OSR Old school wizards, how do you play level 1?

[Dannyalcatraz]

 

[ilgatto]

Old school wizards, how do you play level 1?

Possum.


Disclaimer: Couldn't resist. Do carry on.

 

[howandwhy99]

Spells are balanced per day and not built for combat, not necessarily. The game isn't about combat but when in one magic-users should use the weapons available to them. Avoid melee unless you have an advantage. Take cover, assist your allies, don't leave town without fight support, but that depends on your plans and how dangerous where you are going is.

 

[Quickleaf]

You’ve cast your single spell for the day and combat breaks out again. How do you spend your turns?

Bluff like hell.

 

[cbwjm]

I've no idea what I've said in this thread before, but I'm considering allowing basic wands and staffs that allow the magic user to charge them between sessions with "ammo" so that they can use a wand to shoot enemies instead of having to resort to throwing daggers/darts.

 

[Mannahnin]

I've no idea what I've said in this thread before, but I'm considering allowing basic wands and staffs that allow the magic user to charge them between sessions with "ammo" so that they can use a wand to shoot enemies instead of having to resort to throwing daggers/darts.

I've toyed with this one too. It can help the player feel their PC is more magical, but OTOH it can make magic itself feel a bit less rare and special, where part of the feel and play experience of old school is normally that you have fewer spells but those spells are more powerful and impactful if they work.

There's also the potential ramification of this giving the party an easy tool to safely damage dangerous stuff like shadows and wights from a distance.

In the last batch of 10k xp pre-gens I made for an adventure I gave one of the M-Us a wand of stone throwing with a dozen charges, which allowed him to propel a normal nonmagical rock as a missile weapon for d6 damage at up to 60' with a normal to-hit roll. I think I erred on the side of caution with that, but something like that (potentially rechargeable for significant cash) might be a good way to do this.

The other old suggestion I like to make M-Us feel more magical is to rule that they can always do minor cantrip-y things based on whatever spells they have memorized. Being able to light their pipe or a rope on fire with their fingertip if they have Fireball memorized, for example. Or lull small children or animals to sleep if they have Sleep prepared. Generally I want to restrict it to utility and flavor functions, but it's a nice option if the player doesn't feel like their character is magical enough.

 

[Lanefan]

In the last batch of 10k xp pre-gens I made for an adventure I gave one of the M-Us a wand of stone throwing with a dozen charges, which allowed him to propel a normal nonmagical rock as a missile weapon for d6 damage at up to 60' with a normal to-hit roll. I think I erred on the side of caution with that, but something like that (potentially rechargeable for significant cash) might be a good way to do this.

Just because the character's a magic-user doesn't mean everything it does has to be magical.

I mean, you could have accomplished the same thing in a far simpler way by just giving this guy a bag of rocks and proficiency with sling (they're pre-gens, so maybe in that setting 'sling' is an allowed weapon option for all mages?).

 

[James Gasik]

I mean, it's in the name. "Magic-user". Seems odd to be a Magic-user who only occasionally uses magic.

 

[overgeeked]

I mean, it's in the name. "Magic-user". Seems odd to be a Magic-user who only occasionally uses magic.

Does a fighter stop being a fighter if she only fights occasionally?

 

[cbwjm]

I mean, it's in the name. "Magic-user". Seems odd to be a Magic-user who only occasionally uses magic.

Agree, the feel of the character is important. If the magic-user is stuck having to use a sling, they feel much less magical. It's why I like the at-will and cantrip powers of 4e and 5e, and pathfinder. Also the reserve feats which I was reminded about a while ago. They allow the wizard to keep doing magic. If you want to limit it, then a charged wand works well I feel.