The sorcerer much be “saturated” or “imbued” with enough corruption (void energy, tainted reality, etc) to “feed” the armor.
That’s a part I think is often missed.
There is visual occluding and there is also audio occluding. Or, in this case (and ideally with the Quasit) noise as a weapon/harassment tactic. The idea would be both that these spells drown out basically everything else as well as being about as pleasant on the ears as tripping on Argossan dream dust at high noon in the sandy parts would be on the eyes.
For that matter, a spell that inflicts night eye on everyone in an area could be useful as well. Useful as an exploration tool in PvE especially cooperative. Useful as a very different type of stealth in PvP.
But this one is Spitballing.
On an aside
The summoned gear is literally from the outer dark. It’s basically made of the ancient radiation that haunts dismembered constellations.
There are already a few pieces of gear that give corruption for equipping them. If anything is going to taint the user, literal demon’s swag would probably be it.
Also, and this is an admittedly flimsy take, that gear can be acquired fairly early game. As Sorcery is progressed via scavenger hunts, it’s not explicitly level gated. For better or worse one could be using this set before they can craft steel tools. Especially with a clan’s backing. Also, it gives that corruption boost necessary to use the upper end magics. The stats are still premium for the negligible weight.
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When flies and spiders get along together, maybe Funcom will hire you as a creative consultant.
Other games I play try to do the overleaving or occluding with audio but it always seems to come out like static. Here’s a ready example: game designers, for instance the ones who do SCUM, seem to publish content of a psychedelic nature without any real grasp of the subject. Similarly, GTA 5’s forays. Everything always comes out like crinkling tinfoil.
I think programmatically it would be risky to “push” an audio decal onto the player. But to make it a sound apparition only you could hear, as opposed to a clanmate who’s not under the spell. This would add to the atmospheric nature of the game. I’m sure you’ve been there, at the portal of a raid, tingling, bombs set. Gettin’ second thoughts, imagining instead sitting by the fire with Dalinsia, eating seed soup.
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Nope. I’m saying sorcery should fit the setting.
Not get retro-fitted with D&D style magic to appease PvP players.
High cost, cool downs, lack of defense, are all well and good.
But it’s not a strong enough reason to break the setting and put D&D-style sorcery into the game when it doesn’t fit the setting.
Your argument is basically “oh but it’s a big pain in the butt to do, so it’s perfectly acceptable to bastardize the setting to give it to us”.
By that logic, it’s perfectly acceptable to add in flintlock rifles. I mean, if there’s a lack of defense, high cost, and cooldown for using it, it’s fine right…?
It’s not about getting rid of sorcery. It’s about making sorcery that fits the setting.
I could get behind this one. Although maybe in the Tundra it should be a snowstorm/blizzard instead. Since I’m not sure there is any sand up there to actually lift up into a storm. 
Might work better at a ritual altar to summon up localized weather in an area. Sandstorms, Blizzards, Lightning storms.
This seems a bit…much? Like, I could understand a sorcerer sensing corruption as a kinship to their own corruption. But something like this seems a bit too high magic for Conan.
Summoning in general, just seems, I dunno. Like pulling up the dead with that one spell, I could understand that. Since it could be said you’re pulling up the dead from their resting places, and in a place like the Exiled Lands, there are probably dead scattered all over, so it’s plausible.
Pulling out a demon being from nowhere just seems a bit much. Like it should be more of a ritual/altar type sorcery, rather than just waving a wand.
The problem is “Conan-like” sorcery is more rituals and stuff. Not flinging effects out from a wand. Things you’d be doing at your base mostly.
I just think people need to focus on Sorcery as that, rather than anything else.
Stuff like this:
Conan rushed the wizard, but was stopped by his servants and then the senses-robbing mists of the Heart of Ahriman.
However, the heavy rains summoned by Xaltotun failed to have their full potency, and Conan’s forces continued their advance.
So why not a ritual altar, like I mentioned above, that lets you create localized weather around the base where it’s positioned?
I tell you he would restore Acheron with his magic, by the sorcery of a gigantic blood sacrifice such as the world has never seen.
Things like this should be worked on. I know there is sacrifice, but more in the line for rituals and magic.
