Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MerricB" data-source="post: 5487207" data-attributes="member: 3586">In my experience the answer is: It depends on your DM.In the AD&amp;D campaign I played in back in my youth, my magic-user gained a wand of fire (about 90 charges), a staff of power and bracers of armour class 2. Was he a lot more effective and dangerous than most members of the party? Absolutely.Meanwhile, I've played a 1st-level magic-user with nothing except a lone shocking grasp spell. Talk about an underpowered character!Edition makes a huge difference to the capabilities of the magic-user. In 3E, the magic-user can craft wands of fire pretty much at will, has more spells, and has access to multiple scrolls that contain any utility spell he needs during the course of the adventure. (To a large extent, high-level 3e is the high point of the magic-user's effectiveness).AD&amp;D play is also distorted by the use of henchmen. I don't believe that high-level magic-users are that great on their own, but they're so much more interesting to play than your general fighter. When you have a player going into a dungeon playing a magic-user and three fighter henchmen (which is often how RJK or EGG would play), you unsquishify your fighter and make other PCs less needed.Cheers!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MerricB, post: 5487207, member: 3586"] In my experience the answer is: It depends on your DM. In the AD&D campaign I played in back in my youth, my magic-user gained a [i]wand of fire[/i] (about 90 charges), a [i]staff of power[/i] and [i]bracers of armour class 2[/i]. Was he a lot more effective and dangerous than most members of the party? Absolutely. Meanwhile, I've played a 1st-level magic-user with nothing except a lone [i]shocking grasp[/i] spell. Talk about an underpowered character! Edition makes a huge difference to the capabilities of the magic-user. In 3E, the magic-user can craft [i]wands of fire[/i] pretty much at will, has more spells, and has access to multiple scrolls that contain any utility spell he needs during the course of the adventure. (To a large extent, high-level 3e is the high point of the magic-user's effectiveness). AD&D play is also distorted by the use of henchmen. I don't believe that high-level magic-users are that great on their own, but they're so much more interesting to play than your general fighter. When you have a player going into a dungeon playing a magic-user and three fighter henchmen (which is often how RJK or EGG would play), you unsquishify your fighter and make other PCs less needed. Cheers! [/QUOTE]

Verification