Re: (TFT) Wargame 5 --> Wizards in TFT Wargame

[ErolB1@aol.com]

A few thoughts: 

The proportions of wizards are given in Advanced Wizard: "Perhaps one person 
in 50 will have some small ability with magic. Fewer than one in 300 will be 
wizards within the meaning of this game."

Wizards each having 16 fSt available - OK, I don't use superscripts, but I do 
have St batteries. 

However, I think you're badly underestimating the efficiency of St transfer 
via Aid spell. If each apprentice has Dx 11, that's still a 37.5% chance of the 
transfer failing. And a successful transfer goes away in two turns if not 
used, by the book. That isn't very long at all. 

Try devising & playing out the drill by which apprentices transfer St to the 
main wizard. See how much wastage there is. 

On the recovery of fSt, where do you get 30 minutes to get back ~20 fSt? I 
figure 6 wizards, 1 fSt every 15 minutes per wizard = 12 fSt back in 30 minutes. 
Getting back ~20 is more like 45 minutes to an hour. For a wargame, calling 
it an even hour would probably work well. 

Also, at 1 St per turn, continuing spells burn through St very quickly. That 
20 fSt will only last a minute or two, at that rate. And that's with just 1 
spell up. You've got 6 wizards to cover against counterattack. And most of the 
other useful combat spells last only a minute, by the book. 

(My house rules extend this by a factor of five: 1 St per 5 turns to renew 
summonings, reverse missile, stone flesh, etc, and a 5 minute duration for 
images, illusions, fires, walls, etc.)

If I were in charge of a TFT army that had these wizard squads, I'd attach 
them to the commander and the main sub-commanders as bodyguard, communication, 
and scrying/scout units. If an attack got close to a leader unit, then a wiz 
unit could put out a brief burst of kick-assery, but the very briefness means 
that the wiz unit is very short ranged - it has to get close to the enemy, or 
else attack when the enemy manages to get close to it. The wizards could also 
create images and illusions to serve as scouts & message-runners (or message 
flyers - e.g. images of talking crows). Although this would work better if the 
duration were longer or if the wizards could renew images & illusions at a 
distance (by the book, they can't IIRC.) Or long range telepathy, for important 
messages over longer distances. 

There isn't much by way of scrying spells in the standard list. Crystal ball 
is an item, rather than a spell. Far vision makes a decent telescope or 
binoculars substitute. Telepathy is very good (perhaps too good) for interrogation. 
Detect Enemy is good for finding spys & such (is that messenger for real, or 
an imposter from the enemy side? Possibly under a Glamour spell?) And wizards 
are good for knocking down enemy illusions and images sent to scout/spy on the 
leaders. 

Erol K. Bayburt
Evil Genius for a Better Tomorrow
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"