[tomc]

I'd really like a way for wizards to participate in every fight, rather than just throwing a few big fireballs and spending the rest of their time trying to not get hurt.

How about splitting the Staff spell into two, say, "Mana Holding" and "Striking"?

I'd limit the capacity of the "Mana Holding" to the Wizard's IQ, but let it *recharge itself*. If you want simplicity, it recharges at the Wizard's rate. If you want it to be more useful, recharge 1 ST every 15 mins or so.

The "Striking" spell would just be the old "Staff" spell, +1D6 to the damage done by whatever stick or club like weapon it's cast on. One item per wizard, and it explodes if anyone else picks it up. If cast on a weapon that would already do damage, roll once to hit, then each type of damage separately, so armor protects from both.

I'm thinking of how useless a wounded wizard is, compared to a fighter. A wizard that's 5 hits from dying, has 3 ST to spend on spells, 4 if she's willing to pass out. A wounded fighter has no such limit, and can keep cranking out attacks all day.

A martial wizard with a Staff holding his IQ in mana, and doing 2d6 as a quarterstaff, has enough juice to be a front row fighter, but he's had to spend points on two spells, and triple for the quarterstaff talent.