Magic

Magic is a skill that is used to cast various spells, utilising the power of runes. It is a highly versatile skill, offering valuable benefits to players with high Magic levels. In combat, Magic users (known as "mages") can damage their opponents from a safe distance, as well as freeze them in place, lower their combat stats, and even hit multiple targets at once. Outside of combat, Magic allows players to perform various tasks such as teleporting themselves (or others) to distant locations, enchanting various items to give them magical properties, converting items directly into coins, and even curing or healing other players.

According to the combat triangle, mages are strong towards warriors and weak against rangers.

Runes
The Magic skill relies heavily on runes, special stones imbued with elemental powers which are focused into spells. Magic users may therefore benefit from a high Runecrafting level, which is used to create runes. Each spell has a certain rune requirement to cast; these runes are consumed during the casting process. (Some Magic equipment, such as the staff of light, may negate the rune cost of a single spell.) Runes are divided into two types: elemental runes (air rune, water rune, earth rune and fire rune) and catalytic runes (every other type).

Part of the rune requirement for a spell can be taken care of by equipping an elemental staff (either a staff of air, a staff of water, a staff of earth or a staff of fire). When equipped, these staves provide unlimited numbers of the elemental rune they represent. A staff of fire will therefore count as unlimited fire runes; High Level Alchemy, which normally requires five fire runes and one nature rune per cast, will only require one nature rune with a staff of fire equipped. The Tome of Frost also provides unlimited water runes when wielded, however, unlike the staffs it is wielded in the off hand slot.

In addition, members have access to combination runes created through the Runecrafting skill. Combination runes act as two different elemental runes at once; one dust rune counts as both an earth rune and an air rune for the purpose of spells that require both of these runes, such as Crumble Undead. There are three elemental staves based on combination runes: the mud battlestaff (which provides unlimited water and earth runes), the lava battlestaff (which provides unlimited earth and fire runes), and the steam battlestaff (which provides unlimited water and fire runes).

Spells
The spells of RuneScape are divided into three separate spellbooks. In order to cast a spell, its spellbook must be active.

Standard spells
The only spellbook available to free players, the standard spellbook contains a well-rounded mix of combat and noncombat spells. Additionally, it is the only spellbook to contain enchantment spells, stat-lowering spells known as curses, and teleother spells. The standard spellbook is unlocked by default for all players and can be accessed from level 1 Magic. It is worth noting that some of the combat spells in the standard spellbook allow for unusually high hits for their level; for example, Fire Strike, requiring 13 Magic, can deal up to 80 points of damage. Iban Blast, requiring 50 Magic, can hit up to 250, though there are a few requirements for using the spell. The strongest combat spell in the standard spellbook, at level 95 Magic, is Fire Surge, which can hit up to 280 points of damage.

Ancient Magicks
Unlocked after the completion of the quest Desert Treasure, the Ancient Magicks spellbook is heavily focused on combat spells, though it also includes a handful of teleports. All Ancient Magicks combat spells have side effects in addition to dealing damage: They can poison targets, lower targets' Attack levels, heal the caster, freeze the targets in place, or halve the target's melee and ranged attack speeds. Additionally, some Ancient Magicks spells can hit multiple targets at once, up to nine targets per attack. The Ancient Magicks teleports lead to a limited variety of locations across Misthalin, Morytania and the Wilderness. At least 50 Magic is required to complete Desert Treasure and use the Ancient Magicks spellbook. The strongest combat spell in the spellbook is Miasmic Barrage, which requires 97 Magic and can hit up to 320 points of damage against up to nine targets at once (for a theoretical maximum hit of 2,880 damage).

Lunar spells
In contrast to Ancient Magicks, the Lunar spellbook focuses on non-combat spells, many of which provide unique benefits not otherwise available, and all of which use astral runes. The Lunar spellbook is unlocked after completing the quest Lunar Diplomacy; an additional seven spells are unlocked after subsequently completing Dream Mentor. The Lunar spellbook is notable for containing spells that allow players to aid other players in different ways, including curing poison, sharing stat-enhancing potions, group teleportation, and even restoring life points. The Lunar spellbook also contains Spellbook Swap, which enables the caster to cast a single spell from either the standard or Ancient Magicks spellbooks, allowing for even greater versatility. Spellbook Swap has the highest requirement of the Lunar spells at 96 Magic.

