I survived the "Tomb of Horrors". In fact, everyone but the thief did (and he could have taken a couple more precautions and he rolled bad). It took skill, luck and some solid dice by most of the party but we survived. It was very suspenseful though and a great time.
Magic deadly to the caster and allies
- Thread starter Bullgrit
- Start date
I survived the "Tomb of Horrors". In fact, everyone but the thief did (and he could have taken a couple more precautions and he rolled bad). It took skill, luck and some solid dice by most of the party but we survived. It was very suspenseful though and a great time.
Whacky dangerous magic made for, IMO, more reward for 'system mastery.'
Any fool can throw a lightning bolt, and accidentally cook his own biscuits.
Any reasonably competent player can throw a lightning bolt and not kill any of his party members (or himself).
But when an experienced player lines up that perfect shot and rebounds a lightning bolt across the evil high priest, catching himself in the blast for the chance to do double damage to the priest, it's a thing of beauty. Dice are rolled, teeth are gritted and nobody's exactly sure whether the bad-guy will die, the mage will die, or *both* will die.
Any fool can throw a lightning bolt, and accidentally cook his own biscuits.
Any reasonably competent player can throw a lightning bolt and not kill any of his party members (or himself).
But when an experienced player lines up that perfect shot and rebounds a lightning bolt across the evil high priest, catching himself in the blast for the chance to do double damage to the priest, it's a thing of beauty. Dice are rolled, teeth are gritted and nobody's exactly sure whether the bad-guy will die, the mage will die, or *both* will die.
Remathilis
Legend
I did too, and I WAS the thief!
Still, we lost a few characters to no-save traps and the sheer amount of magic needed to bring them back (ring of three wishes no more) made all of us wonder if it was really "worth" it just for the bragging rights...
For me, fireballs spreading and lightning bolts bouncing aren’t about them being “tricky”. I think, rather, that I like that they require me to think even more carefully when using them.
Speaking—as I only can—for myself: I don’t like it when my PC dies. Especially since that means I most likely made a bad choice or at least a bad bet. I want, however, my PCs to die when my failure means they should because otherwise it makes my victories feel hollow.
When it does happen, however, I’d like to at least get a good story out of it. ^_^
Wik
First Post
I like games with a random magic element... and I know that at least one of the players in my current group (my brother) is a huge fan of it as well. In our last 3.5E game, he played a wild mage... in our Iron heroes game, he played the arcanist (and loved triggering the negative effects)... and if we were playing Warhammer, he'd be gunning for a wizard just for the Curse of Tzeentch (or whatever it's called).
Triggering negative effects with your magic is great, because it puts a limiting factor on your spells. Dark Sun is great for this, because whenever you cast, you have to think creatively. Sure, it might be useful to cast Charm Person on that merchant... but if I do, plants nearby are going to rot, and I could get lynched. And yeah, I could cast Sleep, but where am I going to get more Rose Petal components?
A while ago (two years, maybe?) I played a Wu Jen caster, and he was probably my favourite 3E spellcaster, simply because of his Taboos. His magical drawbacks - rather than his strengths - were what made him a fun character to play.
***
On the "character death" side of things... yeah, it can kind of suck when a character dies, but it happens. And when it does happen, I sort of embrace it, because it makes me realize that my actions can have serious drawbacks. My players generally accept character death, and roll with it. If I killed off one of our characters (all of which are at least six months in), I think the players would grimace and make up a new one... and then gloriously share tales forever after.
(Seriously... since my 4e campaign began, I've killed off around six PCs, and only two of those were raised from the dead... and yet those characters' deaths are fondly remembered).
Triggering negative effects with your magic is great, because it puts a limiting factor on your spells. Dark Sun is great for this, because whenever you cast, you have to think creatively. Sure, it might be useful to cast Charm Person on that merchant... but if I do, plants nearby are going to rot, and I could get lynched. And yeah, I could cast Sleep, but where am I going to get more Rose Petal components?
A while ago (two years, maybe?) I played a Wu Jen caster, and he was probably my favourite 3E spellcaster, simply because of his Taboos. His magical drawbacks - rather than his strengths - were what made him a fun character to play.
***
On the "character death" side of things... yeah, it can kind of suck when a character dies, but it happens. And when it does happen, I sort of embrace it, because it makes me realize that my actions can have serious drawbacks. My players generally accept character death, and roll with it. If I killed off one of our characters (all of which are at least six months in), I think the players would grimace and make up a new one... and then gloriously share tales forever after.
(Seriously... since my 4e campaign began, I've killed off around six PCs, and only two of those were raised from the dead... and yet those characters' deaths are fondly remembered).
Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Done.HT has my experience summed up nicely. Someone give that dude some XP or something, this is insightful.
Lanefan
roguerouge
First Post
Randomly lethal magical effects are fun because they offer the player... plausible deniability for their utterly just revenge against your friend's Fighter!
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