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Just updated steam and moddb with v1.5

Sounds like a good update, looking forward to test it later. Also, i thought up some stuff, but my mind went blank and i couldn't think of anything else, so i'll just post what i have right now. Reminder that this includes all buildings/items i've previously suggested, although most of them have some kind of difference.

Items

Magic Stones
These are rare stones, obtainable via trading, magic-related events, quests and can be crafted after some research (requires a good amount of supplies and mana). These stones are widely used in the magic field, most often as a form of amplification, or a catalyst for some more complex spells and magical mechanisms.

Mana Crystals
Empty Mana Crystals are crystals that are as common as steel (each crystal 'ore' wall drops 4 crystals), and can be fueled with mana (costs 1/3 of a pawn's mana capacity) to create a specific mana crystal. The type created will be the same as the pawn's magic school. If dual/triple elementalists get added, you will be able to choose which type will be fueling the crystal. Filled crystals can be used for crafting, building and fueling.

Arcane Stone
Very rare item that can make a pawn gain the Magically gifted trait. Obtained via quest rewards, trading or some events.

Scrolls (one-use spells)
These uncommon scrolls would function in a similar way to how artefacts work. Would be possible to carry on hand as well, like the Orbital beam.
Any pawn, even those which cannot use magic, can use these scrolls. Does not cost mana. Scroll is consumed upon use.

Tome of Knowledge
Rare item that grants one skill point to a pawn. Obtainable via magic events, trading and as a very rare drop from hostile elementals and mages (chances one will spawn with it could be around 1/1k).



Wands and Staves
These can be crafted out of wood or metal. Equipping as a weapon decreases mana usage by 5-20%.
Can be crafted along a rare Magic stone, which also amplifies the effects of spells by 5-20%.
Can have spells registered in them. This requires some scrolls of the same spell, along with some research.
Can also be imbued with mana crystals (requires Imbuing research) to give special effects, and make the weapon more personalized for a special magic school.
For example, a fire-imbued staff could have -20% fire magic cooldown.

Magic accessories
These can be crafted out of Plasteel, Mana crystals and Magic stones, and can be equipped on the accessory slot (same slot as energy shields/smokepop belts).
Different accessories provide different effects. Some effects could possibly be:
Mana usage reduction, Cooldown reduction, Spell effect amplifier, Mana regeneration increase, Global learning factor increase, Global work speed increase, among others.

Clothing
Robes could be imbued for some sort of effect, or worn as is, which would be just a normal piece of clothing.
Includes hats and hoods. Also could include gloves and boots if you're feeling like it.
Clothing-only imbues could be things like Mana Weakness duration reduction, among other effects.

Buildings
Mana Storage + Mana Cables
Large mana crystal that can store large amounts of mana. Mana stored in here can only be used for fueling magical buildings. Mana cables allow you to transfer the stored mana to buildings that use mana as fuel, allowed for a centralized fueling. Does not use mana constantly, only when the machine is being used. Pawns with the Flicker job type can refuel automatically. Should have an option for how much mana the pawn should have when refueling, and how much they will use. Example: Pawn should have 100% mana, and use 25%. Means that whenever they reach max mana, they will go refuel the storage with 25% of their mana. This allows for you to always have mana in case you need to use spells, and not always be depleted.

Stable magic portal
Same as the Teleport spell's portal, but can be used to go anywhere in the world. Has a 30 days cooldown. Can be used without triggering cooldown, as long as you teleport to another colony you own, that has a portal. Fuel use cost: 500% mana. Can be fueled directly with 12 Arcane (warlock) Mana Crystals.

Mana emanator
Much like the Psychic emanator, but increases mana regeneration by 50% to anyone in the area of effect. Crafting one costs a bit of metal and a Magic stone. Fuel use cost: 50% mana every 24h.

Mana drain machine
Assign prisoners (or any other pawn you have some control over) to one of these machines, and it will slowly drain the target's mana and send to the storage.
Draining beyond 10% mana left has a small chance of giving brain injuries. Has a toggle that allows you to set what mana % the machine should stop working at.
Idea came from another mod, that adds a special cryptosleep casket that generates power when pawns are inside.

Lesser Magic Circle (8 intelligence + 4 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 33%. 1x1 size.

Magic Circle (12 intelligence + 7 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 50%. 2x2 size.

