Flamecast is a battle spell used by magicians in Betrayal at Krondor. It inflicts fire damage on the target and area damage on anyone standing nearby.
One or more spells which produce fireballs are also used in the game's novelization, Krondor: The Betrayal.
Overview
For a cost of 1-30 Health/Stamina, Flamecast creates a deadly fireball which is flung from the caster to the targeted enemy. If it hits, it inflicts damage equal to twice its cost, as well as dealing some area damage to any enemy or ally standing within two steps of the target.
No additional items are needed to cast Flamecast, but the spell requires the target to be in the caster's line of sight, and its accuracy depends on the caster's Accy: Casting Skill. As a ranged attack, it cannot pass between active electric crystals in a magical trap.
The normal amount of damage inflicted by the spell varies in a few enemies:
- Double damage: Grandsire Wyverns and Rime Giants
- 50% extra damage: Trolls
- Half damage: Spellweavers
- Immune: Bulldrake Wyverns, Dreads, Nethermanders, Panath Tiandn, Witch Hags, and the game's final antagonist[1]
Acquisition
Flamecast can be purchased at Dabeh's Fanciful Trinkets, Stardock Annex, Hakha's Cajunlo, or from Brother Marc for 300 sovereigns. It can be found earlier for free in one of three chests: a riddle chest off the road between Yabon and Tyr-Sog, an unlocked chest in a valley east of Zun, or another riddle chest between Questor's View and the pass to Zun.
Krondor: The Betrayal
James judges the absence of violent applications of magic in the Academy of Magic's curriculum to be a wise decision, as it would be undesirable for the students to roam the island flinging fireballs and lightning strikes at one another.[2]
Years ago, to impress some townspeople down south who were trying to run him off, Patrus invented a spell which casts a melon-sized blast of flaming energy from his staff, just hot enough to produce a scorch mark if it hits but useful for getting people to instinctively duck out of their path. The party first met Patrus when he was hurrying down a path, turning now and then to throw a small fireball at any enemy who came into view and keeping at bay long enough for the party to reach him. He later used the same spell to set two siege towers attacking Northwarden aflame, reducing them to smoldering rubble.[3]
On Timirianya, Owyn used a spell which cast a sphere of fiery energy from his hand, engulfing its Panath Tiandn target in flames which killed it within seconds and also splashed against another enemy standing nearby, setting his robe on fire. Pug later learned the same spell from Owyn and the two used it to attack another group of Panath Tiandn.[4]
Trivia
- The fireball sprite used in Flamecast also appears as an attack from certain wyverns and as a cannon projectile in certain magical traps.
- There is no opportunity for Patrus to acquire Flamecast unless the party leaves it for him in a riddle chest near Northwarden before the end of Chapter 3.