His powers were vastly amplified when he used the Heart of Ahriman, which enabled him to cause sudden floods, avalanches, deadly plagues, and other forces of mass death and destruction.
He could cast illusions, generate consciousness-robbing mists, paralyze others on contact, and animate inanimate objects.
So, consciousness-robbing mists, something like a drunk effect perhaps from other games. Where the screen blurs and wobbles, so you can’t really focus. Paralyze on contact seems like a sorcery that could be plausible, but you have to be in melee range, I would think, and using your bare hands rather than a weapon.
A plague AoE mechanic to damage health/stamina, but maybe more as an altar/fixed location type thing, because I doubt we’re supposed to be able to be as powerful as Xaltotun was. As far as animation of inanimate objects, we already have the thrall system in place, why not have a sorcerer able to imbue a “living” set of gear and weapon.
Take a set of armor and a weapon, and it becomes a fixed thrall, similar to zombies. No body (not sure if this works, but having a fully transparent “humanoid” to wear the gear, so in practice you only see the armor and weapon, as if it were animated. With it’s strength determined by the tier level of the armor used ot make it. So if you use cheap easily obtained armor, it’s much weaker than a set of high level endgame stuff.
Thoth-Amon is a powerful Stygian sorcerer. He has many spells and rituals at his disposal. He commands beasts, especially snakes, and many types of insects. He has the power to corrupt and infest those who he has infected with venom; before they die, horrible monsters are spawned from their bodies. Thoth-Amon can communicate with others over long distances by possessing swarms of insects.
Take a look at the RPG version of Conan.
The most a beginning sorcerer can hope to do in combat is inflict a minor curse, summon an animal to his side, temporarily entrance a foe, or things of that nature. On the other hand, Scholars beginning their sorcerous schooling with Summonings can select Demonic Pact as their basic spell, which could, theoretically, allow them to talk their demonic pal into attacking a foe or performing some other task. (In exchange for a human sacrifice, of course.)
At higher levels, sorcerers gain access to spells of truly terrifying power: summoning progressively more powerful demons and elementals, transforming victims into werewolves, stealing souls, pulling out hearts, and summoning plagues capable of slaying thousands.
This doesn’t mean that it’s smooth sailing for powerful sorcerers. They have to contend with that downward spiral of Corruption mentioned above – especially those dealing with demons – and the associated risk of insanity each time they successfully resist Corruption.
This is brilliant game design at work. Let’s say a sorcerer unleashes a plague on a city – obviously, he’s in danger of gaining Corruption. If he fails to resist the Corruption, it means that he’s basically okay with what he’s done, and he continues down the path of the damned. If he succeeds at resisting the Corruption, however, he sees the horrific act for what it is and risks going mad as a result.
This should be looked at hard, for sorcerers. Right now you can remove corruption, so you can be a sorcerer at times, and a non-sorcerer at times. But it seems like Corruption should play a much stronger thing, something you DON’T get rid of as easily as watching a dancer shake their a** for a while.
You’ve done horrible evil things, and there should be more consequences for it. More mental impact.
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I find this thread very amusing to read.
Those who say they are disappointed that Sorcery didn’t give them that extra ‘edge’ in PvP or it doesn’t do much, would probably be the same people calling for nerfs if that actually happened.
Look at all the fuss over just the lightning spell. 
Personally I liked it, it meant big clans also had to watch out for those lone wolfs out there, and those smaller clans or single players had a chance to at least hit back. I have to confess those video clips were funny to watch. 
Anyway, was Sorcery a waste for me? No, I liked the addition. After dabbling with it for some time I do wish there was something more direct you could do, I hesitate to use the words ‘fireballs’ but I can see that having more directly offensive spells would be useful in a PvP context.
I mean it’s funny, regardless of my skillz with Sorcery, I still end up having to get my sword or axe out to fight when it comes down to it (and that’s PvE or PvP)
I think Funcom has been super-cautious with it, because they know if they did add any more offensive spells it could very well change the whole dynamics of PvP, so really its a question of, do you PvP’ers want to see that happen?