Greater Magic Circle (16 intelligence + 10 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 50% and reduces mana costs by 20%. 3x3 size.


Rituals
Rituals are large-scale spells that can not be cast instantly, and require effort and preparation to be used. They are made the same way as buildings are, but tend to require more work than resources. The more complex the spell, the larger the minimum ritual circle size is.
There are 5 sizes of circles (each locked behind research), these are (the time to build ahead are based on a pawn with level 10 construction and in-game hours.):

Basic Ritual Circle
1x1 circle. Materials are composed of: 5 Mana Crystals of the appropriate type. Should take 2h to build.

Normal Ritual Circle
3x3 circle. Materials are composed of: 18 Mana Crystals of the appropriate type, 100 blocks of any stone. Should take 5h to build.

Intermediary Ritual Circle
7x7 circle. Materials are composed of: 40 Mana Crystals of the appropriate type, 300 blocks of any stone, 1 Magic Stone. Should take 10h to build.

Advanced Ritual Circle
11x11 circle. Materials are composed of: 100 Mana Crystals of the appropriate type, 600 blocks of any stone, 4 Magic Stone. Should take 24h to build.

Master Ritual Circle
17x17 circle. Materials are composed of: 200 Mana Crystals of the appropriate type, 1000 blocks of any stone, 10 Magic Stones, 1 Ritual Stone. Should take 48h to build.

Note: Circles should always be an odd number x an odd number. This is because the pawn using the circle is required to stand in the middle of it.

There are two kinds of ritual circles, one-off and 'manned' circles. Both are explained below. Here's one example of each of these two types:

One-off:
(One-off circles need to be fueled with mana after being built, before being able to be used. Fuel amount is dependant on circle size, and circle size is dependant on the ritual's effects. Stronger = bigger circle. The circle will 'break' upon succesful cast, and can be repaired or dismantled for some materials back. Like normal spells, one-off circles have a cast time, which usually is several times higher than normal spells. Cast time is dependant on circle size as well.)

Banishment ritual circle
This circle, when succesfully used, will allow the caster to use a very large area spell that teleports all enemies in the area to a location far away (outside of the map). The first target will be teleported with a 100% success chance. For every target after that, there's a -10% chance, and the effect stops (doesn't target more enemies) once it fails to teleport two targets. Circle size affects teleport success chance reduction rate.


'Manned':
('Manned' circles do not need prior mana fueling to use, and are more like continuous casting, as opposed to one-off rituals. Doesn't break when used. Requires a pawn to constantly concentrate in the middle, or the spell will break. The pawn's mana is used slowly over time, or when a specific thing happens.)

Magical Barrier ritual circle
This circle will activate whenever a pawn starts concentrating on it. It creates a barrier (size dependant on ritual circle size) that blocks enemy entry to it. Enemies will attempt to break the barrier and gain entry. Consumes very little mana over time to keep the barrier up, but consumes an average amount for every point of damage that the barrier receives. Allies and neutral entities can pass the barrier freely, but projectiles cannot. This goes both ways.


Events

Hostile Ritual
A mage is building a ritual circle to attack your colony, and will be finished in 40h from the time of receiving the event. The mage will have a few guards to protect him. Defeating them will allow you to loot the mage (possibly for a book or some other magic item), his guards and the ritual circle, as well as avoiding damage to your colony. Failure in defeating the event in time will result in the colony being struck by a random ritual.

And it seems that I can't take a prisoner with me in a portal? I got the quest to recover a wounded refugee, so I teleported my Warlock to that location, but I can't put the prisoner back to my colony with the teleport pod.

And can I see, how many mana my colonist has?

Teleport works the same way as transport pods, so no, you cannot transport downed/incapable of walking pawns.

Check the Needs tab.

i'd like Magicite, as a compacted form in small (1 - 3) veins with 100% drop chance, and as a 5% - 10% chance in other stones, can be charged by a gifted to an element, and then used in a weapon or armor. Int determines quality of the stone, the higher the quality, the bigger the gifts.

