[Iron Heroes] Magic oddities.

[Agamon]

What part of the below post do you not under stand?

He means, other than the embarassing blog/wiki screw-up

Driddle, my man, you're confusing, "Oh my god, we must fix this, lest it bring the world to an untimely end!" or "Damn, I want my pimped-out wizard to fling some fireballs at your Iron Hero ass!" with, "Let's discuss (along with the designer) what tweeks might be made to a small, somewhat flawed (in the opinion of those partaking in the discussion, including the designer), part of an otherwise stellar system."

At least, that's how I see it.

 

[Kaos]

Ah! A flash of insight!

Unlikely.

What threw me was the lack of magic-related feats and traits, the few references to arcanists overall, the teensy ratio of mage-to-combatant classes, and the repetitive stress on how magic is generally the province of monsters and enemies. I figured IH was purposely designed to downplay the significance, and ergo, the power of the traditional spellcaster concept when compared with the more visceral warrior types.

IH was, according to every bit of pre-release information given, designed to accomodate a less gear dependant game. And on that, it hit the mark.

But the very blurb itself hints that the arcanist has his place in the world, and not as the whipping-boy.
"It is not the spell, but the mind that shapes it."

Note that my complaints about the magic system boil down to seeing it as not evoking that particular blurb very well: it pretty much is the spell that matters, and Conjuration got it.

I was looking at it alllllll wrong! The product is obviously a challenge or test to the uber-bright consumer to fix the magic system. A puzzle book of sorts. Heck, they even published it with blank space inside the cover for wizarding notes!

This is not about playing with a puzzle book or meeting a challenge; it's about looking at a system that does 90% of what I want out of a system, and trying to figure out how to get that last 10%. And even the designer has been encouraging of that.

OTOH, if you're just trolling... then I commend you on well chosen bait.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I shouldn't have taken the book at face value. Sorry. I've seen the error of my ways and will speak on this no more. Really. Not even a peep. I promise. My wife says I'm a bad person for treating you folks so sarcastically in this thread.

Driddle,

With the tenor of your recent posts on this thread I think that this is a good idea. Any more posts like your last two in this thread will be considered trolling/deliberate attempts to derail a thread and are likely to be deleted.

Regards,

 

[Plane Sailing]

And it goes without saying - please nobody quote driddles last posts to get a last word in against him, since that would stoke the fires.

Thanks,

 

[Drew]

I'd like to chime in and say that, despite some protests, this is one of my favorite parts about ENWorld (and the rest of the on-line gaming community, to a lesser extent). I like to tweak, but I don't have infinite time to do so. As such, I'm very grateful for the time and talents of those who do have the time.

So...type monkeys, type!

 

[Malachias Invictus]

"Let's discuss (along with the designer) what tweeks might be made to a small, somewhat flawed (in the opinion of those partaking in the discussion, including the designer), part of an otherwise stellar system."

At least, that's how I see it.

Very well put. If some folks are not interested in doing so, that is just dandy. Of course, I look forward to having intense discussions with those that *are* interested. We might even come up with some interesting takes on magic that could be useful in other settings, if we aren't careful ;-)

 

[Smart]

I'm interested. My IH game begins in two weeks, I have one confirmed arcanist in the group. He'll be playing it as-is and toning down the evoker side unless a good modification can be created to the system (which I think has some great building blocks) at which point I will allow a retrofit for his PC. Please continue this productive thread. Thanks.

 

[Particle_Man]

All of the above said, I will wait a bit before changing things in my own campaign. While the Arcanist is weak in some respects, there is something to be said for the fact that he is the "only game in town". So if you need lightning, you have only one goto guy. Maybe that will make up for things. I dunno.

 

[MacMathan]

For me it is not the places arcanists are weak that worries it is where they are arguably even more powerful than a standard caster. Some of the schools are problematic at higher levels.

 

[Particle_Man]

Yeah but that backfiring can be a counter to that. I mean, I can conjure a dragon, but it might turn on me!