The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

[Anderas]

I dont want to give the Wizard extra spell schools if possible. As per today, he already has the highest pile of cards and the longest thinking pause of all the Heroes. It will be worse if he gets more schools.
That's why i was going the long way and creating new spells instead. They are the same, so the thinking pause stays short, but if you have some mind points to spare, you can keep the Spells after casting.

But to be honest, Ball of Fire costs 2 MP.
First time you cast it, it is a success on 1-5 on the movement die.
Second time you cast it, it is a success on 1-3 on the movement die. You can try, why not. I allowed the wizard to spend some extra mind points after the die roll to make the casting result better; resulting in more casting successes but at the same time costing even more mind points.
Latest the third time you can cast it only by discarding.

So what i did here is definitely not OP, at least in the three short games it didn't feel OP. If the Wizard meets somebody who wants to eat Mind Points, he has to think twice. I have to wait and see what happens with the Talisman of Lore and the Staff for i forgot the name for casting twice per round.

[Anderas]

Just thinking what the other Spell sets might look liekl with this system:

Protection Spells

Dispell
Discard: Force one figure in Line of Sight within must discard one Spell Card at random.
Discard: One Magical Trap is removed without effect. This may be played without an Action, interrupting the game turn.
Mastery 1, 1MP: Force one figure in Line of Sight within must discard one Spell Card at random.
Mastery 1, 1MP: One ongoing Magical Effect in your Line of Sight ends.

Invisibility
Discard: One figure in your line of Sight becomes invisible for their next or current turn. While invisible, they may ignore opposing figures, and may not be attacked, not make attack Actions.
Mastery 1: As above, but targeting self. You move one fewer D6 per Movement.

Wall of Stone
Discard or Mastery 1
Place a Wall of Stone inside your Line of Sight. It has Defence 5 and 1BP. If you re-cast this spell while the wall is still in place, remove the earlier wall.

I was preparing my spells without reading your last postings... should have read before!

Protection

Dispel: I wanted the spell to be somewhat better than the original, but without preventing some magical endmonster entirely. So the beginner might remove a card from the other's hand, but the expert with +2 MP Talisman of Lore and +1MP Cloak can stop a spell after it was played out. In both cases you have to discard - in the first case to avoid emptying the hand of a non-Fimir, in the second case to avoid a magical stunlock.

Invisibility: I regarded the effect as somewhat harmless, so i allowed for infinite recasting on a Mind check +2, and if you have no more mind points you can discard it as well.

Wall of Stone: I think this spell is NOT harmless. It is somewhere between a Stunlock and a eternal Heal Body. If this spell is cast infinitely, the heroes could move slowly backwards and always have a wall between themselves and the enemy. On the other hand, i didn't just want to make it a discard spell. This is why i let the eternal recast variant cost two Mind Points - If this tactic is employed, the Wizard will quickly exhaust and the game goes on. Additionally, i made the range "adjacent" so the wizard can't just seal off the far end of the corridor, but he has to be there.
Even the statline is changed: I think the sturdiness of Stone and a 2-field-model is better represented by 2 Body Points; instead i lowered the defense dice. So Now it can be crumbled down reliably, but still it is sturdy enough to stay some turns.
Still, this needs some testing.

Darkness Spells

Chains of Darkness
This Spell cannot target any figure who is already under its effects.
Discard: Target figure in Line of Sight may not make Attack Actions during their next activation.
Discard, mastery 3: All figure in one Target Room within your Line of Sight may not make Attack Actions during their next activation.

Cloak of Shadows
Discard or Mastery 3: Place a Cloak of Shadows on the game board. Within this cloak, no figures may take any Actions other than movement. Figures inside the Cloak may not be the target of effects. If you re-cast this Spell, take the original cloak back.

Arrows of the Night
Discard OR 1MP & Mastery 1: Range two white, Mind defence
1MP & Mastery 3: Range four white, Mind defence

Darkness


Chains of Darkness: I just made it a discard effect, without Master option. But you're right, similar to "Sleep" one could think about giving it a "Expert Wizard option" either to make the effect last more than one round or to affect the entire room. I took a note and will come back to it. Thanks!
Cloak of Shadows: I see, we were thinking along the same lines here. The Expert option is to keep the spell. My Mastery tests are a little bit more difficult as yours as it seems. In my rules, the Wizard may spend some mind points after rolling the dice, to make the result better. That means if you need to roll 1-3 and you roll a 5, you spend two additional mind points and the spell is a success! In addition, in the late game, the Wizard still has a potential when finding another Mind Point +1 Boost: I think with Mastery levels of 4 he will be perfect only after he received Mind Point boost maximum of 4 extra points.
Arrows of the night: I wasn't thinking about an expert option here. I took a note. Maybe that is about to come. The spell as it is, is quite a killer against undead.

Detection Spells

Clairvoyance
Discard or Mastery 1: Reveal one room’s contents. If there is nothing there, you don’t get to try again

Future Sight
Discard or Mastery 0: Until the end of your next turn, you may re-roll any one die.