The stone itself would list its gifts, lowest having 1 bonus, highest having 3, also higher the level higher the chance of snagging a higher  tiered bonus
EXAMPLE
Pyrocyte (Fire Magicite)
Min Temp  -1 / -2 / -4 / -8
Burn enemies on contact +1 / +2 / +3 / +4
Burn damage reflection 25% / 50% / 75% / 100%
Burn damage heals  25% / 50% / 75% / 100%
Chance to Fireball on hit 1% / 2% / 4%/ 8%
Constant Ray of Hope 1 / 2 / 3
Cauterize wound (no bleeding)

also, i want a a destructive shot.  sniper that can effectively take an eyeball out without killing or create non lethal brain trauma.  better than killing your enemy is making them useless

Damn, those numbers are even more broken than my own's. Hat's off to you.

But for real, the ideas seem nice, but some seem too overpowered and/or would make other things too redundant. For example, the Constant Ray of Hope would kill the use for the spell.

Much like henk said, a separate research tab would be nice. Maybe having the very basic researches be able to get researched by anyone, but keep the more complex ones to mages only. I'd help with the graphics, but i can't draw at all.

As for the items, i personally think there should be two different categories.
The first category would be Magical Items, which would your usual magic items like the ring of fire you mentioned. Stuff that can be researched and crafted with apparent ease.

The second category would be Artefacts/Legendary Items, which would be rare/very rare items like spell tomes, or Arcane Weapons (not to be confused with imbued weapons. Imbued weapons would be magical items, and could be crafted through a special crafting method (possibly class-locked), and then imbue the magic stone on it with a mage's mana, for example, imbued a rifle with a fire mage's mana could have a low chance of settings targets on fire. arcane weapons would be similar, but more powerful items, with better effects (explosion bullets 100% of the time instead of a low chance of burning, for example)). Artefacts and Legendary Items could be quest rewards, sometimes found while trading, or even event rewards (say, you're moving a caravan around and then you get an event where you find some magical ruins, and there could be an artefact inside, but you'd have to fight off some kind of security mechanism, like monsters. Could also have traps that can only be avoided with magic, and lock mechanisms that open with a certain type of mana, like fire or thunder.)

Sorry for the walls of text, but i'm just excited whenever the topic is magic.
I'll give some thought about what items and buildings could be a good idea and mention on a post within two days (i'll also re-add previous items/buildings i've said, though i'll likely reword them with fresh ideas).

Lastly, if you add the research like i said, then the magical research bench could consume mana over time on use, and cannot be used without it. That way magical researches can be hard to attain, but could be very worthwhile.

One more thing i'd love to see, and just thought up on the spot when i was going to click post:

New traits that have a low and very low chance (respectively) of being attained upon learning a magic school:

Dual Elementalist
Mages that attain this trait when learning a magic school can learn a second magic school. Rare trait.

Triple Elementalist
Similar to the above, but can learn a third magic school. Exceptionally rare trait on it's own, but you can (more torwards end game) research a way to unlock the potential for a third magic school into those that already have two elements.

Edit: An add-on for my previous ideas post: Soulburn should be usable by pawns that are downed, but not unconcious.

Edit 2:

I really want to include some immersion for the mod that brings good (and bad) events that emphasizes the rimworld as a place that has nurtured magic.

I've been thinking on this, and i personally think that, if you want rimworld to be a place that is one with magic, you'll have to do a bit of everything. From new spells, to magic research and crafting, to magical disasters and even magical wildlife. There's of course much more than that, but we should take one step at a time with this. Really looking forward to what you'll do with this mod, it's already really good as is.

How does mass teleport work, cant seem to get it to work.

If you mean the Teleport spell, then you use it in an unroofed area, fuel it with Portfuel (spawned right next to the portal), and then you use it just like you'd use a Transport pod.

Soulburn (unnatributed/scroll)
Pawn with at least 50% mana left can self-destruct in a large, very powerful blast. Pawn dies on the explosion, and the body vanishes, meaning they can't be resurrected.

Self destruct is bad. Every pawn matters, even the pyromaniac depressive incapable of skilled and dumb labor ones!

This is supposed to be something you'd use when you're out of options, and your colony could die if you don't kill the enemies.

Rogue Elementals (works similar to alphabeaver event, but eats any item on the ground)
1-8 Elementals went rogue and fled their master. Now they're at your colony, and will consume any items they find on the ground (be it consumable or not).
Kill them before they eat everything! They'll leave after 2 days if not killed. Does not break buildings unless maddened.

Given the speed at which items are eaten, a single one of these could ruin an entire colony.

