No problem. I'll move it for you.
D&D 1E As a follow up to a very old post of mine I've realized that the reason that some adventures will challenge a 5th level party but not A 6th level 1
No problem. I'll move it for you.
Well, everything I said apples even more to 1E. The lack of spells per level makes it unlikely a single spell will do all that much more for an adventure.
1E is where the clueless player can 'pew pew' all there spells away in the first five minutes...AND THEN they have to keep playing as a wizard with NO SPELLS for the whole rest of the game. If they are lucky they have a dagger or a staff and can maybe do two points of damage to a foe per encounter. If they are unlucky, they throw rocks.
One more spell won't change anything.
Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
all right, I have a better understanding of the premise.
So a typical party has one magic user (one fighter, one cleric, one thief... in my experience with 2e, a 5th party member often was a 2nd fighter). A 3rd level spell is, essentially, a "big problem solver". There is a pile of angry goblin? Fireball. There is an evil glyph warding that door? Dispel magic. There is an impassable chasm? Fly.
A fifth level mage can solve one big problem with a 3rd level spell. A 6th level can solve two. Sure, that helps a lot, but ... surely that one extra problem solved is not THAT determinant!
So a typical party has one magic user (one fighter, one cleric, one thief... in my experience with 2e, a 5th party member often was a 2nd fighter). A 3rd level spell is, essentially, a "big problem solver". There is a pile of angry goblin? Fireball. There is an evil glyph warding that door? Dispel magic. There is an impassable chasm? Fly.
A fifth level mage can solve one big problem with a 3rd level spell. A 6th level can solve two. Sure, that helps a lot, but ... surely that one extra problem solved is not THAT determinant!
I've asked my mate to give me a example of how the ability to cast 2 3rd level spells per day rather then 1 3rd level spell per day will make a big difference
The example my mate e-mailed me is from a adventure his GM made and in it during the confrontation with the villains 2 cronies at 5th level A Magic User could either try to use dispel magic on the charmed Fighter that's the villains bodyguard or try and cast a fireball at the thief that's both loyal to the villain and the villains 2nd in command but at 6th level he or she could try both and that can make a massive difference
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But that is just one encounter.
So this is saying that the group is 'popping' right into the villain encounter with full spells. You could just not do that. Have say 5-10 encounters before the villain one, and at least one medium one. So at least a couple chances for the wizard to use one or both spells.
As long as you don't do the 15 minute day where the group will "camp in the doorway" to the villain encounter, your game will be fine.
I asked my mate and he said that in the adventure The GM made the villain is both narcissistic enough and arrogant enough to decide to show the world that he really is invincible by allowing the groups Magic User to take the time needed to memorize the days spells whilst the group was literally on his own front doorstep
In case your wondering? yes the villain was both rich enough and narcissistic enough to have a front doorstep the size of a tiny house
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