Soulrend Magic Guide: Schools, Mana and Nerfs

What the pack did to spells

The pack ships a separate settings file for many of its spells: each file sets that spell's power multiplier, its mana cost multiplier and whether it is enabled. There are 115 of these files, and every one was read:

Those 64 spells hit at a little over half power, 96 spells cost twice the mana, and mana refills at a tenth of the speed. The multiplier is not the same everywhere: the hardest-hit spells are Spectral Hammer (×0.15), Heartstop (×0.3) and Portal (×0.35), while the only group that gets stronger is summoning. Summon Vex, Summon Polar Bear, Summon Horse, Summon Ender Chest, Summon Naga and Summon Kamath sit at ×1.2 power and Raise Dead at ×1. On the mana side, Heartstop is the most expensive (×4); the cheapest are Flames Reborn and Floodgate (×1).

Other magic settings

Iron's Spells' server config file (irons_spellbooks-server.toml) changes a few more values. The file's own comments state each default:

• After death you respawn with 10% of your max mana (default 0%).
• Recycling a scroll succeeds 90% of the time (default 50%).
• The first 73% of a spell's levels count as "common" rarity (default 30%); only the last 3% is left for the top two rarities.

You can upgrade an item at most 3 times in the Arcane Anvil; that is the mod's default, which the pack did not change.

Mobs lose their spell resistance

One of the pack's scripts removes every modifier on a non-player creature's spell resistance when it spawns, and sets the base value to zero if it is 0.1 or higher. As a result, mobs take double damage from spells (Iron's Spells' damage formula).

Two more limits apply:

• The pull of the Black Hole spell has no effect on eleven bosses: Arterius, Scarlet Hunter, The Nightlord, Ignis, Maledictus, Scylla, The Leviathan, Ancient Remnant, The Harbinger, Ender Guardian and Netherite Monstrosity.
• Spell damage also counts toward a boss's damage budget; weapon, arrow and spell damage fill the same budget. What the budget is: Combat and equipment.

The 12 schools of magic

Nine schools come from Iron's Spells itself and three from add-ons. Each school has a rune and a matching mage class. The last column shows how many spells in that school the pack gives a settings file; it is not the school's total spell count.

The 12 schools, their mod, starting class and the number of spells the pack configures

School	Mod	Starting class	Configured spells
Fire	Iron's Spells	Pyromancer	12
Ice	Iron's Spells	Cryomancer	8
Lightning	Iron's Spells	Electromancer	10
Holy	Iron's Spells	Priest (+Paladin)	17
Ender	Iron's Spells	Voidmancer (Spellblade's book holds ender spells; its +25% applies to every school)	12
Evocation	Iron's Spells	Summoner	15
Blood	Iron's Spells	Warlock (+Reaper)	10
Nature	Iron's Spells	Druid	12
Eldritch	Iron's Spells	Eldritch Cultist	7
Geo	GTBC's Geomancy Plus	Geomancer	11
Aqua	T.O Magic 'n Extras	Tideweaver	1
Sound	Alshanex's Familiars	Bard	0

The icon in the eldritch row is the Protective Rune: the pack uses it as the rune in the eldritch school's echo recipe (see Magic Equipment below). Paladin, Spellblade and Reaper are hybrid classes, not mages; they appear in brackets because their spells come from that school.

The spells in your starter book

Every mage class starts with a copper spell book. Below are the pack's multipliers for the spells in that book; values differ even within one school. Class powers, kits and which race can take which class (12 mage classes; the Faded race can only pick these) are on the races and classes page.

The Electromancer's main spell, Ball Lightning, is the most expensive starter spell at a ×3 mana multiplier; the Geomancer's Dripstone Bolt has both the highest power (×0.7) and the lowest mana (×1.7) multiplier.

Sources of mana

With regeneration cut to a tenth, a mage's real resource is the mana pool: you go into a fight with a full pool and spend it without counting on regeneration. This is a conclusion drawn from the pack's values; the files do not state it as advice.

Mana comes from four places:

• Stats: Intelligence and Focus give max mana per point; Focus also raises regeneration. The values are in the stat table on the Prologue page.
• Class: all 12 mage classes start with +50% max mana; Spellblade and Reaper with +20%. The Faded race's mana bonus is on the races and classes page.
• Book: Magic Academy quest texts say some books give more max mana or mana regeneration (for example the Enchanted Spell Book, Ancient Codex and Dragonmancer's Oathbook).
• Gear: the Ring of Mana and the Mana Upgrade Orb are in the Magic Equipment chapter; you apply the orb to armor in the Arcane Anvil.

Death costs you too: when you respawn, only 10% of your max mana is filled. If you die to a boss and walk back, you enter the fight with far less than half a pool.

The first hours as a mage

Magic progression is not inside the Acts but in two side chapters. Both open from the Forging Your Path crossroads in Act I, through the two buttons of The Arcane Path quest. These buttons lead to optional chapters and do not open Act II.

Magic Academy: spells, books and staves

The button reads "Move to Magic Schools Chapter", but the chapter it opens is called Magic Academy (73 quests). The first steps, in order:

1. A Wizard's First Spell A checkmark quest. It introduces the schools.
2. Inscription Table The table where you put spells into a book. The quest text says your first book is on the house.
3. Scroll Forge The table where you craft spell scrolls. According to the quest text, you need it before you can craft any spell.
4. Book and staff paths The book branch goes Flimsy Journal → Ironbound Tome → Apprentice's / Rotten Spell Book; the staff branch goes from a wooden shovel to the Graybeard Staff.
5. Arcane Anvil Imbues spells onto gear and adds upgrade orbs to armor.

Two notes from the quest texts:

• The Ice and Lightning schools have no book; to boost them you need the Ice Staff and the Rod o' Lightning.
• Once you add stars to a staff, it can no longer be upgraded; the warning is in the Graybeard Staff quest.

