As good as some of these suggestions are, none of them are completely original. I recognize a lot of them from other games, slightly changed, or not.
If Black Knight wants ideas for a very different style of spellcasting, i've got a few ideas i've been thinking on, but haven't really worked out yet.
I have an idea where, instead of having one wizard cast a spell and his opponent casting one of his spells without any interaction with the other like in AOW, the wizards will try to counter and modify the spells of their opponents.
For this I've come up with some (four) new ideas for spells:
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1. Redirect Energy:
Pay the casting cost, you may add extra mana. Target an area on the global map(several hexes big). Then target a second area(1 hex). Only you can 'see' the spell.
Any global spell cast by an opponent with a target within the first target area will resolve as if it was targeted at the second area, unless the opponent added more extra mana while casting the spell, than you did while casting RE.
RE will than dissolve.
Multiple RE can be cast, targetted to the same or to different target areas.
The distance between the two target areas would be limited to a maximum, ofcourse.
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To be more clear: for many spells a player would have the option to add extra mana so he/she can force the spell to do what he/she wants just in case a counter spell becomes active. A bit like wrestling really, only for mages; stronger or smarter mages can really have a great advantage.
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2. Worm spell:
Target a creature on the global map. You may add extra mana. Only you can 'see' the spell.
Any enchantment or instant spell cast by an opponent will have the opposite effect(as much as possible), unless he/she added more extra mana than you did.
If it's an enchantment the control over this spell will revert to you(including mana upkeep). Worm Spell will then dissolve.
Multiple WS can be cast on the same unit.
This spell would be great fun when the enemy would try to heal one of his wounded but worm cursed units, or bless one.
It can also counter life draining(-> healing) spells or change detrimental spells cast on your units, in this form. So maybe there would then have to be two different variants of this WS: one only to be cast on enemy units and one for casting on your own units.
It isn't capable of countering spells like chain lightning or ice storm.
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3. Weave Control:
Instant. Target any _known_(!) globally active spell cast by an opponent. You must add mana to the initial casting cost.
If the added mana is half as much as the casting cost(including extra mana) of the target spell, then the control of the target spell is reverted to you(including mana upkeep costs), the surplus being used for the protection of the newly gained spell aswell.
This could really come in handy when one of your opponents casts a mastery spell or mana leak when it suits you aswell and you don't want it to go away.
It could also be useful when you somewhere discover the spell I'll describe below: Counter Area Magic.
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4. Counter Area Magic:
Target area (multiple hexes) on the global map. You must add mana to the initial casting costs.
Until it has been triggered, only you can 'see' the spell.
Will completely cancel the effects of any other spells(combat too) cast by any wizard(including yourself!), unless that spell has been cast using twice as much mana as you have added to COM. COM will remain in place until it fails to counter a spell.
This one would be expensive, but would work on anything, if the player's powerful enough.
I don't want as cheap(and still as effective) counter magic spells as can be found in MoM. Especially the counter spell cast in combat was simply too good, being cheap and possible to cast anywhere.
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All the spells i mentioned could come in more or different variants, where some properties can be different, for example:
1) the nature of the target(unit, area, combat);
2) the sphere(fire, cosmos, etc.) of effectively manipulated spells, or
3) the duration of the spells.
Most of these spells would have considerable mana upkeep costs, too.
All this would make spellcasting in it's self a wonderful game, and not just the casting useful spells without any regard of what the other wizards do.
A bit more like the magic in fantasy novels.
Steel Monkey