Ensorcell (735)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: A rewrite of this article is in progress, this message will be removed when it is done.
Ensorcell allows sorcerers to enhance weapons, runestaves, shields, and armor by infusing necrotic energy into them. Items may be either temporarily or permanently ensorcelled, with varying benefits depending on the nature of the item and the strength of the ensorcellment. Most weapons, runestaves, shields, and armor are able to accept an ensorcellment (provided they do not resist magic in general), though the difficulty of the skill check increases based on the item's exact properties.
Temporary Ensorcellment
Temporary ensorcellment allows sorcerers (and sorcerers only) to gain temporary necrotic (life channeling) flares on their weapons and runestaves. There appears to be no skill check for temporary ensorcellment, though an item's properties may prevent it. The flares for temporary ensorcell and permanent ensorcell are exactly the same (see table below).
In order to temporarily ensorcell a weapon, simply PREPARE 735 and CAST it at the item while holding it. Higher level sorcerers can temporarily ensorcell a weapon/runestaff for lower level sorcerers.
Duration
A temporary ensorcell lasts four real time hours. Should the player log off with an active temporary ensorcell and return more than four hours later, the ensorcell will dispel after the first cast/attack. Temporary ensorcellment can be refreshed without dispelling first.
Flare Rate
Magical attack flares from temporary ensorcellment occur randomly and have an average rate of 1 flare per 7 attacks. Physical attack flares from temporary ensorcellment occur randomly and have an average rate of 1 flare per 5 attacks. This is the same rate as an ebladed weapon.
Combat Maneuvers
Non-sorcerers may benefit from temporarily ensorcelled gear for certain Shield and Combat Maneuvers, including Spell Cleaving, Spell Thieve, and Spell Parry.
Permanent Ensorcellment
Permanent ensorcellment can be put on a weapon, armor, shield, or runestaff with the benefits depending on the type of item ensorcelled and can be used by members of any profession. Permanently ensorcelling an item requires necrotic energy, which is gained by killing like level creatures.
In order to permanently ensorcell an item, PREPARE 735 and CHANNEL it at the item while holding it. This will give you a message telling you how difficult it will be to place a permanent ensorcellment on the item as well as the current tier of ensorcellment already on that item. If you still wish to add a tier of ensorcellment to the item, CHANNEL 735 at it again with-in 30 seconds to make the attempt. Enhancive and holy items require the use of a special potion prior to the attempt. See below for a more detailed process.
Weapons and Runestaves
Weapons and runestaves that have been permanently ensorcelled gain permanent necrotic (life channeling) flares which can be used by members of any profession (unlike temporary ensorcellment, which can, for the most part, only be used by sorcerers). The strength and frequency of these flares are based on the tier of ensorcellment.
Runestaves also gain +2 CvA per tier of ensorcellment.
Ensorcelled weapons are infused with necrotic energy that will flare and affect the wielder in one of four ways: attack/casting strength increase (+5/+3 per tier, respectively), health, mana (runestaves) or stamina (weapons), or spirit (based on random chance). If the wielder is full on health, mana, stamina or spirit, it will not flare for that feature. These flares trigger approx 15% of the time on an item that has a single tier of ensorcellment, with the frequency increasing with added tiers (frequency increase needs GM confirmation).
Ensorcelled weapons will trigger flares when the weapon is swung at an enemy while ensorcelled runestaves will flare when attack spells are cast.
| Flare | Message |
|---|---|
| Health | You feel healed! |
| Mana | You feel empowered! |
| Spirit | You feel rejuvenated! |
| Stamina | You feel reinvigorated! |
| Acuity | You feel energized! |
Shields and Armor
Shields and armor that are permanently ensorcelled provide the bearer with an +2 bonus to CvA per tier of ensorcellment. This bonus is permanent and no flare is required to activate. They may also be used for several combat and shield maneuvers that require gear with anti-magical properties.
Tiers
There are 5 tiers of permanent ensorcellment, each tier requires a separate CHANNEL of 735 with the cost of necrotic energy going up for each tier. The benefits provided by a permanently ensorcelled item going up with each tier added to it. Sorcerers wielding permanently ensorcelled items will receive a phantom tier for up to a total of 6 with a Tier 5 weapon or runestaff.