Some special weapons and books (the pack's list has 35) carry locked spells. Put the item in the crafting grid together with a Shriving Stone, and the same item comes back with its spells unlocked.

Magic Equipment: runes, armor, rings and orbs

The second button opens Magic Equipment: with 166 quests, the pack's largest quest chapter. The main chain goes Arcane Essence → Arcane Ingot → Blank Runestone → a school rune → that school's robe set (for example Fire Rune → the Pyromancer set). Rings, the Mithril Scrap → Mithril Ingot → Empty Upgrade Orb chain and the school orbs are here too. A separate root, Stuffed Pumpkin (4 of them), leads to the Scarecrow set.

The pack's own recipes:

• Familiar trinket: four of that school's upgrade orbs in the corners, four Blessed Gold Ingots on the edges, one Mithril Ingot in the middle.
• School echo: at a smithing table, that school's rune, that school's trinket and one Corrupted Ingot.

Two exceptions: the Necromancer trinket has a different recipe (it takes a skeleton skull and a zombie head), and the Sound school has no echo of its own: in the pack's recipe the Sound rune with the plague_trinket gives the Geo Echo.

In the quest book, each echo comes after a trinket quest (for example Fire Echo after Conjurer's Candlestick) and opens some ring, bracelet and necklace quests.

Act II: "If you are mage, look this!"

In Act II, among the rewards of the quest for finding The Forgotten Sands structure, there is a button that reads "If you are mage, look this!". It goes to the Magic Equipment chapter and opens a second root there: the Forgotten Sands quest asks for 4 Blessed Gold Ingots and opens the familiar trinket quests. In the same structure, the Blessed Beetle resummons Sunleia. The Divine Mold leads to the Blessed Priest set.

Act III adds two more entries: finding the Citadel opens the Pyrium Ingot quest, and defeating Echo of Tyros opens the Divine Soulshard quest.

The eldritch school and Cannibalism

Eldritch is the school Magic Academy calls "the final school", and its spells do not come any other way. The Eldritch Manuscript quest asks for Ancient Knowledge Fragments found in Ancient Cities and an Echo Shard from the Warden. The quest text is clear: "Crafting them is the only way to obtain these spells." In Act III, the reward table of the Echo of Tyros quest also contains Ancient Knowledge Fragments.

Of the 7 eldritch spells the pack configures, Abyssal Shroud is disabled. Summon Kamath carries the school's strongest multiplier at ×1.2 power, while Eldritch Blast is its cheapest at ×0.5 power and ×1.7 mana. The pack changed the recipe of the Protective Rune used in the school's echo recipe: Blank Runestone in the middle, an Echo Shard at the top center, Deepslate in the remaining seven slots.

Cannibalism: a spell made for the pack

The pack adds its own spell to Iron's Spells: Cannibalism (the eldritch spell that turns your health into food). Its values are written directly in the pack's script:

• School Eldritch, minimum rarity legendary, maximum level 3.
• Cast time 200 ticks (10 seconds), cooldown 400 seconds; it is defined as a spell that must be learned, like the other eldritch spells.
• When the cast finishes, your health drops to 1. For every 10 health you lose (rounded up) you get Raw Human Flesh, multiplied by the spell level.
• Raw Human Flesh restores 5 hunger points; cooked in a furnace, smoker or campfire it becomes "Steak" and restores 10. Both stack to 256.

Where to go next

• If you have not picked a mage class yet: Races and classes.
• Before you spend stat points: the stat table in the Prologue guide.
• Boss damage budgets and disabled enchantments: Combat and equipment.
• Bosses whose loot you are after: Boss catalog.

If something looks different in your game, tell us through the contact page; this guide was prepared from the pack's files and is updated as the version changes.

Frequently asked questions

Why are spells so weak in Soulrend?

Of the 115 spells with a pack settings file, 64 have a ×0.58 power multiplier and 96 a ×2 mana cost multiplier. On top of that, mana regeneration for all players is set to ×0.1. Summoning spells are the only group made stronger.

Why does mana refill so slowly?

The pack sets the mana regeneration multiplier to 0.1; the default in the file is 1.0. The Intelligence and Focus stats, the Ring of Mana, the Mana Upgrade Orb and spell books with mana bonuses make your pool bigger.

Which spells are disabled?

Two: Abyssal Shroud (Eldritch) and Cloud of Regeneration (Holy).

Do mobs resist spells?

The pack's script resets spell resistance whenever a mob spawns. By Iron's Spells' damage formula, that means mobs take double damage from spells. The pull of Black Hole, however, has no effect on eleven bosses.

How do I get eldritch spells?

Only by crafting. The Eldritch Manuscript quest in Magic Academy asks for Ancient Knowledge Fragments from Ancient Cities and an Echo Shard from the Warden.

Where should I start as a mage?

From the two buttons of The Arcane Path quest in Act I: Magic Academy (spells, books, staves) and Magic Equipment (runes, armor, rings). In Act II, the "If you are mage, look this!" button in The Forgotten Sands quest opens a second entry into Magic Equipment.

This guide is unofficial and is not affiliated with the makers of the Soulrend v8.5.2 pack. The content was prepared by inspecting the files of the installed pack (Minecraft 1.20.1 · Forge). Minecraft © Mojang Studios; this page is not approved by or associated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. The Soulrend pack belongs to Apotheotic_Studios; the mods and images in it belong to their respective authors; names are trademarks of their respective owners. Credits: credits.json. Textures used on this page: dungeons and combat (Tohirogosu, MCreator), T.O Magic 'n Extras (GameTechBC), irons_spellbooks, gtbcs_geomancy_plus, alshanex_familiars. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, tell us through the contact page and it will be taken down.