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(TFT) Spellcasting, Fatigue, Wounds and Arrows
Greetings All,
First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is David A. Shepherd
and I live in Richmond, IN. My online nickname is Nocstar. For those of you
with a medical background, yes, noc is the abbreviation for night making my
name pronounced nightstar but maintaining the mystic number 7. ;-) I have
used this name since before the Internet was public and BBSs were the only
link in cyberspace. Man, I can remember my blazing 200 baud modem and my
C64! But enough of memory lane. If anyone wants to reminisce sometime, a
fine tavern, a good cigar and a load of misty yesterdays will make for a
fine afternoon.
Ah but I digresss. I have been playing ITL\TFT since the Microgame
Melee first appeared. I am convinced I have every item related to TFT that
has ever been published including all the Interplays. I have the system
memorized to the point I rarely have to check a book and if I do, I know
exactly where the information is. I have been Fantasy Master for our group
forever. No one else likes to do it and, quite frankly, don't put as much
attention into the details as I do. Besides I like to create things.
One of my longtime concerns with this system has been the penalty
wizards suffer for casting spells. No other system I have played wounds a
wizard when he casts a spell. In our campaign we have adopted the following
house rules. They have been playtested for several years now and have not
appeared unbalancing.
Fatigue and Spellcasting
Fatigue regardless of the cause is not life threatening. Fatigue does not
add to wounds. It is possible to have ST 10, 8 wounds and 8 fatigue and be
on your feet and active.
Fatigue will slow you down (-2DX if 5 points accrued in 1 turn; -3DX if you
are within 3 of Total Fatigue). Total Fatigue occurs when your accumulated
fatigue equals your base strength. At that point you pass out from fatigue
and remain unconscious until you rest a fatigue point.
Penalties from fatigue do not combine with penalties from wounds. If you
are within 3 of total fatigue and within 3 of dying, you only have a
penalty of -3DX not -6DX.
If a wizard has cast magic until he is fatigued and still needs to cast
more, he may sacrifice his health and draw upon his life force to continue
casting magic. All St points used to power spells are marked as wounds and
are treated as such. Any spell that is cast using "wounds" to power it is
-2DX in addition to any other penalties. Because of the nature of
self-preservation, no wizard can do this unless he is already within 3 of
Total Fatigue. The remaining fatigue can be combined with the wounds for
the total spell cost if the wizard desires but the wound penalty will still
accrue. Also if as a result Total Fatigue occurs, the wizard will pass out.
This has helped our wizards last a little longer and given them the awe
they should have.
Wizards and Arrows
On a related note, our warriors have a bit of fun with wizards as well.
According to the Cold Iron rule, wizards cannot carry iron or steel. Our
archers love to shoot wizards with steel, barbed arrowheads. Unless the
wizard removes the impaling arrow, he suffers the Cold Iron penalty.
Removing an arrow does damage when removed unless removed by a physicker.
If the wizard wishes to try himself he rolls 3d6. Regardless of the
wizard's DX, the arrow will do half damage coming out (roll for damage and
divide in half, round down) unless he rolls critically: 3,4,5 = No damage;
16 = full damage, 17 = double damage, 18 = triple damage. It does give a
wizard pause when thinking about yanking that arrow out.
Death and Unconsciousness
Unconsciousness occurs when wounds = basic St OR Total Fatigue = basic St.
Death occurs when wounds equal 2 x basic St or someone claims an automatic
kill on a helpless or unconscious player.
I look forward to your comments.
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