Unlike vanilla Mount and Blade Warband, Warsword Conquest has magic. Based on your school and the tides of the Winds of Magic, it may prove to be a boon for your conquest - or your demise.
Technical Notes[]
For magic to work, it is required to run the game through the Warband Script Enhancer (WSE for short).
Some spells might crash the game, the following will certainly do so due to programming issues, others might crash the game due to circumstance, RAM or hardware issues.
- No spells, at the time of writing, have a tendency to crash the game.
Some other spells might not be working properly at the current point of time due to various, already named reasons.
- None known as of now.
"Time of writing" and "current point of time" both refer to the latest builds/versions of the mod.
Magic Basics[]
Magic relies on quite a few things to work, your luck with the tides of the Winds of Magic, your skills and magical proficiencies, and of course, general RNG.
Once you have 1 point in your magic control skill, you can visit any town and find the magic guild(s) at the town activity menu, at the top of the town menu. There you can find the guild menu where you can learn about the schools you can learn, what kind of spells they have and what the lore attribute is. Each town offers different schools of magic depending on which faction owns the town. You will also be able to increase your magic resistance and purchase spells and items once you have chosen a school.
For magic to work you need to equip your magic lore item and leave one slot free. Spell scrolls need to be placed at the top beginning from the left of the inventory. Staffs do not replace the magic item and also cannot be placed into the empty slot.
Firearms CANNOT be used at the same time as magic.
Magic Skills[]
Your ability to cast magic is based on your skills.
There are three skills directly related to magic:
- Mana Control
- Magic Power
- Magic Control
All of those skills are tied to your Intelligence.
Mana Control[]
Mana Control dedicates how much mana your can hold at any time and how fast your mana is refilled per Winds of Magic roll.
At level 4 you can press U to bypass encumbrance modifiers for the next cast. This comes at the cost of increasing the cost of the cast by a percentage based on your encumbrance. At level 8 these percentages are reduced.
Magic Power[]
Magic Power is a skill which influences your damage output and efficiency of buffs or debuffs applied by spells.
Magic Control[]
Magic Control is the most important skill related to Magic. Magic Control dictates whether or not you can use a spell and if you are able to master it or not.
A spell with a Magic Access Level higher than your Magic Control cannot be used. If the Magic Competence Level is higher than your Magic Control you get a chance to miscast a spell, wasting parts of the Mana based on it's Casting Cost rather than paying the full Mana Cost.
A Magic Control of 1 or higher is needed to learn any school of magic.
Willpower[]
While not directly tied to magic, Willpower can still be used to influence it.
Pressing M will grant a casting bonus to your next cast, bypassing one encumbrance. This can only be done a limited amount of times during battle.
Features of Magic[]
Mana Regeneration[]
One's Mana regeneration is fundamentally based on the Winds of Magic and one's Mana Control.
The Winds of Magic roll will give the base of your regeneration, to which modifiers, penalties and bonuses are applied.
The modifier for mana gain is based on your Mana Control. Modifiers are applied as factors.
The penalty for mana gain is based on your armour weight past 12. Wearing too heavy armour will cause mana loss. Penalties are applied as subtractions.
Bonuses applied to your regen can come from Staffs, magic spells or lore attributes. Bonuses can either be applied as factors or additions. Staffs generally add a flat bonus.
Mana Reserves[]
Mana Reserves are a mage's magical reserves used for casting spells. The maximum of your reserves are dictated by your Mana Control.
Your reserves are either filled or drained by Winds of Magic rolls, based on your mana regeneration. They are also drained by casting or failing spells. One's reserves can be artificially replenished mid-battle by Mana Potions.
Your Mana Reserve is shown in the top left corner.
Winds of Magic[]
The Winds of Magic are the magical tides soaring above the continents of Warhammer, in the mod they are represented as a simple dice roll every 10 seconds in battle, showing how favorable the tides of magic are.
