Re: (TFT) Critical Spell Failures

[ErolB1@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/21/2004 2:23:31 PM Central Standard Time, 
rsmith@lightspeed.ca writes:

>What are people's feelings about critical
>spell failure and bigger penalties when a wizard
>rolls an 18?

I've noticed that the longer I game, the more I loathe it. Now that I've 
gamed for 25 years, I really really hate the idea. 

>I like the idea, but I have not seen 
>anything better than a roll on a table which, tho
>flexible, seems a bit clunky.  Any thoughts?

The one place where spell fumbles are worth having, IMO, are for a handful of 
"crocked" spells that are well-known to the wizards in the game world to be 
flaky and dangerous. E.g. the Death Spell which will kill you if you don't have 
sufficient St, or the long-distance teleport which will take you to someplace 
"interesting" if you fumble the Dx roll. But for run-of-the-mill spells, it's 
a bad idea. (And if you think it's a cool idea for *all* spells to be flaky 
and experimental, then please, think again.)

If you *must* use fumble results for normal spells, then IMO it's very 
important to set the "power" of the fumble to less than the power of the intended 
spell. Otherwise, what's to keep a mad and desperate wizard from *deliberately* 
attempting to fumble in the hopes of taking out a few innocent bystanders when 
he self-destructs? 

I suppose that one other place for spell fumbles is in a "bugger the wizards 
with ten feet of rusty wought-iron fence and no lubricants" campaign - but I 
wouldn't want to touch such a game with ten feet of rusty wrought-iron fence. 
At best, it might make a good "witch-hunters" game, in a setting where 
spellcasters really are dangerous enough to justify "thou shalt not suffer a witch to 
live." If spellcasting is subject to nasty fumbles that bring disaster and 
destruction to everything in the area, then the only good spellcaster is a dead 
one - and the PCs might be the ones charged with ensuring the goodness of 
spellcasters. 

But I still wouldn't want to play in such a game.

Erol K. Bayburt
Evil Genius for a Better Tomorrow
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