As it's said, they don't break buildings as long as they're not maddened. This means that any items stored in a storage located inside a building will be safe.

Fix
Repairs damage on items by 10%. 30 seconds cast time.

Polish and Tinker
5% chance to upgrade an item by one tier. 1 minute cast time.

Increasing an item's tier is powerful, but 5% chance to up upgrade is just too low. You could add a chance to upgrade an item when repairing instead.

Skills and spells can be upgraded, don't forget that. I wrote that number with this fact in mind, and so the % would likely increase with higher skill levels. It also could be made so you can only increase an item's tier once.

Praise the Sun Lamp
Creates a magical version of a sun lamp, which lasts 4 days and doesn't cost energy.

I would like this with the added ability for mage pawns to refuel it like campfires, using mana. Re-casting it every 4 days sounds tiresome.

Sounds good.

Please don't take the suggestion as criticism, I love your ideas ^^

Constructive criticism is a good thing, and isn't used as often as it should.

Passive skills

Meditative Mind
Regains mana or stamina (whichever you have) slightly faster per level. max level: 3.

Magical Nutrition/Magical Body
Lowers the rate at which the pawn becomes hungry, tired and regenerates mana. max level: 3.

Powerful Presence
5% chance to cause enemies within melee range to flee for 5 seconds whenever they attack the owner of this skill.

Commanding Presence
Causes allies to gain +10% global work speed while the pawn is within 10 tiles of them. Allies will dislike the pawn who owns this skill by -15, and will
never start social fights with them, unless they also have Commanding Presence.

Water Walker (water-only)
Causes the owner of this skill to be able to walk on deep water.

Magic Nullification (learnable by any class)
Nullifies the effects of any hostile magical effects on the pawn. Has a cooldown of 48 in-game hours.


Active spells

Soulburn (unnatributed/scroll)
Pawn with at least 50% mana left can self-destruct in a large, very powerful blast. Pawn dies on the explosion, and the body vanishes, meaning they can't be resurrected.

Focus (sniper martial scroll)
Self-use, causes the pawn to gain +20% shooting accuracy for 60 seconds.

Stealth (sniper martial scroll)
Self-use, causes the pawn to become immune to aggro unless they're moving/doing something. Also drops active aggros on use, as long as there are no enemies within 7 tiles of the pawn.

Piercing Shot (sniper master scroll)
Shoots a projectile that pierces 2 targets, and stops on the third. Instant cast.

Raise Undead (unnatributed/scroll)
Use on a corpse to have them fight for you for a small duration of time. The corpse can not be rotting.

Disarm (sniper martial scroll)
Shoot the target's hand, causing target hit to drop equipped weapon and lose manipulation. Target will attempt to pick up the weapon shortly after.

Arcane Pet (summoner/scroll)
Summons a magical animal that wanders around the colony, nuzzling everyone it sees (once per colonist), increasing mood of everyone nuzzled.

Knowledge Thief (unnatributed/scroll)
Swap all your skill levels with the target. Lasts 30 seconds, and switches back when duration ends.

Trailblazer (fire/scroll)
For it's duration, causes the user to create fire wherever he steps. Fire lasts 15 seconds and doesn't spread. The user is immune to the fire created by this skill.

High Voltage (thunder/scroll)
Causes user to emit high amounts of electricity to nearby pawns (both allies and enemies) with metal armor for a short while.

Electromagnetic Storm (thunder/ master scroll)
Causes all electrical buildings, entities and energy shields to stop working. Lasts a while. Mechanoids are resilient to this magic, and have halved duration.

Light Orb (unnatributed/scroll)
Casts a flying orb of light that illuminates a small area. Lasts 7 days.


Events

Rogue Elementals (works similar to alphabeaver event, but eats any item on the ground)
1-8 Elementals went rogue and fled their master. Now they're at your colony, and will consume any items they find on the ground (be it consumable or not).
Kill them before they eat everything! They'll leave after 2 days if not killed. Does not break buildings unless maddened.

Stolen Scroll (similar to chased refugee)
A visitor comes by and asks if you want to take the scroll they have, for 1/4 of the market value. If you accept, you'll have to fight whoever he stole the scroll from.

Blood Moon
High concentrations of mana focus on the night sky once in a while, changing the color of the moon to a crimson red. Animals become more aggressive during such event (manhunter pack event activates), and pawns are far more likely to have social fights and mental breaks. Lasts until morning.

