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

[James Gasik]

Issue #136 page 46

Ah, thank you!

 

[Celebrim]

Since people have been asking about what I would do with Illusionists, I tacked on to the end of the original essay what I would do with Illusionists. It takes very little to describe, and I think is generally better balanced and more fun than the original class, which had wonky all over the board power level where some spells were clearly under-costed and others over-costed, and whether you could do anything at all depended on how your DM interpreted the rules around disbelieving illusions. Yet, for all the changes, I still think the core of the class is there for those that want the experience.

I may add other specialist M-U write ups if I feel inspired. The biggest challenge is that a lot of them, say Necromancer, are poorly supported even into 3e era despite all the spells that have been published, so I'd also have to append a few example spells to add that would make the specialist actually interesting to play.

 

[Celebrim]

I really like the old colour of magic article from dragon magazine and like having unlimited cantrip magic, but only for atmosphere, I'm not sure how I feel about the attack cantrips of 5e, on the one hand, I love them because it makes the spellcaster feel magical since they don't have to resort to throwing darts or using a light crossbow, but on the other hand, with no way to take away their "weapons" it can impact some events and encounters.

Personally I don't see the need to give any caster unlimited attack magic outside of a video game where how you are attacking is just color anyway, but these aren't insurmountable problems. For example, you could restrict an unlimited attack cantrip by having it require an arcane focus like a wand or a something of that sort, that would then functionally be the M-U's weapon. So long as the attacks with this 'weapon' were reasonably balanced with attacks with ordinary weapons, then it would be balanced. Generally speaking, I'd make such attacks equivalent to the weakest sorts of ranged weapon attacks to balance against the advantage of unlimited ammunition.

To maintain this image, the magic-user ought to be able to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. Xeno should be able to light his pipe like that - SNAP! He could probably poach his eggs without a campfire, too.

I try to capture this very idea with the relatively large number of cantrips I allow M-U per day.

Don't go overboard. A good rule of thumb is to allow magic-users to do magically only what they can already do by normal means.

This is my point about wizards being able to use unlimited attacks provided those attacks are just ordinary attacks with a bit of color. If I found myself in a situation with a bunch of Millennials who grew up with expectations set by video games, I could happily add to any spell-casting class from 1e to 3e that they could use a specially prepared wand to flick out magical fizzing sparkly things that struck for 1d4 damage but required a successful 'to hit' roll all day long. I'd even happily up the damage to 1d4+1 at 6th level and 1d4+2 at 12th level, or whatever. If that's what it takes to feel like you are a real wizard Harry Potter, then OK, no harm done.

It is worth repeating that these effects are only for atmosphere. They should not be useful in combat. Tantalus the Beguiler (who knows charm person) can probably haggle a good price on a new horse...

Now this is the sort of thing where I draw the line. First, being able to haggle a good price on a horse is not mere color. And secondly, in my campaign world if it came out you'd used magic in any fashion to help in negotiation with a merchant you would be sentenced to death for witchcraft with the penalty being your fingers broken, your tongue cut out, your eyes gouged out and your body burnt at the stake.

 

[Celebrim]

I discussed earlier the fact that the weirdest thing about the M-U was that they leveled up very slowly when they were the weakest, and then suddenly accelerated to leveling faster than a thief just when they were really beginning to get powerful. I hadn't touched that yet because setting leveling rates on a class is always very touchy as it is easy to hidden nerf a class badly by messing with the level advancement rates. After all, it's not how powerful are you at level X that matters, but what level are you at XP total Y.

Hidden in the numbers, Wizard's get levels 6, 7, and 8 almost for free. The three levels in total require about as much XP as you'd expect to spend for one level. This power levels the Wizard up from a slow progressing class through the early slog to being a level or two above every class but the thief (which they match for now). And that brings online 4th and 5th level spells, which while not yet as game changing as the later levels are still pretty impactful and important.

And I see why Gygax did what he did, and I'm not happy with the obvious fixes. But as a preview, this is what you end up with if you give Wizard's a "fair" advancement rate, and wow is it ever a hard nerf.

Experience M-U Level 4-Sided Dice for Accumulated HD Level Title 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0 - 2,000 1 1 Prestidigitator 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2,001 - 4,000 2 2 Evoker 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4,001 - 8,000 3 3 Conjurer 5 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8,001 - 22,000 4 4 Charmer 6 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22,001 - 45,000 5 5 Soothsayer 7 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
45.001 - 90,000 6 6 Seer 8 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
90,001 - 175,000 7 7 Magician 9 4 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0
175,001 - 375,000 8 8 Enchanter/Enchantress 10 4 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0
375,001- 750,000 9 9 Sorcerer/Sorceress 11 4 4 4 2 1 0 0 0 0
750,001 - 1,125,000 10 10 Wizard 12 4 4 4 3 2 0 0 0 0
1,125,001 - 1,500,000 11 11 Wizard (11st level) 13 5 4 4 4 3 0 0 0 0
1,500,001 - 1,875,000 12 11+1 Wizard (12th level) 14 5 4 4 4 4 1 0 0 0
1,875,001 - 2,250,000 13 11+2 Wizard (13th level) 15 5 5 5 4 4 2 0 0 0
2,250,001 - 2,625,000 14 11+3 Wizard (14th level) 16 5 5 5 5 4 2 1 0 0
2,625,001 - 3,000,000 15 11+4 Wizard (15th level) 17 5 5 5 5 5 3 1 0 0
3,000,001 - 3,375,000 16 11+5 Mage 18 5 5 5 5 5 3 2 1 0
3,750,000 - 4,125,000 17 11+6 Mage (17th level) 19 6 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 0
4,125,001 - 4,500,000 18 11+7 Arch-Mage 20 6 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 1
4,500,001 - 4,875,000 19 11+8 Arch-Mage (19th level) 21 6 6 6 5 5 3 3 3 1
4,875,001 - 5,250,000 20 11+9 Arch-Mage (20th level) 22 6 6 6 5 5 4 3 3 2
5,250,001 - 5,625,000 21 11+10 Arch-Mage (21st level) 23 6 6 6 5 5 4 4 4 2
5,625,001 - 6,000,000 22 11+11 Arch-Mage (22nd level) 24 6 6 6 5 5 5 4 4 3
6,000,001 - 6,375,000 23 11+12 Arch-Mage (23rd level) 25 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 3
6,375,001 - 6,750,000 24 11+13 Arch-Mage (24th level) 26 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4
6,750,001 - 7,125,000 25 11+14 Arch-Mage (25th level) 27 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5
7,125,001 - 7,500,000 26 11+15 Arch-Mage (26th level) 28 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5
7,125,001 - 7,500,000 27 11+16 Arch-Mage (27th level) 29 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5
7,500,001 - 7,875,000 28 11+17 Arch-Mage (28th level) 30 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7,875,001 - 8,250,000 29 11+18 Arch-Mage (29th level) 31 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6