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Skarg · 07-26-2018, 12:44 AM

The second draft of the XP rules posted by SJ mentioned the idea that a Staff could be various non-staff things including jewelry and so on. Though the new staff description posted on the site seems to make the form somewhat a special effect, as it simply zaps foes rather than needing to be used to hit with it.

I'm not really sympathetic to the added staff zap powers. I see more problem points than good points:

Good:

* Less complaining from people who don't like running out of ST as wizards (I don't sympathize with this much - seems to me fatigue is a very "fair" price to pay for the various magic powers.)

* They give a definition for how staff damage could work in combination with physically hitting someone with a staff that's also a quarterstaff or whatever.

* Some people would enjoy the new powers.

Not so good:

* The IQ 13 giving a to-hit at IQ + 3 (or DX + 3) seems like a mistake. That means a minimum of 16, and 16 is an auto-miss, so was that a typo and it should say IQ +0 or DX +3?

* I can't believe it's intended to be able to do aimed shots with it. That would be rather annoyingly overpowered, it seems to me.

* Magically zapping things with no fatigue seems overpowered.

* Zapping things while doing whatever else you want at the same time seems overpowered.

* The armor-negating ability seems like a counter to heavy non-flesh armor... which is something that should exist, but except for a setting that just wants all wizards to have strong free zappy bonus powers, I think it should not be a free bonus feature of something every wizard will want for the ST battery effect anyway. It should cost ST. It should need to hit and not be aimed with IQ. It should be a different spell from one that's super-useful for all wizards for other features.

* I'm also imagining prisoner situations where a wizard has a concealed "staff" or even gets a twig and casts a Staff spell on it so he can zap people to escape.

I mean, there are settings where wizards just do get lots of strong powers and they can be fun, but it seems like the sort of thing that should be a campaign option rather than a thing added to all TFT by default.

Oh, and also, if non-wizards are going to be more able than in original TFT to pick up spells (or maybe even if not), I can see some non-wizards with higher IQs deciding to get this new Staff spell just for the zap powers (even IQ 11 for the armor-bypassing effect).

07-26-2018, 12:44 AM	#49
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: Reactions to the new staff spells The second draft of the XP rules posted by SJ mentioned the idea that a Staff could be various non-staff things including jewelry and so on. Though the new staff description posted on the site seems to make the form somewhat a special effect, as it simply zaps foes rather than needing to be used to hit with it. I'm not really sympathetic to the added staff zap powers. I see more problem points than good points: Good: * Less complaining from people who don't like running out of ST as wizards (I don't sympathize with this much - seems to me fatigue is a very "fair" price to pay for the various magic powers.) * They give a definition for how staff damage could work in combination with physically hitting someone with a staff that's also a quarterstaff or whatever. * Some people would enjoy the new powers. Not so good: * The IQ 13 giving a to-hit at IQ + 3 (or DX + 3) seems like a mistake. That means a minimum of 16, and 16 is an auto-miss, so was that a typo and it should say IQ +0 or DX +3? * I can't believe it's intended to be able to do aimed shots with it. That would be rather annoyingly overpowered, it seems to me. * Magically zapping things with no fatigue seems overpowered. * Zapping things while doing whatever else you want at the same time seems overpowered. * The armor-negating ability seems like a counter to heavy non-flesh armor... which is something that should exist, but except for a setting that just wants all wizards to have strong free zappy bonus powers, I think it should not be a free bonus feature of something every wizard will want for the ST battery effect anyway. It should cost ST. It should need to hit and not be aimed with IQ. It should be a different spell from one that's super-useful for all wizards for other features. * I'm also imagining prisoner situations where a wizard has a concealed "staff" or even gets a twig and casts a Staff spell on it so he can zap people to escape. I mean, there are settings where wizards just do get lots of strong powers and they can be fun, but it seems like the sort of thing that should be a campaign option rather than a thing added to all TFT by default. Oh, and also, if non-wizards are going to be more able than in original TFT to pick up spells (or maybe even if not), I can see some non-wizards with higher IQs deciding to get this new Staff spell just for the zap powers (even IQ 11 for the armor-bypassing effect).