[Poll] Mechanical Complexity of Dungeon Fantasy templates

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

I disagree. The Wizzie in my current game is out the gate dropping 2d missile spells freely and looking at 3d in a few game sessions.


Granted they'll plateau there for a good long while (they don't have to, but it's a bit expensive to get to 4d and there are more 'point efficient' but slower ways than dumping 20 points into one skill).

2d every 2 rounds (I know you can houserule the need for the attack maneuver after the concentrate maneuver, but I'm talking RAW), with mediocre skill that is affected by range penalties (by default, the wizard has Innate Attack at 14, if he picks up the skill instead of any other ranged weapon option) at some FP cost (unless he has enough skill to reach the next milestone, that is, skill 20) is not decent damage. A knight with ST 14, a sword, and no weapon master will be doing more damage each swing at no FP cost, and he could do so twice a turn with rapid strike, or thrice a turn with rapid strike and extra attack. A scout will throw 1d+2(2) pi arrows every turn with greater accuracy, and probably shoot 2 arrows each time.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Sounds like the yellow robe in my game, albeit at a lower point total. It isn't tough to get a wizard lobbing 3d Blast Balls every few seconds.

And it's not not hard to have any combat worthy delver to toss around that much damage every turn.

The reason I don't recommend damage spells for wizards is simple, others do damage much better than you, at lesser costs. The usual outcome of a wizard spending a turn creating a missile spell, and then another turn throwing it is a miss or a dodge. Now the wizard is out of som FPs, while the target is unscathed. Psychic Guidance can help with the accuracy, but nothing short of compartmentalized mind will help you deal with the fact that you need to spend a turn creating the missile, and another throwing it (or casting the melee spell, and attacking with it)
There are damage spells that go around this, by using the resistance mechanic (Dehydrate and frostbyte are some examples of this), but by default, they still cost several turns worth of casting (but fortunately, you can reduce this with high skill, unlike missile, melee and jet spells), and anyway they require 1 FP per dice of damage and a resistance roll. For less FP, less turns, and the same resistance roll, you could have use Stun, and had one of the wizard's muscle bound friends deal the damage much more easily (thanks to the -4 to defenses and the inability to retreat from being stunned).

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Kuroshima - you have any Mystic Swordsman thoughts?

I never had them in my table. True, one of the characters is a mystic knight-aristocrat (that is somehow like the swashbuckler), but he uses heavy armor and wields a two handed sword, nothing like the intended agile fighter with light weapon and imbuements. I would guess that the mystic swashbuckler would do well, BUT it needs an edged rapier or other swing capable weapon, and desperately needs more ST (not that the normal swashbuckler shouldn't aim for starting ST+striking ST=13). Imbuements are a force multiplier for ST damage, meaning that unless your ST damage is decent to high, they're not that cost effective. Also, unlike the mystic scout, who only cares on imbuing arrows with no concern for defensive imbuements, the mystic swashbuckler is going to be in the front line, and might use a buckler, so armor and shield imbuements still have value and they can't use them.