Sorcerers are limited in how much energy they can gather per week to the amount of energy required to do a Tier 1 cast. The energy required for Tiers 2-5 increase in increments of half a week's worth of energy. The maximum amount of energy a sorcerer can store at any time is 3.5 weeks. After gathering this amount a sorcerer must attempt a cast before being able to accumulate energy again. Because of the weekly time increments, many sorcerers price their ensorcells by the week, instead of by the tier.
| Weeks | Tier |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2-3 |
| 3 | 4-5 |
A Tier 5 ensorcell will take ten weeks worth of energy to complete, barring any failed casts.
Success Factors
Primary:
Secondary:
- Elemental Mana Control Ranks
- Spiritual Mana Control Ranks
- Arcane Symbols Ranks
- Magic Item Use Ranks
Other:
- Magical workshop (helps)
- Wounds (hinders)
- Spirit (having less then full spirit hinders)
- Properties of the item (including the item's enchant, whether it is enhancive, sanctified, padded/weighted, what material it is, etc.)
- Voln armor, Coraesine and Veil Iron cannot be ensorcelled
- Forged weapons do not seem to be any more difficult than regular weapons when everything else is equal.
Failure
- A failed attempt costs 5% of the amount of necrotic energy that would have been required for a successful attempt
- There is no chance of losing an item due to a failed attempt
- A sorcerer may make another attempt immediately after a failed attempt, provided they still have the required amount of necrotic energy
Necrotic Energy
Necrotic Energy is automatically gained by sorcerers with knowledge of 735 when they kill like level creatures. It is required to permanently ensorcell items, with the amount required depending on the tier of ensorcellment being sought.
While there is a cap on both how much necrotic energy can be gained in a week as well as the total amount of necrotic energy a sorcerer can store, a sorcerer will only lose necrotic energy if they attempt to permanently ensorcell an item. The amount of necrotic energy gained from a creature depends on the creature's level in relation to the sorcerer, and no necrotic energy is gained from creatures a sorcerer cannot learn from. Sorcerers training in Sorcerous Lore, Necromancy will absorb necrotic energy at a faster rate based on Seed 1 of the Seed Summation Chart.
Sorcerers may check their level of necrotic energy stored by self-casting ensorcell. When a sorcerer has reached his/her maximum for the week, the following message will appear below the accumulated amount:
Your rapid build up of necrotic energy has left you feeling overwhelmed and temporarily unable to absorb any new necrotic power.
The weekly cap resets with the first valid creature a sorcerer kills after their Triple X bonus has begun to gain necrotic energy. The above maximum weekly message will only disappear once that first creature has been killed, regardless of if the sorcerer has gained experience in another fashion.
The amount of necrotic energy required for a tier 1 ensorcell appears to be that gained from approximately 1000 same-level creatures on characters not having any necromancy lore training. Lower level creatures will give less energy, and higher level creatures will give more. Again, a sorcerer must gain experience from the creature to gain any necrotic energy.
To put creature kills in the same perspective as weeks, the amount of necrotic energy required for each successive tier is increased by 500 from last tier. Ex: 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000 respective costs from tier 1-5. A full Tier 5 ensorcell will mean 10,000 kills for a sorcerer not having any necromancy training.
Necromancy Bonus Hypothesis
Sorcerers Rolfard and Allereli hypothesize that there is a 3% creature kill reduction bonus provided by each level in Seed 1 of the Summation Chart. For example, if a sorcerer has 105 necromancy ranks, he/she will have a 14 bonus (level) provided by the chart. Multiply this by 3% and the sorcerer will have a final 42% creature kill reduction. So assuming 1000 same-level creature kills with zero necromancy ranks, a sorcerer with 105 necromancy ranks will need to kill 420 fewer creatures, or 580 kills.
There are other ideas that cannot be stated so simply, but can be read about on the Player's Corner in the External Links below.
Process
The ensorcelling process is very straight forward.
1. Gather energy (hunt) until a self-cast of Ensorcell (735) give you the message that you have reached the point necessary to permanently ensorcell an item for whichever tier you are casting.
