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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8929797" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Even the most skillful of players can be undone by bad luck in spell acquisition (it's random in the TSR editions, remember), or bad luck in predicting what the day will bring when memorizing spells in the morning. If you ain't got the spell, you can't cast it very well. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Hmmm....while I wouldn't label this as fragility per se, that's certainly an angle I'd never really considered before; that giving non-casters items that replicate spell effects frees the casters up to do other things.</p><p></p><p>The flip side is that with those items the Fighter becomes much more independent, in that she doesn't need to rely on the Mage any more to provide those effects; which makes the Fighter more fun and interesting to play. And this increase in independence extends to the whole party - if the Mage leaves the party, or dies, or gets captured, etc., the party still has flight capability thanks to the Fighter.</p><p></p><p>End result: while it might look tempting to softly rein casters in by not placing items that obviate the need to cast some spells, I can't see myself going that route mostly because the non-Mage players/characters stand to lose too much in terms of the enjoyment and fun that comes from having those items.</p><p></p><p>I've long since accepted the fact that any party at or over 5th level is probably going to spend a fair bit of time in the air. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>While I see what you're saying, this specific example doesn't hold much water: as <em>Continual Light</em> is permanent, a wise caster would have made dozens of "light rocks" during downtime in town and distributed them among the party, and thus would never need this spell in the field unless all the light rocks got dispelled or lost somehow. Replace it with <em>Haste</em> or <em>Monster Summoning</em> and you're on to something.</p><p></p><p>At least in my own experience the game can handle quite a lot of this sort of thing in the playable-levels range (i.e. about 1-10); though it probably helps explain why high-level play (i.e. at-around levels 11+) tends to make the system wobble and creak far more than it should. At those levels, yes, fragile is a good term for it. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8929797, member: 29398"] Even the most skillful of players can be undone by bad luck in spell acquisition (it's random in the TSR editions, remember), or bad luck in predicting what the day will bring when memorizing spells in the morning. If you ain't got the spell, you can't cast it very well. :) Hmmm....while I wouldn't label this as fragility per se, that's certainly an angle I'd never really considered before; that giving non-casters items that replicate spell effects frees the casters up to do other things. The flip side is that with those items the Fighter becomes much more independent, in that she doesn't need to rely on the Mage any more to provide those effects; which makes the Fighter more fun and interesting to play. And this increase in independence extends to the whole party - if the Mage leaves the party, or dies, or gets captured, etc., the party still has flight capability thanks to the Fighter. End result: while it might look tempting to softly rein casters in by not placing items that obviate the need to cast some spells, I can't see myself going that route mostly because the non-Mage players/characters stand to lose too much in terms of the enjoyment and fun that comes from having those items. I've long since accepted the fact that any party at or over 5th level is probably going to spend a fair bit of time in the air. :) While I see what you're saying, this specific example doesn't hold much water: as [I]Continual Light[/I] is permanent, a wise caster would have made dozens of "light rocks" during downtime in town and distributed them among the party, and thus would never need this spell in the field unless all the light rocks got dispelled or lost somehow. Replace it with [I]Haste[/I] or [I]Monster Summoning[/I] and you're on to something. At least in my own experience the game can handle quite a lot of this sort of thing in the playable-levels range (i.e. about 1-10); though it probably helps explain why high-level play (i.e. at-around levels 11+) tends to make the system wobble and creak far more than it should. At those levels, yes, fragile is a good term for it. :) [/QUOTE]
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