New Staff to-hit roll using IQ! (serious balance problem, no?)

[Skarg]

A computer program would already not compile rolling IQ to hit because there's nothing saying whether that means DX penalties apply to IQ for that purpose, or whether a staff can attack in the order of IQ rather than adjDX.

The "staffs don't do a lot of damage" argument seems wrong in the face of 2d Staff of Power, and/or if it will really be that wizards can also add +1d damage by expending 1 ST.

Also it doesn't sit well with people who enjoy the idea that ST 9 - 10 fighters are viable.

As for "your example is doomed by the Rope spell", the example's point is not that those 32-point characters are the ultimate character or are unbeatable or don't have counter! The point is that they show using IQ to hit messes up balance. They show a 32-point wizard who puts all his points in IQ, which otherwise gives you a smart weak clumsy wizard who is sacrificing as much as possible of his physical ability to get spells, now does the main task of a fighter (hitting people in weapon combat) better than 32-point fighters who put all their points in ST & DX! And that's just one with the basic Wizard book, who doesn't have Staff of Power and who doesn't have the ITL context where ST 8 DX 8 IQ 16 is actually a useful wizard for the guild, non-combat situations, and situations where there are apprentices who can reliably cast the Aid spell. The bar should not be that "if it can't beat everything, it's not unbalanced". Nor should it be "if the fighting ability of a wizard with minimum ST & DX isn't better than a fighter with all points in ST & DX, it's not imbalanced".

[larsdangly]

Well, it doesn't really both me ... because it isn't going to work this way at my table.

[hcobb]

ITL p18: "The staff does not even have to touch in order to
deliver its flare of magical energy."

So if there is a thin wall between you can still zap into the next hex?

ITL p30: Staff of Power

Combine this with a shield rush?

[Chris Goodwin]

Going a little further... an IQ 14+ wizard can have the Blast spell; for 2 ST, Blast is a 1d6 auto-hit against all creatures in the same or adjacent hex. Pretty comparable; I'd say 1 ST for the IQ roll to hit with the Staff is almost exactly right, but even no ST cost doesn't seem to break the bank.

[platimus]

Originally Posted by Chris Goodwin

Going a little further... an IQ 14+ wizard can have the Blast spell; for 2 ST, Blast is a 1d6 auto-hit against all creatures in the same or adjacent hex. Pretty comparable; I'd say 1 ST for the IQ roll to hit with the Staff is almost exactly right, but even no ST cost doesn't seem to break the bank.

In my copy of ITL, Blast is an IQ12 spell. Also, it doesn't auto-hit. The caster must pass 3/DX to cast it. So, I would say it's NOT pretty comparable to rolling 3/IQ to hit with a staff. However, I do think your suggestion of a 1 ST cost to roll against IQ to hit with the staff and do 1d6 damage is very nice and "restores balance to the force" until you get to the Staff IV: Staff of Power level (IQ15). By that point, this new wizard staff stuff seems like something out of D&D 4e.

[Chris Goodwin]

Originally Posted by platimus

In my copy of ITL, Blast is an IQ12 spell. Also, it doesn't auto-hit. The caster must pass 3/DX to cast it. So, I would say it's NOT pretty comparable to rolling 3/IQ to hit with a staff. However, I do think your suggestion of a 1 ST cost to roll against IQ to hit with the staff and do 1d6 damage is very nice and "restores balance to the force" until you get to the Staff IV: Staff of Power level (IQ15). By that point, this new wizard staff stuff seems like something out of D&D 4e.

You are correct on all counts.

[Skarg]

Yeah, IQ 15 for and auto-hit free action (unless you attack with the staff, in which case it attacks the person you're hitting) is just annoyingly cheap to me. Especially since it doesn't even cost a memory point - you just need to spend the time to update your staff spell level when you get to IQ 15.

It just strikes me as "the staff spell is uber. You're dumb if you're a wizard and don't take it. It does this, and that, and this, and that, and this, and that, all for 1 IQ point, that every wizard should spend on it."

There's pretty much no trade-off.

I liked how the staff spell was optional before. And how no one had attacks that were free actions, or that auto-hit, or that ignored the map situation, or that ignored armor.

[RobW]

The magical force for the auto-free-hit attack must come from somewhere. Either from the wizard, or the staff is self-powered. However, self-powered magical items (with this one exception) require tremendous prior investment during creation.

So if an auto-free-hit staff must exist (but whhhyy), it should rightly involve a fatigue cost.

[hcobb]

The costs required to cast Staff II and up are missing from the rulebook.

Is this because it takes quite a while to craft the wizard's ordinary staff into these magic weapons?

[Thorsz]

I think what ultimately makes this unbalanced is that the staff is immune to drop/break weapon and critical failures at Staff III. Otherwise, it would reduce the "staff fighter/wizard" to be susceptible to a simple IQ8 or IQ12 spell....... So maybe just remove the immunity to drop/break weapon and critical failures.