(TFT) Wizard & Warrior Comparison

[Sgt Hulka <hulkasgt@yahoo.com>]

I don't think I'm going to get around to analyzing the Wizard system and Campaign system (experience progression) of Wizard & Warrior, so I'll leave that to someone else. In the meantime, I figured I might as well just post my analysis of the Melee and Talent portion of the rules.

Don't be alarmed by the number of differences that I'm cataloguing below. Many of them are very minor. But I wanted to try and be thorough. Also, there are probably a number that I missed. Anyway, here they are:

CREATING CHARACTERS

-You can increase MA (MOV) the same way you increase other attributes.

-Optional rule to alter MA (MOV) through wounds.

-Introduces notion of Margin of success or failure (you don't just succeed or fail, the amount by which you succeed or fail matters). This leads to...

-Opposed rolls. Two characters roll against eachother.

TALENTS (SKILLS):

-Boating: Even if you have boating, you must make one attribute check to avoid capsizing.

-Casual Riding: Replaces Horsemanship and is far more restrictive. Employs a subjective definition of "in combat" for many restricted maneuvers. 

-Sex Appeal: Allows you to "charm" the opposite sex, rather than just save your life.

-Swimming: Slightly more defined. 3d6 versus DX every turn if you don't have it or you drown. No definition of how long it takes you to drown, or the effects of beginning to drown.

-Will: New talent/skill that allows you to resist magic, sex appeal and charisma.

-Animal Handling: Both more and less restrictive. No reaction roll or definition of "befriending" so in that sense less restrictive. No definition of the "Megahex" away from other people; instead you have to be completely alone. So in that sense more restrictive.

-Casual Driving: More restrictive than Driving as per Casual Riding.

-Enhanced Hearing: Not as well-defined or beneficial as Acute Hearing.

-Expert Swimmer: New Skill/Talent to represent Lifeguard skills.

-Priest: Interestingly it refers to a future "Priest" supplment. 

-Stealth: More restrictive then Silent Movement because it requires an attribute check.

-Acrobatics: Gain a bonus to leaping.

-Diplomacy: No reference to hostile races.

-Espionage: Completely new skill/talent.

-Expert Flying: Completely new skill/talent.

-Lockpicking: Half of Thief skill.

-Tracking: Adds ability to follow a trail.

-Trading: No hostility roll. Not necessary to be smarter while swindling. Opposed attribute checks instead of straight check.

-Sleight of Hand: This used to be part of Thief and is now a bit more restrictive in that it is an opposed roll instead of a straight roll.

-No New Followers Skill/Talent.

-Architect: Adds assess value type ability to this skill/talent. Takes away ability to find hidden doors.

-Casual Riding (Flying Animal): Makes horsemanship even more restrictive, by breaking out this a a seperate skill.

-Chirurgeon: Adds the ability to use herbs instead of a medical kit if the character also has Naturalist.

-Combat Driving: New skill that requires the referee to determine what "in combat" means.

-Combat Riding: A more restrictive version of Expert Horsemanship, it breaks down the various ways to control an animal by specifying specific maneuvers as per Casual Riding.

-Detect Lies: This is an opposed roll rather than one basted on relative IQ.

-Outdoorsman: No reference to deserts, rain and swamps.

-Tactics: Adds a restriction to Captain (see below).

-Two Weapon Fighting: Parrying is the equivelant of a "defend" action, not the equivelant of a shield. I think the point is that you can defend and attack in the same turn if you have a second weapon. It says you can defend with both weapons, but it doesn't give you a definition of the advantage of doing so.

-No Monster Followers skill/talent.

-Assess Value: More restrictive in that it requires an Intelligence check.

-Casual Riding (All Animals): Yet more restrictions to riding skills.

-Captain: More restrictive because Tactics is required to add 1 to initiative.

-Expert Stealth: Some similarities to the old Spying skill/talent (though much more expensive).

-Martial Arts II: Less restrictive then Unarmed Combat II because you only need a 13+ DX. 

-Master Armourer: Added ability to identify who created something.

-Pilot: New skill/talent for flying (planes in high tech or magical flying boats or whatever in low tech).

-Alchemist: Much simpler system of creating potions. But also much less defined. How much does it cost? How long does it take? Maybe that's in the Wizard portion of the rules.