Elemental Rift (disabled by any difficulty modes that also disables bug hives)
Causes a portal to open somewhere on the map. This portal will periodically spawn hostile elementals, which will protect the portal and travel around the map creating more portals over time. Attacking a portal will spawn a few more elementals to protect it. Destroying the portal grants Magic Stones, used in many things, from crafting magical items to building magical structures.


Buildings (I'll leave the cost to you)

Lesser Magic Circle (8 intelligence + 4 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 33%. 1x1 size.

Magic Circle (12 intelligence + 7 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 50%. 2x2 size.

Greater Magic Circle (16 intelligence + 10 construction)
Increases cast speed of any pawn standing on it by 50% and reduces mana costs by 20%. 3x3 size.


Crafter (requires new adept type, possibly along the lines of deftness)
Crafters are known to be really weak in combat, but strong in workshops.
Example of skills:

Passive:
(needs a name)
Causes any armor and weapon used by this pawn to not lose durability, due to constant fixing and tinkering.

Knowledge
Requires -1 crafting level to craft things with level requirement. up to -3 with level ups.

Active:
Fix
Repairs damage on items by 10%. 30 seconds cast time.

Polish and Tinker
5% chance to upgrade an item by one tier. 1 minute cast time.

Mass Production
User gains +100% global work speed for 30 seconds, and gets tired faster.

Godly Hands (master)
Causes the next item created to be one tier higher than it would be otherwise. (if the item was already legendary, you gain half of the materials back)


Magical Farmer (non-combat magic class (who said magic classes have to be combat active?))
Magical Farmers are known to work really well with plants, although they lack any kind of social prowess. The Psycopath trait comes along with this class.
Examples of skills:

Passive:

Super Harvest
Plant harvest yield increased by 50%

Active:

Talk to the Plants
Increases your own mood by +10 for 12h and has a 50% chance of creating a Nature Elemental when used on a plant. The Nature Elemental will harvest crops that are ready to be harvested, and transform them in a magical stew that provides +5 mood when eaten, and increases manipulation by +20% for a while. The elemental vanishes after making 10 stew.

Mana Fertilizer
Medium-sized area spell that transforms soil into magical soil, which grants +100% plant growth rate. Lasts until plants are harvested, cut or otherwise dies.

Praise the Sun Lamp
Creates a magical version of a sun lamp, which lasts 4 days and doesn't cost energy.

Harvest Song (Master)
Sings to crops in a large area around you, causing crops to grow 20%. Crops can only grow with this skill once. If a crop reaches 100%/Ready to harvest status, they will harvest themselves. Comes along with the +50% Harvest yield that this class has. Animals that hear this song will no longer be manhunting, and will be put to sleep.


Items

Tome of Knowledge
Rare item that grants one skill point to a pawn. Obtainable via magic events, trading and as a very rare drop from hostile elementals (chances one will spawn with it could be around 1/1k).


Other

Allow us to level up spells learned via scrolls. To balance, it could require 1 skill point per level, and an amount of scrolls equal to current level.
Example: You just learned heal with a scroll, and you have one skill point, you can use one scroll and that point to level it up. After this, you'd require 2 scrolls and one point.

Add buildings that cost mana per use - which means only mages can use. These buildings could provide useful actions, defensive bonuses for the colony, and more.

Make it so rain spell causes snow when it's under freezing temperature (0C, 32F).

Does this mean we can now blink through walls? o-o

Yes, as long as it's in range and the mage knows of the area, eg it's visible terrain you could normally walk over - you can blink to it.

Damn, this is one great fix. Also great that we can summon stuff through walls. Both these spells were somewhat useless in many conditions due to the fact of buildings and natural stuff in the way. Great job.

Just pushed the latest update.

New events: arcane drain and arcane surge - these events boost or sap mana.  If the mage loses all their mana during a mana drain event, they will start to become sick and can even die.  Pain/pain threshold and (lowered) consciousness contribute to the drain event and will have increased affect on mages that suffer from these conditions.  Mana pots are an effective way to combat the mana sickness.

