Words Worth Knowing: Mana
Words Worth Knowing was a vertical I wrote weekly explaining key pieces of gaming jargon to parents, guardians and teachers, as part of the larger overall GameHub outreach effort. The column ran for nearly two years and resulted in around 60 WWK articles. GameHubHQ.com closed in late 2017. This piece originally appeared on Aug 01, 2016.
What It Is: Mana = A measure of the player-character's store of magical power. Common alternative names: Magic, Magick, Magicka, Manna, Mana, MP (Mana Points) etc.
What It Means: Along with HP (Health/Hit Points,) MP is the other core measure of a character's vitality and capability in many games. Whilst HP measures the character's remaining life force, MP is often used as a measure of their ability to attack and defend, with "moves" or "actions" costing points to perform. More powerful actions cost proportionally more MP. If the player uses up all their MP by casting spells, many games permit them to refill the meter/bar by getting their character to drink a Mana potion to replenish their MP bar. Mana is traditionally sky blue and Health blood red, as in the image below.
Why You Care: Mana is a precious resource and vital aspect of gameplay in many games. The RPG (role-playing game genre) is generally anchored by the three core bars of HP, XP, and MP, each rising and falling in response to the player's skill, progress and actions.
