Bay 12 Games Forum

Quote from: Bad_Goblin on February 21, 2019, 04:57:14 pm

For the Myth and Myth Release will magic also be found in the form of runes? In many different fantasy settings dwarfs have a great affinity for "rune magic", will we ever see this in Dwarf Fortress as well?

If so, would this form of magic somehow be implemented into the engraving and magic skills? (In the sense that creating a rune would require knowledge in the engraving skill in order to carve the rune into an object, as well as the proper experience in magic to imbue power into the rune.) Or would "Rune Crafting"  have it's own skill(s) entirely to differentiate itself?

Lastly, What uses could rune magic have?
(For example: Could magic runes carved onto a weapon/piece of armor give said item special properties such as a rune engraved weapon now causing fire damage or have it deal harder hits in general? Could a rune engraved on a Helmet grant it a better chance at shrugging off blows? As another example, could engraving a rune on an object like a door make it so that it can only be opened by one with sufficient magical knowledge/skill? Or could magical runes be used as a form of "trap" engraved on a tile that could cause a lethal property to activate, for instance say, engulf the tile in flames if a specific creature (ex: a goblin or filthy elf) stepped on it?)

I might be going out on a limb or a tangent here that could quite possibly belong in the suggestions thread, but if something like this was ever implemented it could add a whole new depth for dwarfs interacting with objects as well as their environment.

Rune magic has been asked about and mostly confirmed in this thread before. I think if you do a search for runes you should find a previous answer from not so long ago.

--edit
Oh, like this one to start with. There's others too I think.

Quote

4. Traditionally, wizard magic is a big no no for dwarves. Do you think we'll be able to make dwarf wizards anyway on our forts, if we want to?

Toady's reply:


4. It depends on what you mean and the settings for that world.  "Geomancers" and "Rune <X>ers" are common dwarf 'wizard' types that aren't closely linked to the more-often-used priest powers.  Then there's the more traditional links to magical item production, which is a sort of magic.  The more vanilla settings will lean this way, toward 'dwarfy' magics, I suspect.  Others will allow more arbitrary research and spell opportunities.  Even in the vanilla settings, doing things like exploring runes and the powers of the earth would be on the table as research-style possibilities.

This is amazing. I wish I could come up with nice 32x sprites for all of those. Would be so much fun, especially once mounts work... with dwarves riding a Trex.

The Dwarves are the true final enemy of all in Warhammer Total War