Least Useful Spells

[RobW]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

MAGIC FIST. Another essential spell. The genius of this spell isn't that it's much good as an actual missile (it isn't) but in this: "...can also trigger traps or carry out other unsubtle manipulations within line of sight.." so it's like a clumsy retainer you can send ahead to check out dodgy areas. And it can do this for 1ST!

A cheap clumsy retainer, ha! Somehow never noticed that, nice!

[Axly Suregrip]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

Interesting, you've chosen 3 of my favourite spells!!!!

Awesome post. This is exactly what I hoped to see.

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

AVERT. Simply brilliant. The target gets no saving throw and it can affect anything, no matter how big or powerful it might be. Giants? Bah, go away you big lunk. 14 hex-Dragons.? Begone you overgrown snake! A summoned wolf wouldn't help you much there, would it. It's only weakness is against attacks from a distance, but you have reverse missiles for that.

Sounds like I am going to need to try Avert again. Sounds like its main purpose is to aid an escape or to give your archers another turn. If you need to defeat a foe, this always felt like too much to pay for no damage caused. But I see what you mean, it can be strategic.

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

DAZZLE. A low level Wizard's mass attack spell. The scout reports a chamber ahead full of orcs, too many for the party to take on in a straight fight. The Wizard declares, "stand well back lads, I got this." He approaches the door, throws it open, casting Dazzle as he does so. The party then change in and clean up. The only thing that stops it being absolute kryptonite is the short duration of 3 turns so the players may only get a couple of turns of advantage. My favourite combo was Dazzle Wizard and Blind Warrior.

Are you saying the good wizard's fighters are around a corner so they don't also get affected? Sounds risky for the wizard to set up situations to use this.

[Axly Suregrip]

So far no one has come to the defense of Slow Movement and Confusion spells. Maybe there really is no good use for these. Certainly not enough to justify taking a spell slot.

[amenditman]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

DAZZLE. A low level Wizard's mass attack spell. The scout reports a chamber ahead full of orcs, too many for the party to take on in a straight fight. The Wizard declares, "stand well back lads, I got this." He approaches the door, throws it open, casting Dazzle as he does so. The party then change in and clean up. The only thing that stops it being absolute kryptonite is the short duration of 3 turns so the players may only get a couple of turns of advantage. My favourite combo was Dazzle Wizard and Blind Warrior.

My biggest problem with Dazzle is the 3 turn duration. It will take your friends most or all of that to arrive from their safe distance. Otherwise, a great use of this spell.

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by amenditman

My biggest problem with Dazzle is the 3 turn duration. It will take your friends most or all of that to arrive from their safe distance. Otherwise, a great use of this spell.

Yes, the 3 turn duration is a limitation. I was perhaps a little generous in my interpretation of the spell, in that I'd allow the Wizard's companions to cover their eyes and avoid the effects of the spell, even though the spell description says a "blinding psychic flash."

I also allowed it to stun or temporarily blind an opponent to allow the Wizard to slip past or get away, so it was useful for more than just combat.

[Axly Suregrip]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

AVERT. Simply brilliant. The target gets no saving throw and it can affect anything, no matter how big or powerful it might be. Giants? Bah, go away you big lunk. 14 hex-Dragons.? Begone you overgrown snake! A summoned wolf wouldn't help you much there, would it. It's only weakness is against attacks from a distance, but you have reverse missiles for that.

On page 140 of ITL in the Continuing Spells section it says spell cost and continuation cost is multiplied by the number of hexes of the target. So, in your example the Avert spell on a 14 hex dragon would cost 28 initially and then cost 14 more per turn. That means you would spend 42 ST just to affect one movement phase and then 14 ST per turn thereafter. Seems too expensive for what you get.

Even against a 3 hex giant it seems to much to pay (6 initially, 3 per turn, thus 9 ST cost to get 2 hexes more distant for the first movement). Assuming you can spare the 9 ST, how long can you maintain this?

Maybe against a high ST single hex sized foe this is a good spell. (Bear, Troll, etc). Lower ST foes are better dealt with Sleep, Freeze, Rope or even Trip. Trip for that matter can handle the high ST foes and has an immediate useful affect.

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

On page 140 of ITL in the Continuing Spells section it says spell cost and continuation cost is multiplied by the number of hexes of the target. So, in your example the Avert spell on a 14 hex dragon would cost 28 initially and then cost 14 more per turn. That means you would spend 42 ST just to affect one movement phase and then 14 ST per turn thereafter. Seems too expensive for what you get.

Even against a 3 hex giant it seems to much to pay (6 initially, 3 per turn, thus 9 ST cost to get 2 hexes more distant for the first movement). Assuming you can spare the 9 ST, how long can you maintain this?

Maybe against a high ST single hex sized foe this is a good spell. (Bear, Troll, etc). Lower ST foes are better dealt with Sleep, Freeze, Rope or even Trip. Trip for that matter can handle the high ST foes and has an immediate useful affect.

I don't see any such restriction in the Wizard rules. This is why I'm more interested in using the rules from Melee and Wizard and then judiciously adding rules from ITL, rather than using everything from ITL. I'm not interested in that added complexity.

[Axly Suregrip]

Originally Posted by Chris Rice

I don't see any such restriction in the Wizard rules. This is why I'm more interested in using the rules from Melee and Wizard and then judiciously adding rules from ITL, rather than using everything from ITL. I'm not interested in that added complexity.

:-)
I too prefer Melee & Wizard over ITL. Depending on your friends sometimes you have to play ITL.

As a side topic: do you run Mage Sight at a continuation cost of 1ST/turn (Wizard) or 1ST/minute (ITL)?



Does any one else have spells they find lacking?

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by Axly Suregrip

:-)
As a side topic: do you run Mage Sight at a continuation cost of 1ST/turn (Wizard) or 1ST/minute (ITL)

In the old rules it was 1ST/Turn in both Wizard and AW, I didn't realise AW had changed. To be honest, 1 turn is enough to scan a room or a creature/object so I never saw it cast in a continued manner.

[Shostak]

A court wizard with sufficiently high IQ can cast Confusion discreetly in a diplomatic meeting to enormous effect.