn't really going to do much damage. Saronite is largely magic resistant in general, and is best defeated through mundane techniques.

2) Repel as in reflect? No. It largely just nullifies magic directed against it, which would include shadow magic. The only thing that seems to get reflected is Holy energy (which I assume is because you can't resist Holy attacks, so Saronite "cheats" by instead diverting it away).

3) You already asked his question before, and I answered. Damaging spells will still damage them, though they have a bit of resistance to it. Weaker mental spells will have limited or no effect, stronger ones may be able to affect them but they'll still have a good chance of shrugging them off.

It should be noted, that undead are unliving rather than dead. They feed on life energy to empower their bodies and allow them to remain animated. Shadow magic primarily attacks those reserves of life in their body, and therefore brings them closer to a 'final death'. Therefore, like with all other things, using shadow magic is going to result in that undead creature becoming more dead. Otherwise freshly preserved flesh will proceed to rot and decay, while the willpower they try to maintain is crushed, making them more susceptible to the raw unholy hunger of the mindless state.

But what happens when I use a Shadow spell that is suppose to devour/decay him away?

Imagine watching a corpse decay on it's own. Now imagine having a remote and ressing the >> button. Still slow, but faster than super slow, still as Dru stated as well the life force that the undead has would drop in other words making the Undead into Dead slowly. So basically he'd seem to decay in a way.

Martha Silverlight wrote:But what happens when I use a Shadow spell that is suppose to devour/decay him away?

It devours/decays him away.

Undead are resistant to shadow magic. Not immune. Damaging shadow spells still affect them as they do any living being. As I said above, they primarily will target the living energy that the undead creature has consumed to fuel itself. Damaging shadow magic on an undead creature will bring it closer to true death, reversing preservative techniques they have used on themselves and bringing them closer to the ravening mindless state of a zombie or ghouls.

Undead are an unholy mix of life and death. They are both, because without death they would not be undead, and without life they not would not be unliving. An undead creature is striving to push itself away from its base, dead state (Shadow) towards an active, reanimated state (Life).

Shadow ---|--- Life

The closer they are to the right, the more living and wholesome they are. The more control over their faculties, the more lively they appear, the greater their reflexes, and so on. They can never truly reach Life (without a miracle), but by consuming the energies of the living they can get close to it.

But the closer they are to the left, the more decrepid and deathly they are. They have less control over their minds (from a joint affect of hunger for life and decreased willpower), their bodies become less preserved, and their movements and reflexes more stiff and slow. If they move all the way back to the left, they truly die.

(Of course, individual undead types have different applications of this (ghouls largely give up the mind for greater physical prowess, while liches largely give up the body for greater mental ability), but that's beside the point.)

When you use damaging shadow spells on an undead creature, you are leeching away that little bit of life they have consumed, thus pushing them further back to the left.

Shadow is a void. It is a vaccum. It lives to feed. As a shadowpriest combating an undead creature, you are stealing their food. Just as that undead also wishes to consume your life energies to feed themselves. The victor will be nourished, and the loser will be devoured (physically or spiritually).



To use Drustai as an example: If you used a physical shadow spell on, say, her hand, it would accelerate the decaying process that she strives to undo. It might destabilize the illusion she maintains over it, and it will kill the necromantic preservation spells she is using to maintain it. As shadow reclaims that hand, it will rapidly decay. The tissue around the bones will liquify and dissolve. The bones themselves will grow brittle, before finally cracking, breaking, and turning to dust.

Essentially, the same thing that would happen if you used the spell on a living creature.

Heck, Dru's actually occasionally had her shadow spells backfire, causing it to consume the wand or even the hand that was casting the spell. I remember one event we were doing in Darkshore where this happened. Dru attempted a "Finger of Death" style spell (touching a creature to make it instantly die), and got a low roll. The shadow magic backfired, and her hand shrivled up and wasted away.

Shadow magic is dangerous stuff, kids.

Martha Silverlight wrote:But what happens when I use a Shadow spell that is suppose to devour/decay him away?

That is up to the targeted death knight.
You can cast all the spells you'd like, but their effects depend on the offended party.
Remember that DKs have anti-magic spheres, runes of spellshattering etc at their disposal as well as the fact that many RPers have adopted Saronite armours for their undead knights. Some use neither. Some use all of them. As such, magical effects on DKs can vary by a vast margin from individual to individual.

And a general tip: Never start trying to harm another roleplayer's character unless you are prepared to see your own character face the same or worse.

Edit- To emphasize my point: The effects your offensive spells have, will in all cases depend on the offended party. Anything less, and we'd have warlocks running round cath square stealing souls and summoning demons, killing our RP mains twice a day for the lulz.

Aye. Obviously effects will vary depending on what protections that individual character has, whether it be warding spells, magic resistant armor, simple bodily/spiritual fortitude (death knights are kept together by sterner stuff than zombies), and so on.

The other player will decide what how much damage they will take, based on their own defenses.

Really liked the first explenation given by drustai:

To use Drustai as an example: If you used a physical shadow spell on, say, her hand, it would accelerate the decaying process that she strives to undo. It might destabilize the illusion she maintains over it, and it will kill the necromantic preservation spells she is using to maintain it. As shadow reclaims that hand, it will rapidly decay. The tissue around the bones will liquify and dissolve. The bones themselves will grow brittle, before finally cracking, breaking, and turning to dust.

