Casting spells in HTH

[warhorse11h]

I saw the thread discussing this topic and thought I would throw my two cents in.
The original game allowed a wizard to cast a spell in HTH, provided it was only on himself or his opponent. There was a -6 DX or -4 DX penalty depending on which rules you chose to use. Legacy rules left these options out.
I suggest the following solution. Allow casting under the limitation above, that it can only be done on oneself or one's opponent. If the IQ of the spell is equal to or 1 less than the caster's IQ, the penalty is -6 DX. If the spell IQ is 2 to 4 points below the caster's IQ, use -4 DX. If it is 5 or more points less, make it -2 DX.
Or go with either set of rules and don't worry about it.

[Shostak]

That offers more granularity, but I'm happy to go along w/the rules in Wizard: -4DX to cast spells and spells can only be cast on oneself or HTH foe.

[phiwum]

I've been going with the assumption that spells can't be cast in HTH. Seems a number of folks house rule a DX minus for casting. I may rethink it.

[Shostak]

It's RAW, from Wizard, not a house rule.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Shostak

It's RAW, from Wizard, not a house rule.

Right, fair point. I've just used the convention that since it doesn't appear in ITL, it's not an ITL rule so adopting it is house-ruling. No offense meant by that term, of course.

Without casting spells in HTH, Shock Shield is a lot less useful. Not worthless at all, but less useful.

[hcobb]

My favorite HTH spell is the occult zap follow up of the stab of the fagger-staff.