AD&D 1E Revised and Rebalanced Magic-User for 1e AD&D

[LordBP]

Starting Spells
A beginning prestidigitator begins with knowledge of a number of cantrips of their choice equal to their minimum number of learnable spells by level. Additionally, they have from their master (an unthinkably powerful master of the arcane arts of perhaps 6th level) some small store of 1st level spells from the completion of their training with which to make their way in the world.

Each 1st level M-U begins having learned read magic, as well as one of each spell from the following categories as determined by rolls of the D10:

D10 Result	Offensive Spells	Defensive Spells	Utility Spells
1	Burning Hands	Affect Normal Fires	Comprehend Languages
2	Charm Person	Dancing lights	Detect magic
3	Enlarge	Feather Fall	Erase
4	Friends	Hold Portal	Find Familiar
5	Light	Jump	Identify
6	Magic Missile	Protection From Evil	Mending
7	Push	Shield	Message
8	Shocking Grasp	Spider Climb	Unseen Servant
9	Sleep	Ventriloquism	Write
10	(Player’s Choice)	(Player’s Choice)	(Player’s Choice)

Having determined which spells are known automatically, the player then may select 1 spell from amongst the 27 options which is not known and attempt to learn it using their chance to learn check. If this fails, they must add that spell to those which they have failed and pick a new spell to attempt, repeating this process until they finally have 5 spells with which to begin their adventuring career.

Preparation of Spells
As previously described, spells must be prepared by the recitation of incantations and other arcane rituals prior to being cast. This must be done after a good night’s rest to restore the arcane energies and clear the mind. Each spell to be prepared requires 3 minutes per spell level to be fully memorized and readied for use, to be unleashed at some later point by the triggers that guide and channel the stored energies. (Cantrips require but a single minute to prepare.) For a lowly prestidigitator capable of casting only a few of the weakest sort of spells, restoring their spells fully is a relatively simple task. But for more powerful mages, hours in careful study must be spent before they have regained their full puissance.

Production of Magical Items
M-U of at least 7th level are able to brew magical potions and scribe magical scrolls. This process is long, arduous and expensive, for it requires creating magical elixirs and inks via secret formulae from rare and valuable items. A fortunate M-U may encounter one or more such formulae on their adventures in lost tomes and grimoires, otherwise they must quest to learn such formulae from those that guard the secrets of their manufacture, or engage in lengthy magical research to discover the secrets. The DM will be able to provide the necessary information once characters are sufficiently powerful to utilize it.

M-U of at least 11th level are able to begin to manufacture many of the various magical items that they may encounter in their adventures, but again, the methods and rituals and formula for the construction, anointing and empowering of such items are secrets which must be uncovered by some means and the process is costly and requires long periods of the M-U undivided attention during which adventuring may not take place. Likewise, the most puissant such items may require spells the M-U does not know or else cannot yet cast in order to complete their manufacture.

I've been toying with an idea of allowing Magic Users to be able to choose a spell slot combo which would consist of a combat/non-combat spell (would be offensive/defensive/utility in your example). They have to decide on the combo (for example, magic missile/feather fall/mending) at memorization time, but during cast time, they could decide which one they would use and then the combo slot would be gone (if they decided to cast magic missile, then the feather fall and mending spell wouldn't be available). This would allow them more flexibility, but wouldn't allow them any more power.

I would allow a new spell of recharge wand at level 1 and allow MUs to recharge wands (but would have the upper charge limit to be less over time, so that a wand couldn't be used forever. Been thinking about a 10-20% reduction on each recharge. Could also do something like if you overcharge the wand, it explodes which would require the MU to keep track of how many casts they have done with the wand and maybe gamble on if they know the max).

Scrolls would be allowed at level 1, but would require exotic materials for the ink which would be different for each spell and maybe person.

Alchemy wouldn't be allowed as I would want to keep that for NPCs (mainly for quest lines of monster parts for potions).

Wouldn't use cantrips at all, but I prefer more low magic than high magic settings.

 

[Celebrim]

...under the principle that MU spells are generally more powerful than cleric spells for a given level, and more powerful than cleric spells of the same name, so that MUs may have fewer spells memorized but when they do cast it really counts

Fundamentally though, this isn't true. If you look at the 1st level Cleric list, spells like Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Evil, Detect Magic, Light, Protection from Evil, and Resist Cold are just as consequential and useful as pretty much the whole 1st level M-U list. Yes, Tenser's Floating Disk is great if you can find it, and Unseen Servant is amazing, and Detect Magic is marginally more powerful on the M-U list, but really the only spells your theory might hold true on are Charm Person and Sleep. If the above Cleric spells were on the M-U list they'd be more useful than most of the list.

Instead, like you I gave MUs some bonus proficiencies, so they have more non-combat utility at all levels. And one aspect of 3e that I really liked was the idea that more Int means more skills for everyone--that was the edition where even for pure fighters Int was not a dump stat!

