I've been fascinated by the Taoist monks of China for a long time, and find a conspicuous absence of general Eastern magic mods on the forums. I also want to try out my modding skills more. In fact, even before the two in my sig, I had plans for this Taoist mod, a mix between exploration, magic, and fighting. In time, I also hope to encompass the Onmyouji, Southeastern Asia black magic, Buddhist miracles, and maybe—just maybe—Haitian voodoo in the mod, creating magical factions you can be in. As well, NPCs and enemies that follow that line of lore, such as jiangshi, ghosts and even fellow practitioners. I have some of the groundwork laid out (weapon proficiency and god worshipping system), but it still lacks polishing due to time being put on other mods. For now, here is the comprehensive list of ideas:
Qi: at first it's like a rage bar that builds up, but as you learn to channel it you gain powers of attack, defense and even control of items/mobs
Lingli: Soul power. You gain more through meditation/using it and it is critical for spells and rituals. Split into three types: neutral Lingqi, bright yangqi and dark yinqi. All are needed some way or another.
Fu: talismans. You can seal the powers of rituals into one piece of paper that can be right-clicked to use in different fashions. They come in variants that are meant to be burnt (cleansing), burnt, mixed with water and drunk (curing), pasted onto areas (warding), pasted onto mobs (attacking), and one that needs to be thrown into the air and pierced with a sword (sealing). They can be written on paper, wood or animal remains like bones, and the quality of the medium increases its power. Requires an altar to write. You can store them in a belt bauble that can be brought up with a key or just right-clicking, after which you can choose the talisman to use. On that note, some rites, such as exorcising a spirit or blessing an artifact, are more complex and need a ritual to supplement your soul power.
Ghostkeeping: You can trap ghosts of mobs and villagers into jars or idols, which function as a tamed mob. They are capable of disorienting attacks on the enemy that do not necessarily deal damage, but confuses and slows it. At higher levels they can possess other mobs or a receptive physical body to aid you. Destroying the idol liberates the ghost, so you can catch it again. Ghosts level up slowly when killing or doing similar things for their masters, and if their yin becomes too powerful for you to control they can reverse-kill you, so beware. Weak to spirit attacks, fu, and completely immune to physical attacks in spirit form. A derivative is the making of jiangshi, which are made in a specific way and aged to become stronger and stronger.
Gu: genetically engineered bugs of the Miao tribe. The original process involves collection of poisonous arthropods and letting them fight to death in front of a shrine, leaving one that is the strongest. They can be found in the world from tombs, but they are likely very strong and require a well-prepared taoist to defeat. Can be kept in jars like ghosts, but specializes in physical attacks and poisoning the enemy. Higher levels allow a soul bind to you, making them less likely to be killed (more resistance and health) but also killing you if they are killed by anything. Like a ghost, they can reverse-kill you if bound incorrectly or left hungry for too long. Soul binds here, however, will not attempt to kill you in any way. More resistant to physical attacks than normal mobs, but is prone to rejuvenating spells and... anything that kills normal bugs, really, unless its level is high enough to shrug off the attack.
Reincarnation:A way for hardcore players to respawn. Mechanics pending, but something along the lines of a maze with the pool of reincarnation at the center, guarded by small fry, then ghosts, then yinchai (spirit agents that take away your soul when you are about to die), and finally Ox-face and Horse-head/Heibai Wuchang (both duos that are known for guarding Diyu some way or another). Kind of like a challenge dungeon in this state, could be improved.
Ascetic training: any mob or plant can train to become a miniboss that drops some materials good for talismans. Alternatively, you can bind one to you before it is made (such as by making an effigy or defeating it, then forming a pact) to make something similar to ghosts, but more oriented towards nature and less sinful. Anything can train by being exposed to divine power, through methods such as staying near analtar or killing humans. As such, zombies may amass large amounts of evil energy in a short time
Needlework: Usually reserved for sewing, but in China there are silver needles used for acupuncture. As you start out, you're probably not going to succeed poking around on your own body and would end up quite hurt, but you can train on mobs at the cost of being more offense-oriented. Multiple needles can be used with a needle kit to heal yourself up in a pinch or overload your nerves for more power. Alternatively, you can throw them at your enemies. Hitting them at certain pressure points (dictated by hitbox) would do different things to them, which you can find out through one way only...
