Gunslinger/Heroic Archer for Mages

[Dalren]

Is there a Gunslinger/Heroic Archer equivalent for spells? If not, what would it improve and what would the cost be? What limitations (One Spell Only, One College Only, etc) would you allow and what point values would you give them? For starters, it should allow probably add the Acc bonus of missile spells without the need to Aim (consistent with Gunslinger/Heroic Archer). It should probably also allow using missile spells by touch (since there are no bulk penalties to reduce in the case of close combat). For example, a Fireball spell that was already charged could be delivered by touch, working just like Burning Touch but with an increased max energy cost and damage (Fireball allows up to 3xMagery while Burning Touch only allows up to 3 points).

[vierasmarius]

If all it's doing is adding the spell's Acc without needing to Aim, it's generally more point-efficient to just improve the attack skill. (For boosting a single spell's to-hit chance, the Psychic Guidance perk is a great bargain.) The real benefits of Gunslinger and Heroic Archer are the special options they unlock and the various penalties they reduce. In cinematic games, ranged fighters will spend a lot of time on the move, and those traits mitigate the penalties they face. Mages require Concentrate maneuvers to cast spells, which doesn't have a "Move and..." option. In short, there's not a lot of benefit Mages could get from a "Spellslinger" trait.

For the option of casting an already-charged Missile spell as a Melee spell, I could see that as a per-spell Perk.

EDIT: Here's a recent thread that discussed some of these, and did propose a few traits for advanced spellcasters: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=62167

[Harald387]

You may find some of the house rules homebrewed here useful:

http://westmarchsaga.wikia.com/wiki/...missile_spells

[RogerBacon]

I'd let it change the concentrate maneuver required for spellcasting to an attack maneuver and then use the same rules for multiple attacks as trained by a master (-3 per attack instead of -6). Of course, this would only be in a cinematic setting.

[Derago]

In the distant past I allowed my players' combat mages to be able to Aim while concentrating, take penalting to skill to reduce resistances (similar to deceptive attack) with some spells, and a roll to pump more energy that turn into their spell (it gave them a reason to roll dice on turns when the would otherwise just say 'I concentrate'). There might have been other things that I don't remember too, but it was a 10- or 15-point advantage (Combative Spellcasting, I think we called it).