Spellmaking maths

The two prices

A made spell has two different prices, and mixing them up is the usual mistake.

• Gold is what the maker charges to inscribe the spell. It is the same component sum as the cast price, before the school-skill term.

• Spell points are what a cast costs. They are the per-effect gold priced again through your magic-school skill, summed, multiplied by the target type, then floored.

The spell-point pool itself is floor(Intelligence × your class's spell-point multiplier). The multiplier is a creation choice (Increased Magery raises it); Intelligence raises the pool but does not directly cheapen a spell.

One effect's cost

For each supported component of an effect:

component gold = trunc(offset + A × starting + B × trunc(increase / perLevel))

The coefficients A, B and offset, and which of duration, chance and magnitude an effect supports, come from the effect's row in EFFECT_COST_TABLE. Some examples:

Magnitude uses the averaged spinner pair: base = trunc((baseMin + baseMax) / 2) and plus = trunc((plusMin + plusMax) / 2). The per-level spinner divides the "increase" part, so level scaling is charged in steps rather than smoothly.

Then the effect's spell points are trunc(gold × (110 − school skill) / 400). Online, once the school is past 100, the term becomes trunc(gold × 10 × 100 / (skill × 400)) — at 200 the spell costs half its at-100 price, never nothing. Offline and to 100, the classic term stands.

The maker's spinner ranges: duration base and modifier 1–60, per level 1–20; chance base and modifier 1–100, per level 1–20; magnitude base low/high 1–100 and level bases 1–100, per level 1–20. A fresh effect starts every spinner at 1.

Target, area and range

Sum the effects, multiply both the gold and the spell-point totals by the target multiplier, truncate each. Then apply the floor: no cast under 5 spell points. A spell record flagged minimumCastingCost (vampire clan spells, the lycanthrope morph) costs exactly 5, even if its effects price higher.

Only target and element combinations that every effect allows are offered: targets are intersected and elements are unioned, and Magic is always allowed. An effect that can only target the self forces the self target.

What a cast does

The spell leaves your hands 0.2 s after the cast starts and the next cast waits 0.7 s from that start; both scale with cast rate. Cast rate is 1 at Speed 50, +25% at Speed 100, −25% at Speed 0, plus cast-speed gear, clamped 0.5–2.

A ranged spell's missile flies at 25 units/s and lives at most 8 s, so movement can make it miss. Whether an effect lands is a saving throw weighing the target's resistances, tolerances and floor(Willpower / 10) magic resist. Magnitude is base + plus × floor(caster level / perLevel).

Worked examples

A ranged fire bolt. Damage Health, magnitude base 10 (low and high both 10), level part 1, target SingleTargetAtRange. Component = 20 × 10 + 28 × 1 = 228 gold. At Destruction 50 the effect's spell points are trunc(228 × 60 / 400) = 34; ×1.5 = 51 spell points, gold 342. At Destruction 100: trunc(228 × 10 / 400) = 5; ×1.5 = 7 → 7 spell points. At Destruction 150 online: trunc(228 × 10 × 100 / (150 × 400)) = 3; ×1.5 = 4 → floored to 5.

A cheap self heal. Heal Fatigue, magnitude 20, target CasterOnly. Component = 8 × 20 + 28 × 1 = 188 gold. At Restoration 50: trunc(188 × 60 / 400) = 28 → 28 spell points; at Restoration 100: trunc(188 × 10 / 400) = 4 → floored to 5.

These are illustrative builds using the source's rows, not fixed recipes.

Where the maker is, and the purchase ladder

Making spells is a guild service: Mages Guild members can open Make Spells, and the service tables gate it by membership. Carrying a spellbook item is the first check. The purchase ladder then runs in this order: a spellbook is held, at least one effect is chosen, the gold (coins plus letters of credit) covers the price, and a name is entered. The name is checked last, so an unnamed spell with no gold complains about gold first.

A bought spell is pushed straight onto the spellbook and the maker resets for the next one. The maker's live totals call the same calculateCastCost as the cast, so the gold and spell-point figures it shows are the real ones — except the per-effect editor label, which deliberately omits the target multiplier and the five-point floor.

Failure modes

• No spellbook. Refused before anything else (record 1703).

• No effect. Refused; an empty spell is never bought.

• No gold. Checked before the item's limits; the maker tells you it is gold, not capacity.

• No name. Checked last.

• Too many effects. The record holds three; a fourth is not carried into the built spell.

• A target no effect allows. The maker restricts the buttons rather than letting you buy an impossible spell.

• Spell Absorption over 50. A made Spell Absorption effect is capped at a 50% base chance.

• Expecting the editor label to match the bill. The single-effect label has no target multiplier and no floor.

• A spell you cannot cast. The floor is 5, but a costly spell can still exceed your pool; the spell points shown are the real cast price.

Item maker versus spell maker

The spell maker creates spells: gold to inscribe, spell points to cast. The item maker spends an item's enchantment points and charges gold per power point; it does not use your school skills or spell points. See Magic item economy and the overview of both services in Enchanting, spellmaking and potions.

Common mistakes

• Pricing an area spell as a single-target one. The multiplier applies to the whole sum, both gold and spell points.

• Buying a spell your pool cannot cast. The purchase does not check your maximum spell points.

• Assuming skill 110 makes spells free. Online, past 100 the price falls but never below the 5-point floor.

• Ignoring cast rate. Speed and cast-speed gear change how often the spell leaves your hands, not its price.

• Forgetting the spellbook. The maker will not open the purchase without it.

Next

• Archery and magic

• Magic item economy

Sources & checked facts

• src/systems/spellcost.js: EFFECT_COST_TABLE, effectCost, component, skillScaledCost, CAST_COST_FLOOR, TARGET_COST_MULT, calculateCastCost, SPELL_COST_SKILL_REFERENCE

• src/systems/spell/spellMaker.js: MAX_EFFECTS_PER_SPELL, SPINNER_RANGES, blankEffectSettings, spellMakerCost, validateSpellPurchase, purchaseSpell, hasSpellbook, TARGET_FLAGS, ELEMENT_FLAGS, SPELL_ABSORPTION_CHANCE_BASE_MAX

• src/systems/spellcast.js: TARGET_TYPES, TOUCH_RANGE, EXPLOSION_RADIUS, MISSILE_SPEED, MISSILE_LIFESPAN_S, savingChance, rollMagnitude

• src/combat/fpsSpellCasting.js: RELEASE_FRAME, CAST_FRAME_PERIOD, CAST_RECOVER_S; src/systems/castSpeed.js: castRate

• src/combat/formulas.js: spellPointsFor; src/systems/chargen.js: SPELL_POINT_MULTIPLIERS

• src/systems/guild/guildServices.js: MakeSpells access; src/systems/enchanting.js and src/systems/enchantmentCatalogue.js: item-maker costs

• Research note handbook/research/H2.md; overview page handbook/content/gear/enchanting-spellmaking-potions.md