(TFT) House rule on Wizards with Quarterstaff Talent.

[Rick Smith <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>]

Hi Everyone,
   When Advanced Melee first came out some players asked
me if they could take quarterstaff talent with wizards and
do 2d+2 with 11 ST.  That seemed way too high for me and
I discouraged it.

   However I bought the TFT codex, and in the Q&A section
they said you could do this, but the wizard's staff only 
did 2 dice of damage (I think).  2 dice was balanced for
play, but the damage made no logical sense sense to me &
so I promptly forgot the rule.  I did allow wizards to 
take quarterstaff talent, and do both the quarterstaff
damage AND the die of damage from the magical shock from
the staff spell.  (Remember, a wand or twig with a staff
still does 1 die damage.)

  Even paying double, lots of martial wizards did take
quarterstaff and yes, it did not feel balanced.  In 
particular, the starting wizards were doing more damage
than the starting fighters in melee combat and that did
not seem fair.


  When I was looking thru the Codex a few months ago I
came across the original wording and so started casting 
about for an easier to remember rule.  Oen of the local 
TFT GM's around here (either Matt or Steve) came up with 
the idea of a wizard with a quarterstaff doing both types 
of damage but armor protects against both.

  e.g. Zott the wizard has a ST 11 and Quarterstaff
talent with the staff spell.  He hits Armored Arlnol
with Leather and a small shield (-3 hits).  He rolls
the damage for the two types of damage separately.  

  The quarterstaff rolls a 5 and does 7 points of damage
(4 points after armor).
  The staff spell rolls a 1 and does zero. 
  Total, 4 points after armor.


  Against unarmored foes the combo is deadly.  However,
now the fighters are doing the higher damage to take 
down the heavily armored foes, while the wizard is no
longer the damage-meister in melee combat.  It works for 
us.  

  Regards, Rick.
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