Conan the wizard

[Rick_Smith]

Originally Posted by zot

What do you guys think of these wizard talents, are they already on someone's house rules list?

Arcane Stamina (2): adjusts ST by +2 only for the purposes of spellcasting (does not help with wounds, weapons, etc.). Costs 2 for wizards or heroes.

Arcane Outlast (3): requires Stamina, adjusts ST by another +2 only for the purposes of spellcasting. Costs 3 for wizards or heroes.

Hi Zot, everyone.
I do not think your talents are powerful enough. In basic TFT, the only way to increase your memory (mIQ) is to raise your IQ by a full point. So for Arcane Stamina (2), the wizard is spending 2 attributes to gain 2 fatigue ST (fST). FAR better to just raise the wizard's ST and then you have more hitpoints, can bend bars better, etc.

Same objection to Arcane Outlast (3), only it is worse.

***

I would suggest:

IQ 11 Arcane Stamina [2]: Gives the wizard +5 fatigue ST (fST) which can be used to pay for spells, or other exhaustion effects. (This does not help with wounds, won't allow you to use larger weapons, etc. It CAN be used to pay for magic item fST costs, and fST lost to long fights, or for distant running.)

IQ 13 Arcane Outlast [2]: requires Arcane Stamina. Exactly like Arcane Stamina except that this talent gives you +3 fST for paying for exhaustion.


(Note that the square brackets [ ], in my talent list mean that wizards and heroes pay the same price.)

I think you will find that these two talents are good enough that players will sometimes take them. Each requires 2 attributes to buy, but they will give on average 4 fST to spend. The moderate IQ requirement suggests that the figure with the talent has figured out a way to use fatigue ST more efficiently to manipulate the mana field.

These talents assume that there is a diminishing returns. (So the basic level of the talent gives a fairly large boost, but more and more effort gives reduced gains.) Another way to work it would be to say, the higher IQ gives larger efficiencies. So it could be like:

IQ 11 Arcane Lv 1 [2] +3 fST.
IQ 13 Arcane Lv 2 [2] +5 fST.
IQ 15 Arcane Lv 3 [2] +7 fST, etc. for as high as you like to go.

This would mean that bookish, smart wizards are likely to have a fair bit of power for their spells. Let me know which version you choose, and how it works in your campaign! :-D

Warm regards, Rick.