Treasure Horde
Discard: Immediately draw and resolve three Treasure Cards
Mastery 2: Immediately draw and resolve two Treasure Cards
Mastery 2: As per Treasure Without Doom scroll.

Detection


Clairvoyance: I think this spell shouldn't be available eternally, otherwise it will be cast each turn; which can become boring.
My master option is to reveal Traps and Secret doors as per normal search; and keep the spell. Hidden traps will not be revealed.

Future Sight: This is a quite mighty spell, allowing for rerolling the defense in a room full of enemies, AND making the attack stronger; effectively lifting a group to the next level! So i added some quite high cost on the recast option. I also reformulated the text to accommodate the play with a "Heroquest Rattle", normal turn order and free turn order all the same. I didn't want to have it discarded in the expert option, because then i'd have no single spell in the group with a recast option.

Treasure Horde: As Gold is the Lever that makes the game proceeding too fast or too slow, i think one should be careful to allow eternal recast. So i added an expert option to protect the target from one bad treasure card, but the spell is always discarded.

Control Spells (Slev’s set)

Control Fiend
Discard or 1MP and Mastery 4: One target figure in your Line of Sight becomes your Man-at-Arms. At the start of the owner’s turn, they may roll a number of Combat Dice equal to their MP. On the roll of any friendly shields, this effect ends. If you re-cast this spell, the original effects end.

Drain Mind
Discard: Both you and a target enemy in Lien of Sight roll white equal to current MP and count the number of skulls rolled. The highest roller causes MP damageto the enemy equal to the difference in rolls.
Mastery 2: As above, but your roll Purple dice.

Mental Fortitude
Discard: One figure in Line of Sight recovers up to four lost MP
Discard: Caster recovers up to four lost MP, and may take an extra Cast Action this turn

[/quote]
As i have three spaces for cards free in my Spellbook, i think i will add your control group. I find it quite cool! That's my next point on the todo list.



new beginner's Staff

I made full use of the new font here. I think this will also be my layout for Armour, Potions and Weapons:
bottom left: Restrictions
Bottom right: Material and Place on the body
Bottom center: Artifact or price in Gold

above, random text and rules.
The "diagonal" symbol, however, is not entirely self-explanating... i guess i can live with it.

[slev]

Yeah, mu numbers may be off compared to yours, I'm still getting a handle on the figures. Does seems we're in a similar place with the effects though.

Your Future Site didn't load properly! Maybe I'll see it in the future!

Glad you like the Control Spells. I'm eagerly anticipating your take.

I looked through my Wizardry and Elf spells too. Decided to keep the Elf spells as they are, with all one-shots, although I'm considering changing some of the more problematic effects for the advanced system. Wizardry has some obvious discard-only, but the rest are tricky to balance. I'll list where I'm to to with these later.

[slev]

I adapted a my Enchanter's Emporium Items the Mastery system.

With the more equal spell casting, I changed the abilities of the Spell Foci. They now reduce the mastery of that element or philosophy by one. Don't know if it's worthwhile adding more abilities to them...

I also changed the two rings:

Burning Ring
Cast, Mastery 1 = Ranged Yellow Fire
Cast, Mind, Mastery 1 = Ranged Yellow Yellow Fire

Freezing Ring
Cast, Mastery 1 = Melee Yellow Ice
Cast, Mind, Mastery 1 = Melee Yellow Yellow Ice

(for HQR fans, they have the following Keywords: Spell Magic Bound Esoteric Trinket)

[slev]

Wizardry Spells
These where from my WQP, and like the Elf Spells, the Wizard chosing them can pick three when they select the Spell Group.
I triied to make the recast cost a little higher, as ONLY the Wizard can use these, and they are focussed on a slightly more advanced player.
Anderas can likley put me to shame on balancing these

Banish
Cast, Mind, Mastery 4: All Figures with the "Dæmonic" Keyword inside one target room within line of sight, immediately suffer White White White of Mind damage which they may not defend against.

Brainwash
Cast, Mastery 2: You and a Target Figure in Line of Sight roll White equal to your Mind, and count the number of Skulls Rolled. If you roll higher than the target, your will you can control that figure for this turn.

Channel Energy
Cast, Mastery 1: The caster adds a number of white equal to their Spellcraft to their Attack Action this turn, and gains an extra Attack Action this turn.

Lore Blast
Cast, Mind, Mastery 3: All models inside one target room within line of sight, immediately discard one random card with both the "Memory" and "Chaos" keywords (if able).

Mimic
Discard when a figure other than you within your Line of Sight Casts a Spell that uses a Spell Card: Add that card to your hand of Spell Cards.

Mystic Force
Cast, Mind, Mastery 2: One target figure in Line of Sight is moved, in a straight line, directly away from the caster, until they reach a wall, closed door, other blockage or trap (which they will set off). The number of actions that figure may make next time it is Activated is reduced by one.

