Martial Arts for Wizards

[mlangsdorf]

Smallsword + Shield (Buckler) at DX level is 3 points, versus 2 for Staff at DX level. Staff gives you an effective parry of Skill/2 + 6 (including retreat bonus), while Smallsword + Shield gives a Parry of Skill/2 + 7 (including retreat bonus) AND a Block of Skill/2 + 4.

For an extra point or two, the ability to get in a block is pretty helpful, plus shield DB helps against every attack from the front.

[Novembermike]

Right, and any time you want to parry an axe or decent sized sword you have to worry about your weapon breaking, you take significant penalties when you're encumbered or in an area where you can't back up and you can't use your weapon as a Mage's Staff.

It's also harder to work a buckler into evening wear. A staff can be a badge of office, making it reasonable, and a sword is often a status symbol, but IIRC bucklers weren't commonly carried in most societies.

[rosignol]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Mental Stun, Stun, Tanglefoot, Glue, Force Dome, and of course, Teleport.

A mage who gets stuck in melee has screwed up badly... which isn't to say it never happens. Just that it's easy to screw up when doing difficult and dangerous activities.

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

So, wizards are usually not expected to fight in close combat. If they do, they've done something wrong. But sometimes the stars align in a certain way and that minotaur barbarian is headed your way.

GURPS Wizards is for GURPS 3e, but it has a few pages with Martial Artist examples. The wizards tend to have defensive spells which make them harder to see or to hit - such as Blur, Invisibility, Iron Arm, Shield and Missile Shield. They have stuff to enhance their physical capabilities such as Haste, Strength, Might, and Resist Pain. Then they have stuff that helps them offensively in close combat - Spasm, Paraliyze Limb, Deathtouch, Stun, Witherlimb, etc.

The thing is you'll need to trade off between cinematic capabilities and magical ones. Magery is expensive and so is Trained by a Master. For maximum flexibility choose both. This will limit your initial selection of martial arts skills and spells. The character will be weak initially but over time can get some really cool stuff. Works best if you are building with more like 200-250 points instead of standard 150. Cinematic martial artists are expensive. More so when you add magic to the mix.

BTW, if you like templates, Wizards is a pretty cool book (no comments about the cover PLEASE!).

[griffin]

Originally Posted by rosignol

Mental Stun, Stun, Tanglefoot, Glue, Force Dome, and of course, Teleport.

A mage who gets stuck in melee has screwed up badly... which isn't to say it never happens. Just that it's easy to screw up when doing difficult and dangerous activities.

Not necessarily. You can have a battle mage designed to handle melee combat. You just need to make sure the mage has appropriate melee skills in addition to magic. Good skill with Staff and perhaps Short Sword also. A decent array of spells that help with defending him and putting his opponents at a disadvantage. A mage with decent armor, a sword, good sword skill and Invisibility can be very dangerous in melee combat.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Novembermike

Isn't Staff an Average skill? .

It is now. I think it may have been Hard in 4e.

If you are able to be open about being a Mage there's just no beating a Quarterstaff with the Staff spell.

Not only is it a good defensive weapon it add 2 yards to the range of all your spells. When Regular Spells are -1 per yard that's a lot. 2 hex Reach also lets you deliver Touch Spells from behind the sword and shield guy.

This is all huge and applies even when you're not directly threatened.

If for some reason you can't or won't carry a full-sized Quarterstaff we have to start with what you can carry. Until you get past that it's too open-ended.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Asta Kask

Smallsword and short batons (i.e. wands)?

As Bakshi noted a wizard should keep a pistol up his sleeve...

[shkspr1048]

It seems to me the best option would be to create a Martial Magical Style. Star from the ground up with skills, techniques and whatnot, and import appropriate perks from each Style type.

[rosignol]

Originally Posted by griffin

Not necessarily. You can have a battle mage designed to handle melee combat.

I find that in practice, the 'Warrior who knows a few spells' concept works better than 'Wizard who can solo a minotaur'. Most combat spells take a turn to cast, last for one attack, and don't double your effectiveness... which means that overall you're better off not casting. Yes, yes, I'm sure there are some exceptions, but for the most part, splitting your character's focus means the character is less effective in both fields, and that's pretty much unavoidable in a points-build game system.

[copeab]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

As Bakshi noted a wizard should keep a pistol up his sleeve...

Most of the wizards in my campaigns usually carry a pistol too big to fit up their sleeves ;)

(I only rarely run settings with magic with tech more primitive than the Old West).