(in this instance PVE’ers wouldn’t mind either way, those who like the idea would love it, and those that don’t , just wouldn’t use it)
Also I would just like to add for the record, I have no problems watching a dancer shake their ass. Barnes has got some moves…
Which leads me to another question… do the Asurans know how to twerk?
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The majority of PVPers don’t want anything that isn’t spear related. The only sorcery related thing they’d want is an ability that shoots out mini spears when they attack so that it kills any birds in the area so they can’t crap on their spear meta.
This isn’t just a problem in Conan Exiles. The majority of PVP players in any games’ communities are usually short sighted. They’ll only meta change when there’s a video from that communities favorite youtuber/streamer telling them to.
But sorcery doesn’t fit into those preferences by those content ‘creators’ so its usually overlooked. Only spoken about when someone breaks away from conventionalism and does something that wasn’t expected. Then you see calls for nerfs.
The way Funcom needs to handle these buffs and nerfs is actually get in and watch some PVP and see if its happening the way they want it to. Rather than dealing with a multitude of complaints. People are going to complain when new things come out. That’s what they do. This is how nerfs happen to underpowered things. This is how nerfs happen to things that weren’t a problem for literally months or years.
Instead let them complain, let them squirm. They’ll figure it out eventually. Things don’t need nerfs simply because they bring people out of their comfort zones.
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This one would like to clarify two small items.
Due to the placement of the Disjunction and Ritual Place, the separation of the Exiled Lands from the Outer Dark is already very flimsy. Possibly more flimsy than it’s separation from the rest of the world of mortals. Likewise the whole area is shot thru with the remnants of Giant King, Khari, and Lemurian magics, all (further) perverted by the Serpentmen/Staff/Tetrahedron, Toth-Amon, and now Kurak. The idea is that these demons are either already present or one of the previous Sorcery fueled kingdoms left them on speed dial. The “Clairvoyance” would be listening to the demons and ghosts that choke this cursed place as they reveal it’s secrets, such as treasure and the offensive warmth of life.
Furthermore, the construction of the reagent pouch could easily constitute a portion of ritual. Reagent pouches are an expedient for game play rather than having each spell use particular components. Furthermore doing rituals in places of corruption should empower them. But the entirety of the Unnamed City is a no build zone so it’s impossible to have the ritual circle in that location. Part of this is a nod to the realities of the game.
An alternative to casting the summons from the wand would be using a ritual at the circle of power and then binding the monster into a glass flask. However… This one explicitly does not want to see these beasts stock piled for later use. It opens the door to malicious lag and all other undesirable shenanigans.
Perhaps the “quick” summons could require, rather than a reagent pouch, a specific token one crafts at the circle of power. Thus the genie can be let out of the lamp in the field, but it still requires the actual casting interface so it isn’t as spammable as throwing a flask.
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The audio decal would basically be like the howl of the Sandstorm or strange whispers in some areas. Specifically masking other sounds. Like explosives going off, or a thrall announcing that an invader’s death will be as meaningless as their life.
The suggestion of hostile audio was probably bad, masking audio better.
Like a cobweb covered record skipping.
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This one agrees with that one.
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So I believe someone brought this point up earlier but I thought it a good one. The Age of Conan MMO game has different sorcerer classes with both combat and non-combat spells. I never really tried that game but taking a quick look at the Wiki and some of the spells, they do look interesting (some of which were suggested in this thread).
https://aoc.fandom.com/wiki/Spells/Herald_of_Xotli
Edit adding the link for all the AOC spells. Some interesting ideas there:
https://aoc.fandom.com/wiki/Spells
Yeah, I just find the whole ‘sticking to Conan lore’ argument a little strange.
Conan Unconquered has sorcerers that throw bolts of demonic energy to kill.
The Conan MMO has sorcerers who use lightning and fire galore. And none of these were declared ‘non-canon’ to my knowledge.
Not only that, but nobody I’ve asked can even provide explicit, outright proof or text that states that such magic //CANNOT// exist.
And I could be mistaken, but didn’t the devs at some point say that Conan Exiles is considered non-canon?
We have several examples of such magic already but they’re conveniently ignored because… why exactly? .-.