Swordmaking: Taoists use wooden swords that may not seem to be very strong, but can be crafted from a variety of different woods (e.g. cherry wood, being more yang-oriented, is better at dispelling ghosts, while the yin of willow trees allows the making of effigies and spirit-calling blades). The more charred by lightning the sword is, the better, until it vaporizes at the 10th strike. You, however, cannot make them until you are of a certain level in taoistry, and need them early on, so you will need to find or cure a taoist villager/NPC to make you one first. You can skip ahead if you manage to crystallize a soul with black magic early on, but as expected that is bad for your karma.
Worldgen: There are trees in the world to make the swords, of course, and each has a different affinity. They can be struck by lightning as they gain sentience, and if they endure all nine they can transform into dryads or trents. As well, fossilized mobs and gems of power will spawn underground, and can be extracted as a whole to form into some useful item with your powers.
Shrines: You can worship a god here. The bigger a shrine is, the more followers a god can have. It is also the orthodox way of ascetic training for passive mobs, and the more intelligent ones would take residence somewhere inconspicuous here. Worshipping a deity as dictated by the Investiture of the Gods will bolster the god's power and they will bless you with more power, too.
Altars: The only way make talismans for yourself, and needed for more complex rituals. You must be "clean" when working here, or it won't work. Putting one in front of a shrine would increase its power.
Mechanics for writing talismans, what they will do, karma mechanics, onmyouji-do mechanics and the like pending.
My question is, how many would like to see this mod made? I can code, texture (badly) and model, but I don't want to do it unless a lot of people would like the idea, too (playing a mod by yourself is awkward).
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I feed off changelogs.
Asking for updates is spam. Really.
I make some mods that are pathetically slow to update. Join in on the wait here and here.
I've been fascinated by the Taoist monks of China for a long time, and find a conspicuous absence of general Eastern magic mods on the forums. I also want to try out my modding skills more. In fact, even before the two in my sig, I had plans for this Taoist mod, a mix between exploration, magic, and fighting. In time, I also hope to encompass the Onmyouji, Southeastern Asia black magic, Buddhist miracles, and maybe—just maybe—Haitian voodoo in the mod, creating magical factions you can be in. As well, NPCs and enemies that follow that line of lore, such as jiangshi, ghosts and even fellow practitioners. I have some of the groundwork laid out (weapon proficiency and god worshipping system), but it still lacks polishing due to time being put on other mods. For now, here is the comprehensive list of ideas:
Qi: at first it's like a rage bar that builds up, but as you learn to channel it you gain powers of attack, defense and even control of items/mobs
Lingli: Soul power. You gain more through meditation/using it and it is critical for spells and rituals. Split into three types: neutral Lingqi, bright yangqi and dark yinqi. All are needed some way or another.
Fu: talismans. You can seal the powers of rituals into one piece of paper that can be right-clicked to use in different fashions. They come in variants that are meant to be burnt (cleansing), burnt, mixed with water and drunk (curing), pasted onto areas (warding), pasted onto mobs (attacking), and one that needs to be thrown into the air and pierced with a sword (sealing). They can be written on paper, wood or animal remains like bones, and the quality of the medium increases its power. Requires an altar to write. You can store them in a belt bauble that can be brought up with a key or just right-clicking, after which you can choose the talisman to use. On that note, some rites, such as exorcising a spirit or blessing an artifact, are more complex and need a ritual to supplement your soul power.
Ghostkeeping: You can trap ghosts of mobs and villagers into jars or idols, which function as a tamed mob. They are capable of disorienting attacks on the enemy that do not necessarily deal damage, but confuses and slows it. At higher levels they can possess other mobs or a receptive physical body to aid you. Destroying the idol liberates the ghost, so you can catch it again. Ghosts level up slowly when killing or doing similar things for their masters, and if their yin becomes too powerful for you to control they can reverse-kill you, so beware. Weak to spirit attacks, fu, and completely immune to physical attacks in spirit form. A derivative is the making of jiangshi, which are made in a specific way and aged to become stronger and stronger.