New faction - arcane fold.  A rare faction that specializes in the arcane.  Creation of this faction is also a first step in creating events centered around magic.  The Arcane Fold will now send caravan traders; you will find a a good selection of spells and magical artifacts in their stock.  A new game will be required to generate them on the map.  I'm putting the faction in now for trade benefits, etc, but will use them to launch new quests down the line.

Reworked Gladiator Cleave to improve overall functionality and ease of use - this ability is now instant cast and searches for nearby targets around the Gladiator, if a target is found, it will instantly apply cleave to this target.

New disease - Arcane Sickness.  Though rare, and usually not deadly, the disease absorbs mana in the body of the mage and will prevent any mana gain while it is present.  It also has significant physical side affects if left to fester.  The disease attaches to microorganisms so standard treatments can applied by eliminating the microorganism carrying the disease.

Two new stand-alone spells - siphon mana and transfer mana.  Siphon mana will drain a significant amount of mana from another mage and be absorbed by the caster.  The amount of mana drained will never exceed the current amount held by the victim.  If the victim is not a mage, this spell will drain life force from physical capacities and can act as a significant debuff on the target and can cause death in extreme cases.  This spell can be applied multiple times to a target to increase the effect.  Transfer mana functions similarly, in reverse however, the caster will lose mana  and the recipient will gain mana.  If the recipient is not a mage, they will gain significant physical enhancements from the controlled surge of mana into their body.  Like siphon mana, too much can be harmful and even deadly.

Lastly, some casting behavior changes have been made to improve the feel of abilities.  If an ability is used and meets criteria for range and line of sight, it will instantly cast.  Pawns will no longer move to a "preferred" location to cast the spell, as long as it can be cast immediately.  I got tired of my pawns running to the end of a hallway or corner of a room to cast heal when the pawns are right next to each other.  If a spell targets another pawn, and does not meet cast requirements, your caster will still move to get into position.  Ground targeted abilities will still be used without any affect, so pay attention to the target indicator.

Some abilities now ignore line of sight.  These spells include: summon, blink, all buffs (eg AMP, Ray of Hope, etc), and terraform spells.

Some abilities can now be used with a shield belt (or shield generating item).  These spells are generally the non-projectile or non-violent abilities.  The list includes: blink, summon, teleport, all gladiator abilities, all paladin abilities, all buffs, and most of the utility, stand-alone spells.  If an attempt to use an ability that does not work with shield-belt is made, when you click the ability icon it will now generate a message telling you it does not work and what item is blocking the mages power.  So you can't even attempt to use abilities that don't work with shield generating items.  Should be compatible with any item that functions the same as the shield belt regardless if it's vanilla or another mod.

Sounding good, can't wait to give a try.

I got tired of my pawns running to the end of a hallway or corner of a room to cast heal when the pawns are right next to each other.

Seems like the fix of the year. Especially when going outside is a bad idea.

Some abilities now ignore line of sight.  These spells include: summon, blink, all buffs (eg AMP, Ray of Hope, etc), and terraform spells.

Does this mean we can now blink through walls? o-o

Edit: Readying some ideas up, next post will be with some ideas, focusing on spells/skills. Should be up tomorrow.

Yes, many kind of magic need speech, but not all need them.
Alot of advanced magic user don't to say anything, the just need to do some gestures or finger acrobatic together with the right concentration.
And the highest form of magic, you just need to think/concentrate.

Depends mostly on what the creator wants magic to be. What you and i said are but two different methods.

Edit: Summoner cannot learn spells from scrolls, saying that the "pawn isn't attuned to arcane forces". Unsure if this was an overlook or intended.

Some really great idea's, Toketsu.  I particularly like the events and traits and will look to implement those in the next update.  I really want to include some immersion for the mod that brings good (and bad) events that emphasizes the rimworld as a place that has nurtured magic.   I also like the drain spell (though I might call it siphon); I think it would also be nice to have as a way for a stronger mage to siphon from a weaker mage (at least until AI casting is in).

It looks like druid (with skills very similar to those you listed) will be the next class I'll introduce.
I've also been looking at making something like a void mage or physics-based? mage of some kind.  Mostly because I want a spell where the mage launches himself into space then comes crashing down into groups of enemies and scatters them like chaff in the wind.

Seems good. Also, great job on the mod so far, this is already a must have mod for me. Will post new ideas in case a think of some.