It's really hard to replicate that in 1e because NWPs are doing double duty as both feats (like Blindfighting) and skills. So it's hard to really replicate it. The awkwardness with skills is a big reason why I left AD&D for other systems and only came back with 3e D&D. Plus, unlike 3e you aren't dealing with point buy ability scores so you can't balance things on the idea that being good in this area involves a sacrifice in another. You are just risking more double stacking and rewarding the already well rewarded. I'm OK with the mechanic I used here only because I really don't feel the class is playable with less than 16 INT (some rare cases aside) and because I limited the list of allowable NWPs to relatively low impact craft NWPs (in 3e terms Craft skills).

I also allow crafting scrolls from 1st level (like Holmes)

It isn't really useful at 1st level though, because you have neither the formula nor the money for such expensive work.

 

[Celebrim]

I've been toying with an idea of allowing Magic Users to be able to choose a spell slot combo which would consist of a combat/non-combat spell (would be offensive/defensive/utility in your example). They have to decide on the combo (for example, magic missile/feather fall/mending) at memorization time, but during cast time, they could decide which one they would use and then the combo slot would be gone (if they decided to cast magic missile, then the feather fall and mending spell wouldn't be available). This would allow them more flexibility, but wouldn't allow them any more power.

One interesting question is could you port Sorcerer into 1e AD&D.

But your solution misses the point that fundamentally the power level of low level M-U's is not excessive. M-U's only get to be a real problem when the 5th and 6th level spells come online, and they can start doing really game breaking things. They are generally balanced with the other classes between say 3rd and 8th level, and if anything are on the weak side to that point barring the lucky (and allowed) acquisition of some game breaking item like a Wand of Flame with a lot of charges or a Staff of the Magi. This is even more true if you start applying the whole of the RAW to them, like weapon vs. AC modifiers (the discussion that really launched my series of essays).

I feel sometimes in this thread like the time I met my future brother in law's (then a little high school munchkin) and the friend was telling me about his 30th level Paladin who could kill anything and was currently working his way through the Deities and Demigods, and I was like, "Let's just have a little practice game and let's see if I can kill you with just the Monster manual.", then I proceeded to just murder the Paladin with a pit trap and an eye of the deep, before the then naked Paladin and half-dead Paladin was eaten by a roper. It didn't take much, just making the game something other than duels on a tournament surface.

I assure everyone, a low level M-U does not survive. If I ran a game for a party and one had a low level M-U, they would die to something simply from me not trying to avoid killing them; not even vengefully targetting the M-U.

I would allow a new spell of recharge wand at level 1 and allow MUs to recharge wands (but would have the upper charge limit to be less over time, so that a wand couldn't be used forever.

I'm pretty much OK with recharging wands forever, just as long as you put in the time and appropriate spell slots. I wouldn't let you recharge a wand of polymorph with a 1st level spell, but I would let you say recharge a wand of magic missiles if you knew magic missile. provided you were willing to spend an amount of time and money proportionate to the creation of the item and proportionate to the charges regained.

But the last thing we need is a class that is only viable if they find early on rare and highly expensive magical items.

Scrolls would be allowed at level 1, but would require exotic materials for the ink which would be different for each spell and maybe person.

Which doesn't help you at 1st level anyway, since you have neither the money nor ability to acquire said exotic materials like griffon's blood and giant squid ink.

Wouldn't use cantrips at all, but I prefer more low magic than high magic settings.

So, this choice is IMO incoherent (not "I wouldn't use cantrips" but "I wouldn't use cantrips to preserve a low magic setting"). What you end up creating is a setting which is high magic where the PCs are, but which is mysteriously clueless and incompetent regarding something that exists and is actually pervasive with respect to how NPCs behave. What is coherent is that low level magic is common and familiar because all the evidence is that NPCs live in a world where that is true, but high-level magic is very rare and those that master it deemed consequential. Otherwise, you are dealing with a problem that the king's guards make no allowance for invisible creatures, castles aren't constructed with the assumption of flying creatures, and merchants don't realize they can be magically swindled and have no defenses against it. "Only the PCs have magic" is an incoherent choice that leads to dysfunctional play. You don't have to fill the world with magical wonders like Eberron (though that setting is coherent IMO) but you do have to assume that people live day to day in a world of spirits, fairies, magicians, and werewolves because that's where the PC's are going to end up living, and they aren't unique or special.

Even with Gygaxian realism, the presence of high level NPCs is pretty darn prevalent. "Village of Homlet" would not and absolutely does not get passed my own sensibilities because there are vastly too many high-level NPCs in such a small settlement.

 

[fuindordm]

100 gp for an extra first level spell on a scroll is not at all hard to come by in published adventures even at level 1. It's one of the choices that makes the setting--I decided that since MUs are utterly dependent on spellbooks and writing their spells down, it makes sense that crafting a scroll is part of their basic training.

As for the design principle of MU spells being more powerful than C spells, I meant that as my design principle, not Gygax'. Both classes have some obvious winners: command, light, and hold person for clerics, sleep and stinking cloud for MUs for example. However, in the interest of making the player experiences of C and MU more distinct, I ultimately decided to give MUs different benefits from high Int than the clerics.