Trance
Cast, Discard: The caster recovers up to two lost Body and two lost Mind.

Unbind
Cast, Mind, Mastery 2: All figures with the "Undead" keyword inside one target room within line of sight, immediately suffer Melee White, which they may not defend against.

[slev]

Thoughts on the Elf Spells under this system
As only the elf will ever use these, we can afford a slight Mastery reduction for repeatable spells. Some of these are quite powerful though, so I've left them as discards.

Disappear
Cast, mastery 2: Target figure within Line of Sight may only take Movement actions and open normal Doors. They may not be the target of spells or attacks. The target's movement is reduced by Red. The target may choose to end this effect at any time.

Double Image
Cast, Discard: One target figure within Line of sight gains a bonus ability until there are no enemies in their Line of Sight. Each time they are hit by an attack, they roll white . On the result of a skull they are hit as normal, otherwise the attack is ignored.

Flashback
This is a nightmare card, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. Maybe allowing a second shot at a roll or attack sequence?

Hibernate
Cast, Discard: Target figure within Line of Sight with Mind between 1 and 3 must miss their next turn. Until the end of the caster’s next turn, the target rolls no dice in defence

Hypnotic Blaze
Cast, Discard: All figures within one target Room or Corridor within Line of Sight may take no Actions and roll zero for defence (after modifiers). At the start of their turn, they may end this effect if they pass a Test of Will. The caster automatically passes.

Slow
Cast, Mastery 2: Target figure now has Movement 1, and rolls one fewer Combat Dice (minimum one) for Attacks and Defence. This effect ends if the figure leaves the caster’s Line of Sight.

Time Stop
Cast, Discard: Target figure within Line of Sight may take a bonus turn once the caster’s turn has finished. Play then resumes normally with the player to the left of the caster.
Discard: Caster may take a bonus turn once theirs has finished.

Twist Wood
OK, so largely useless as-is, what the smeg do we do with this?

[alyndavies]

We don't really have too many problems with the Wizard. We play duel wielding in our games, One weapon and a shield, or two weapons. But with regards to Artifacts you can only have 1 type of sword. So the girls generally use a Spirit Blade in one hand and Orcs Bane in the other, they also get a second free attack if their next to an Ork as a result. It's worth noting that in the UK version of the game, the Wizard is able to use Borins Armor and any of the artifact weapons. We also implement the Blood Angels Space Crusade rules with the close assault blades equipment card, or in other words if the Wizard attacks any monster diagonally with a staff, the monster rolls one less dice in defense.

So worst case scenario, the Wizard can defend with 6 dice (Borins Armor, Wizards Cloak, Bracers), and Attack with 5-6 dice, Spirit Blade (3-4 dice), and Orcs Bane (2 dice). I also like to give the Wizard the Magisters Hood custom card, to bump up his body points by 2, and mind points by 1.

Even going back to when we played the game as children we always made sure the Wizard got the Borins Armor as it was the only real way the Wizard had any kind of a fighting chance of staying alive in the game. These days of course I have so many sets of Heroquest cards that all the girls can have one

Joining in the discussion of what other posters have mentioned, I think the Elf spells are pretty useless and if your playing the game with children they barely get used. One thing I have found is as the wizard simply give several sets of the same spell set to children to use. The game is about momentum and it slows things down when small children are taking ages to read through lots of different types of spells, trying to understand their best use. On the other hand giving lots of sets of the same spell set makes things easier as it's easier to understand fewer spells. Normally 3 sets of fire spells is the best way to go. Fire of Wrath can be fun, as it seeks out any monster on the board and has a 50/50 chance of killing him depending on whether you roll a skull or shield.

[Anderas]

If your style is liked by your game group, ok.

If i had a group with a 6/6 Wizard i would switch to purple mode (see signature). And if that wouldn't be enough i would invent a black mode on top.

I would certainly not hand out artifacts (i mean... artifacts!!!) on a double of a movement roll. Instead, each artifact would have his sub-bossmonster plus entourage; fitting to the group's stats. Your girls will get used to it!


Twist wood:
I think it's a good spell. Any weapon has wood part, at least in it's handle. So why not adding "any monster hit by this spell is attacking only by it's base attack of one green" or something similar.

The others, i still have to think on them. As "expert spell group" only available to Wizards with 8 or more mind points, there could be a lot to add on!

[slev]

Twist wood:
I think it's a good spell. Any weapon has wood part, at least in it's handle. So why not adding "any monster hit by this spell is attacking only by it's base attack of one green" or something similar.

The others, i still have to think on them. As "expert spell group" only available to Wizards with 8 or more mind points, there could be a lot to add on!

Taht's advanced Players, not caharacters. Thery can still use them at 6BP, but they are designed to be specific and situational.

[Anderas]

By the way, just to make "round" what i posted here, the small reference card for the wizard if he forgets the rules