The Broken Hourglass - How Spellcasting Works

J C Compton the lead developer on The Broken Hourglass has dropped us a line in the forums that he's posted an excellent article on how spellcasting could work in the game. You'll find it here, but to whet your appetite, here's the introduction.

 We have discussed the magic system of The Broken Hourglass in previous articles: see here and here, for example. Recently, we were asked to explain how a caster might choose to manage mana in a step-by-step example. We have devised a simple hypothetical combat encounter to show how two opponents might choose to use their magical abilities in a fight to the death...The "heroes" in our example will be a duo led by Ceyda, a generalist mage who specializes in aeromancy (Air Magic). Ceyda is accompanied by Gemma, who is strictly a sword-arm. Ceyda and Gemma will be trying to defeat Kamberus, a dangerous Fey pyromancer.

Magical Stats

Ceyda likes having flexibility in her casting, so she has studied three different magical disciplines-but aeromancy is by far her favorite, so that is where most of her points are.

Air Magic: 30
Physical Magic: 5
Fire Magic: 5
Total Mana: 65

Kamberus is a dedicated pyromancer, so all he can cast are fire-based spells. They are, however, rather powerful.

Fire Magic: 50
Total Mana: 75

Thanks Jason, this sounds like a winner to me.