Based on the number that is rolled you will receive mana according to your skills, potentially letting you either run dry on a few bad rolls or let you swim in mana with a few good ones.
Your roll can vary from 1 to 10.
A Winds of Magic roll of 1 will cause Encumbrance until a new roll.
Miscasts and Encumbrance[]
If the caster is trying to cast a spell they have not mastered by merit of their Magic Control equaling or surpassing the Magic Competence of a spell they can end up miscasting a spell, consuming mana without any effect - additionally miscasts can be caused by Encumbrance which is caused by meeting any of the following four conditions:
- The Caster is wearing armour having a total weight of >23, adding 1 Encumbrance. Adding 1 further if past 27, another past 32 and a fourth past 45.
- The Winds of Magic rolls equal 1, adding 2 Encumbrance.
- The Caster is holding a shield in their hands, adding 2 Encumbrance. Staffs are exempt from this.
- The Caster is drunk. Adds variable Encumbrance.
- The Caster is poisoned. Adds variable Encumbrance.
- The Caster is riding a mount without having +2 of it's riding requirement. Adds no Encumbrance penalty.
Encumbrances can stack, especially encumbrance by armour, which stacks several times if too heavy.
Whether you miscast or not is determined by this formula which is compared to the Casting Cost of the spell:
1D12 + Magic Control/2 + Bonuses - Encumbrance Penalties
Casting Bonuses are gained from activating Willpower and wielding Staffs.
Warp Spawns[]
Magic is a terrible tool, not just for those who face it, but also for those who wield it, tapping into the Warp has very dire consequences. A sudden surge of magic, death and destruction will attract the attention of sinister entities, preying on unfortunate souls. Any destructive spell is capable of tearing open the warp and spilling out those horrors within.
Based on your kill count using magic this battle, AoE spells have a chance of spawning Daemons of the Warp near the caster and enemies. Willpower and Magic Control increase the threshold of total kills required for warp spawns, while kills with the current AoE dictate the chance and total kill count dictating the amount of Daemons. Any kind of Daemon can be summed by such events, even Princes - they will first pursue the caster and their army, only starting to attack the enemy army a while after.
Magical Staves[]
Staves are off-hand weapons available to casters used to enhance their magical abilities.
Types of Spells[]
- Missiles
- Shoots a projectile that causes damage when it hits an enemy
- Minor
- Low cost, very fast cooldown, can be cast repeatedly, low damage
- Major
- Moderate cost, slower cooldown, potentially very high damage
- AOEs
- Damages multiple enemies, potentially killing entire formations in a single cast
- Explosive
- Fires a projectile that causes an explosion wherever it hits, damaging anything within the radius including allies
- Aura
- Causes damage to enemies nearby the caster
- Buffs
- Enhances targets with increased damage or protection. Does not affect the caster unless explicitly mentioned.
- Whole Battlefield
- Affects the entire battlefield
- Radius Ranged
- Shoots a projectile that enhances any allies near where the projectile lands
- Radius Caster
- Enhances any allies near enough to the caster
- Caster Only
- Enhances only the caster
- Debuffs
- Afflicts enemies with decreased damage or decreased protection. Does not affect allies unless explicitly mentioned.
- Whole Battlefield
- Affects the entire battlefield
- Radius Ranged
- Shoots a projectile that afflicts any enemies near where the projectile lands
- Radius Caster
- Afflicts any enemies near enough to the caster
- Summons
- Creates units or equipment from just magic
- Unit
- Creates one or more units under the casters control
- Most schools create a single powerful summon.
- Undeath has multiple summons that create multiple units, and get stronger as they are cast more per battle
- Vampire, Jade, & Nehekhara have resurrection spells that only work near deceased allies
- Unsure if these resurrections prevent the unit from dying permanently and leaving the party - more playtesting needed.
