Various styles of magic

"GrumpyGlowfish;c-17211381" wrote:
@simfriend1968 If those sages are anything like other premade characters with specific roles (like Father Winter), you could probably just befriend and move any of them into your home, so they will become normal sims and new sages will be generated to take their places.

Now that you mention Helga Hufflepuff, though, I wonder if the four styles of magic are a reference to Hogwarts.
Practical = Hufflepuff (seems like the most mundane and least powerful magic)
Mischief = Slytherin (self-explanatory)
Untamed = Gryffindor (probably the most flashy kind, like the Gryffindor kids)
Alchemy = Ravenclaw (requires intelligence)

... Okay, maybe not, but I definitely want to play around with this idea in my game! :)

What a good idea! I am glad that all branches seem fairly neutral, though, personally. One of the problems with the Hogwarts houses I always thought is that 3 were so obviously good while Slytherin was so obviously bad. (Near the end this was complicated a bit, luckily, with the heroes resorting to using an Unforgivable Curse (Imperius) and the inclusion of good Slytherins like Snape and Horace Slughorn).

I don’t mind that we won’t have good and evil witches, per se. In previous games that was pretty limiting for Sims because they couldn’t learn or use all of the spells. I like that these branches of magic seem to be morally neutral as categories. Arguably, it should be possible for a sim to use a Mischief or Untamed spell for a good or beneficial purpose, or a practical spell for a bad or harmful purpose. Of course, within the branches I hope that there are a few spells with positive or negative effects.

I do think it’s interesting that they have said magic won’t be a skill to master. That does make me wonder how all this will work. Usually skill levels have an effect on the abilities that are unlocked in a sim, giving a higher level of options to use, and their success rate. So obviously spells and potions won’t be unlocked based on level of magic. Perhaps a sim can learn or use them in any order? Or perhaps they get unlocked through a series of mini quests (I don’t think that is likely but I would love it if true)? It might also be the case that the success or failure rate of a sim with their spells depends on factors like emotional moods or needs, and not just on skill or experience.

It also seems like the branches of magic can be combined, which suggests that an individual spellcaster could learn to master them all. (Of course the skill tree could interfere with that if Sims are only able to use a set number of spells at one time, or if the curses drain or limit their powers in some way).