Death Tests & Wizards

[Shostak]

Maybe the Thorsz just doesn't like wizards or something, because his Death Tests seem less friendly to wizards than heroes. Consider: any wizard using more than 1 ST in a room will see their ST diminish just by virtue of casting spells, because they are only allowed time enough to rest to recover 1 ST after clearing a room. Assuming there is a physicker in the party, up to three fighters can suffer two hits without a net loss of ST, and up to four can if there are two physickers. I'd be curious to know if anyone other than me house rules a longer rest permissible after clearing a room, to allow wizards to be on more even footing with their mundane companions.

[tomc]

I let the wizards rest and recover 2ST per room. Then again, one can go overboard with this, especially if, like me, you use the Wizard as a big gun to bail you out with missile spells.

[Skarg]

I see your point, and when playing Death Test to try to win most efficiently, I tend not to bring a wizard because of the limited resting time.

However no, I don't increase the limit, as I don't really want to change it to be easier on wizards.

I also don't think that, even if I did care about trying to "balance" for wizards, that it would really be needed.

Physickers require a reduction in combat stats (or spell variety, if you sneakily make a wizard physicker).

While it depends on your group, tactics, and point level of your wizard, I think there are ways to use a wizard effectively despite the low amount of rest. For example, if the three fighters can usually handle the room contents, the wizard can judiciously assist them when/if needed, and not use any spells in some rooms. Some spells cast at the right time can be decisive in the harder fights.

[Senturian]

DT1:
If you are using WIZARD, all WIZARD rules except experience apply.
All combat in the DEATH TEST labyrinth is considered "one fight."
Thus, wizards have no opportunity to recover lost strength by resting, and
must ration their energy carefully - and hits cannot be healed except by
magic, for either wizards or heroes, until you are out.

Why are you changing the rules to make it easier to complete?, Choices, tactics and some luck are what's required. Make do with what you've got. It's called DEATH test and wasn't built to be fair, "survival of the fittest", I believe.
Wizards do have an advantage, they can fight like a warrior and when needed, use their special skill set.

DT2 allows resting for 15 minutes per room.

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Senturian

Why are you changing the rules to make it easier to complete?, Choices, tactics and some luck are what's required. Make do with what you've got. It's called DEATH test and wasn't built to be fair, "survival of the fittest", I believe.
Wizards do have an advantage, they can fight like a warrior and when needed, use their special skill set.

I've run characters through DT and DT2 more times than I can count. A party of all warriors has a chance of everyone making it out. A party of all wizards doesn't, unless they are fairly high point-value. So, I tweak the rules to try to make it a little more even. It is also an attempt to let wizards get the same kind of XP bonuses that the heroes can.

[amenditman]

A party made up of all wizards goes dungeon delving....

Wait, what? That's just silly. Wizards are very powerful in certain circumstances and very weak in others. Should always be a party of mixed types/specialities/talents.

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by amenditman

A party made up of all wizards goes dungeon delving....

Wait, what? That's just silly. Wizards are very powerful in certain circumstances and very weak in others. Should always be a party of mixed types/specialities/talents.

Why is that silly? I respectfully disagree. Nobody would describe a party of all mundane fighters going in as silly.