- Creates one or more units under the casters control
- Equipment
- Creates an item that is equipped to the caster, replacing anything that was already present (seems to be anything in the 3rd equipment slot).
- Either lasts the entire battle or has a time limit. Any items replaced are returned at the end of the battle but not during.
- Utility
- Teleport
- Fires a projectile that when it hits the ground it moves the caster to that point.
- Teleport
Schools of Magic[]
There are several Schools of Magic which dictate which spells you can learn.
Certain Schools are only acquirable under certain conditions in certain places. You always need a Magic Control of 1 or more. Other conditions are your race/gender and the place you visit.
For example: In the Nippon Colonies only women can learn magic.
Each School of Magic has got their own modifier, accommodating passive, semi-active and campaign effects.
List of Schools of Magic[]
Unused Spells[]
Factional Magic - Availability[]
| Faction | Race | Schools |
|---|---|---|
| Empire | Humans | Light, Gold, Jade, Celestial, Grey, Amethyst, Bright, Amber |
| Kislev | Female Humans | Ice |
| Bretonnia | Female Humans | Jade, Amber, Celestial |
| Nippon | Female Humans | Celestial, Bright, Life, Grey |
| Araby | Humans | Gold, Light, Bright, Celestial, Desert |
| High Elfs | High Elfs | High, Light, Gold, Jade, Celestial, Grey, Amethyst, Bright, Amber |
| Wood Elfs | Wood Elfs | High, Light, Gold, Jade, Celestial, Grey, Amethyst, Bright, Amber |
| Dwarfs | Dwarfs | No magic but they have the Runesmith available for prominent Dwarfs |
| Lizardmen | Sauri | No magic but they have the Guardian Temple available for prominent Sauri |
| Lizardmen | Skinks | High, Celestial, Beast |
| Chaos | Chaos | Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle, Gold, Grey, Amethyst |
| Chaos | Humans* | Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle, Gold, Grey, Amethyst |
| Chaos Dwarfs | Chaos Dwarfs | Bright, Gold, Amethyst |
| Beastmen | Beastmen | Wild, Amber, Grey, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle, Amethyst |
| Goblins | Goblins | Little Waaaagh |
| Orcs | Orcs | Big Waaaagh |
| Ogres | Ogres | Lore of the Maw, Amethyst |
| Dark Elfs | Dark Elfs | Dark, Gold, Bright, Grey, Amethyst, Slaanesh |
| Skaven | Skaven | Ruin, Plague |
| Tomb Kings | Skeletons | Nehekhara, Light, Amethyst |
| Undead Pirates | Vampires | Undeath**, Vampire, Grey, Amethyst |
| Undead Pirates | Skeletons | Undeath**, Amethyst |
| Vampire Counts | Vampires | Undeath, Vampire, Grey, Amethyst |
| Vampire Counts | Skeletons | Undeath |
| Vampire Counts | Humans* | Undeath |
*A human will antagonize the Order factions when learning chaos sorcery or necromancy.
**Undead Pirates have access to a slightly changed version.
Controls[]
A list of all magic-related controls:
- B to scroll up spells
- V to scroll down spells
- N to display spell related info
- M to focus willpower
- U to bypass encumbrance at the cost of spells requiring more mana
Endnotes[]
- AoE- Area of Effect
- Centred - Centred on Caster
- Ranged - Fired per Missile
- Explosion - Indiscriminate Effects
- Aura - Discriminatory Effects
Magic in Sieges[]
Magic seems to be problematic in sieges, causing crashes to the desktop frequently enough that it's a major problem. As such there is an option in the Camp menu to disable magic in Sieges. If you are having problems, it's best to turn it off.
Theory: It appears that the crashes from sieges relate to unit summons, it only seems to be an issue in my games when many summons happen. It possibly is also related to the follow-on combats in successful Sieges where the player character and some random units fight some subsequent battles into the castle. If a summoned unit happens to get picked for either side that could cause a crash.
Reference: Github Manual