Strength Rolls to Cast Spells

David Bofinger · 09-08-2020, 07:34 AM

Suppose as well as or instead of a wizard using up their strength when casting spells, they had to make a roll n/ST where n is the ST cost of the spell (plus the maintenance cost of any spells being maintained) or something related to that. The dice could be plain D6s or somehow modified. This would be in addition to any DX roll required.

Example: Egareva the Typical has ST 11, DX 11, IQ 11. She tries to cast Reverse Missiles on her meat shield, which requires a 2/ST roll and a 3/DX, she makes both. Next turn she tries to summon a Myrmidon (ST 2), she has to roll 2+1=3/ST and 3/DX, where the +1 is the maintenance cost of the spell.

There's lots of editing could be done around the edges of this to make it as easy/difficult as you like - I tend to think wizards are too powerful so I'm comfortable with this making them weaker. Making two dice rolls is maybe a little unfortunate but I think I can live with that, after all attacks do it. Maybe we don't want spells lasting forever, we could figure something out for that. Some spells have very large ST costs and something would have to be done about those. We could have talents that e.g. replace 1+0 dice with 1-1 dice, that would be more valuable to some wizards than others.

As I see it this has some significant advantages:

It means wizards can't entirely dump ST. Powerful wizards, who want to cast powerful spells, need more ST than beginners.
Eliminating fatigue means the game no longer needs to be interrupted for wizard rest. The relative power of fighter and wizard no longer depends on the ease of rest.

Opinions solicited, of the broad concept. We'd need to

09-08-2020, 07:34 AM	#1
David Bofinger Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia	Strength Rolls to Cast Spells Suppose as well as or instead of a wizard using up their strength when casting spells, they had to make a roll n/ST where n is the ST cost of the spell (plus the maintenance cost of any spells being maintained) or something related to that. The dice could be plain D6s or somehow modified. This would be in addition to any DX roll required. Example: Egareva the Typical has ST 11, DX 11, IQ 11. She tries to cast Reverse Missiles on her meat shield, which requires a 2/ST roll and a 3/DX, she makes both. Next turn she tries to summon a Myrmidon (ST 2), she has to roll 2+1=3/ST and 3/DX, where the +1 is the maintenance cost of the spell. There's lots of editing could be done around the edges of this to make it as easy/difficult as you like - I tend to think wizards are too powerful so I'm comfortable with this making them weaker. Making two dice rolls is maybe a little unfortunate but I think I can live with that, after all attacks do it. Maybe we don't want spells lasting forever, we could figure something out for that. Some spells have very large ST costs and something would have to be done about those. We could have talents that e.g. replace 1+0 dice with 1-1 dice, that would be more valuable to some wizards than others. As I see it this has some significant advantages: It means wizards can't entirely dump ST. Powerful wizards, who want to cast powerful spells, need more ST than beginners. Eliminating fatigue means the game no longer needs to be interrupted for wizard rest. The relative power of fighter and wizard no longer depends on the ease of rest. Opinions solicited, of the broad concept. We'd need to