sword-dancer said:
A few other questions from german threads, not from me.
quote:
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Why it gives Swords + 3 or something ???
Why is an Mage so Poweerless at the beginning ?
Why did you choose the vancian magic system ?
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As for the +3, or whatever, on weapons or anything else, I am nor really sure of the reference here, the "it" in "Why it..." I'll take a stab at it anyway (pun intended): In creating a game there are certain systems used to reflect ther "magical." The plusses are a means to quantify "magic," the extraordinary.
Powerless magic-users at first level? Ha! That's an old question, and one I can deal with easily using the OAD&D rules, the main origination of the m-u in most play. Questioner, you be an ogre, a big strong 4th-level monster. I am a poor weak magic-user. We are at 30-foot distance. You move to attack, I cast my Sleep spell. You loose. So, now I'll be any other sort of PC, and you remain the ogre. You win...unless my character succeeds in running away.
The low-level magic-user is mainly a one- or two-shot weapon, but the "artillery" is potent. This fits well with a balanced party of low-level PCs, none of wom are really very strong singly.
I chose to use a system of magic inspired by the worls of Jack Vance because it fit the whole of the game I devised. For example, think of an archer with a quiver of arrows. When one is shot, it is gone. Magic spells, more potent than arrows, are much the same. So archers need to select their arrows before going forth to battle, so too the m-us in the game.
Gary