Combat spells
Combat spells are used to deal damage to, or hinder, opponents in combat. The maximum hit of combat spells are determined by two factors: The spell being cast and whether any damage-boosting modifiers are in effect. Magic damage can be boosted by equipping certain items (such as a staff of light, which increases Magic damage by 15%) or by temporarily boosting the Magic skill. Each point by which Magic is boosted increases the maximum hit of spells by 3%. Therefore, a magic potion, which temporarily increases the Magic skill by 5 levels, would initially give a +15% bonus to damage, although this decreases as the boost wears off.

The accuracy of a combat spell is determined by a number of factors, including:
 * The caster's Magic level;
 * The caster's bonus to Magic attack;
 * The target's Magic and Defence levels;
 * The target's bonus to Magic defence;
 * Any Magic- or Defence-enhancing Prayers the caster and target might have active.

The Defence skill plays a role in Magic combat: Defence against spells is measured as 30% of the target's Defence level and 70% of their Magic level.

If a spell completely misses its target, it will "splash" and have no effect. Its runes are still consumed, however. Note that it is also possible for a combat spell to hit its target but deal 0 damage; this is technically different from a splash, but has the same effect.

When casting a combat spell that deals damage, experience is awarded for casting the spell itself. Additional experience is based on damage dealt, at a rate of 0.2 Magic experience per point of damage (as well as 0.133 Constitution experience). If defensive casting is enabled in the Magic interface, the experience rate is 1.333 Magic experience and 1 Defence experience per 10 damage, along with 1.333 Constitution experience per damage point.

Curse spells
Some spells from the standard and the Ancient Magicks spellbooks are classified as curses, and have the ability to drain the target's Attack, Strength or Defence by a certain amount. The drain is not cumulative; Vulnerability, for example, which reduces the target's Defence by 10%, can only be successfully cast once on a certain target. All curse spells require the use of either body runes, in the case of low-level curses, or soul runes for higher-leveled spells.

Teleportation spells
Teleportation spells are used to instantly transport players to a certain area. For example, when cast, Falador Teleport immediately transports the caster to the centre of Falador, next to the Saradomin statue. Nearly all teleportation spells require at least one law rune, among other runes.

All spellbooks contain teleportation spells. However, the standard spellbook contains Teleother spells, beginning with Teleother Lumbridge at 74 Magic. Teleother spells allow the caster to teleport another player to another area, assuming that player consents and has Accept Aid on. The Lunar spellbook has Tele Group spells, starting with Tele Group Moonclan at 70 Magic, which will teleport the caster and any other players within a 3x3 square area of the caster to another area.

The Home Teleport spell is a unique teleport that does not require any runes and does not have a level requirement. It can be used once every 30 minutes and takes around 10 seconds to cast, so it is interruptible by combat. Each spellbook has a Home Teleport spell, with different destinations according to the spellbook. Lumbridge Home Teleport from the standard spellbook leads to Lumbridge, Edgeville Home Teleport from the Ancient Magicks spellbook leads to Edgeville, Lunar Home Teleport from the Lunar spellbook leads to Lunar Isle. A similar spell exists in the Dungeoneering spellbook which teleports the caster to the smuggler and does not have a recharge time.

Note that teleportation can be blocked by use of the Teleport Block spell, or the Magic attack of revenants.

Enchantment spells
Unique to the standard spellbook, enchantment spells are used to imbue certain items, such as jewellery and crossbow bolts, with magical properties. For example, Enchant Level 3 Jewellery is used to turn a ruby amulet into an amulet of strength. Enchantment spells make use of cosmic runes along with other runes.

Alchemy spells
Through alchemy spells, items are converted into coins. Two of the game's few alchemy spells are Low Level Alchemy and the much more popular High Level Alchemy. (Superheat Item could also be described as an alchemy spell, although it is used to smelt ores into bars without a furnace.) Alchemy spells use nature runes.

Miscellaneous spells
Many spells, particularly from the Lunar spellbook, have unique effects that do not fit into any other category. Some of these effects are otherwise unavailable. A few examples:
 * NPC Contact allows the caster to telepathically communicate with a variety of NPCs
 * Humidify instantly fills all water-carrying containers (such as buckets and vials) in the caster's inventory with water, as well as turning clay into soft clay
 * Stat Spy and Monster Examine allow the caster to view another player's skill levels or information about a monster, respectively.

