File this under "neat idea but won't ever happen". =)

*clears throat*

I think it would be nice if there was a quest at some point to make your own "custom" spell. Follow me on this one for a sec. =)

Say, at level 55, and once again, at level 60, you could go to some quest giver (Plane of Air?? Your druid guildleader, who knows) and do some long elaborate quest to get a "unique" spell.

It would work like this. You would have several options to choose from. For example, root, fire based dd, cold debuff, blind, heal, etc etc. There would be a system that could work out all of the kinks. Seperate quest givers for each class, with the "knowledge" of what that class should and should not be able to do. Say I go up to the druid quest giver. Already it knows if I am 55 or 60, and what class I am. Say I was wanting a nuke type spell. It would already know that the maximum my nuke would be able to do is xxx amount. Or the maximum my heal should be able to do is xxx amount. Etc etc. It would work out the mana cost, cast time, recast time, component, duration on it's own.

For each seperate component you add, it make the other component less, to compensate. (Say nuke at lvl 55 was 650. You wanted to add a blind component. Now your nuke is 500 + Blind for 20 seconds.)

That may seem kinda confusing, so I'll give ya a run down of what I'm trying to get at here.

Elawnah says, 'Hail, 55th level quest spell giver.'
Quest person says, 'Greetings Elawnah. Are you interested in [creating a spell] of your very own?'
Elawnah says, 'Yes I'm interested in creating a spell.'
Quest person says, 'You help me and I'll help you. I'm in need of some [rare components].'
Elawnah says, 'What rare components?'
Quest person says, 'I'm in need of [xxx], [xxx], and [xxx]. Get me these items and I will help you create your own spell.'

<you run off, get the junk. Come back. Turn in it.>

When ya come back and turn in everything. They give you "a blank spellsheet". You open it by right clicking on it. Inside it has a chart for you to fill out, creating your own spell.

First it would have a name slot.
Then you pick either 55 or 60 as the level.
Then Offence or Defense
If you picked Offence it would have:
-Root
-Debuff (fire)
-Debuff (cold)
-Blind
-Direct Damage (fire)
-Direct Damage (cold)
-Direct Damage (magic)
-Stun
-Charm (animal)

If you picked Defense it would have:
-Buff (hit points)
-Buff (armour class)
-Regenerate (hit points)
-Regenerate (mana)
-Heal (direct)
-Heal (over time)
-Heal (group)
-Cure (posion)
-Cure (disease)
-Cure (curse)

etc etc

You could have up to 3 components to your spell.
Then it would calculate mana cost, duration, bla bla bla.
It would show you what your spell was going to do, then have a pop up box:
Are you sure this is the spell you want? Yes / No

For example:
Elawnah's Crazy Buff of Craziness
Level: 55
Mana cost: 400
Component: Foraged Roots
Buff- hit points - 250
Regenerate- mana - 3
Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes
Casting time: 8 seconds
Recast time: 6 seconds

Are you sure this is the spell you want? Yes / No

I dunno. Kinda complicated. Perhaps it's just a pipe dream. =)

This concept has been well integrated into a number of RPG's, in particular the Elder Scrolls series (latest Morrowind).

The way this works in Morrowind is that you purchase low level spells that have single effects. You can then mix and match these basic spells into custom spells using an NPC spell vendor. For instance, if you had a spell that poisoned a mob, and another that did fire dmg, you could craft a unique spell that had a combined fire/poison dmg effect.

The cost of the spell scales up (DRAMATICALLY) the stronger you make it or the more effects you add. So it is theoretically possible to take your basic fire spell and turn it iinto a super duper massive dmg fire spell...if you are rich as midas.

I always really liked this .. it adds a lot of depth to the game, and the cost of the spell is the limiting factor on what you can get.

But I don't think there is a practical way to integrate this into EQ at this stage.