(TFT) FW: How do you Balance Magic vs. Melee? (on behalf of Marty Brown)

["rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hello all,

I tried to post this back in August, thought that it was "weeded out" due to
it's not-quite-on-topic nature at the time, but have since determined that
my email must have been flagged "rogue" or some-such (although I can assure
you no spam - virus spawned or otherwise - has ever been sent from my email
address).  Anyway, it seems a bit more on topic now, so here it is again.

Marty

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Folks,

I know this isn't *really* on topic.  But hopefully you'll find it
interesting anyway.

I just wanted to get your thoughts (people on this list seem quite
thoughtful at times) on an issue that I believe has never been handled all
that well in any game, paper or otherwise.  But of course I could be wrong.

The issue is this: once you introduce magic into a FRPG, melee tends to
become it's poor relative, what are some good ways to avoid this situation
without making magic ineffective.

In most heroic fantasy, the hero is usually a warrior and often faces off
against the evil wizard who's much more powerful (metaphysically anyway).
But, through wit and sheer determination, our hero overcomes his powerful
foe to win the day.  However, if you run the numbers on most FRPGs,
class-based or skill-based, a high-level, mostly-magical character can
utterly destroy a same-level mostly-melee character - as long as he can get
off a few spells before the melee character gets to him (sometimes even
after).  Also, it's the magical characters that can take out a small army of
NPC's or Monsters with a few Area Effect spells, while the melee character
(who's supposed to be the awe-inspiring, swashbuckling hero) has to go
through each enemy one at a time which takes quite a bit longer and, unlike
the magical character, isn't quite unscathed at the end of the fight.

One popular way games deal with magic vs. melee discrepancies is through
magical resistance.  Which can help, but I don't think it's the only/best
solution.  Here are some observations:

If the resistance is keyed to magic in general, things turn into a
crap-shoot.  If the melee character can resist the magic enough (often
enough or enough damage), the magic character doesn't have a chance.  On the
other hand, if the melee character fails to resist enough, then *he* doesn't
have a chance.  In either of the above cases, it's not much fun to play with
basically predetermined outcomes (after the resist fails or succeeds),
especially if you're going to be the loser.

If the resistance is keyed to schools of magic, or elements, or magical
damage types then there seems to be a bit more variety up front.  But the
result is the same in the end if there's time for preparation.  If a melee
character knows he's going up against a magic character mostly schooled in
Ice Magic, he can build up his resistance to Ice and Cold.  If his
resistance is high enough, he is very likely to win.

One way to deal with the damage at a distance discrepancy, is to allow
actually effective bows into the game.  What do I mean by actually
effective?  Well, basically, bows that can kill typical magical characters
(i.e. low hit point, cloth armor) in a few or, in the right situation, a
single shot.  It can really even the playing field.  However, too-powerful
bows are just as bad as too-powerful magic.

Well, I'll end here for now and look forward to whatever thoughts you folks
might like to add.

Cheers,

Marty
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