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40d:Magic

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Revision as of 22:23, 25 May 2010 by Ancient History (talk | contribs) (Buggerup)
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This article is about an older version of DF.

Magic does not exist in Dwarf Fortress. Magic is the stuff of legends, and is associated with fanciful creatures such as Template:Ls, Template:Ls, and Template:Ls. These creatures are included in the game's Template:L and so they may appear on engravings, but the actual creatures will not appear in Dwarf Fortress.

As far as magic goes, underneath, it's all the same -- like a debugging option with some in-play queue that lets you change things for no reason. You don't need to worry so much about the implementation -- as much as we have one now, I don't really want a stock universe. The things we have now, like Blizzard Men, are mostly there to make sure that special properties are implemented. Then the random generation can begin. We don't want another cheap fantasy universe, we want a cheap fantasy universe generator. A lot of fiction sounds computer generated anyway. Toady, August 12, 2006

Toady has shared a few of his thoughts concerning how magic can or might be implemented in the game, particularly with regard to artifacts, which in a previous (possibly unreleased) version of Dwarf Fortress were actually magical and could have a selection of powers. Primary concerns appear to be for game balance on one hand and preserving the special nature and rarity of magic on the other, to avoid a sort of "industrial magic" mentality where special items lose their glamor.

Systems of Magic

It is rumored that one day a full system of magic will eventually be included in Dwarf Fortress. Until that time, some fans have Template:L taking the bare bones or hint of magic and attempt to create their own mods. The following mods include magic for DF2010:

Spellcraft is <undefined>

This mod adds spellcasting to Dwarf Fortress by adding new types of gems, called them "runes" (e.g. rune of berserk, rune of shining ...) and items decorated with those runes gets "magical" properties (e.g. rune of berserk -> makes wearer berserk, rune of shining -> makes random dwarf equip it). Available to use on finished goods(amulets and similar) or on furniture( needs to be built to activate magic) currently works with statues, coffins, anvils, and weapon racks.