New thoughts for Veneficus

Alright, so here are a few new thoughts for Veneficus (possibly, though they may conflict with some of the content I have already designed):

* Spells use Essence, which does not regenerate over time.
* In order to regain Essence, you must do one of several things:
* Absorb it from a slain foe.
* Absorb it from a node.
* Absorb it from an object that contains Essence.
* Once used, Essence is gone forever, so use it sparingly.
* As Essence is consumed, the character becomes lethargic and clumsy.
* If too mush Essence is absorbed, the character experiences a lucid high.
* Eventually, the player can become acclimated to some high amount of Essence, and will need to keep more in their bodies to avoid the debilitating low.
* Finding an equilibrium is crucial to survival.

* Experience comes in 4 varieties:
* Combat Exp - earned through combat, can be spent on combat skills.
* Social Exp - earned through conversation, can be spent on social skills.
* Technical Exp - earned through interactions, can be spent on technical skills.
* General Exp - earned through story progression, can be spent on any skills.
* Typically, an easy challenge will net you one Exp, a moderate challenge will net you two Exp, and a difficult challenge will net you three Exp.
* Modifiers can affect this - barely surviving a combat, for example, will earn you a bonus point of Exp, while easily overcoming the same foe will reduce the Exp gained by one point.
* General Exp is usually given out in units of 5 per chapter.

* Wounds are accrued through combat and accidents.
* A wound occurs on one of 12 places on the body:
* Head
* Chest, Back, and Waist
* Right bicep and Forearm
* Left bicep and Forearm
* Right thigh and Leg
* Left thigh and Leg
* Taking too much damage on certain parts of the body can lead to incapacitation:
* Head - Concussion, which leads to disorientation and potential blackouts.
* Legs - Lose use of leg.
* Arms - Lose use of arm.
* Also, if too much damage is done over the entire body, the character dies.
* This amount is equal to your HP value.
* If you take more than half your HP in damage in a single hit, you die of shock.
* Damage is categorized into three groups:
* Trauma - Blunt force trauma. Most common type of damage, heals the quickest.
* Cut - Damage dealt by sharp objects, such as knives and bullets. Bleeds until it heals, which it then becomes Trauma damage. Bleeding will cause you to lose HP from the torso (chest, back, and waist).
* Burn - Extensive cellular damage typically caused by exposure to dangerous chemicals or extremities of temperature. Doesn't heal, and hurts terribly when struck again.

* All characters start with 3 spells:
* Burn (2) - Does 5 Burn damage (via fire) to a target - 2 if target succeeds in dodging.
* Charm (1) - Target becomes friendlier towards you, granting you bonuses in social situations.
* Know (1) - Usage: 'cast know SKILL', where skill is a Technical skill. Expands your knowledge of the subject for a few hours.
* New spells can be found throughout the game. 'add SPELL to spellbook" will learn the target spell (you can also simply 'memorize SPELL' too).

* 'x self' - returns your current appearance, health, injuries, and essence.
* 'x * skills' - returns a list of skills in group *, which can be Combat, Social, or Technical.
* Use of individual skills varies based on the skill, but typically only Technical skills can be used freely (i.e. repair).
* 'read spellbook' - returns a list of all spells that you have in your spell book.
* 'cast SPELL at TARGET' - attempts to cast a spell at a target. Fails if you lack the essence to do so. Some spells need no target.