(Gygax' design principles for most classes are wildly inconsistent, and his methods for balancing the are classes mostly ridiculous. I do not pay much attention to the justifications and contradictions that made it to print.)

Regarding skills in 1e, I've already shared my skill system (I think it was in the thief thread). All the skills on my list are pretty valuable and players are eager to get more of them on their sheet.

 

[Celebrim]

Regarding skills in 1e, I've already shared my skill system (I think it was in the thief thread). All the skills on my list are pretty valuable and players are eager to get more of them on their sheet.

I think we were pretty close in our thinking about what the thief needs. We had gone very much in the same direction.

"As for 100 gp for a first level spell on a scroll", that's very 3e thinking. The 100 gp to make the scroll isn't what I would consider to be the hurdle you have to overcome (though 100 gp is very much more than your starting money most likely). The hurdle is that you'd need to know the formula for making the magic item, and you have to be able to acquire the ingredients which are supposed to be rare and exotic per every example published at the time. So in order for that to be an actually useful benefit, you also have to say that M-U start with the formula for making scrolls of the spells that they know, and you have to have pervasive magic shops where you can stock up on wereboar blood and manticore bile, or else you have to get close to 3e as it was often played and further away from 1e than my 3e game was.

Consider actual 1e thought by comparison: Charging Isn't Cheap

I can see allowing some characters to start with a single 1st level spell on a scroll or allowing 1st level characters to make scrolls of 1st level spells as a special benefit (you take the "Hedge Wizard" NWP, for example), but it generally just doesn't address how much and how pervasively the RAW knocks down M-Us and kicks them while they are down.

Sure, we might be able to address the issue by rewriting 80% of M-U spells (or inventing new more consequential ones), but that's more work than addressing character balance directly. A deep dive into character balance has to include the spells, and I've done that for 3e, but that's a ton of work compared to just helping the M-U marginally.

 

[Lanefan]

You are noticing one of the big things for sure. By cutting the preparation time by 1/5th, how long it takes to prep your spells doesn't really start to get impactful to 14th level or so.

Another option is to simply cap the prep time at a fixed amount, such that no matter how much you have to replenish it can only take so long. The in-fiction rationale would be that the mage is mostly studying the higher-level spells anyway as she's already so familiar with her lower-level spells she just needs to give those a quick glance each day.

For my game, the cap is 8 hours.

 

[Lanefan]

I think this looks pretty good, if I were to play an AD&D game again, this might make me consider a Wizard, and that's pretty good considering how miserable an experience playing AD&D Wizards was for me in the past.

I assume that having done this, Illusionist is next for revision? If so, I'd like to ask a question I've had for a long time now- is there really justification for Illusionist as a separate class?

Yes!

And Necromancer, too - there's ample room for a sub-class there.

Now, I will say, that I know my experience with the Illusionist isn't universal- there are people who love the versatility and freedom of expression illusions can give you, and have had good Dungeon Masters willing to work with Illusionist PC's to make the class experience an enjoyable one- and some people do like the challenge of being a magical con artist, tricking and bluffing others, using their wits and creativity to succeed.

That's the class fantasy I wanted when I attempted to play one. It's not what I ever got, and I've had a skeptical view of Illusion magic ever since.

Thing to note with Illusionists is that sometimes their tricks work great and other times they fall flat.

Illusionists are also wonderful if you want to play a Chaotic crap-disturber. Believe me on this.

 

[Celebrim]

Another option is to simply cap the prep time at a fixed amount...

This is what 3e does, and once again I note that a fixed 1e AD&D is 3e and really talking about fixing 1e AD&D while retaining it's feel is just a discussion of what parts of 3e do you want to implement.

 

[Lanefan]

One interesting question is could you port Sorcerer into 1e AD&D.

From experience: yes you can.

At least their preparation mechanics: no pre-mem, if you have a slot of that level you can cast any spell you know of that level. Hard restricted to slot by level, if you're out of 2nd level slots that's it, you simply cannot cast another 2nd-level spell today (i.e. you cannot burn a 3rd-level slot to cast a 2nd-level spell).

That's how I've been doing it for my current campaign. At low levels it was great - I saw spells get cast I'd never seen before - and not overpowered, but at higher levels it's overcooked. Work in progress...

I'm pretty much OK with recharging wands forever, just as long as you put in the time and appropriate spell slots. I wouldn't let you recharge a wand of polymorph with a 1st level spell, but I would let you say recharge a wand of magic missiles if you knew magic missile. provided you were willing to spend an amount of time and money proportionate to the creation of the item and proportionate to the charges regained.

But the last thing we need is a class that is only viable if they find early on rare and highly expensive magical items.

That, and if-when they do find any wands you-as-DM lose the ability to restrict their use by limiting the number of charges...unless you make rechargeable/non-rechargeable status a specific property of each wand.

 

[Lanefan]

This is what 3e does, and once again I note that a fixed 1e AD&D is 3e and really talking about fixing 1e AD&D while retaining it's feel is just a discussion of what parts of 3e do you want to implement.

So another example of 3e catching up to where we already were (we've had the 8-hour limit since about 1987). Love it!