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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