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Magic points (MP; also called mana) are units of magical power that are used in many role-playing, computer role-playing and similar games as an expendable resource that is needed to pay for magic spells and other abilities, such as special attacks. Thus, magic points can be considered a specialized type of action points that are renewed slowly compared to other game events.

Screenshot of a battle in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. The character's MP can be seen in the lower left corner in red lettering.

A character in such games will usually have a number of magic points based on his or her level and character class, among other things. Thus a mage will have more MP than a fighter and an experienced mage will have more MP than a novice. When a character uses a magic spell, a number of MP will be deducted from that character’s available MP to pay for the spell (more powerful spells generally cost more MP). If a character has too few MP, the spell cannot be cast. This system makes players choose between casting a few powerful spells, or many weaker ones.

In some games, MP replenish slowly over time, while in others a character must rest to recover MP. Other possibilities include stealing or absorbing them from other characters or from the ether, or by eating food or drinking magic fluids.

In many western computer games, the magic points gauge is depicted as being blue, in contrast with the red or green of the hit points gauge. These colors might be seen in the user interface and in the game’s items or spells (for example, a red potion is used for healing, a blue potion for restoring magic).

In general, losing all of one's MP in a game does not do the same thing as someone losing all of their HP (dying, fainting, etc), though a few cases (Star Ocean 3, for example) will cause a character to faint if their MP reaches zero.

Contents

Examples

Magic points have seen use in many fantasy games, including tabletop role-playing games such as GURPS and computer role-playing games such as Diablo.

Synonyms

Many alternate names are used in different games. Magic points are also referred to as

Other terms designate units of psionic, or otherwise supernatural, power equivalent to MP:

Similar concepts

In traditional RPGs, magic points remained entirely in the realm of magic spells or psionic powers, while fighting skills and abilities were never under such a restriction. Many newer games, however, have introduced similar skill-limitation systems for fighters:

  • Spirit Commands in the Super Robot Wars series of video games (1991) include a variety of exceptional feats used by expending Spirit Points (SP), while attacks are used by expending Energy (EN).
  • In the World of Darkness (1991), and Exalted, supernatural creatures must expend some resource, such as Blood Points, Gnosis, Rage, Quintessence, Vitae, Essence or Mana to fuel many of their powers.
  • In the Pokémon video games (1995 and later), Power Points (PP) are used to limit the number of times a Pokémon can perform each type of attack.
  • Super Mario RPG (1996), as well as its spiritual successors Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, use Flower Points (FP) to fuel special moves. Both characters on the field draw FP from the same pool.
  • In Diablo II (2000), all character classes (magic users as well as fighters) each have access to a unique and exclusive set of skills, and many of the skills in each set are powered by mana as if they were spells.
  • Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003) has Brothers Points (BP) which the two titular characters use to perform special team-up attacks.
  • World of Warcraft (2004) uses Rage for Warriors, or Energy and Combo points for Rogues, Runes and Runic Power for Death Knights, as well as Focus for Hunters' pets. Casters such as Mages use Mana.
  • Everquest II (2004) uses a Power pool to “fuel” combat arts as well as spells.
  • In Star Ocean 3 (2004), MP was used as a second 'life-gauge'. Certain attacks reduced the target's HP and MP or may only target MP entirely, and characters die when their MP reach 0 as well. Enemies also follow this and the player can decide whether to kill them by attacking their HP or MP.
  • In Guild Wars (2005), energy powers most skills, even non-spell ones. Certain skills use adrenaline, which is increased by attacking.

See also


Gaming

Up to date as of January 31, 2010
(Redirected to Points article)

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

The RPG spoof Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Super Star

Points, are, basically, numbers. Points are how many of something you have. It's an oddly universal term that's rarely used the way it's used in video games anywhere outside of video games.

Points are units of a surreal concept that typically cannot be measured in numbers.

Examples of points

  • Score - When points go towards the a score they are units used to measure how well the player is playing the game. A 'high score' is a record of the most points the player has ever been able to accumulate.
  • Hit points - Hit points, or HP, represent a character's vitality. Usually, hit points mean nothing unless they are at zero. When hit points reach zero the character (usually) dies. 'Max HP' is the most amount of hit points a character can have at any given time. When a character loses HP, the amount it lost is usually called 'damage'.
  • Magic Points - Magic points, or MP, represent the character's diminishing ability to cast magic. In more recent games, MP is also consumed by non-magic attacks, and has sort of become more representative of stamina than anything. MP is often called stamina or mana but usually serves the same purpose. Casting spells or using abilities costs MP, if the character doesn't have enough MP to cast the spell, they usually cannot cast it. Sometimes it is referred to as Mana.
  • Statistic Points - In RPGs, character statistics (often called 'stats') like Strength, Agility, and Intelligence are measured in points. They are usually connected to the character's "level," also represented numerically.
  • Experience Points - Also in RPGs, experience points, or more simply "experience," (or even more simply EXP) comes from defeating enemies or accomplishing significant goals (sometimes referred to in-game as "quests"). When a character nets enough experience points, his level increases, as do his statistics (see above).

This article uses material from the "Points" article on the Gaming wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.







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