Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="easl" data-source="post: 7118094" data-attributes="member: 6856073">I have not really looked at how PCs compare at high grade marks, but at low grades the &quot;problem&quot; (and I put it in quotes because it might not be one) is that it's trivially easy to put together a physical melee fighter with 4d6+X damage.&nbsp; You really only need a longsword and Deadly strike, and you can do it all day. To do that with a spell takes 8 MP and a skill of 8 [or a fully dedicated firemage, and deadly strike].&nbsp; So it seems that you need to invest a lot more in magic - either exploits for a firemage, or skills for a general mage - to achieve the combat ability that a non-magical character can achieve with just 1-3 skill points and one exploit.&nbsp; That seems somewhat unreasonable to me.I think the fix may be relatively easy; I'd give Evocation +1d6 for 1 MP up to 4d6, then increase the cost to +1d6 per 2 MP. That would let a starting mage go toe-to-toe with a starting archer or fighter for a skill of 4-5, and throw 5-6 such attacks before he/she runs out rather than 2-3.&nbsp; I don't think its's particularly unbalanced either, because with 13 skill points investing 4-5 (a third!) just to get a strong attack prevents them from being an unbalanced 'do everything' type of character.&nbsp;&nbsp; At least in theory.OTOH, this is really an issue of play group preference. If they like sword and sorcery, I think they need to boost sorcery. But if they like a lower magic campaign, the system without modification is very very good.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="easl, post: 7118094, member: 6856073"] I have not really looked at how PCs compare at high grade marks, but at low grades the "problem" (and I put it in quotes because it might not be one) is that it's trivially easy to put together a physical melee fighter with 4d6+X damage. You really only need a longsword and Deadly strike, and you can do it all day. To do that with a spell takes 8 MP and a skill of 8 [or a fully dedicated firemage, and deadly strike]. So it seems that you need to invest a lot more in magic - either exploits for a firemage, or skills for a general mage - to achieve the combat ability that a non-magical character can achieve with just 1-3 skill points and one exploit. That seems somewhat unreasonable to me. I think the fix may be relatively easy; I'd give Evocation +1d6 for 1 MP up to 4d6, then increase the cost to +1d6 per 2 MP. That would let a starting mage go toe-to-toe with a starting archer or fighter for a skill of 4-5, and throw 5-6 such attacks before he/she runs out rather than 2-3. I don't think its's particularly unbalanced either, because with 13 skill points investing 4-5 (a third!) just to get a strong attack prevents them from being an unbalanced 'do everything' type of character. At least in theory. OTOH, this is really an issue of play group preference. If they like sword and sorcery, I think they need to boost sorcery. But if they like a lower magic campaign, the system without modification is very very good. [/QUOTE]

Verification