Edit: Oh, and i'm not sure if this is in already, but pawns that can't talk shouldn't be able to cast spells, and pawns with reduced talking should take longer to cast. Pawns with enhanced talking should cast faster, too.

In all seriousness, I like the idea of events that affect mages, but not normal pawns. How about Mana sickness be :

Pawns gain toxicity relative to their current mana level. Pawns who aren't magically attuned, or who have low mana remaining, lose toxicity over time.

Seems good too.

As for magic, spells like black hole, which have no counters, should be avoided, even if they come with side effects. Since gaining spells does not come with any downside, spells should be limited in power.

I personally think that the fact that the pawn has a good chance to never be able to use magic again, and receive extra damage from it if that happens, is already enough. But if that's too mild, what about a one-off scroll that, instead of teaching the magic, it casts it, similar to vanilla artefacts?

Fair warning: I have no sense of balance.
Here are some ideas (a good part of them will likely already been thought of):

Factions

- Some neutral mage faction with low colony count, new type of caravan that arrives via Teleport and trades in magical items and artefacts. Can use spells to defend themselves, with 1-3 preferred spells per npc. Those 1-3 spells have a chance of having some skill points.


Events

- Rogue mage raid
A small-scale raid by 1-10 rogue mages, depending on your progress. Rogue mages tend to be apprentices, and therefore cannot use magic efficiently, nor use many spells.
Chance to arrive via Teleport.

- Ether moon
Once in a while, the moon will release mana on the world's surface (only happens during the night), making spells cost 50% less mana for the duration. Lasts until the morning.

- Mana sickness
Illness that lowers consciouness by 10% and mana regeneration by 90%. Casting spells during this have a 40% chance to backfire, and injure the caster. Can only be treated with Heal, each cast has a 10% chance to cure it, or after 10-20 days. Doesn't affect pawns that cannot use magic.


Mental breaks

- Casting spree
Randomly casts any spells available to the pawn, ends when the pawn cannot cast spells anymore due to lack of mana. Pawn may seek mana potions to further cast spells. Doesn't drink more than one potion. Requires the pawn to be influenced by mana potion addiction. May happen even when on high mood.

Traits

- Rhabdophobe (according to google, rhabdophobia is what 'magic phobia' is)
Pawns with this trait will do one of these actions when seeing magic being cast:
Develop a Hide in room mental break, get downed due to shortness of breath, initiate a social fight, or cause the pawn to gain -30% consciouness (nausea). Magically gifted pawns can have this trait. This trait can be cured with (needs some ideas here).

- Rhabdophile
Pawns with this trait will gain a +5 mood buff for 12 hours whenever they see someone casting magic. If the pawn is a mage, they will receive a permanent +20 mood buff.


Spells

- Telepathy (Unnatributed/Scroll)
Utility spell that can be used like a Comms console, but from anywhere and without electricity. Possible to call for backup when raiding enemy bases.

- Lightning speed (Thunder/Scroll)
Increases movement speed by 300% for 10 seconds, gives slight injury to both legs once the effect is over.

- Transmute (Unnatributed/Scroll)
Targetted spell that transmutes a stack of raw metal (steel, plasteel, etc) into silver.

- Meteor (Gravity/Fire/Scroll)
Targetted spell that drops a meteor double the size of the Meteorite event's meteor. has a large miss radius. Will always be some kind of rock, and never ore.

- Calm (Paladin/Scroll)
Spell that calms the target's mind, increasing prisoner recruit chance or animal tame chance, depending on wether it's a prisoner or a wild animal (includes pawns that can be 'tamed' due to mental breaks). No effect on pawns that don't have any of those options.

- Drain (Unnatributed/Scroll)
Drains the target's Mana and adds 50% of the amount drained to yours. Target must be a mage for the effects to work.

- Illusion (Unnatributed/Scroll)
Summons an illusionary monster that you can control. Anyone that sees it gains -10 mood for 12 hours, and enemies will try to kill the illusion on sight, with top priority. The illusion can only move, and not attack. Illusion disappears after 30 seconds or after 'dying'. Stats should be similar to that of a megasloth. The caster is immobile while the illusion is alive.


Mage types

- Chaos
Chaos mages like to gamble with their spells, making it so no one can foresee what will happen upon usage.
Examples of spells:

Controlled chaos shot
Targetted spell that casts any offensive spell on target area.

