(TFT) TFT: Re: Wizardry Talent

["Dave Seagraves" <dseagraves@austin.rr.com>]

Mack writes . . .

>Not a bad idea at all but will probably need some extended
>playtesting to see how it really affects gameplay.

   I agree.  I haven't playtested it at all, or even written up the optional
rule yet . . .  still in the thought-testing stage, and it will probably
never get beyond that point.

>I'd really think we should make pre-requisites for all these spells
>just like some of the better talents have lower talents as preq's for
>them.
>ex/ Can't learn any multi-hex spells unless you have learned the
>1-hex spell version first.

   Not a bad idea.  Personally I won't use it in my campaign (it's a further
restriction on characters for little gain) but as a wizard player I would
find it acceptable.  I think it's hard enough already for existing
characters to learn new spells . . .  it takes a lot of time and/or money.

>With all spells costing the same measly 1 IQ point regardless how high
>level or how powerful they are, I really think "Heroes' get short changed
>with the cost of many of their talents.

   I have the opposite view.  Many talents are usually more flexible then
spells, while most spells only do one certain narrowly-defined task.
Talents also don't cost fatigue, while almost all spells cost fatigue.  This
is especially important because a wizard's "hit points" go down every time
he casts a spell and loses ST -- a ST 10 unarmored wizard who has cast just
5 ST worth of spells will most likely be /killed/ by just one enemy longbow
shot.  The current costs of both talents and spells looks fine to me.
   (Wizards are fragile!  My Sunday group's target priority SOP in battle
is: Get the enemy wizards first, then the archers, then finish off everyone
else.  Clever bastards!  :)

>"Heroes" MUST buy the Warrior talent in order to learn combat talents
>at normal cost.

   Ack!  We've created a monster!  8^)
   About your proposed rule change as a whole: Be aware that this whole
thing brings "classness" right back into TFT, i.e. there are now /three/
classes: Heroes, Wizards, and Other (i.e. those with neither Warrior or
Wizardry).  It's certainly /different/, and it might be fun to play with as
a player, but it's not for me or my campaign.
   I think part of my design philosophy for Wizardry comes from my days as a
GM for Champions.  I considered superheroes as normal people with
superpowers tacked on, and for the far majority of characters this was true.
Same thing with wizards in the context of my proposed optional rule: A
person who knows no magic can learn anything else he's smart enough to
learn.  If he then goes to the Wizard's Guild and learns how to be a wizard,
he can then learn spells.  But just because he's now a wizard doesn't mean
that Sword (or any other talent) is now harder to learn than before.  The
difficulty should remain the same.
   I think I won't even be using /my/ version of this Wizardry thing.  It's
a major change to the rules, probably a little too major -- one might as
well create one's own RPG.  I mainly brought it up just as an interesting
intellectual exercise.


Cas writes . . .

>Example #1: The illusion spell. When we first started playing, every
>wizard would cast an illusion of a reptile man with pikeaxe.....charge
>BANG 4+4 damage (& xp+++++ for wizard). So, rather than change
>the spell, we noted that reptilemen were rare and onlookers would
>be quite likely to disbelieve them (ditto with most 1-hex monsters).
>And so there were more modest illusions......

   So instead of changing the rule, just figure out what people would do
about it to automatically balance it.  I like it.

   Another spell for your grimoures . . .

IQ 29 SPELLS
WIZARD?S JIHAD (M): Just like Wizard?s Wrath, except that
   this spell does 1+3 damage for every ST point expended.

Dave Seagraves
Seagraves Computers   dseagraves@austin.rr.com   1 (512) 255-2760
Taco Bell -- the Criminal Organization of the Fast Food Industry


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