Not to discredit the folks who want to stick to lore, mind you, but… If you want to stick to lore… then shouldn’t one stick to lore even if it’s lore you don’t like? (And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m probably guilty of the same non-adherence due to frustration)
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First things first: I didn’t buy Age of Conan, or Conan Unconquered. I bought Conan Exiles. That’s the game I care about.
Second: who, exactly, do you expect to “declare” whether something is canon or not? Are you hoping R. E. Howard will rise out of his grave and tell you personally that you should read his books? Speaking of which:
Read. The. Books.
Or, you know, search the forums. Various people on these forums have explained, repeatedly, and in detail, the things you ask about. The search function is right up there.
Okay, now you’re making me think that you don’t know what the word “canon” means. Of course Conan Exiles is non-canon. “X is not Y canon” means that X isn’t a canonical part of Y universe/story/whatever. It doesn’t mean that X does not conform to Y canon.
To explain the difference, if I wrote a Star Wars fan-fiction story tomorrow, that story wouldn’t be part of Star Wars canon. That doesn’t mean that it can’t stay true to Star Wars canon, i.e. obey all the rules of the Star Wars universe, not make any changes to existing Star Wars stories, and not introduce any new elements that contradict the existing body of materials. In other words, if my fan-fiction story included Luke Skywalker casting a Patronus Charm from Harry Potter, people could rightly point out that my story doesn’t stay true to the Star Wars canon.
Now that we’ve dealt with what “canon” means, let’s ask @Jimbo if he has patience to explain to yet another person why pew-pew sorcery doesn’t belong in the Hyborian Age, 'cause I certainly don’t.
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Ehh, y’know what, Nevermind.
Most of my responses tend to be knee-jerk, which isn’t conducive to discussion.
I’d rather not make an idiot of myself even further than I already have.
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Oh great, another thread I’ve been avoiding getting involved with.
Ah yes, it’s totally bizarre that a game based on books adhere to the material within those books.
- Black Colossus, Nahtok has to rally an army of common men to do his bidding because he can’t just fly over and fireball the princess.
- Hour of the Dragon, Xaltotun has to make deals with the nobles who resurrected them and work into their schemes to get what he wants because he can’t just fly over and fireball whoever he wants.
- The Phoenix on the Sword, Thoth-Amon summons a mummy-demon to kill his enemies because he can’t just fly over and fireball them.
- The Scarlet Citadel, Tsotha-lanti throws a fireb-wait no, he doesn’t. He throws an orb. He also first relies on paralysis poison because he couldn’t fireball his enemy. Then he’s thwarted by Conan being aided by the other sorcerer Pelias, who frees Conan from prison via necromancy and summoning a bat demon, because he too can’t just fly over and fireball his enemies.
As Tsotha-lanti says; “Have you not learned by this time that my brain is mightier than any sword?”
Your wit is your most powerful weapon, use the tools you have to circumvent your enemies; not seek ways of fighting as they do. Sorcerers think different, act different. Fight different.
And just like the last thread, inb4 some sweat comes in with ‘ye but it suks in pvp’. That’s a skill issue and no you can’t forum pvp me over that
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So my memories of the books/stories that I have read was that sorcery was quite rare and the barbarians (i.e. Conan) didn’t want anything to do with it. With that in mind I think there was a case to be made that there should be NO sorcery for the players.
Well we “jumped that shark” and now sorcery has been implemented for characters. I’m just of the opinion that we should at make the sorcery interesting and more useful for combat so it doesn’t just turn into a rarely used novelty or just “one trick pony” (i.e. it just becomes an easier way to transport/harvest mats… whatever). I’m NOT going to say it is a waste anymore but I suspect for most players it is just occasionally used and even then just several of the spells. After such a big roll out for AGE of SORCERY the sorcery just feels meh to me.
Folks in this thread have been brainstorming how the sorcery could be more interesting (especially combat) and my point is that Funcom already has Conan games with the kind of spells that some of us are recommending (with more of a Conan setting feel to them).
Out of my group of three players, only I’ve fiddled with the sorcery. Outside of the hardcore PvsP game, it feels incredibly underpowered for PvsE and casual gameplay.