Chaotic mind
Usable on a pawn under the effects of a mental break. 50% chance to remove the mental break, 50% chance to worsen the effects, turning the break into something more dangerous.

Chaos portal
Summons a trap on target location that teleports anyone who steps on it randomly across the current map. 100% activation rate, be it enemy or player pawns. Portal closes after 30 seconds or after being used 3 times.

Utter chaos (Master)
This spell requires a pawn target, and will use any 3 spells on them, be it Heal or Firestorm. Low chance of triggering an Orbital power beam on the spot.


- Nature
Nature mages like to play with debuffs like poison, as well as plant control.

Examples of spells:

Poison thorn
Shoots a thorn imbued with poison magic, that lowers enemy conciousness by 30% and slowly deals damage to the body part hit, for up to 5 damage over 15 seconds.

Plant growth
Targetted area spell that causes plants in the area to skip 24 hours of growth. High mana cost.

Overgrowth
Causes a medium-sized area to be covered in trees for 1 minute. Once the duration ends, the trees rot, and disappear.

Toxic Fallout (Master)
Casting this spell causes a Toxic Fallout event to happen, which lasts for 48 hours.


- Gravity
Gravity mages mess with the gravity of an area or pawn, usually to their advantage.

Examples of spells:

Crushing gravity
Causes a small area to be affected by intense gravity for 20 seconds, reducing any pawn's movement speed and melee dodge chance by 70%, and increasing melee and ranged cooldowns as well as mass by 50%.

Antigravity (couldn't think of a better name)
Reduces target's mass by 90%. Affects anything they're carrying. Can be cast on pawns, as well as Transport Pods. Lasts 12 in-game hours.

Weight of the heavens (Master)
Targetted spell that crushes a single target, leaving every body part with 1 hp. No bleeding, but adds 50% blood loss. 10% chance to misfire and hit a random pawn across the map (including the caster).

Black Hole (Master)
Summons a blackhole at target spot. After 30 seconds, the black hole will start expanding until it covers half of the current map's size. Destroys anything that touches it, instantly, as well as reduces movement speed of everyone on the map by 90%. Once at max size, the black hole will shrink until it disappears. The user has a 50% chance to lose his magic powers upon usage, and gaining a trait that makes him take more damage from magic attacks.


Items

Wands and Staves
These can be crafted out of wood or metal. Equipping as a weapon decreases mana usage by 5-20% depending on material. Can be crafted along a rare Magic stone, which also amplifies the effects of spells by 5-20% depending on the material.

Magic accessories
These can be crafted out of Plasteel and Magic stones, and can be equipped on the accessory slot (same slot as energy shields/smokepop belts).
Different accessories provide different effects. Some effects could possibly be:
Mana usage reduction, Cooldown reduction, Spell effect amplifier, Mana regeneration increase, Global learning factor increase, Global work speed increase, among others.

Clothing
Robes could be both enchanted (providing some sort of effect), or unenchanted, which would be just a normal piece of cloth. Includes hats and hoods. Also could include gloves and boots if you're feeling like it.

Magic stones
These are rare stones, only obtainable from Mage stash event or Mage caravans. Used in a variety of magical things.

Scrolls (one-use spells)
These scrolls would function in a similar way to how artefacts work. Would be possible to carry on hand as well, like the Orbital beam. Any pawn, even those which cannot use magic, can use these scrolls. Does not cost mana. Scroll is consumed upon use.

Philosopher's stone
Very rare item that can make a pawn gain the Magically gifted trait. Obtained via quest rewards, trading or Arcane stash event.


Buildings

Stable magic portal
Same as the Teleport spell's portal, but can be used to go anywhere in the world. Has a 30 days cooldown. Costs one Magic stone to fully fuel. Can be used without triggering cooldown, as long as you teleport to another colony you own, that has a portal.

Mana emanator
Much like the Psychic emanator, but increases mana regeneration by 50% to anyone in the area of effect. Crafting one costs a bit of metal and Magic stones.

Mana drain machine
Assign prisoners (or any other pawn you have some control over) to one of these machines, and it will slowly drain the target's mana and convert to power. Draining beyond 10% mana left has a small chance of giving brain injuries. Has a toggle that allows you to set what mana % the machine should stop working at. Idea came from another mod, that adds a special cryptosleep casket that generates power when pawns are inside.