2. Do a preliminary 735 channel on the item to check for difficulty. If you (a) get a reading, (b) get the easiest difficulty message of you can only fail if you are horribly unlucky, and (c) are outside of a workshop skip to the last step.
3. If you do not get a reading (the item resists), or if you know the item is enhanced or sanctified, you will need to pour an inky black potion on it. Repeat preliminary channel to get a reading. Potion pours last approximately 30 minutes.
4. If the item is at all difficult, wear as many applicable skill and stat enhancives that you have available to you.
5. Go to a magical workshop (use the SENSE verb to check).
6. Prep and channel at the item again. You may have to repeat if you did any of steps 3-5 above.
Attempts
From worst to best, here are the attempt possibilities:
- Astoundingly inept
- Horribly poor
- Very poor
- Poor
- Questionable
- Passable
- Okay
- Decent
- Good
- Excellent
- Outstanding
- Astoundingly good
Difficulties
Sorcerers doing an initial channel on an item will get a reading for one of the following levels of difficulty (from easiest to hardest):
- Cannot fail unless horribly unlucky
- Easy enough, barring bad luck
- Odds on your side
- More likely to succeed than not, but will need some luck
- Difficult, but possible
- Very difficult
- Nearly impossible
- Need a miracle
- Beyond your abilities
Testing is still being done to determine how good of an attempt is needed to succeed at each difficulty.
Messaging
Bonuses
The flares appear basically similar, besides their respective messages of feeling. For example, an acuity flare:
** Necrotic energy from your <weapon> overflows into you! **
You feel energized!
Acuity is the only flare which also wears off (whether used or unused):
You feel the unnatural surge of necrotic power wane away.
Status
Casting Ensorcell at one's self yields information on the present necrotic power.
Empty:
You sense no build up of necrotic energy within you.
Lowest tier
You sense a weak build up of necrotic energy within you.
Second tier:
You sense the build up of necrotic energy within you approaching the amount needed to permanently ensorcell an item for the first time.
Ready for the first permanent attempt (at tier 1)
You sense the build up of necrotic energy within you has reached the point necessary to permanently ensorcell an item for the first time.
Usage
Success for a temporary item (note usage of CAST):
>cast at my staff
You gesture at a drakar-runed ebonwood staff.
Necrotic energy materializes around your ebonwood staff and sinks onto it like an ethereal film.
Probable success for a Tier 1 permanent item (CHANNEL):
You sense that the rune-carved crosier has not yet been permanently ensorcelled and that you should be able to ensorcell it easily enough, barring bad luck.
Success for a Tier 1 permanent item (CHANNEL):
>channel my crosier
You channel at a tiny rune-carved crosier.
Having probed the rune-carved crosier already, you begin to channel your stored necrotic energy at it. You carefully regulate the flow of energy in order to attempt to overcome its natural resistance while not simultaneously overwhelming yourself...
You make an outstanding attempt!
Success! You manage to breach the rune-carved crosier's defenses and pour in enough of your stored necrotic energy to permanently fuse it to the rune-carved crosier's very structure.
Wearing Off
Temporary item ensorcellment wearing off.
The ethereal necrotic film covering your hoarbeam runestaff shrivels away.
Failures
Failure message for testing a permanent item (7x @ lvl 36):
You channel at an ice blue tapered faewood runestaff tipped with a smooth bone wand.
You sense that the tapered faewood runestaff has not yet been permanently ensorcelled and that this ensorcellment will be nearly impossible.
Possible failure for testing (5x @ lvl 37):
You sense that the faewood runestaff has not yet been permanently ensorcelled and that you are more likely than not to succeed on your cast, but you will need some luck.
Failure message for permanent item:
You make an excellent attempt!
Failure! You are unable to overcome the tapered faewood runestaff's defenses, wasting some of your stored necrotic energy in the fruitless attempt.
Related Recipe
Used to prepare both enhancive and sanctified gear. A pour will last 30 minutes before wearing off.
- an inky black potion
- add water
- add essence of water
- Alchemy Simmer
- add 3 powdered uncut diamond
- add faintly radiant dust
- Alchemy Infuse
- add inky necrotic core
- add essence of soul
- Chant 735
- Alchemy Seal