Post by Ghul on Feb 14, 2013 11:18:32 GMT -6
Over at the excellent B/X Black Razor Blog, there is a discussion on the viability of magic-users (magicians in AS&SH), including their survivability and general usefulness in traditional RPGs.
This may sound odd (since I wrote AS&SH!), but I was actually surprised by how many subtle alternatives we worked into the magician class, as pointed out by my friend and collaborator, Antonio E. Mostly little things that one-by-one developed over the course of three years, but in their totality, the result makes for an almost new take on the class.
Here is what Antonio observed:
This may sound odd (since I wrote AS&SH!), but I was actually surprised by how many subtle alternatives we worked into the magician class, as pointed out by my friend and collaborator, Antonio E. Mostly little things that one-by-one developed over the course of three years, but in their totality, the result makes for an almost new take on the class.
Here is what Antonio observed:
Have you seen the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea implementation of the magic-user (Magician)? It's excellent, as it provides at 1st level:
1- bonus spells for high int
2- the magician can have a familiar as a class ability; having a familiar increases the hit points of the magician AND provides him more spells (one more per spell level). So a magician with high int and a familiar can cast 3 1st level spells at 1st level.
3- read magic as a class ability
4- scribe scrolls as a class ability.
5- he is not proficient with armour, but he can wear one if he wants, at the expense of spellcasting failure (1/6 for light armour, 2/6 for medium, 3/6 for heavy armour.)
6- he starts with proficiency in dagger, dart, quarterstaff and sling, but he can add any other weapons he desires (at 4th, 8th and 12th level.)
I think this is the best old-school magic-user class to date, and in play it works very well.
Since 1980 I've allowed AD&D magic-users to start with familiars and scribe scrolls starting at first level (if they can create spellbooks, why not scrolls?) and I found those changes allayed most of the complaints about the class. Giving them bonus spells for high INT and the chance to maybe use some decent weapons should make them even better. (I'm thinking the armor will make less difference in practice; it seems unlikely magic-users will want to either risk spell failure or have to strip off their armor before casting. But we shall see - hopefully soon in my case!) Either way it's the best version of the old school MU yet. ;D
