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Re: (TFT) Wizard mods - out of balance?
Brad,
We've played with ST split into two categories, normal "Hit Points"
and "Magic" points. For a fighter this means nothing changes, it only
effects Magic Users.
From my web site:
Wizards ST: Wizards ST is broken into Normal ST and Magical ST.
Normal ST is used to record wounds against while Magical ST is used to
cast spells. I know doing this has its advantages and disadvantages
but the main advantage is to keep a wizard who has cast all but one of
his ST points from being killed by a simple wound that does only a few
points of damage. I never liked the idea that casting a spell somehow
hurts a wizard or causes so much fatigue that a simple wound will kill
him. This solution (while not ideal) works well enough during regular
play.
ST as Damage to Wizard: Another idea concerning Wizards ST is that
after a Wizard is completely out of Magical ST he (or she) can
continue casting spells but at a considerable, physical strain. After
depleting the normal Magical ST the Wizard becomes fatigued. To
continue casting spells at this point now physically hurts the Wizard.
To represent this let the Wizard mark off two Normal ST hits as
internal wounds to gain one point of Magical ST to power spells. This
basicaly doubles the cost of all spells. I liken it to an emergency
situation where a Wizard starts giving up some of himself to
manipulate the powers that produce magic. Makes for great role playing
moments as well.
We've also toyed with the idea of a spell that allows a Magic User to
permanently gain two extra Magic ST points for every 1 Normal ST he
permanently sacrifices. This way you can have weak ST, old magic users
that are extremely powerful magically. It gets you away from the Conan
the magic User syndrome.
Dark City does something similar to these rules by adding in Magical
Staffs. These are used as "Power" batteries that can be drained to
cast spells. It's pretty much the same thing. Both split ST in two and
both require a little extra paperwork. The exception is that in the
Dark City rules a wizards staff could be taken away from him, in
effect cutting his reserve magic power in half. Makes for good role
playing situations. However, personally I simply prefer magic energy
coming from within, not from an external battery. Of course there's
nothing wrong with just using both of these concepts. I have played
with "Power Stones" (basically reservoirs of magical energy). These
are similar to Soul Gems in "Oblivion" if you've ever played that
video game and similar to Dark City's Magical Staffs.
Dark City also has you roll spells against IQ instead of DX. This is
an old idea that in some cases this makes a lot of sense. Spells that
require mental energy should be rolled against IQ, like illusions.
Manipulative Spells like missile spells could still be rolled against
DX. Just adds more complexity though.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. Hope they are helpful!
David O. Miller
On Mar 11, 2011, at 10:25 PM, Brad Long wrote:
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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