Gu: genetically engineered bugs of the Miao tribe. The original process involves collection of poisonous arthropods and letting them fight to death in front of a shrine, leaving one that is the strongest. They can be found in the world from tombs, but they are likely very strong and require a well-prepared taoist to defeat. Can be kept in jars like ghosts, but specializes in physical attacks and poisoning the enemy. Higher levels allow a soul bind to you, making them less likely to be killed (more resistance and health) but also killing you if they are killed by anything. Like a ghost, they can reverse-kill you if bound incorrectly or left hungry for too long. Soul binds here, however, will not attempt to kill you in any way. More resistant to physical attacks than normal mobs, but is prone to rejuvenating spells and... anything that kills normal bugs, really, unless its level is high enough to shrug off the attack.
Reincarnation:A way for hardcore players to respawn. Mechanics pending, but something along the lines of a maze with the pool of reincarnation at the center, guarded by small fry, then ghosts, then yinchai (spirit agents that take away your soul when you are about to die), and finally Ox-face and Horse-head/Heibai Wuchang (both duos that are known for guarding Diyu some way or another). Kind of like a challenge dungeon in this state, could be improved.
Ascetic training: any mob or plant can train to become a miniboss that drops some materials good for talismans. Alternatively, you can bind one to you before it is made (such as by making an effigy or defeating it, then forming a pact) to make something similar to ghosts, but more oriented towards nature and less sinful. Anything can train by being exposed to divine power, through methods such as staying near analtar or killing humans. As such, zombies may amass large amounts of evil energy in a short time
Needlework: Usually reserved for sewing, but in China there are silver needles used for acupuncture. As you start out, you're probably not going to succeed poking around on your own body and would end up quite hurt, but you can train on mobs at the cost of being more offense-oriented. Multiple needles can be used with a needle kit to heal yourself up in a pinch or overload your nerves for more power. Alternatively, you can throw them at your enemies. Hitting them at certain pressure points (dictated by hitbox) would do different things to them, which you can find out through one way only...
Swordmaking: Taoists use wooden swords that may not seem to be very strong, but can be crafted from a variety of different woods (e.g. cherry wood, being more yang-oriented, is better at dispelling ghosts, while the yin of willow trees allows the making of effigies and spirit-calling blades). The more charred by lightning the sword is, the better, until it vaporizes at the 10th strike. You, however, cannot make them until you are of a certain level in taoistry, and need them early on, so you will need to find or cure a taoist villager/NPC to make you one first. You can skip ahead if you manage to crystallize a soul with black magic early on, but as expected that is bad for your karma.
Worldgen: There are trees in the world to make the swords, of course, and each has a different affinity. They can be struck by lightning as they gain sentience, and if they endure all nine they can transform into dryads or trents. As well, fossilized mobs and gems of power will spawn underground, and can be extracted as a whole to form into some useful item with your powers.
Shrines: You can worship a god here. The bigger a shrine is, the more followers a god can have. It is also the orthodox way of ascetic training for passive mobs, and the more intelligent ones would take residence somewhere inconspicuous here. Worshipping a deity as dictated by the Investiture of the Gods will bolster the god's power and they will bless you with more power, too.
Altars: The only way make talismans for yourself, and needed for more complex rituals. You must be "clean" when working here, or it won't work. Putting one in front of a shrine would increase its power.
Mechanics for writing talismans, what they will do, karma mechanics, onmyouji-do mechanics and the like pending.
My question is, how many would like to see this mod made? I can code, texture (badly) and model, but I don't want to do it unless a lot of people would like the idea, too (playing a mod by yourself is awkward).
I feed off changelogs.
Asking for updates is spam. Really.
I make some mods that are pathetically slow to update. Join in on the wait here and here.
Please make this mod minecraft needs more cool mods like this need
Also rename the post i think that most people think its a mod that add religious stuff and not magic skills
I would love to see this mod