Magic Ability Form

[Zoey]

What would everyone think about making a form to fill out under your magic section if you chose to use magic? I have used the following on all of my characters that use magic. I think it's good because it breaks everything down and gives you a really good idea of exactly what the magic is.

Name: The name of your Spell.
Type: Type is useful but not necessary, this could range from varying types of sorcery, or the spells element. 
Casting Time: How it takes to cast this spell.
Casting Method: Is it a simple thought, movement of your hand, or even a staff?
Range: Can it only effect as far as the caster can reach, or can it be tossed several feet.
Area of Effect: When the spell reaches its desired target, does it spread to a certain area.
Duration: How long do the effects of the spell last once it has reached its target.
Usage/Energy Drain: Another balancing aspect of magic.  Some spells are will be particularly tasking on the caster, while others are simple.  In this section, it is good to decide how much energy the spell uses from the caster/caster’s power source, or how many times a day the caster can use such a spell. If you are a Video Gamer, you may want to think of it in terms of something like ‘Mana’.
Description: Describe what the spell will do, what it looks like.

Name:
Type:
Casting Time:
Casting Method:
Range:
Area of Effect:
Duration:
Usage/Energy Drain:
Description:

Examples

Name: Calming Whisper
Type:  Influence
Casting Time:   Instant once she thinks about it.
Casting Method:  Mental
Range:   To the person she is directing it to, she can direct it up to five people.
Area of Effect:  Just the individual(s).
Duration:  Instant - One Hour
Usage/Energy Drain: This isn’t very draining on her psyche, she has been doing it since she was a child. The worst that can happen is that she can become faint of breath and may need a short nap.
Description: When a person or animal is agitated, scared, angry, or any other feeling than happy/calm. Claire can use this ability to clam that person or animal. Depending on the level of the feeling the person/animal is going through it may take longer.
Extra Information: This only happens with animals. She will have to have a face-off with the animal, showing that her will is stronger than its will. Usually she will have to fight the animal and put it into submission, unharmed.

Name: Mineral Explosion
Type:  Elemental
Casting Time:   10 seconds
Casting Method: Manipulation of Arilu’s grounds.
Range: 30 yards or less depending on the size of rocks and destination.
Duration: 5 seconds after landing by target or in destination.
Usage/Energy Drain: If she casts this more than twice in one day her body will start to take on the appearance of the mineral she is using. She will have to wait at least half a day to use it again or longer depending on how much of her body takes on the outer appearance.
Description: Samantha will have to have dirt, sand, rocks or any other physical form of Arilu in order to cast. She can toss up to three baseball sized stones, diamonds, glass, etc it depends on what she picks up to manipulate. She will throw the object up to 30 yards away or less depending on the destination of the object. When it lands, there is a 5 second time before the object will explode causing damage. Depending on the object thrown, it could explode into shards (glass), Smaller rocks (stones), or sharp gems (diamonds). Either way, it will be painful on impact.

[Lakhesis]

I like that the form breaks down components, and overall lends a sense of organization.

However, I'm also iffy about it because I'm afraid it'll dissuade potential members from joining. Most people absolutely abhor character applications, and I can't even say how many I've come across who will refuse to join a site if the application process is too complication or requires too much information. I'm trying to keep us in a safe middle ground, where we're not a free-for-all but also not nazi's for information.

Basically, I don't want to overwhelm new and current members, and I want to try and keep the application as simple as possible. As always though, I'm open to everyone else's opinions. If the majority of people on here feel this is a good idea and wouldn't impact us negatively in any way, then I'm all for it.

[Teb]

I'm going to agree with Lak here.  Personally, I absolutely hate filling out char sheets.  I find it a boring and kind of annoying process.  The sheet has recently gotten longer and adding this will make it even longer.

Thusly, I'm all for giving people the option to fill out a thing like this if they want but I don't think it should be mandatory for the magic process.

[Sela]

I think it's handy for people who have characters who are heavily reliant upon spells/magic. And for most of those people, filling this out will be great fun and it will be helpful to us as Mods/Admins in determining their strengths/weaknesses.

But I do agree. This should be optional. I think it could go into the encyclopedia. Perhaps a link to it could be put in the Char Sheet App with a note saying "while not mandatory, here is a sheet for those who wish to use spells and describe them" or something like that.