Abolish Naturalist and Thief

[hcobb]

No need to have naturalist or thief characters in your party. (Woodsman and healer slots still open though.)

Goblin Sorceress mk III
ST 6 DX 9 IQ 17
Staff of Mastery(1d/1d+2) with a Brand tied on it (1d-2, 2-hex reach)
Alertness(4), Literacy(mundane from academy), Goblin(native), Human(1),Sorcerer(free)
Staff I-V(5), 7-hex fire, Lock/Knock, Reveal/Conceal, Drain ST, Spellsniffer, Aid, Pathfinder

[Skarg]

Seems to me it depends on what you might want a naturalist or thief to do. It's not a complete skill set overlap, and the performance parameters are different.

But yeah the listed powers of Lock/Knock have always been dismaying to professional locksmiths and lockpickers.

(I like your house-rule to charge memory points for each level of Staff.)

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by Skarg

(I like your house-rule to charge memory points for each level of Staff.)

That's Evil Stevie, not me.

ITL 18: "There are five Staff spells, of increasing power and IQ requirement. Each level of Staff is a prerequisite to the next."

But apparently they all have the same fatigue cost?

[Skarg]

Oh right, I forgot that was Steve. Even better! :-)

[hcobb]

Woodsman not needed if Meal and Stalwart spells taken. With Pathfinder you won't be lost for long.

[Skarg]

That's a good point, although with Pathfinder you need to be someplace where there are significant choices to make about which way to go, not so many that you'll become exhausted before getting far, and you might be assuming the reason it tells you to go one way rather than another indicates which direction you want to travel in, when it could be telling you to go a particular way for other reasons.

I don't think I'll be including knowledge of Meal or Stalwart in many (possibly none) of my campaign settings. I like the need to track supplies and deal with weather. They seem like spells that make interesting parts of the game go away. Same reason I won't be having many (any?) people know Regeneration or strong healing spells. I don't want lasting wounds to be easily removed from play.

[hcobb]

Goblin Sorceress mk IV
ST 6 DX 9 IQ 17
Unskilled Silver Dagger Staff of Mastery(1d-1/1d+2) and a Brand on a stick(1d-2, 2-hex reach)
Alertness(4), Literacy(mundane from academy), Goblin(native), Human(1),Sorcerer(free)
Staff I-V(5), 7-hex fire, Lock/Knock, Reveal/Conceal, Spellsniffer, Pathfinder
Two extra skill points for anything other than Knife. (Most likely Horsemanship then add a trained Dire Wolf for $940)

All out attack mode: Three magical attacks at DX 12 1d+2, DX 9 1d-2, and 4d/DX 5 at 1d-1 for an average of 5.5*.7407 + 1.67*.375 + 2.5*.054 = 4.84 (compare with non magical myrmidon at 5.18)

Gets lost in the woods (by parties tied of her quests for this "Explosion" spell) 16% of the time, and refinds her way when lost half the time. Out in the wilderness loses one hit due to exposure 4.63% of the time so passes out after being lost in the woods for four months when she's never lost for three days, even without a spell.

You would think that she'd be eaten by a jaguar (Alertness doesn't help as per ITL 91), but this won't drop into HTH because of ITL 124.

[thrash]

There are three problems with this approach:

(1) The wizard can only perform a certain number of times, whereas using talents is effectively unlimited. Using the staff, the wizard can open 8 locks, reveal 8 traps, or some combination, before needing to recuperate for 8 days. Using only ST, each lock, trap, etc., requires 30 minutes of rest, which may not be practical in a labyrinth situation.

(2) Thieves (at least) do more than just open locks and detect traps. They are also do reconnaissance, assess value, remove traps, negotiate with unsavory types, and perform high-DX feats.

(3) Putting all your tactical eggs in one basket is seldom a good idea. Instead of having three figures to target, a single well-placed arrow now takes out the wizard, the thief, and the naturalist all at once.

[hcobb]

Rest in the labyrinth by sitting down on your Dire Wolf, spot the ambush 95.37% of the time, then have your three Light Crossbow snipers light up the ambusher with branded bolts.

What is the house rule consensus on riding a Dire Wolf through the labyrinth and using IQ 17 Alertness to spot everything as "you must sit or lie down quietly, doing nothing else." as per ITL 9?

[thrash]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Rest in the labyrinth by sitting down on your Dire Wolf, spot the ambush 95.37% of the time, then have your three Light Crossbow snipers light up the ambusher with branded bolts.

If you have three snipers anyway, cross-train them as thieves and naturalists. Why not? It's cheap insurance.

What is the house rule consensus on riding a Dire Wolf through the labyrinth and using IQ 17 Alertness to spot everything as "you must sit or lie down quietly, doing nothing else." as per ITL 9?

In the real world, at least, riding an animal is physically fatiguing while maintaining alertness is mentally fatiguing. I wouldn't allow it.