All right, I really, really, really hate magic eaters.

They are great for the server as a concept, they add nice atmosphere. They aid the oppressive feel of upper. And, in theory, they make the underdark a more dangerous and unpredictable place. Except of course they now are anything except unpredictable, since they turn up so frequently. They are so common now, they seem to come once every 1-5 spells, sometimes two groups coming on consecutive spells. I have done an experiment with my level 6 cleric. If I am injured, and don’t have *spoiler* to consume, I actually cannot get into positive health with healing. I will summon more magic eaters with spells than I can ever hope to heal. There impact unbalances the server in several ways.

Firstly they really work against the new players on the server, and the lowest level characters. Two medium eaters will chew though 2-3 low level characters without a problem. I have often had a second lot arrive after the first, since there is a one round delay, meaning up to four need to be fought at once. They dispel as they hit, they see through invisibility and darkness, and their magic damage cuts through all wards. Added to the fact they often turn up in combat with another creature, and the eaters dispel any invisibility you might use to try and avoid combat with those other creatures. New caster characters are forced to meta-game knowledge of their existence, or just die.

Secondly, they favour WTFpwn PvP. An attacker in PvP has time to eat some *spoiler* before hand. But the victim cannot cast spells without wasting a round consuming *spoiler*. A round will often be the difference between life or death. If the victim can get invisible, but then casts spells, they can very well be unbuffed and visible again within seconds, and an even easy target, as they have one or two mobs with good AB and good damage on their arse. The WTFpwn does not need help, it is already to way to easy.

Thirdly, the magic eaters create suspension of disbelief breaks that annoy me constantly. You’re an upper councillor next to 3 guards? Tough, the eaters will attack you while they watch on. If it was a player initiating PvP in front of blue NPC's, they would be banned for flagrant rules violations, but for magic eaters it is standard fare. Occasionally NPCs join in. But more often than not you are left to alone to fight in a crowded area.

Fourthly, they work against the outcast. The sellers of *spoiler* are common within the city, but neither *spoiler*, *spoiler* or *spoiler* sell them out in the underdark, which means criminal casters have to crawl back to the city to cast. In addition Sanctuary seems the only civilization in the underdark to work out how to ward their buildings against magic. I would imagine the older races might have figured this out. If the magic eaters are as common in the underdark as they currently appear to be, this would have wide ranging social factors that are not visible in the server’s version of the underdark. For example casters would be unwelcome almost everywhere, not just in Sanctuary. There would be signs up at the various non-sanctuary communities warning spellcasters will be shot. Hell, maybe the only reason the orogs keep attacking the back gates is that they want our spell casting rune-wards…

Finally there is the gold piece cost, which makes casters even more expensive to run (5-30 gold a sleep, plus one or two 7-10 *spoilers* per sleep really adds up over time). For a new character, or for a non-powergamer this is prohibitive. It means if you are regularly casting spells, its runs statics or perish.

We have a lot of tanks and sneaks on this server, and the magic eaters are a definite factor why. I recently partied with a low level, outcast mage, who had no reasonable access to *spoiler*. It was comical. He was less than useless… Frankly you might as well just add in a “/c suicide” command and save everyone else in the party the pain. This excludes the pure boredom factor of casting one specific buff, such as a Eagles Splendour for some RP, or Barkskin to help conceal appearance, or Fox’s Cunning to help with a merchant, only to have one appear and dispel the specific buff you wanted. I often spend 6 IG hours twiddling my thumbs because of this. It only detracts from the gaming experience.

Conclusion: Magic Eaters = good in theory but bad in practice.

Oh… I’m supposed to make a suggestion here? Well, less magic eaters please, and nightshade or warded rooms in every intelligent community outside of Sanctuary. This included static such as the two fortress quests… you think big goblin or orog chief is going to allow casters if they are summoning hordes of magical nasties? Not a chance.

I agree with Scrappayeti's post here.

Since I've been back, I've noticed that the Magic Eaters are rather prolific.

It becomes a real chore to cast spells and a caster with a party may as well just fire off a minor spell or two and be ready for the inevitable spawning of the magic eaters and attack them straight away with the rest of the party.

Perhaps this is part of the over all plot of the server, something that the players have to investigate? I'm not certain but I completely agree with Scrappayeti's observation that the other races like the Duergar etc, would have methods to curtail the infestation of this most annoying pest.

Less = more in this case.

More fun in that when I first started playing here, the spawns of the easters were very random. Thus it was better for RP immersion in the game because occassionally you'd forget about those pesky eaters and cast a spell in an unwarded area and BLAM! suddenly two of the pests are attacking you. That made for better RP, the complete randomness of it, not knowing if you can get away with using magic in areas that are unsafe. Gambling and shooting the odds always makes life interesting.

Now it's cast a spell and wait for them to show up.

So I suggest that the dial on the spawn on Magic eaters is turned down a few notches please for a more fun & balanced game.

I think my issue is that the protection from mage eater's doesn't last long enough.

Barrister was expiramenting with Mage Eaters last night--which is one reason I like them--they give my wizard something to research.

The suckers showed up 7/8 spells I cast. The thing was, they showed up just a few minutes after I used the plant that protects you. There's also no warning of the plant's effect wearing off.

It'd be lovely if the stuff at least lasted 30 minutes: long enough to do one quest.

I believe one of the current problems is that the magic eaters are in there peak season which means for a certain length of time they are more active than they are the rest of the server year (I could be wrong about this but im pretty sure i read somewhere that magic eaters go through seasons where they are more active in some than in others)

Think of the increase in the vile creatures as a business opportunity.

