Top 5: Spells

[Deleted]

Hi!
My name is Darmuk. I am studying to become a Mage. In an effort to secure gainful employment when I graduate, I am taking a poll of the top 5 most useful spells in the field of adventuring. With this knowledge I hope to become a valuable member of any team.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Darmuk

[mister frau blucher]

*Sound of multiple voices*

"Hello, Darmuk. Welcome to Mages Anonymous."


Before you get an answer, we need to know your IQ. If it is 10 or 12 the list of useful spells is different.

In general, though, if you have an IQ of 12, here are five good ones:

Heal Wounds: you can guess why.

Fireball: The best damage spell available to you.

Fire-3: Pesky archers and spellcasters got you down? Lay down some Fire. They take 2 hits immediately, and if they remain stationary to fire an arrow or cast a spell, they take two more. So they will probably move.

Shadow-3: As above, you can lay it on archers to decrease their hit chance, but you can also use this cover a retreat or mask an advance.

Illusion: Create an illusion of a gargoyle or a bear. Yeah, it can be disbelived with a successful IQ check, but that ties up your smart guy for a turn as you get closer to them. If your gargoyle is not disbelieved, he will probably be able to fly into the enemy's hex and get all grapply.

[Deleted]

Greetings to you, Voice-Immitating-Multiple-Voices!

I am still growing and studying. Therefore, I do not wish to specify my IQ as it could change. However, I think it would be helpful if any voices that chime in were to keep their recommendations to IQ 14 spells or below.

Once again, thank you for your response!
- Darmuk

[mister frau blucher]

That opens up the field a bit:

Lightning: Keeping with the idea of maximum damage spells. But...

Fireball-3: With IQ 14 Fireball will now affect three comtiguous hexes. It costs more, but it is very nice.

Mind Control: You still have to win the check, and they won't jump off a cliff for you, but it is a quick way to end a fight or tilt it in your favor. Outside of combat, the possibilities escalate.

Flight: Beneficial in a variety of circumstances.

Dispel Magic: as above.

Spell Shield: Mages cannot cast against you when this is cast.


There are a lot more, like Reverse Death, but you can contemplate these, Darmuk-grasshopper.

[mcraun]

As I feared, it appears mastery of the Arcane Arts is lost upon many who proudly proclaim proficency in its practice. A true mage will never adventure without having a few summon spells at the ready. The ability to conjour an ally, to any area of the field of battle, to disrupt and distract the enemy is invaluable to success. The multitude of uses likely escapes the lesser mage. However, mastery of this school is vital to any who wish to excel at the art.

[Deleted]

i don't know, mcraun. i think bret is probably very proficient with Arcane Arts. i, however, am not and have never claimed to be. i just don't see Summoning spells being very useful to a beginning mage because they are at least 3F a pop. perhaps i'm misinterpreting the rules but whatever you summon is gone at the end of the encounter. so after 3 encounters, you've amassed 9F. again, the way i read the rules (and i'm not crazy about this), 9F would leave an ST 12 mage 1 point away from death if he had received 1 point of damage.

[mister frau blucher]

Hah! This is good stuff, guys.

The advantage of the summoned creature over an illusory one is that it cannot be disbelieved - though it can still be dispelled.

ewookie, your analysis is off in two ways. First, if a ST12 mage who has used 9 fatigue is thee points away from being unconcious, not dead. Fatigue and damage add for purposes of conciousness, but not death. So if our ST12 mage cast 11 FT in spells, leaving him at 1, and takes an axe strike for 7 points of damage, he is at -6 and unconcious; but in reality he still has 5 ST left so he is not bleeding to death.

Secondly, don't forget the mage's staff! You want to exhaust your "free" fatigue the staff provides before you dip into your innate strength.

[Deleted]

i'm not forgetting the staff. i just left it out for clarity in the fatigue/damage discussion. so you think summoning spells are still good spells for starting mages? i would be more comfortable with that idea if whatever i summoned remained at the end of the current encounter...and followed me to the next encounter...until it died of damage.

[mcraun]

Fatigue heals at night, and a good staff is essential. Putting a target between you and a charging horde is a great tactic, I have found. Gives archers time to rain hell, gives the party time to set up and pick the ground to defend. It ia also a reat qay to get pressure on any ranged or mage enemy that might be hiding behind the front lines. 3F is pretty cheap for all the wounds it can save your party.

