[Steve Plambeck]

So this is the new model I'm considering for Wizardry Talents. It starts at the base with an Apprentice talent just like the one Chris Rice created and mentioned in an earlier post here. There are five total talents each spaced thee IQ levels apart, and each costing 2 talent points (I've listed the Apprentice talent as costing 4 just to simplify the table below ; it actually costs only 2 but has two 1 point prerequisites for a cumulative cost of 4). Each of these talents is a prerequisite for the next.

The intervals and costs were selected so as to use up as close to possible 50% of a wizard's talent points at each of the IQ levels. This way it's still possible to charge wizards the same number of talent points per talent as other figures, while not doubling up the regular talents they can take. (In other the words, preserving the intent of the RAW in this regard). As per my 1982 Wizardry Talent, learning spells is not charged against talent points and a wizard may memorize as many spells as their amount of IQ -- a wizard transitioning from the Wizard microgame doesn't have to forget any spells to start taking talents.

Of course this curriculum is voluntary. If a wizard decides to stop progressing as a wizard he will end up taking more regular talents than he'd been entitled to under the "talents cost wizards double" rule. The trade off then being this wizard will forgo doing magic a different wizard could. If using the old rule where increasing IQ equally increased talent points, then yes, the off-track wizard can learn more talents than before. But if using the newer Legacy rule that increasing IQ does not give a figure more memory for talents, it comes down to the same thing ; under the newer rule, talents can be bought with XP and are therefore unlimited for wizards too. So pick your poison, but the wizard who skips the more advanced wizardry talents is going to end up with more regular talents now either way.

The plan though is to tempt wizards to keep improving as wizards. So the higher level wizardry talents have to offer the magic users something they can't get otherwise, but at the same time not increase their powers, especially in combat, allowing wizards to dominate the whole game. This is the trickiest part. I believe I have a solution, and a solution that actually preserves the effects of the RAW even though it changes the wording of those rules slightly. I'm not giving this away just yet though, being curious to see if anyone can see through my diabolical plans :) So the higher level incentive talents are not named in the table below, but I already know what they are going to be. I don't have a silver dragon to give away, but the first person to guess what these incentive talents are gets a drink on me should they pass through Chicago :)


_______WIZARD TALENTS (cost)______Cumulative Cost/Talent Points Left Free / % of IQ Left Free

IQ 08___APPRENTICE (4)__________________________4 / 4_____ / 50.0 %
................(let's wizard learn spells up to IQ 11)
IQ 09___________________________________________4 / 5_____ / 55.6 %

IQ 10___________________________________________4 / 6_____ / 60.0 %

IQ 11___WIZARDRY (2)___________________________ 6 / 5_____ / 45.5 %
..................(let's wizard learn spells up to IQ 20)
IQ 12___________________________________________6 / 6_____ / 50.0 %

IQ 13___________________________________________6 / 7_____ / 53.8 %

IQ 14___INCENTIVE TALENT #1 (2)__________________8 / 6_____ / 42.9 %

IQ 15___________________________________________8 / 7_____ / 46.7 %

IQ 16___________________________________________8 / 8_____ / 50.0 %

IQ 17___INCENTIVE TALENT #2 (2)_________________10 / 7_____ / 41.2 %

IQ 18__________________________________________10 / 8_____ / 44.4 %

IQ 19__________________________________________10 / 9_____ / 47.4 %

IQ 20___INCENTIVE TALENT #3 (2)_________________12 / 8_____ / 40.0 %

IQ 21__________________________________________12 / 9_____ / 42.9 %

IQ 22__________________________________________12 / 10____ / 45.5 %

IQ 23__________________________________________12 / 11____ / 47.8 %

IQ 24__________________________________________12 / 12____ / 50.0 %