guerret wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:flying_purple_monkfish wrote:hmm. I have no idea... it's a shame really... cuz I prefer the sorc to the wizard... makes more sense in my mind you see.You're not alone, brother. AD&D 1e's "fire-and-forget" magic system never made an ounce of sense to me. Me and my buddies just house-ruled it to death rather than deal with its innate stupidity.Say what you will about 3e (and I'm generally not a big fan of the system), but the Sorcerer class handles the concept of wielding magic much more elegantly. Plus, the wizard class is still an option, if desired.The spell point system in Spells & Magic, in fact, was the solution we never gave up since we adopted it a lot of years ago. It solved very well the rigidity of the spell progression table and introduced a very practical and fast free magick system.
Xaxaxe wrote:flying_purple_monkfish wrote:hmm. I have no idea... it's a shame really... cuz I prefer the sorc to the wizard... makes more sense in my mind you see.You're not alone, brother. AD&D 1e's "fire-and-forget" magic system never made an ounce of sense to me. Me and my buddies just house-ruled it to death rather than deal with its innate stupidity.Say what you will about 3e (and I'm generally not a big fan of the system), but the Sorcerer class handles the concept of wielding magic much more elegantly. Plus, the wizard class is still an option, if desired.
flying_purple_monkfish wrote:hmm. I have no idea... it's a shame really... cuz I prefer the sorc to the wizard... makes more sense in my mind you see.
Xaxaxe wrote:flying_purple_monkfish wrote:hmm. I have no idea... it's a shame really... cuz I prefer the sorc to the wizard... makes more sense in my mind you see.You're not alone, brother. AD&D 1e's "fire-and-forget" magic system never made an ounce of sense to me. Me and my buddies just house-ruled it to death rather than deal with its innate stupidity.
red_bus wrote:It is too easy to have all your spells available for casting - having to pick and choose from a list and then choose when and where is best to use each spell - all makes you think more about your spells.
killjoy32 wrote:flying_purple_monkfish wrote:hmm. I have no idea... it's a shame really... cuz I prefer the sorc to the wizard... makes more sense in my mind you see.bah.what the hell is wrong with a magic-user and thats that Al
Xaxaxe wrote:red_bus wrote:It is too easy to have all your spells available for casting - having to pick and choose from a list and then choose when and where is best to use each spell - all makes you think more about your spells.I suppose ... provided you've got enough levels. But "fire and forget" doesn't do much for the 1st-level Magic-User, who is — let's be honest here — just a walking Wand of Magic Missiles with one charge per day.
Badmike wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:red_bus wrote:It is too easy to have all your spells available for casting - having to pick and choose from a list and then choose when and where is best to use each spell - all makes you think more about your spells.I suppose ... provided you've got enough levels. But "fire and forget" doesn't do much for the 1st-level Magic-User, who is — let's be honest here — just a walking Wand of Magic Missiles with one charge per day.Sleep is a pretty good choice for a 1st level mage, but I had a guy go with Charm Person at 1st level and he made it work. He'd charm a low level brigand or fighter to be his bodyguard, then charm an orc in the dungeon to fight for him, they would protect him enough so that he coudl throw darts or daggers or such. I had another guy that got Mount at first level. Mount? Well, at first level you can create a mule or light horse, and a Mule is 3 hd. And the spell range is 10 yds...so in a dungeon setting, creating a mule behind the line of combat (behind a group of kobolds or orcs attacking the party) worked wonders, creating havoc and on more than one occasion kicking many opponents to death before being killed or disappearing. Color Spray can take out 1-6 opponents for 2-8 rounds, no save, if they are the same level or less than the 1st level mage. And of course, Phantasmal Force is a "do anything" type of spell good for a very intelligent player. Anyway, part of the absolute fun of AD&D was having the wimpy 4 hp mage with a dagger and one spell eventually becoming the 12th level uberstud tossing Fireballs, Cones of Cold and Lightning Bolts around with a flick of the wrist....!Mike B.
