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Monte Cook's Design Thoughts On Spellcasters
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<blockquote data-quote="tzor" data-source="post: 3052231" data-attributes="member: 12826"><p>I want to say that I do like a lot of Monte's ideas, but he hasn't gone far enough to reveal the real problem of the system. "A game designer should, at least some of the time, look at the game from the top down. He looks at how the system itself works, and -- just as importantly -- how the system encourages certain types of play."</p><p></p><p>I think the problem basically comes down to something which I will call "mojo" maintenance. Each class has a different "mojo" which they can use until they don't have any more and then they sort of shut down as it were. We often say that fighters can fight all day, but they too have a limitation - hit points. Run low onhit points and the fighters will be reluctant to fight.</p><p></p><p>In the case of fighters we have the mojo refresh ability of cure spells, potions and wands. It's the availability of the later that can push a fighter into the cost dimension instead of the time dimension. I can recall in eariler editions (yes the ones with the non linear level equalities where some levels had to be slogged through in order to get the good stuff) the average fighter wanted to quit for the day around the same time as the average wizard because the cleric ran out of healing spells.</p><p></p><p>The problem isn't in the classes, it's in the equipment. The ability to get fighter mojo while at the same time severely limiting wizard mojo pushes the fighter's time envelope longer while keeping the wizard's time envelope the same. Yes there are spell casting devices, but these in one sense are high priced overkill. A wand has eveything you need to cast the spell, but for the most part the caster just wants the ability to cast more of the same spells they have aready prepared. </p><p></p><p>Of course this is still not going high enough levels. The biggest problem is impatience, the full assault all the time until burnout approach that an inexperienced tactistician might employ. </p><p></p><p>Ayway, Monte's ideas do have merrit, perhaps one can think of them in terms of trivial levels? For example, suppose there was a feat that allowed higher casters to cast those 0th level spells (invented in Dragon Mag in 1E, dropped in 2E and resurrected in 3E) as often as they liked. Those cantrips can be quite annoying when used every round. Or it could be a high level spell in and of itself (Unlimited Cantrips, or Unlimited 1st level spells) with a very long duration. The basic idea is to not require the caster to drain mojo for every action, much in the same way that a fighte only starts to get in trouble when they are hit as opposed to when they attempt to hit.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="tzor, post: 3052231, member: 12826"] I want to say that I do like a lot of Monte's ideas, but he hasn't gone far enough to reveal the real problem of the system. "A game designer should, at least some of the time, look at the game from the top down. He looks at how the system itself works, and -- just as importantly -- how the system encourages certain types of play." I think the problem basically comes down to something which I will call "mojo" maintenance. Each class has a different "mojo" which they can use until they don't have any more and then they sort of shut down as it were. We often say that fighters can fight all day, but they too have a limitation - hit points. Run low onhit points and the fighters will be reluctant to fight. In the case of fighters we have the mojo refresh ability of cure spells, potions and wands. It's the availability of the later that can push a fighter into the cost dimension instead of the time dimension. I can recall in eariler editions (yes the ones with the non linear level equalities where some levels had to be slogged through in order to get the good stuff) the average fighter wanted to quit for the day around the same time as the average wizard because the cleric ran out of healing spells. The problem isn't in the classes, it's in the equipment. The ability to get fighter mojo while at the same time severely limiting wizard mojo pushes the fighter's time envelope longer while keeping the wizard's time envelope the same. Yes there are spell casting devices, but these in one sense are high priced overkill. A wand has eveything you need to cast the spell, but for the most part the caster just wants the ability to cast more of the same spells they have aready prepared. Of course this is still not going high enough levels. The biggest problem is impatience, the full assault all the time until burnout approach that an inexperienced tactistician might employ. Ayway, Monte's ideas do have merrit, perhaps one can think of them in terms of trivial levels? For example, suppose there was a feat that allowed higher casters to cast those 0th level spells (invented in Dragon Mag in 1E, dropped in 2E and resurrected in 3E) as often as they liked. Those cantrips can be quite annoying when used every round. Or it could be a high level spell in and of itself (Unlimited Cantrips, or Unlimited 1st level spells) with a very long duration. The basic idea is to not require the caster to drain mojo for every action, much in the same way that a fighte only starts to get in trouble when they are hit as opposed to when they attempt to hit. [/QUOTE]
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