-Combat Pilot: See Pilot above. Again the mysteriously undefined "combat" reference.

-No Master Bard equivelant.

-No Unarmed Combat III, IV and V equivelant.

-Weapon Skills: Significant differences. Thrown spells requires a skill. Thrown Weapons just provides ability, not a bonus. Common Melee weapons gives you Axe, Mace, Hammer, Knives, Pole Weapons and Swords for a huge discount. No Shield skill required. 

COMBAT

-Initiative Phase: No initiative roll at all. Everyone goes according to Adjusted Dex throughout all phases. Also, that is rigid, it does not change during a turn despite changing Dex scores.

ACTIONS

-Actions are divided into movement actions and combat actions. As far as I can tell, this translates pretty much to the Advanced Melee version of I, II, III movement and a, b, c, etc. Actions. It's somewhat more confusing than Advanced Melee, and somewhat less confusing than basic Melee.

-Stand Up: This is listed as both a movement action and a combat action. I suspect this was an unintentional typo or mistake.

-Disengage: The disengage rule matches the Melee rule, not the Advanced Melee one. In other words, when you disengage, your opponent gets to whack you even if you have a higher AdjDex.

EFFECTS OF DAMAGE

-You can fall down from 8 hits of damage even if your armor absorbs it all.

-No penalty to Dex for having ST reduced to 3 or 2.

WEAPONS

-Strength as a Weapon: As far as I can tell, you can do the same amount of damage with a fist as you can with a Broadsword. Two-handed weapons start to do more damage than you could with your bare hands. Maybe the restriction here is that you can only do fist damage in hand-to-hand combat, but I'm not sure if it actually says that.

-A character with a higher strength can do more damage; +1 to damage for each +2 ST.

-Weapon Length: The two-hex jab is defined as a "long" weapon. Daggers are -1 to hit unless they're in hand to hand. The small axe can be used in hand to hand and is -1 if it's not used in hand to hand. Oddly, the hatchet, which in real life is smaller, doesn't have this restriction. Because you can do the same damage with your fist as a dagger or small axe, I'm not sure why you would bother to ever use a "short" weapon.

-Pole Weapons: You only get the receiving a charge bonus if the charger is actually taking the CHARGE action. Going from unadjacent to adjacent (as in Advanced Melee) is not enough. Also, this set of rules uses the 3-hex rule in a straight line for double damage on a charge. Finally, Pole Weapons involved in a charge DO NOT get resolved first. They act according to normal effective (adjusted) dexterity. In other words, it's more similar to the basic Melee rule than the Advanced Melee one.

-Rolling to Miss: Not only do you have to miss intervening targets, you are also at -1 to hit your primary target for every target you roll to miss. Also, you roll to miss both enemies and allies. This leaves open a loophole of "rolling to miss" a closer enemy if you have a low dex. At AdjDex 5, for example, I could attack enemy 2 behind enemy 1, even though I really want to hit enemy 1. I'd have to "roll to miss" enemy 1, which means I need to roll a 5 or less. That's very difficult. I roll a 15, "hitting" enemy 1. Now I've successfully hit the target I actually wanted to hit, whereas if I'd attacked him directly I would have missed by a mile.

-Fire as a Weapon: This uses a complicated rule that tries to combine all the various Advanced Melee rules into one. It includes a saving roll for standing in fire and trying to put out fires.

-Shield Rush: You don't need a shield to perform a shield rush. 

-Armor: The higher the armor score, the more efficient it is. This is the exact opposite of Melee/Advanced Melee, where the higher the armor score, the less efficient it is. For example, in Warrior&Wizard, Plate Armor only penalizes 3 DX and still stops 5 hits. That's a difference of 2. Leather Armor, on the other hand, penalizes 1 DX and still stops 2 hits. That's a difference of 1. 

-Shields: Large Shields and Small Shields have the same Dex penalty (0) but Large Shields offer better protection.

-Hand-to-Hand: I couldn't find any rules for hand-to-hand combat, apart from the mention that daggers and small axes can be used against opponents occupying the same hex. There is a Hand-to-hand combat Action, so I think the rule is you just enter your opponent's space and have at it. There's no chance of getting forced back, no chance of getting hit, no chance of drawing daggers, etc. And there's no +4 to hit, as far as I can tell.
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