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2012 15:15:25 GMT -5 mcraun said:

Putting a target between you and a charging horde is a great tactic, I have found. Gives archers time to rain hell, gives the party time to set up and pick the ground to defend.

i don't see that happening according to the rules...

The being appears within two spaces of the caster and does nothing on the turn it appears.

- it can do nothing the first turn it appears. i guess this is not an issue if the mage is last (n)pc to do anthy thing that turn.
- unless you're saying 4 Orcs will comically chase this one little wolf around while 3 or more warriors are bearing down on them. if it's a Summoned Warrior or larger, ok, i can swallow that.

[Deleted]

ok, so let's say Darmuk has ST8. He casts some spells during an encounter and accumulates 6 FAT.
he is still alive and awake.
then he gets hit by an arrow and takes 4 DAM.
(6 FAT + 4 DAM = 10 FAT/DAM)
Darmuk is unconscious/incapacitated.

the encounter ends and Darmuk recovers (loses 1 FAT) leaving him with 5 FAT.
(5 FAT + 4 DAM = 9 FAT/DAM)
Darmuk is still incapacitated.

let's say there is no healing available (no potions, no other mages in the group, and the medic died in the battle or failed his medic check).

what happens to Darmuk? how does the story move forward? what are my options?

[klingor]

Hi, guys
I've only just found this thread, and I haven't read all the comments, but when playing a DCG adventure, I have at least one mage in the party with IQ14. For a 32 point char I give them ST 10 and Dex 8. I max out the mage's staff on fatigue as soon as possible.
The first 2 spells are Lightning and Werebear.
Lightning because you can cause up to 4d6 damage.
Werebear because it gives the character a solid combat presence, with heavy damage, a better than average hit prob and some natural protection.
Other spells to add are Spell Shield, Reverse Missiles and Reverse Death.
The first two are for self-protection, Reverse Death is to keep party members alive long enough to get a Healing potion into them or to allow someone time to cast Heal Wounds (a useful spell but not one of my priorities in a DCG adventure as healing potions seem to turn up often enough for this strategy to work.)
The most useful things otherwise that I've found, for a mage, are to max out the fatigue on your staff and wear the best non-metal armour you can find - it gives you some protection and, to a mage, the Dex reduction isn't significant, as your Dex is minimally important anyway!
It works for me so
On this I stand, I can do no other.
All the best
The Martial Wizard
aka klingor

[Deleted]

klingor! nice to hear from you again. thanks for your reply. it was enlightening

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2012 19:12:45 GMT -5 @ewookie said:

ok, so let's say Darmuk has ST8. He casts some spells during an encounter and accumulates 6 FAT.
he is still alive and awake.
then he gets hit by an arrow and takes 4 DAM.
(6 FAT + 4 DAM = 10 FAT/DAM)
Darmuk is unconscious/incapacitated.

the encounter ends and Darmuk recovers (loses 1 FAT) leaving him with 5 FAT.
(5 FAT + 4 DAM = 9 FAT/DAM)
Darmuk is still incapacitated.

let's say there is no healing available (no potions, no other mages in the group, and the medic died in the battle or failed his medic check).

what happens to Darmuk? how does the story move forward? what are my options?

barring any better ideas or suggestions, i have decided on the following 'house rule':

A conscious character recovers 1 fatigue point at the end of each encounter or paragraph. After this and all other healing options are exhausted, if a character is still incapacitated and fatigue is a factor, they recover just enough fatigue to stand up and move about.

[klingor]

My understanding is that fatigue recovers naturally with time - it is like being asleep - and is recovered in the same way and at the same rate. You become conscious again when physical damage and residual fatigue are less than the character's ST. At that point you are back in control of the character again.
Perhaps, as a rule of thumb, figure 1 fat per 15 min asleep/totally static, 1 fat per hour doing nothing more strenuous than walking.
If however, while you're asleep/unconscious and below ST, someone one who does not wish you well comes along (cf random encounters) then I'm afraid your character is either history or the main course.
Cheers, et bon appetit,
Colin