Weapons
Magic users often use staves in order to augment their spellcasting. Some staves, such as the basic staff, simply give small bonuses to Magic attack. Some, however, provide powerful or unique bonus effects. Some examples:
 * Elemental staves, as mentioned, provide unlimited amounts of certain elemental runes
 * The slayer staff, which requires 50 Magic and 55 Slayer, allows the casting of Magic Dart
 * God staves (including the Saradomin staff, Guthix staff and Zamorak staff) allow the casting of the Mage Arena spells Saradomin Strike, Claws of Guthix, and Flames of Zamorak, respectively
 * Ahrim's staff is part of Ahrim the Blighted's set of Barrows equipment, and when used with the rest of the set, may lower the target's Strength by 5 points on a successful hit
 * The staff of light provides a +15% bonus to Magic damage, has a 1/8 chance of negating the rune cost of a spell, and can be used to cast Magic Dart.
 * The Chaotic staff has a +20% Magic Damage bonus and +18 magic bonus. It requires 80 Magic, and 80 Dungeoneering. This provides the highest Magic damage bonus in the game


 * The Master wand has a 20% Magic Bonus.

A number of high-end staves give a +10% bonus to Magic damage when equipped. These are Ahrim's staff, the ancient staff, the master wand, the Void knight mace, Zuriel's staff and the corrupt Zuriel's staff.

Armour
Generally, various magical robes are the Magic user's armour of choice. Contrary to the combat triangle, Magic robes do not usually give defensive bonuses against melee attacks; Ahrim's and Zuriel's robes are the biggest exception to this. Rather, Magic robes give bonuses to both Magic attack and defence.

Some mages may instead choose to use Void Knight equipment, particularly with the Void mage helm, as the set bonus grants a +30% boost to overall Magic accuracy. At high Magic levels this can result in a significant bonus to accuracy.

Best Magic Equipment

 * Main articles: Best possible Magic attack bonus equipment, Best Magic attack bonus equipment without PvP armour, Best Magic attack equipment available to free players

Training Magic

 * Main articles: Magic training for free players and for members

Fighting as a mage
Magic-users are strong against melee users, but are weak against rangers due to the fact that most Ranged armour provides good Magic defence bonuses and binding spells such as Snare don't help if fighting someone who can attack at a distance. When fighting as a mage it is suggested to make use of stat-lowering curse spells and binding spells in order to maximise effectiveness. A player or monster using melee is at a significant disadvantage when faced with a foe who can keep out of their attack range, lower their stats, and deal damage. Additionally, when fighting monsters, use of safe spots may be helpful.

When using binding spells, another tip is to keep track of how long the opponent will be frozen and cast combat spells accordingly. For example, Entangle freezes the opponent for 15 seconds, and takes 3 seconds to cast, leaving 12 seconds with which to cast other spells. Since each spell takes 3 seconds to cast, it is possible to cast 4 spells before the target can move again.

If a monster has a particular elemental weakness it is recommended to take advantage of it. For example, iron dragons are vulnerable to fire spells.

Temporary Magic boosting items
Some items grant temporary boosts to the Magic skill. A boosted Magic skill does allow for casting of higher-level spells than normal. For example, a player with 90 Magic who drinks a dose of magic potion will be able to cast Vengeance Other, which requires 93 Magic.
 * A wizard's mind bomb will boost Magic by 2 or 3 levels
 * A mature wizard's mind bomb will boost Magic by 3 or 4 levels
 * A magic essence potion will boost Magic by 3 levels (requires 57 Herblore to make and is untradeable)
 * A magic potion will boost Magic by 5 levels
 * Both an extreme magic potion and overload will boost Magic by 7 levels (requires 91 and 96 Herblore, respectively, and are untradeable)
 * A wolpertinger's special move will boost Magic by 7 levels (requires 92 Summoning)
 * Operating a Magic skillcape will boost Magic by 1 level (requires 99 Magic)

Development History
Magic in RuneScape Classic was significantly different than its modern incarnation. Very early on, the Magic skill was made up of two separate skills, GoodMagic and EvilMagic. The Evil Magic spells were Confuse, Thick Skin, Shock Bolt, Elemental Bolt and Fear, and the Good Magic spells were Chill Bolt, Burst of Strength, Camouflage, Rock Skin and Wind Bolt. The two skills were eventually merged into a single Magic skill. It was possible to fail an attempt to cast a spell; when this happened, the spell used no runes, but the caster could not use another Magic spell for 20 seconds. A higher Magic level made failing a spell attempt less likely. Additionally, because runes were less common on RuneScape Classic, spells gave far more experience. Each spell gave the fixed experience using the formula 2 * spell level + 20. Jagex explained that the reduction of Magic experience in RuneScape 2 was due to the fact that runes were easier to obtain on the new version. Spells were graphically represented as a two-dimensional blue flying star, which proved difficult to distinguish from arrows (green stars). Furthermore, metal armour did not impose the significant restrictions on Magic accuracy that it does today, allowing mages to cast powerful spells and yet wear full rune armour.

