Is there a purpose to the spell twist wood?

[Goblin-King]

While I understand wanting to implement this spell more fully, I feel like its intended purpose was really just to disrupt those elven archers in the quest pack it came with. I think taking it to mean that you can twist the wood on all weapons that contain any part of wood is stretching the extent of the spell.

I fully agree it's mainly meant to annoy the elven archers. However the spell DO explicitly state it works on "any wooden weapon, such as a staff, bow, or crossbow", implying that it's intended to work on other characters than just the archers. It's a little strange they write "staff" since only players use staves (or crossbows for that matter). My theory is that the quest line is just an example on how to use the components (someone suggested this in another thread about something else). The fun part comes when you write your own quests.

YES! That's right! The elven spells are designed to be given to an enemy spellcaster to be used on the heroes.

I think I would rule that players can only really use it on the archers. Yes it sucks, but so do a lot of the original spell decks if the right situation doesn't emerge. The elf player is free to NOT select it.

[Daedalus]

While I understand wanting to implement this spell more fully, I feel like its intended purpose was really just to disrupt those elven archers in the quest pack it came with. I think taking it to mean that you can twist the wood on all weapons that contain any part of wood is stretching the extent of the spell.

Should a spell be limited to just one expansion? While it's reasonable for anyone to disagree with a broadened application, I think there are at least two additional weapons that should be included when considering a narrow interpretation of "any wooden weapon." Based on the examples of a staff, bow, and crossbow, a criteria is established that includes weapons that are fully or mostly made of wood, or they depend on missile accuracy. If the EU spear is in play, it shares similar metal--wood composition to an arrow, and the haft resembles a staff. I'd say that it should not only twist for those reasons, but also because its missile accuracy would be ruined. Another weapon, the spiked club wielded by ogres and the Warbear, is mainly made of wood, so it too is a good candidate. Other weapons could more easily be left out of the effect of the spell if Morcar/Zargon wished. This sounds like a good compromise to me, but I'd still halve the effect on a spiked club to account for its mass and the bigger monster wielding it.

[Daedalus]

Upon revisiting this thread, I think this text for an expanded application could work for me:

Twist Wood

This spell causes any wooden weapon,
such as a staff, bow, or crossbow, to
become warped into uselessness. A
wooden-hafted weapon or a large
spiked club only partially warps so that
any successful hits must be rerolled.

[cynthialee]

I rule this spell is also useful for forcing open doors and treasure chests at range.

[Count Mohawk]

I rule this spell is also useful for forcing open doors and treasure chests at range.

Nice creative thinking there.

As I may or may not have stated earlier, Twist Wood can be potent but is only useful in a handful of situations, so adding to the list of scenarios in which casting it is useful is an excellent way to improve an otherwise low-impact spell.

[cynthialee]

You could also destroy a number of the furniture items with said spell, if you take a logical approach. I can't think of a case where it would help, but I could cook up an animated table running around the room, smacking heroes and generally being dangerous....

[slev]

I came up with this updated version:

Twist Wood (V2)
Cast & Discard: Target one non-Hero figure in Line of Sight and chose one of the following three effects:
Target loses the ability to make diagonal attacks.
Target loses the ability to make ranged attacks.
Target changes their melee combat dice to Green from now on. (if you don't have German colour dice, this changes to hit on white shields)

[Anderas]

I like these new Variants!
I try to save some more words. Let me know if it is understandable.

Twist Wood:
The target loses any ranged or diagonal keyword and attacks with green dice from now on.
Or
Open one door or treasure chest in line of sight, being save from any trap attached to it.

Replace "green dice" with "white shields" for hardcore white dice users, or if you don't like to attack on shields, replace by "5+ on movement dice"

[Fullork345]

While I understand wanting to implement this spell more fully, I feel like its intended purpose was really just to disrupt those elven archers in the quest pack it came with. I think taking it to mean that you can twist the wood on all weapons that contain any part of wood is stretching the extent of the spell.

I fully agree it's mainly meant to annoy the elven archers. However the spell DO explicitly state it works on "any wooden weapon, such as a staff, bow, or crossbow", implying that it's intended to work on other characters than just the archers. It's a little strange they write "staff" since only players use staves (or crossbows for that matter). My theory is that the quest line is just an example on how to use the components (someone suggested this in another thread about something else). The fun part comes when you write your own quests.

YES! That's right! The elven spells are designed to be given to an enemy spellcaster to be used on the heroes.

I think I would rule that players can only really use it on the archers. Yes it sucks, but so do a lot of the original spell decks if the right situation doesn't emerge. The elf player is free to NOT select it.

Well wizards of zargon have Orcs with crossbows.

[torilen]

I was going to say thing as cynthia - it could be used to open doors (and getting by trapped doors, in that case) and
to open treasure chests (and getting by those traps, as well).

I would also allow the option to cast it on "wooden" monsters. If you've seen my monster list, I have the following
creatures that could take damage from the spell, most likely, and any constructed and animated
creature would take damage or simply be destroyed by the spell.
- Treant
- Plant Man (maybe)
- Wood Man
- Living Vines (maybe)

(my monster list is here...along with other expansions of mine: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1212&p=12572#p12572