Strength Rolls to Cast Spells

[Axly Suregrip]

Hi David,
I am rewriting the whole thing.

First, you had some corrections and concerns.

* Set the minimum per die to 0:
Using the method that each die has a minimum of 0, that moves the last usable value from -3 to -4. At -5 the average die is 1/6 of a point, so a ST 8 person has almost an even chance at casting a ST 50 cost spell. Spells with that high a ST cost are intended for groups of wizards casting Aid. The min of zero makes the pip reduction method viable, so let's go with that instead.

* Maintenance cost affect subsequent spells:
Thank you for the correction. New high water marks and I left the summon spells in as they are common:
- Magic Fist IQ 8: 3
- Trailtwister or Trip vs large foe IQ 10: 4
- Summon Bear IQ 11: 4
- Dispel Illusions IQ 14: 5
- Summon Sm Dragon IQ 15: 5
- 7Hx Wall IQ 16: 6
- Create/Destroy Elemental IQ 16: 10 (destroy)
- MHx Freeze IQ 18: 12

* Target of 2 dice:
Ignore this as I will be changing to the point method. For that matter ignore my whole previous suggestion. New set or rules below.

* Must buy talents:
Really anything we do to make casting stronger spells or all spells easier is going to be a must buy talent. All I can suggest is increasing the learning cost of these talents to make it a question of value. Also, I am going to stay with talents and get away from staffs. The Staff spell has a high cost for IQ8. Thus if a staff is needed to get a staff, it is not ideal.

* Issue: Create Gate and item creation:
Item creation is a separate magic system. For the most part it is all fueled by the Aid spell. Good point that this should be a concern. I am not going to get into it too deep. The new rules make it so that Aid spells work but apprentices will be casting smaller ones. That is, a beginning wizard is not likely to cast an 8 point Aid. So, maybe you need more apprentices for urgent things. But for item creation I don't see why it would change.

* Issue: Pip-reduction talents:
I had none in my previous and now I am rewriting it all to only use this. See below.

* Issue: How to stop wizards from casting 6 illusions:
I thought about this a bit. What I came up with is you cap it by talent level. That is, a wizard can only have 1 illusion of an animate thing (person, bear, etc. Not wall, fire, magical rope). But for each talent level they gain they main cast an additional animate illusion. Also you will want them to have to recast after 12 turns since there is no ST cost to pay to keep it. See below.



First let's take a closer look at what we have to work with.

1 die average using a minimum of 0 per die:

Point 1 die
1+0 3.5
1-1 2.5
1-2 1.667
1-3 1.0
1-4 0.5

Number of dice a Wizard of ST x finds doable but not reliable.
These ST wizards have a fair chance at the listed # of dice (ST cost of spell). That is never less than 50% but as close to it as possible:

Dice ST ST ST ST ST ST ST
Point 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1+0 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
1-1 2 3 3 3 4 4 5
1-2 3 4 5 5 6 6 7
1-3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1-4 13 15 17 19 21 23 25

For example, a ST 8 wizard would want using 1-2 casting would have a fair chance at casting a spell with a cost of 5.

With the values in the above table and the high water marks I have set the IQ levels of the four talents below.



All the following replaces my previous suggestion.



Just need to add these four "Wizards Only" magical talents. No staffs affect casting:

Without any of these talents, a Wizard can only have 1 illusion and 1 image of an animate thing (person, bear, etc. This does not apply to illusions/images of walls, fires, magical rope) at a time. But for some talent levels they gain they main cast an additional animate being illusions and images. Also note illusions and images must be recast after 12 turns. This prevents wizards from having permanent illusions/images (although they nearly are).

Talent "Glean Ambience" IQ=9 IQ cost=1. Prereq: must be a wizard (not available to fighters that can cast magic). Cost is 1 for wizards (does not have double IQ cost as it is a magical talent). Affect: reduces spell casting die roll by -1 pip per die with a minimum value of 0 per die.

Talent "Tap the Flow" IQ=11 IQ cost=2. Prereq: must be a wizard (not available to fighters that can cast magic). Cost is 2 for wizards (does not have double IQ cost as it is a magical talent). Affect: reduces spell casting die roll by -2 dice (replaces Glean Ambience -1). Additional affect allows wizard to have 2 illusions and 2 images of animate beings simultaneously.

Talent "In the Current" IQ=14 IQ cost=3. Prereq: "Tap the Flow" and must be a wizard (not available to fighters that can cast magic). Cost is 3 for wizards (does not have double IQ cost as it is a magical talent). Affect: reduces spell casting die roll by -3 dice (replaces Tap the Flow -2). Additional affect allows wizard to have 3 illusions and 3 images of animate beings simultaneously.

Talent "Nexus of Power" IQ=18 IQ cost=4. Prereq: "In the Current" and must be a wizard (not available to fighters that can cast magic). Cost is 4 for wizards (does not have double IQ cost as it is a magical talent). Affect: reduces spell casting die roll by -4 dice (replaces In the Current -3, etc). Additional affect allows wizard to have 4 illusions and 4 images of animate beings simultaneously.


Or if you want, you can have a separate magical talent for maintaining additional illusions and just remove that aspect from the above talents.