The lack of stamina is the biggest problem. And the spells are all… fairly useless. We used ice bridge once to cross the chasm where the bat fiend lives over to the smaller camp. The light spell only lasted 90 seconds, so it was useless. Just, yeah, the usefulness of the spells does not make up for the extent to which the corruption cripples your character.
Maybe make two versions of sorcery, one as it is currently for use on PvsP servers, and another more beefed up version of spells for PvsE so that poor underpowered sorcerers can actually keep up with their barbarian friends?
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Exactly.
That assumes all players want to play as a barbarian, like Conan, as opposed to playing in the same setting as Conan, but a different kind of person.
Like a sorcerer, for example 
And I agree with you and everyone else who says that. What I vehemently oppose is what most of people-who-ask-for-more-combat-worthy-sorcery end up asking for, which is what I call “pew-pew magic”. Anything along the lines of “I point my wand at this dude and an effect happens and he gets one fireball-worth of damage” is not the kind of sorcery that fits into this setting.
Also, the pew-pew magic isn’t the only kind of magic that I oppose. People have opened other threads asking for – in their words – “white magic”. You know, benevolent magic, healing and stuff like that. I’ve also opposed those suggestions, for the same reason as I oppose pew-pew magic. That’s not how sorcery works in this setting.
People in this thread have posted many interesting ideas that would make sorcery more useful in combat and that fit well into the Hyborian Age setting. I’d love to see those implemented.
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Funcom already did combat sorcery in Age of Conan and it was fun.
I’ll beat this dead horse as always. Picking and choosing when to Stamp “Not lore” is very subjective. Because for me the jumping of the shark is insta porting. The books would be 3 paragraphs if lore wise that was a major thing. No traveling and adventuring. But because most players enjoy the time save of it, it is okay? Do i want high soecery, no. But do i want to actually feel the power of a sorcerer supreme on the level we have as barbarians in this game, yes. So add aoe effect spells where i still have to “summon” with current mechanic. Maybe use altar zeal being corrupted by sorcery to be the cost to do these summons. Almost like demi god tokens. But something other than power level the sorc. recipes so I can summon body, insta port, transmog, lead zombies without actually having/keeping corruption.
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Not to be that guy but since FC owns the rights to Conan, it’s up to them whether its Canon or not. Hubbard gets no say in it anymore. It could be pink unicorns and rainbows now.
While canon needs to be followed as far as ensuring the world vision stays within an acceptable variance, the story matters more than canon. Just because it was never in it before doesn’t mean it needs to be excluded but you should have a reason why it’s never been done before by these masters of sorcery. So what purpose is sorcery as far as within the settings of CE? Otherworldly benefits that also pose significant risks to the users as these Eldritch magics come at a huge cost and high unpredictability as the user can’t dare to assume they have actual control over what is happening…more of a guiding the tidal wave of horror energies towards a desired goal (think of wind or water turbines…we are using the natural forces to gain benefit but we don’t control the wind or the tides and it would be sure folly to remotely think we did just because we can harness the energies of them) . This is the basis of canon magic and therefore should be immutable so that the very nature of magic in Conan is not the same as other games/universes…this isn’t Dr Strange or Skyrim but the world where all magic should be considered infernal to some degree…ie Dormammu or Daedric based power if you use the worlds I brought up a few lines ago.
So in this setting, you want fireball offensive combat magic…so where is the cost and it’s gotta be more than corruption or looking fugly? The elder gods will demand a much larger amount out of you for such a personalized benefit…maybe you sacrifice your levels in a manner similar to corruption. Max level lowers as you draw on the energies that would vulgarly affect the world towards your immediate benefit? But glass canon needs direct and distinct negatives that cannot be exploited away. Yes you can rip the skin off your enemy but what does that mean to you? What price do you need to pay for such an effect? A complete disassociation of all creatures and being in the universe as your level of corruption now implores them to remove this cancer from the world (loss all clan affiliations and everything aggros on you. you cannot have followers or clan up)? That sounds reasonable for exchange…or a complete removal of all religions for 30 days as you have offended the gods with your depravity. These sound harsh because they should be. The canon sorcerers such as Thoth Amon would never make such deals without huge amounts of caution because they are smart and have other methods at their disposal.
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