On 22 September 2003, the Mage Arena was introduced, together with the three god spells Saradomin Strike, Claws of Guthix, and Flames of Zamorak. On the 24th of November, the Bind, Snare and Entangle spells were released in an attempt to balance out the combat triangle. Additionally, the system for failing spells was changed to the modern system, whereas a spell will "splash" and use runes, but will not disable spellcasting for 20 seconds.

On 18 April 2005, the Desert Treasure quest was released, together with the Ancient Magicks, almost doubling the number of combat spells in the game.

On the 4th of January, 2006, the Mage Training Arena was released. On the 24th of July of the same year the Lunar Diplomacy quest was released, with the introduction of the Lunar spellbook. The Lunar spellbook was expanded on 15 May 2007 with 7 new spells which are accessible after completing Dream Mentor.

On 18 September 2007, the spell Ourania Teleport was released, along with the Ourania Runecrafting Altar.

On 9 September 2009, Jagex updated the system for auto-casting spells. Previously, spells could only be auto-cast while wielding a staff, and even then not every spell could be autocast. Now it is possible to auto-cast most spells even without a staff equipped, and some spells such as Iban Blast and Saradomin Strike that were not previously auto-castable may now be auto-cast, provided the proper staff is equipped. Additionally, Ancient Magicks spells were changed to allow for auto-casting without an ancient staff equipped, which was required to auto-cast them until the update.

On 17 November 2009, the surge spells were added to the game.

On 21 June 2010 the animations for the combat spells in the standard spellbook were updated from the previous generic blast with different colours to actually individual animations that are unique for each element. The animation for making a teleport tablet was also changed.

Magic in Gielinor's History
The gods of Gielinor are among the most powerful users of magic. Guthix is said to have shaped the world from an empty plane left behind by the Elder Gods with the magic from the Stone of Jas. Runestones, the basics of magic, are created by harnessing the energy in the stone. Guthix gave Humans, who he brought from other realms through the World Gate these runes, and the land was dubbed RuneScape due do its abundance of runes. Guthix fell into a deep sleep, ending the First Age.

Jack (Meeting History) was said to have created the first magic spell, Fire Strike by combining an air and fire rune in attempt to light a fire. Jack became a powerful mage eventually, and taught many Humans the ability to fight with magic.

Concluding the God Wars, the fourth age or "Age of Mortals" began. There was a limited number of Runes in existence, so magic was not widely practiced. High level mages such as Ahrim the Blighted may have had another source for his magical powers, or had a secret supply of these runes.

At the end of the Fourth Age, rune essence was discovered by Fremennik barbarians. These stones were imbued with different elemental energies, and the basics of Runecrafting were discovered. However, this led to a schism in the tribe. One half believed that magic was useful, and part of human progression. However, the other half argued that use of the magic was defying the gods, as it was the gods power. The first group separated, and became known as the Moon Clan.

During this time, the seers of the would be Moon Clan had searched the land to find concentrations of magical energy. They created altars to these energies, and were able to bind them into the stones. The art of Runecrafting was spread all over Gielinor, and it led to human domination over the other races of the land.

From the years 42 to 70 of the 5th and current age, Fremennik tribesmen who feared magic crusaded against those who used it. The altars used to create the runes were destroyed, and the tribe was able to fight until the outskirts of Varrock, where they settled into the Gunnarsgrunn.

In year 70 of this age, Zamorakian wizards who wished to learn the art were denied entry to the Wizard's Tower, the centre of all magical learning. In rage, they destroyed the current tower through fire, and destroyed the work that the wizards had been working on. The art of Runecrafting was lost until year 169, when an adventurer helped uncover the mysteries of Runecrafting, bringing a large amount of runes into existence once more. With these large amounts of runes, Magic became widely practised once more, and powerful spells such as Fire Surge have been developed through intense study of this skill.

Trivia

 * Because Magic is composed of both combat and non-combat spells, it is possible to train Magic without gaining Constitution experience. At early Magic levels it is necessary to use experience lamps, quest rewards or other sources of experience to raise Magic to level 3, at which point Confuse may be cast. Additionally, combat spells cast on dummies do not give Constitution experience.
 * Ever since RuneScape HD's release, failed spells will sometimes fly straight up instead of splashing and disappearing as usual.
 * If a player is far enough from their target, their spells will take longer to reach their opponent than an attack cycle, leading them to fire another spell before the first spell hit. This can sometimes lead to a spell being in the air when the opponent dies, effectively wasting a cast. This is especially likely in Daemonheim for players who use a Blitzer ring to cast spells at a faster rate than normal.
 * Spells will change directions to hit targets that move or teleport.