From what I can tell, having played neither game referenced, the difference is that you get action points for performing some base actions, and you can spend points to use better actions. This is opposed to mana, where you start with a set pool, and the actions you can use are based on the amount of mana you have left, often recovering over time. The first might cause players to enter combat more frequently, in order to "unlock" their strongest skills, while the latter might cause them to hide until they have the mana to support the skills they want to use.

Having played WoW and Warhammer, I guess the biggest difference between that of Mana and Action Points are close to what that of the person above me said, but the additional information is when you play WoW for instance, they use 3 different systems.

1 - Mana

Uses the traditional sense of mana. Restored by consumption of a potion or something similar. Also regenerates over time which is usually referred to as MPS, or Mana Per Second.

2 - Rage

Starts at zero and the harder you hit, or are hit will cause this to go up. An example of this is if your basic attack increases your rage by 5 each time you strike, and you have currently 35 rage of 100, you can spend up to that much rage on specialty attacks. This is a Melee based attribute.

3 - Energy

Starts at the base max (100), but abilities in the skill tree can increase the cap. This cap is pulled from by specialty attacks and skills. The only way that I know of to increase this is based over time. This is basically a combination of the two previous systems but more heavy on the rage side system.

Hope this helps.

There are two main families:

- Item-based magic. You use an item (such as a magic stone or a scroll) to cast a spell. You may require special training to be able to use a special spell.
- Mana-based magic. You concentrate and put strain on your mind, to harness some magical energy in a certain way, known as a spell, and which causes mental fatigue.

To both, you can add spell combos, which is the new trend these days.

The first one is very easy to control and balance in game, since it's a limited resource and you directly choose how rare it is.
It is exactly like ammo.

Item-based magic existing out of thin air doesn't make much sense, however. Mana-based magic is much more logical. Both can coexist.
I would suggest making mana-based magic very expensive in term of mental fatigue but allow it to charge objects.

As for leveled spells, I'm not a fan at all. I'd rather have a single Fire spell where I can choose how much magic to use (which is restricted by how much strain my mind can handle, which in turn depends on my ability with that type of magic) than have predefined Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3... etc. spells.
It is quite equivalent to a spellmaking mechanism as in Oblivion however (where you can choose magic type, range, power, duration, and which gives you a magicka cost).

Quote:

Original post by loufoque As for leveled spells, I'm not a fan at all. I'd rather have a single Fire spell where I can choose how much magic to use (which is restricted by how much strain my mind can handle, which in turn depends on my ability with that type of magic) than have predefined Fire 1, Fire 2, Fire 3... etc. spells.

But the idea behind this also slows down game play and makes it much more mechanical then it needs to be... right? As a leveled spell, you wouldn't have to decide on how much mana you would want to use. Let's take Diablo for instance, which was easy to level your spells. All that is required is you to find the book to increase the spell and to make sure your magic attribute was high enough to read the book and wham, you have a new spell or spell level. Whereas, if you take the idea that you are talking about, correct me if I'm wrong, it's just what I'm reading, you select the amount of mana you want to sacrifice and use that for the spell you have selected. I guess it is a good concept, but the idea only works if it's a turn based RPG (where time isn't that important, much like that of FF Tactics). I do like the idea though.

I'm mainly asking because I'm working on a system for mana, but I don't want to apply that system to a warrior who doesn't need mana.

I can understand it if it is done by charging a spell, adding mana to it over time to increase a predefined attribute but there are a couple gameplay consequences of that. First, if there is enough mana to use, and it is no more economical to use two half sized spells or one full size, then what is the point of it anyway? Second, charging a spell, probably the simplest way of implementing that system, still means spells take quite a bit of time to use.

Mostly though, are there really that many times in a game where a full power spell isn't what the player wants?

Quote:

if you take the idea that you are talking about, correct me if I'm wrong, it's just what I'm reading, you select the amount of mana you want to sacrifice and use that for the spell you have selected. I guess it is a good concept, but the idea only works if it's a turn based RPG (where time isn't that important, much like that of FF Tactics). I do like the idea though.

You can prepare the spell settings beforehand and then use shortcuts or macros.
Or you can charge an item beforehand and just use that item later.