Just found it amusing thinking about it, but recently I have heard rumors of Wards being placed over the People of Azeroth... Anything in that?

What kind of wards?

Individual people may apply wards. There's no "global" ward if that's what you're asking. Some mages may keep permanent minor shielding spells on themselves, while some may simply raise one the moment they get into a dangerous situation.

The common non-mage is not likely to be warded, unless they're in possession of an enchanted item that gives a warding effect (such as an anti-scrying medallion to prevent spells like mind vision, etc).

In other words, it will vary depending on who you're involved with at that time.

Martha, I think the point our fellow guild member was trying to make was that they'd become pretty usual, especially in the Blades for Hire, if I got that part right, after some overly enthusiastic shadow users tried to dominate/control/torture/kill them.

Anyway. I'm not going to elaborate on the Lore behind shadow, divine or arcane, because Dru already covered that. What Dru summarizes is the Lore, and if there are passages with no good ingame sources, it's cool enough to replace whatever ingame lore we're being handed.


What I'm going to stress is this, however:
If you ever are to use all these fancy shadow spells and powers in character, which I am kind of assuming, as you ask for such levels of details about them, remember to keep communicating with the would-be victims in whispers or /party or what have you.

A lot of the spells, if we go by the spellbook, can seem overpowered, as they work on the central nervous system, either seizing control, causing pain etc. It's a lot easier to have your character dodge a sword you have no idea is coming, than having his CNS dodge a spell that can't even be seen.

By sorting out some guidelines at least OOC, like limits to what your character would be able to convince the other to do while mind controlled, a few things that migth have worked IC, that you to avoid being a total douche won't do etc. you don't just limit your character's powers, you show the opposing part that you are a reasonable roleplayer, and that you are willing to communicate to enable cool plots to happen.

Also, when your character is threatened by a mighty morphing shadow priest, it's always nice knowing that the player behind that character carries no ill intent towards you OOC.

When casting combat spells, as when entering combat in character, it's all about communicating, finding a way to make the encounter enjoyable for both attacker and attacked. It's a basic courtesy, but incredibly important if you wish to be taken seriously.

Always leave the other player some way out.

That is all.

Finally back in business, I decided to keep Marthas shadow magic and making some small changes to her, but that wont go into here.

Wondering about a spell I em creating.
I don't think it is a big secret that Shadow magic makes it possible for you to mend the shadows around you, making you invisible or even teleport from shadow to shadow, with other words its perfect for assassins.
But what I em planing is a little twist with the Teleportation spell.

I em wondering if it is possible to drag other peoples into shadows, If I were to drag people down into a shadow on the ground for a short time, since they would not be used to Shadowmagic and not immune to it the same way as people who are used to it.
What I expect to happen is that the Shadowmagic would decay them or make them mad, drawing out their life force or even teleport them to another Shadow if I wanted it to.
I'm no the best one to explain things so tell me if you don't understand.

Like Martha in game, you're creating this spell for your own purposes.

Nobody here can tell you how your spell works, and it's your mechanics that power your individual spell. Unlike, say... someone using a spell that's in-game and explaining how it works*, you're creating your own spell, with your own mechanics.

Use what we've already told you about respecting other peoples characters and letting them decide what ultimately happens to their characters, and focus on explaining your 'spells' to the people you're using them on, rather than people on the forum who aren't included in your RP.

* - Shameless plug of my story with my character using Dark Apotheosis

Cool that people answer so fast in this forum! I completely forgot about letting people decide what would happen ultimately, thanks for reminding me about it. Also, could you have a quick look at the story I have written?
Just trying something new.

Link; http://www.defiasrp.com/t6559-shadow-dance
Or just Shadow Dance if you want.

Oh don't worry, I've already read it.

:3

Was it any good?

Whilst you're still finding your character, I'd advise running her through a Mary Sue Litmus Test. Do several, just to make sure you get an accurate reading of your character.

Secondly, use Microsoft Word, or Google Docs to proof read your work for spelling errors and grammatical errors.

These two steps will greatly enhance not only your story telling but also your dialect and grammar, making your work easier to read and much more professional.

/e Nod nod

Now about a good test? And please lett there be an Yes or No answering there and not like this one
http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm

Been looking trought the web and the Litmus tests.. WHere is the Yes and no? I dont understand!

That one you linked is pretty thorough, but it's not the worst one around.

On a side-note:
If you take one the tests, and end up with a Mary Sue, don't feel bad, everything you've ever encountered in gameplay in wow encourages that kind of character, it's only when it comes to roleplaying and actively interacting with a number of other characters that it becomes a problem. Or, unviable, at least. And if that should be the result, just a few minor changes can often be enough.

I have no idea if I em saying yes or no at those answers..

http://www.freewebs.com/aerosolspraycan/marysue.html

All done, I have no idea if I answered yes or no but meh!
24
The mary sue :s

Look, it's pretty usual to hit the mary sue on your first attempt, we all want our characters to be unique, to be worth remembering for the people with play with.

It's probably about balancing it, people have strenghts and weaknesses, unusual and usual sides to their personalities, and so should characters as well. They don't need to be obvious, or even huge. Commonplace things like "is not a very fast reader" or "cannot run for very long without having long breaks catching his breath" or "is illogically afraid of the dark, and on edge when outside during the night" or "has an inapropriate sense of humor"... It's all about making the character believable in a real world settinng (even if the character's powers are very much not believable).