Gswiki:Style guide/Spells

All spell entries are required to include a spell template inclusion at the top of the article. Additionally, all spell entries should include one or more the following in order:

• A blurb about the spell, describing its visual effects in plain English. The intro should also include base bonuses conferred, when the spell is used if situational, and any other key effects of the spell, and maybe a short summary of any other factors that will be described later in detail.
• Low level profession circle spells, and any other odd usage spells, should have a Usage section describing how to cast the spell. For spells with multiple uses (see Web (118)), usage can be integrated into each version of the spell's section.
• One of the key uses of the Wiki is for people to learn how to train to increase the effectiveness of a spell. Thus, there should be a Mana Control Benefit(s) section and a Lore Benefit(s) section if applicable. Other skills/stats, such as Spell Aiming/Dexterity for bolts, should go in the intro, or if there are a lot of unusual factors, the Mana Control and Lore Benefits should be subheaders under a larger section. Each Mana Control and Lore Benefits section should have a training chart showing thresholds and benefits, if possible. If there are a lot of thresholds, create a progressive chart of thresholds that make sense and indicate that not all thresholds are shown (see Web (118)#Chance to Ensnare Target). All Mana Control and Lore benefits should also be added to the respective page for that skill. If skill bonus is used in thresholds or equations, the training threshold chart should convert the skill bonus to ranks.
• A Messaging section showing the in-game text when the spell is cast and when its effect expires (if applicable). Spells that have specific messaging for every single deity should have one example (or a summarized example) on the spell page and a link to the application section of the deity messaging page (see Prayer (313)#Messaging for example).
• If there are any alchemy recipes that directly cast the spell or make a key component (e.g. chalk for 740), the recipe should be added in via transclusion (see Unlock (407) for an example with 1 recipe, or Elemental Blast (409) for an example with 2 recipes), otherwise a link to the related recipe is fine.
• A Resources section listing any guides, saved posts page(s), and links to the official spell description, if applicable. As of this writing in October 2015, there are several spells without an official spell description (see Grasp of the Grave (709)). How helpful the release posts are is really dependent on the overseeing GameMaster.

Other important information for spell pages:

• When a spell is rewritten, the spell page edit should be approached as a rewrite and every section and linked page should be looked over. This includes changes to success determination, addition or subtraction of applicable skills, etc. When the release post is copied and pasted into the article text and the existing information is not read over and edited, information that is not applicable anymore remains in the article, and the article does not read like an article. Besides the obvious links in the article text, see the "What links here" link on the bottom left of the sidebar on every page for a full list of pages that link to the article.
• When a spell is no longer implemented, the spell page should be marked deprecated and all links to the page should be reviewed and updated if needed (e.g. Spell Store (502)).

The Spell Template

Each spell entry should begin with a spell template inclusion.

For example, this would be the spell template for Minor Shock (901):

{{spell | mnemonic = MINORSHOCK | duration = Instantaneous | type = Attack }}

Which results in the following table being added to the article page:

Minor Shock (901) Mnemonic [MINORSHOCK] Duration Instantaneous Type Attack

This table will float along the right-hand side of the article, and article content will attempt to flow around it as best as possible. Please keep this in mind when writing articles and preview articles before saving to make sure the table flows well with the rest of the article's content.

The template inclusion should be kept as a single line as illustrated above, unless the spell has a particularly long or complex duration, in which case an inclusion in the following form is preferred:

{{spell
  | mnemonic = MSUMMON
  | base_dur = 600 sec 
  | add_dur = +20 sec per [[Sorcerer Base|rank]] <br>+30 sec per [[Sorcerous Lore, Demonology|Demonology]] rank
  | span = [[Refreshable]]
  | type = Utility
 }}

• Mnemonic should be typed in all capital letters.
• Duration should be one of the following: instantaneous, permanent, special or the duration formula.
  • Time units should be abbreviated as follows: sec (seconds), min (minutes), hr (hours)
• Type should be any of the following, as appropriate: attack, defense, offense, or utility.
  • Attack type should include an internally linked sub-type. The list of sub-types includes but is not limited to: bolt, warding and maneuver.

Advanced Functions

The spell template has many, many more functions than those listed here. For more information, see Template:Spell.