Wizards: There and back again

[Random]

Okay, so I've been very interested lately into getting into both miniatures painting and wargaming. I already am a big D&D fan, but I also have a copy of Chainmail (which may not be the best ruleset, but I don't hear anyone saying it's bad).

I was thinking about how in the world to go about bringing D&D characters on and off the Chainmail battlefield while still being consistent with both games, especially in the case of Magic-Users.

I thought that maybe Magic-users would go on all of their D&D adventures as the standard D&D magic-user would, but when the time for battle comes....

The gods will shine blessings down to the bloodthirsty spellcasters who become fearsome wizardly war machines!

Taking the field, a Magic-user will lose their normal spellcasting ability and gain the mystical abilities to vanish from sight, see in darkness, deflect arrows, and toss explosive fireballs (or lightning bolts)!

In addition, the Magic-user will be able to retain a certain amount of spells from their usual spellbooks (it helps if you allow them to record spells that they can't cast yet for use later), depending on the power of the Magic-user (the highest level reached on the chart on page 32 of Chainmail). These spells can be cast many times during the battle, but the Magic-user must roll on a chart to see if they are cast normally, delayed, or whether the casting simple fails.

When the battle is over, the gods will retake the temporary blessing bestowed upon the Magic-users and grant them their usual abilities again.

Basically I need a reasonable way to explain the difference in spellcasting mechanics between the two games. I thought that having warrior gods who granted wizards with awesome battle magic would be a good solution.

Since Seers are lowest on the list in Chainmail, perhaps Mediums are so meager in power that the gods will not grant them the ability to toss fireballs or lightning bolts in battle (or retain any of their normal spells). They would basically be semi-tough morale boosters who can see in the dark.

Also, I think the number of Magic-users in the campaign would need to be kept rather low, as I wouldn't want a bunch of Wizards running around in every battle.

Any thoughts? If any of you play Chainmail, do your battles involve the ongoing D&D campaign? How do you handle the PCs in battle, especially in this sort of case? What about clerics?

[Random]

I suppose if I'm going the granted powers route, then rather than the Magic-users retaining normal spells, I could just roll in the list in Chainmail. That may work better, since even seers can cast some complex magic.

[foster1941]

Presumably if you're combining D&D and Chainmail you should use the D&D magic system in place of the one in Chainmail. Also, I'd say the ability of Chainmail wizards to throw endless fire balls and lightning bolts implicitly suggests that they have a wand of fire balls, wand of lightning bolts, staff of power, or staff of wizardry, not that it's an innate ability (i.e. a D&D character fighting in a Chainmail battle won't gain that ability unless he has one of those items).

[Random]

That would work, but I figured that not only can they toss fireballs, but become invisible and all sorts of other stuff. That, and the roll to cast, delayed spells, etc.

I was trying to come up with a explanation for Wizards to be normal in D&D, but work like Chainmail Wizards on the battlefield.

[kesher]

Actually, I like your idea. My own inclination, however, would be to make this fearsome power personally dangerous: If you lose the battle, you lose a level.

[Random]

Then I'd feel the need to give Magic-users a choice.
It would suck when the battle was lost if the Magic-users all lost a level while the Fighting-men were fine and dandy.

[Geiger]

Oct 18, 2008 8:09:07 GMT -6 Random said:

Then I'd feel the need to give Magic-users a choice.
It would suck when the battle was lost if the Magic-users all lost a level while the Fighting-men were fine and dandy.

Yes it would sucketh indeed. That's the price they pay for meddling with unnatural energies, no? The price for all that power a level?!?! It should be their lives and their very souls, no chance of resurrection, do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect 200 gp and all that jazz... ;D

All joking aside I kinda like this idea. It would be like going magically berserk or taking the example of the Wheel of Time, opening oneself to the one power, YMMV...

[dwayanu]

A rationale offered by both Greg Stafford (concerning White Bear & Red Moon / Dragon Pass) and M.A.R. Barker (Legions of the Petal Throne, et al) is that (A) battle units represent not individual magicians but corps of spellcasters and apprentices; and (B) fields where armies clash attract unusual spiritual attention.