Yet Another Magic Rework

[Anderas]

In the original game they have BP + MP = 10.
In some expansions they get buffed to a total of 12.
My personal experience, somewhere between 12 and 14, maybe 15, is good for the game.

My wizard gets +1 MP from the Talisman of Lore, +1BP +1MP from a wizard's cloak that I did not entirely invent by myself, and I plan to give him yet another MP from somewhere. My wizard gets 1 Spell per 2 MP, so if he has 6 MP he can take randomly 3 Spells from each group, if he has 8 MP he can take all 4 spells from each group. Yes. I have that many and plan to add two more per group so you'd never be sure what spell exactly you get when you choose a group.

The Elf can take randomly 2 spells from a elementary group or he takes all Elf spells. No more "i take water that has healing" because, if you want to be sure, you let that group to the wizard.

Realistic? no. Don't care.

For hero creation, me too, I would check out Slev, Mitchiemacha, Sotiris. Sotiris has no "system" but instead a lot of heroes to choose from.

[mitchiemasha]

Anderas... Play UK... Talisman has +2MP

[lestodante]

it is interesting how michiemasa consider the abilities and his result is always 16, but I only consider the four standard stats, BP, MP, ATT, DEF! The total for each character is 14, except the Barbarian that has a 15!
Elf and Wizard has spells but hey are limited in attack, while the Bartbarian can ALWAYS attack with a minimum of 3 dice and can buy a tool kit to disarm traps like the Dwarf!
Also, a Wizard with a potion or a healing spell needs to WASTE 1 BP, because they recover up to 4 BP and he need to use it when he has lost only 3 BP (and 1 is left), while the other Heroes can wait until they lost 4 BP before using something to heal, so the others don't waste any part of the healing stuff.
Even if he uses all of his spells, his offence is very limited because there are very few spells able to kill an enemy, while many others are just for escaping, healing, or making a monster to miss a turn. So we all agree he need an upgrade.
I wrote my personal idea about the use of magic, following the rule that each additional MP (starting from a minimum of 4) allows the magic-user to know a new spell set.
But please note that a warrior with 5 MP and 5 BP still can't access to any magic, because he is not a magic-user. So the higher MP only allow him to have a better magic resistance against some spells (like the ones included in the Ogre Horde pack).
My magic system was allowing the wizard to upgrade and to own more spell sets and assigning him some "mana" points. Each spell will consume some mana so he can chose from a very high range of spells but twith a limited use so the game will not result unbalanced. So, Mind Points allow to know more magic, Mana Points allow to use them!
Here is the list of the standard spells and considering their effects I attribuited a MANA value to each of them:

Pass through Rock 1
Heal Body 3
Rock Skin 2
Water of Healing 3
Sleep 1
Veil of Mist 1
Courage 2
Fire of Wrath 2
Ball of Flame 2
Genie 3 (or 1 if used to reveal a room)
Tempest 1
Swift Wind 1

The stronger is the spell, the more mana it will consume.
Mana can obviously being recovered during the quest by using special potions or artifacts.
Please note that each sets of spells has a total value of 5 or 6 mana points. So the Wizard will start with 18 MANA POINTS, so he have enough mana to use all of his spells. If he will increase his Mind Points, he will get 6 more mana points for each new MP acquired.
All the new spells (including the ones from WOM, Spells of Darkness, Detection and Protection) will be subject to the same scheme and each set shoul not exceed a value of 6 MANA.
I was also considering the idea to NOT discard the spells after used, so the wizard can use the same spell more times in the same quest, but applying a penalty: when used a second time, the spell will use more mana than usually (still working on this... it can be a double amount or even dice roll to determine the amount)

[girot]

... My magic system was allowing the wizard to upgrade and to own more spell sets and assigning him some "mana" points. Each spell will consume some mana so he can chose from a very high range of spells but twith a limited use so the game will not result unbalanced. So, Mind Points allow to know more magic, Mana Points allow to use them! ...

I like the idea of mana points! My wizard player is an old WoW vet, so that would translate very easily. It would also be handy to be able to cast the same useful spells more than once. That being said, I don't want to make things too easy, lest the game get boring. I definitely don't want that!