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Arcanists

Arcanists is the most popular game on the Jagex Ltd site- funorb. the game revolves around magic users (or, arcanists) who fight to the death in destructible arenas. it has been compared to the game "worms (game)" in the mechanics of the game (spells damage or alter the surrounding land, etc) originally, it was only available to paying members of the funorb site, however it was later released to nonmembers, who had access to only 2 spell books (fire and arcane), and unable to unlock any others

the spell books are:

• arcane
• fire
• water
• ice
• lightning
• stone
• overlight
• underdark
• nature
• cogs (also referred to the clock book)

each spell book has 5 level 1 spells, and having a level 1 spell unlocks its upgraded level 2 spell. for example, the level one fire spell, "fireball" unlocks the level 2 "fire arrow", there is no way to have fire arrow without fireball level 3 spells, however, are unlocked by having 5 spells of that spellbook in the players arsenal. these spells are typically one use, the exception being the ice books comet, lightnings storm and the natures spell "natures wrath" (only one can be present at a time, recasting simply moves the old one)

each player may select 16 spells, and having all 12 spells of a single book (leaving 4 spots open for other spells from other books), gives the player access to that books "familiar", a spell castable at any time during your turn that increases you players power in some way. each familiar acts diferently, and each charge costs 20 health (out of 250), and can have 5 charges

the familiars are: fire: increases fire damage. more damage for each charge stone: reduces damage taken lightning: increased thundershock damage, reduced cooldown on storm. ice: increased jump, water walking (water walking is accessed by having simply the full book, without having deposited health into the familiar) underdark: creates a souljar, that resurrects the player with health equal to the amount deposited in charges overlight: shields the user and his minions for an amount each turn, increased by number of charges nature: increased potency of vine and thorn bomb spells water: water walking, resistance to water damage cogs: increased turn time

arcane does not have a familiar, and f2p can not access familiars (as they can not access the level 3 spells in fire book)

multiplayer

both members and free to play have access to multiplayer, however, members have acccess to rated matches and free player do not. each player starts at 1500 rating, and getting higher unlocks some achievements and character customisation and is often representative of a players skill (although some players have high rating through less reputable means)

each rated game awards "wands" used to buy spells. a book costs 5 wands to buy, the level one spells are automatically available at this point, and level 2 spells cost 2 wands each, and level 3 spells cost 3. once a player has every spell of every book, they can trade them in for a prestige hat, which resets all their spells to the basic aresenal that a free player has. each prestige hat is increasingly large, and is displayed as a small triangle like graphic over the player during the game. there is no express reward for obtaining these hats in terms of game play and power of spells.