But what stops it for being random and invisible? I want to have some indication or clue as to how I'm being affected.
I am taking a few posts here in one:
First of all there is no visible sign of the land like in some other games.
Secondly, I like it to be invisible because if you play a warrior he does not have the 'eyes' to see the magic hidden in the land.
That basically means that this -let us call it [color:"blue"]Mana Vision[/color] hehehe - is a skill that increases in power as you learn more about the 5 elements of magic, which are the 4 elements plus spirit. I would also couple it to the ability to tap mana from the land. Note that I make a distinction between the 5 elements. If you use fire spells a lot your exp. will increase in that field more than in others.
So if you want a clue to how you are being affected: you are not. Each segemnt of the area map whether it is a square or a 6 sided form or an 8 sides form or even a 3D variety of my original idea (which would be nice because as you walk on land you can tap mana from both land and the air above you) just has a given number of manapoints that refills automaticaly at a certain given rate. If you are a mage and have Mana Vision which sould be among the first skills or spells you want to study, only then will you be able to really make use of that mana.
I envison it as you cast this spell or turn on this skill that you see a glow on thew land and/or its objects. It would be like an infra red goggles as you like. It isn't too hard to come up with some sort of graphical effect. You can even do it the cheap way by mimicking the Wizard's Sight skill that will reveal hidden terrain, so when you click on the land some place a popup map shows up with colour shaded areas.
