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<blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 3439387" data-attributes="member: 1757">Simple reason: Because why else have magic instead of just limiting characters to swinging swords and using skills?IMHO, there is no point to having a distinct set of mechanics (in this case, magic) unless it is *different* from other game mechanics. I fully understand that it's easy enough to balance spellcasting with melee combat or skill uses simply by making its mechanics identical, but then why bother having magic at all? So, one way to make magic different from other mechanics if you don't want to differentiate it using the current route (big booms limited times per day) is to give it a unique feel of unpredictability and danger (big booms with potentially hazardous consequences). This has the side advantage of feeding potential game flavor (making magic creepy and dangerous to be around) and of allowing designers to give mages decent combat abilities/survivability without worrying that it'll unbalance them, since they may *need* a reliable attack/defense mechanic to fall back on.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ruleslawyer, post: 3439387, member: 1757"] Simple reason: Because why else have magic instead of just limiting characters to swinging swords and using skills? IMHO, there is [i]no point[/i] to having a distinct set of mechanics (in this case, magic) unless it is *different* from other game mechanics. I fully understand that it's easy enough to balance spellcasting with melee combat or skill uses simply by making its mechanics identical, but then why bother having magic at all? So, one way to make magic different from other mechanics if you don't want to differentiate it using the current route (big booms limited times per day) is to give it a unique feel of unpredictability and danger (big booms with potentially hazardous consequences). This has the side advantage of feeding potential game flavor (making magic creepy and dangerous to be around) and of allowing designers to give mages decent combat abilities/survivability without worrying that it'll unbalance them, since they may *need* a reliable attack/defense mechanic to fall back on. [/QUOTE]

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