mordrin wrote:Badmike wrote:Xaxaxe wrote:red_bus wrote:It is too easy to have all your spells available for casting - having to pick and choose from a list and then choose when and where is best to use each spell - all makes you think more about your spells.I suppose ... provided you've got enough levels. But "fire and forget" doesn't do much for the 1st-level Magic-User, who is — let's be honest here — just a walking Wand of Magic Missiles with one charge per day.Sleep is a pretty good choice for a 1st level mage, but I had a guy go with Charm Person at 1st level and he made it work. He'd charm a low level brigand or fighter to be his bodyguard, then charm an orc in the dungeon to fight for him, they would protect him enough so that he coudl throw darts or daggers or such. I had another guy that got Mount at first level. Mount? Well, at first level you can create a mule or light horse, and a Mule is 3 hd. And the spell range is 10 yds...so in a dungeon setting, creating a mule behind the line of combat (behind a group of kobolds or orcs attacking the party) worked wonders, creating havoc and on more than one occasion kicking many opponents to death before being killed or disappearing. Color Spray can take out 1-6 opponents for 2-8 rounds, no save, if they are the same level or less than the 1st level mage. And of course, Phantasmal Force is a "do anything" type of spell good for a very intelligent player. Anyway, part of the absolute fun of AD&D was having the wimpy 4 hp mage with a dagger and one spell eventually becoming the 12th level uberstud tossing Fireballs, Cones of Cold and Lightning Bolts around with a flick of the wrist....!Mike B.Mount is interesting. Never saw that.Don't get me started on Charm Person being a 1st lvl spell, though.Worst. Rule. In. The. History. Of. RPGs.I eventually got sick of fudging NPC saves and made it a 4th lvl spell the way it should be.L1 - Friends, L3 - Suggestion, L4 - Charm Person, L5 - Dominate (2E) is a progression that makes sense. L1 - Charm Person is off the charts insane.
guerret wrote:I always liked the strategic value of Enlarge/Reduce. It can be used to go through a locked door, for example, or to cross apparently impassable obstacles (such as a chasm). Most players tend to ignore its effects outside of combat, but it is one of the most versatile 1st-level spells.At low levels, Sleep is invaluable in combat situations. The drawback is that after a few levels it'll become totally useless, and will be used only for other strategic purposes, mostly against 0-level NPCs, and anything you do with Sleep by then is nothing you can't do better with other spells.One of the all-time best is of course Magic Missile, not much because of the damage it inflicts (which is respectable anyway for a 1-st level spell), but because it's incredibly useful in a melee where there is an enemy spellcaster. Unless he has magic resistance, Magic Missile is one of the best choices to prevent him from casting, since it's a very fast spell. Of course, a successful Melf's Acid Arrow can prevent several levels of casting, but then you have to do that dreaded attack roll first.Spider Climb can have many very interesting uses, but it has a problem: you have to swallow a live spider to cast it. A good player playing this correctly might lose two or three rounds before finally forcing himself to cast it - and maybe it's useless by then.Another one which is often overlooked is Audible Glamer. As a DM, I know that it can be used in a thousand ways to scare the hell out of the players. Also, it can produce very entertaining situations in a tavern, or around a campfire, or at a court - if you but hav a bit of creative humour.I personally enjoyed very much a particular technique I called "Firestar". I did it with my drow wizardess in very dire situations, when the foes were outnumbering us, and it was clear that things would not go well. I alerted my comrades to get away, then I cast a Fireball centered on... myself. Usually that worked very well, leaving me mostly unscathed but with some bodies littered around. Then, there were those couple of times when the spell overcome the drow's magic resistance... then I had only to hope that the comrades were able to make quick work of the remaining enemies.
MShipley88 wrote:One of my players used mount as a ripoff scheme. In every town and village he passed, he would sell his magical mount for a very reasonable price...and then leave. Worked well so long as he wasn't going back.