Dominions 5 – Using Magic Gems In Combat
Mages can use magic gems in combat for two purposes: to temporarily raise their skill level, and to reduce fatigue. This represents the release of the distilled magical power of the gems themselves. Because it takes a skilled caster to keep things from getting out of control, a mage can only use as many gems as his current skill level in that path each turn.
By using a magic gem, a caster gains one skill level in that magic path. This can be used both to allow a mage to cast a spell for which he would not normally have the skill, or to reduce the fatigue of a spell, or both. However, a mage may never increase his skill level by more than one by using gems, or gain skill in a path in which he or she did not already have at least one skill level.
The player may script spells for which a mage does not have the requisite skill and place the necessary gems in his inventory. He may also simply include extra gems in the mages inventory and the computer will use them to reduce fatigue for spells he already has the skill for, if necessary. However, the specific use of gems in this manner is controlled by the computer. Checking the box “conservative gem use” will ensure that the mage uses his gems as sparingly as possible and for scripted spells only. This can be useful if you want to save gems for later battles. Otherwise, there is no opportunity for the player to intervene.
Some spells increase a caster’s skill in a magic path for the duration of the combat. The difference between these spells, and using gems to increase magic skill, is that using gems only lasts for that one spell in that one combat round.
