Re: (TFT) Wizard mods - out of balance?

[raito@raito.com]

Yes, it makes them too tough in comparison to Heroes in combat. But so 
does any spell point system not tied directly to ST. 

Consider that a combat wizard nearly always has 2 spells: Staff, and 
whatever Missile Spell they can manage. In any spell point system, 
whether IQ or ST-based, such a wizard in combat gets to, pretty much 
for free, as there's no real penalty, cast high-damage spells with a 
missile DX adjustment. When they run out of spell points, they still 
get to keep fighting with the staff. They can even wear leather armour. 
So if the combat is not in close quarters, it's likely that a 32 point 
combat wizard can take out a couple opponents before they close. That's 
pretty powerful. And using IQ makes it worse, because a 32 point wizard 
with an IQ of 12 can have Fireball, which does an average of 2.5 hits 
per ST. If he can land 2 of those for 6 'spell points' each, that's an 
average of 15 points per. Yes, he's got to land them, but it's still 
pretty good odds. 3 4ST spells averages 10 points, which still isn't 
bad. And it gets worse if he's got friends to tank for him. 

It also greatly imbalances the rest of the character. There's no no 
need for any wizard to ever bother taking ST points, because they don't 
do him any good. And no need to ever make the decision of whether to 
throw the spell on the basis of him being easier to kill afterward. 

By contrast, a missile weapon using Hero does a lot less damage. What 
corresponding change would you make to Heroes to compensate?

Then again, I nearly always automatically reject any of the fatigue and 
spell point systems. I don't think they improve anything. They just 
make every number bigger. 

In any case, this change makes only Wizards more powerful, without 
compensation to Heroes. If the game was balanced to begin with, doing 
this unbalances it. 

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

Quoting Brad Long <brad@longbrothers.net>:
> I am toying with the following adjustments to Wizard ... 
>
> Wizards get SP (Spell Points) equal to their IQ (not ST). 
>
> When SP is depleted they can no longer cast spells. 
>
> I realise these ideas are not new and others on this list have made similar
> suggestions/adjustments and incorporated them into their house rules. 
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Does this make wizards too tough - I don't think so - but I need to playtest
> a lot more. Maybe others have already drawn conclusions from their own
> experimentation of this style of change. 
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