Intelligence: A dump stat

I see no point in increasing anything else but Intelligence for a spell based Sovereign (except maybe some early Constitution points). Arcane Arrow and Arcane Strike are enough for your damaging needs as far as I have seen. Add some Return/Teleport for mobility stuff and Heal to keep the meatshields in shape.

I also want Intelligence to have more uses in spells but right now as things are, I don't see it as useless.

You need a minimum int rating to be able to cast most spells.

With setup like that, you'll be bleeding mana all over the place, making you more likely to have a shortage at a point when magic could be used for something that could not be better accomplished without it, and thus making you an inferior caster with regards to the actual strategic use of magic. You would still be better off putting the points in something else and avoiding the use of magic for situations where it is not imperative. And of course, your sovereign will tend to be very vulnerable.

Only affects non Sovereigns. Which seems stupid (not affecting them, not the fact that affects normal Champions).

Edit: I reserve my offensive spells for enemy Champions (unless the situation requires otherwise) and Healing as common sense tells. I see no mana shortage on my games except when I spend many seasons straight in battles that need of magic support.

Just role play it then, eventually stardock will catch up.

I'd like to see intelligence effect the number of spells you can cast per tactical turn.

If channeled spells are implemented, intelligence should effect how quickly a spell can be channeled.

This is pretty important I think. Perhaps intelligence defines the per spell action cost. Because when you find that one good spell, Sovereigns become artillery. With Arcane Arrow and 27 intelligence, my sovereign can two shot stuff with 30 health. That's the basic ranged attack spell. Spell blast I can deal 10 to each target.

So limiting the # of spells you can cast to intelligence would be a good balance move, and evoke that "Master of Magic" feeling. 

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Int caps should apply to sovereigns too. If it's possible to require LESS intelligence for sovereigns than others, that would be nice. To require int dumping to use even 2nd level magic would be pretty irritating I think.

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Some other ways you can spice up magic via stats.

Make some spells factor int and other stats into the result. Mental spells factor in charisma and int, physical enhancement or protection spells factor strength, dex or con. Different attack spells sometimes call for different stats in addition to intelligence, like Touch of Entropy requiring Con.

I have to agree that Int is a dump stat. I have played several 1.1 games and have been a melee caster. I even reduce my int to 5 at creation for extra points in strength and con. Most of the spells do not get bonuses from int.

Some ideas:

Summons

Let x points of int increase the summoned level of the creature. For example If every 5 points of Int increased the level of an Ice Elemental, If i had 12 points of int, It would start at level 3.

Utility Spells (Non-combat spells without maintanence.

Int could decrease the mana cost or possibly increase the area of effect (terraforming, raise a bigger mountain).

Maintenance Spells

These spells could have their bonus increased by a portion of the int.

For Example Invisible Hammers (The Material boosting spell, not the instant build spell) could add 5% materials produced + 1% per 3 points of int. Or if we stick to raw numbers, 4 materials + 1 material per 3 points of int (I believe Boogiebac mentioned they might switch those buff spells to a % increase).

Mana

Most of the games i've played, I get 1 good turn of casting in and BAM, i'm oom. It would be nice if the sovereign (or any single other imbued caster) could "meditate". This would increase mana production by 1 point per 5 int while the caster does no other action.

Another alternative for the death book would be to have a health->mana conversion (Opps, i guess health is a pointer )

This could be as simple as a 50% + 1% per 2 points of int conversion ratio. For example. With 20 int, 60% of the health I sacrifice converts into mana. Obviously this would need a cooldown or some other limiter.

Death Worshipping <-----------

Maybe the Wraiths like death so much they could sacrifice their populace for mana. I think this was in one of the betas (you could build a -prestige building and be allowed to sacrifice for some reason). It would be nice if their core trait did....something.

This does seem like a very good solution, but since it has been suggested a while ago, and Frogboy noticed it, said it was interesting, and then ceased to consider it (despite it being brought up favorably since then), we must assume that it is not viable for some reason. Either that or that it'll be in the expansion, which honestly seems more likely, since they would probably explain the problem with it to us otherwise.

Sounds good to me. I'm not certain to what extent creatures use experience, but if that framework is already good to go, then this is a perfect and (relatively) easy to implement solution.

Increasing area of effect on terraforming is not liable to be a benefit - often you only want to apply the effect to a small or very specific area. Mana reduction could work, but the formula would take a lot of fiddling, because there would need to be diminishing returns, but the ideal rate of diminishing is not readily apparent.

This has potential. It also opens up the possibility of a trait which would further lower the required INT for the sovereign. The only problem is that it's added complexity which is especially liable to be confusing to people.

int is a dump stat, since str can put out the damage, and do it better. charisma is a dump stat because population growth is never a constraint. Con is a dump stat because dex + armor does the same thing, only better, way better. Does anyone bother putting more than like 5 points over a game into anything but strength? Seriously, sov + mass STR + spear + decent armor = dead nations.

I'd like to see the Sovereign's int be a modifier to base mana/turn.  Maybe 1 point instead of 2, but +.1/turn for every point of int?

Second suggestion: casting multiple spells in a turn, the intelligence required to cast a spell increases.  So a magic dart that requires 10 INT as the 1st spell, requires 15 if you've casted 1 spell already, 20 if 2 spells, etc...  I prefer this idea because it has two benefitical things:  it makes a soft rule instead of a hard rule, and it would encourage lower level spells.

Cha needs to affect a few more things: suggestions would be shop prices, chance to go first in battles, and maybe building times.

Dex should play a bit more of a role via special skills.

Con should affect HP regen

spell resistance, spell power, and spell casting requirements....

when i read about the stat changes, i actually thought INT was going to be the MOST desirable stat in the game. i mean, it's a game about magic and they consolidated the magic stuff into ONE stat. as opposed to combat oriented sovs, who have to pump points into three stats.

the reason it hasn't come into force must be because

- spell resistance is underpowered

- there are no higher level spells that make me want to raise my int

- the ones that do use int for scaling affects are redundant by the midgame (only touch of entropy does competetive damage, and does not scale)

- casting stat requirements have not applied for the sovereign.

seriously, once there is a level 6 spell that requires 20 INT and does 2x Int + 5 per shard over a blast radius, people will change their minds. and the game needs these because there is currently very little in the game worth learning in the long term other than teleport, summons, heal and touch of entropy. we also need a spell that boosts the movement of the entire army, prevents counter-attacks (what happened to that?), heals on the strategy map, reveal (also currently missing in action) etc.

they also need to show some balls and enforce INT casting requirements for the sovereign. if you're going to add a mechanic like this you've got to be consistent.

if the spells are written properly, there are enough mechanics for TWO magic stats, not just one. personally, i liked essense and thought it was a better mechanic for imbuing than mana maint. if it was me i'd do it this way:

INT: Stat requirement to cast, Reduces mana casting costs, produces Admin bonus to settlement income

ESS: Increases spell power, increases spell resistance, required to imbue AND have children (who should go back to all be casters), crafting magic items, used to create fertile land

It's down to the shards. If you're lucky enough to be able to grab three fire shards then the fire shard based spells are incredibly potent. If on the other hand you luck out and remain stuck with only your starting shard then intelligence is the only option to keep spells viable into the late game.

Even with Fire shards... I found it VERY handy to hit 27 INT and open up the fire related AE... 25 damage to 6 tiles is decent from a ranged attack... that I can have 5-6 people casting that twice each turn is necessary when I face those stupid umber dog stacks with 500 HP each!