Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Upsetting the WIZARD applecart,... maybe?

JLV · 03-03-2018, 11:58 AM

I actually suggested this a month and a half ago over in the "Fantasy Trip" thread.

Not only that, but I also suggested that IQ be the source of "power" for magical spells -- in that a player receives an amount of "power" (I called it "Mana") equal to his IQ in order to cast spells. This power is used (and recharged) much like Rick's "fST" (or as described in Advanced Wizard), but instead of being based on ST (which is used for HITs, after all) is based on IQ. All of this seems logical to me, given that magic is an IQ based system in every other respect. It also removes the need to create Conan the Wizard. Using such a system would result in Wizards with high IQs (which seems perfectly natural) without having enormous STs or high DXs.

The only real issue is that Wizards will never spend any XP on anything else. To this, there are two solutions. One, raise the XP cost to earn a new attribute. Two, use the Talent/Spells system that we've been discussing here and elsewhere to make it necessary to somehow spend XP to acquire new Spells or Talents.

03-03-2018, 11:58 AM	#3
JLV Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Arizona	Re: Upsetting the WIZARD applecart,... maybe? I actually suggested this a month and a half ago over in the "Fantasy Trip" thread. Not only that, but I also suggested that IQ be the source of "power" for magical spells -- in that a player receives an amount of "power" (I called it "Mana") equal to his IQ in order to cast spells. This power is used (and recharged) much like Rick's "fST" (or as described in Advanced Wizard), but instead of being based on ST (which is used for HITs, after all) is based on IQ. All of this seems logical to me, given that magic is an IQ based system in every other respect. It also removes the need to create Conan the Wizard. Using such a system would result in Wizards with high IQs (which seems perfectly natural) without having enormous STs or high DXs. The only real issue is that Wizards will never spend any XP on anything else. To this, there are two solutions. One, raise the XP cost to earn a new attribute. Two, use the Talent/Spells system that we've been discussing here and elsewhere to make it necessary to somehow spend XP to acquire new Spells or Talents.