*The mage creates scrolls at such a wild pace, packing them away to sell at the marketplace. The familiar is sleeping on the sack of coins in the corner.*

That or consider preparing wands and scrolls for yourself in advance.

I think that the frequency of the eaters is a rather in-character issue that is pointless to argue about in an OOC forum.

As stated, they are seasonal monsters. I remember some months when I would never see the things. The way to deal with them would be to wait them out using the preventing agent (which I guess is a spoiler here), or some other in-game method.

But, I agree that you should be able to buy or find that agent in more places (loot perhaps?), and be indicated as to when their effect ends.

The shade used to last longer indeed and I'd also love to see it back at that.. In turn it's easier to obtain it at least..

But to go back to the new-players issue, the threat of them does not really seem all too obvious, it always took me quite some time to find out all about them IC-ly.. is there a spellguard NPC talking about them maybe? Or could they be -somehow- laced onto some low level quest that everyone does, to teach the new fold of players quickly to keep high on nightshade (it does always seem like it's a highly addicting drug when you have no idea what it's good for..) ? I have no idea, but they did make for some fun times with all the family.

Back when they were first implemented, we had the idea that it would be a seasonal thing (to explain why had none been seen up until that point), and as a result right around this time of year - in fact, I think like yesterday (we're a couple days off) it's their most common spawning period.

For what it's worth, I do agree that:

(1) Even at their most common, their frequency should be a little reduced (2) Nightshade duration should be increased (3) More areas should be warded against them (4) More nightshade should be sold in various others, as well as able to be found

Scrappayeti, you forgot to mention they have the movement rate of magic missiles. :shock:

I don't know I'd agree that they make casters useless, or that they break the bank in supplies. I play a couple of casters, and cast with moderate frequency. The presence of eaters has not been too much of a deterrent to my casting. And the cost for casters to protect against eaters is probably not all that different than the extra cost front-liners pay in healing supplies.

In all honesty, the only times I've ever had serious problems with eaters is when people leave them at transitions.

Two things I wouldn't mind seeing as changes about magic-eaters:

(1) I wish they'd only attack the caster. (2) I think enemy casters should be somehow equally at risk.

They can actually prove to be a caster's friend. I won't give away any spoilers, but there are times I've cast praying that eaters would appear.

What took me as a surprise is that eaters appeared for casting one zero level spell. But okay, it is their high season.

Nightshade should definitely be more frequent to be found. I never ever found one in a loot since I am playing here (which is months). Their duration should also be increased somewhat (about one IRL minute sounds fine) and a notification is that their effect wears off would also be nice ("you can no longer feel the taste of nightshade in your mouth" message would be flavourful).

Also, making the nightshades a stackable item would help a lot. Or having puches from them with 10 charges, the same way caltrops can be purchased.

My 0.2 cent only.

Is there any logical reason why the magic eaters show up when a PC and ONLY a PC casts? Should they not also, logically, show up when a drow or ogre mage flings magic about?

Some groups (drow, for example) will have their own wards against the magic eaters - sure - in that case, perhaps the DMs should consider dropping these once in a while when players kill NPC drow. And other races with less imagination and technical skill (eg: Chosen anarcists, ogre mages, skeleton mages), I can think of no reason why they would have warding lapel pins.

Perhaps due to the lack of warding trinkets in most cases (NPCs not having ability and/or knowledge to make them), it would be reasonable to remove magic-eater spawns from quest areas where there are commonly casters - or at least significantly reduce their change of appearing?

From what I've seen, NPC and monsters already do sometimes cause mage eaters to spawn. And they even fight each other. Or am I just seeing things? Chosen arcanists seemed to do that pretty often.

Im pretty sure ive seen Npc and monster spell casters summon them as well but then again most monsters generally only cast one or two spells while Pc spell casters generally in my experiance cast several all at once usually when buffing a party before or during a quest.

If they DO occasionally appear when NPC's cast, it has to be pretty rare. (I've never seen it happen.) Yesterday, I was on a quest where the shamans were throwing color spray after color spray (at least 2 dozen), and an eater never showed up. Yet right now it seems a 50% chance one shows up when I cast without consuming protection.

Agree that on occasion there coming crosses the line between good immersion and just being a pain. Just a couple things would be great IMO..

1. As has been stated, more warding of other 'logical' locations, fortress' (quests and other), towns and outposts of other races.

2. As has been stated, make *spoiler* last longer

3. Have a few droppable items from quest spawns that give protection 'Belt of the Mage'= 5X protections, or maybe even 1/day protection?

These all make the careful/clever/wise caster better off... which seems fair to me....

Dilandau Kale Im pretty sure ive seen Npc and monster spell casters summon them as well

I've yet to see it. Ever.

scrappayeti In addition Sanctuary seems the only civilization in the underdark to work out how to ward their buildings against magic. I would imagine the older races might have figured this out. If the magic eaters are as common in the underdark as they currently appear to be, this would have wide ranging social factors that are not visible in the server’s version of the underdark. For example casters would be unwelcome almost everywhere, not just in Sanctuary. There would be signs up at the various non-sanctuary communities warning spellcasters will be shot. Hell, maybe the only reason the orogs keep attacking the back gates is that they want our spell casting rune-wards…

For a continued immersion with magic eaters being this common (or even close to this common), I'd say thinking about this would be important.

Advanced underdark native races have means of blocking magic eaters. You certainly won't see any in Intryzz's inn, as an example. Goblins and kobolds aren't advanced underdark native races.