The Wizard Clearing House of House Rules

[cynthialee]

I just thought up this item. As it is a Mind Reliant item its' use is most effective in the hands of the Wizard. I thought about putting it in another place but it seems fitting here on the Wizard house rules thread. I just can't see the Barbarian wasting his money for this item:

Magic Item/Artifact
Mystic First Aid Kit {2 Uses per Dungeon}
With these mystic bandages and arcane herb poultices, the user may tend to their wounds or the wounds of another hero. The user rolls their Mind Score in Combat dice and for every Skull rolled one point of Body Damage is restored. The hero treated with the first aid kit must forego their next action for the healing to take effect.
This kit may be used to restore to life a dead hero if used before the EWP next turn.
This magical first aid kit may only be used on a hero 1 time in a dungeon.

Cost to replenish the Kit: 250 GP per use replenished.

This could be an artifact discovered after the Heroes loot the big boss final encounter room for whatever quest pack in use. Set them up for the next challenges.

[sajungzak]

The art on the spell ring card shows the wizard holding a book in the hand wearing the ring. I would use the spell book without the limitation on the spell ring. I would allow the wizard to use both, but not with the same spell. This related stipulation seems unnecessary on the card, but could be included in 'house rules' under 'rules clarification.'

[GimmeYerGold]

The art on the spell ring card shows the wizard holding a book in the hand wearing the ring. I would use the spell book without the limitation on the spell ring. I would allow the wizard to use both, but not with the same spell. This related stipulation seems unnecessary on the card, but could be included in 'house rules' under 'rules clarification.'

I was just thinking about this, too. On my own version of the Spellbook card, I've changed the caveat to read: "Any spell stored in the Spellbook cannot also be stored in the Spell Ring, and vise versa. "

[cynthialee]

I think I have a potential idea that can embolden the mid-high level Wizard into not holding back too much on their spells.

A crystal ball

Artifact Enchanted Crystal Ball
At the beginning of a dungeon the Wizard may gaze into his crystal ball and gain some insight into the type of enemies most prevalent in the dungeon and the number of that type of enemy. May only be used prior to entering the Dungeon.

{Thus if the majority of the monsters in a given dungeon are Zombies the Wizard will know how many zombies are in the dungeon. The crystal ball however gives no other information. For example if there were a large number of Mummies in the dungeon but they are outnumbered by zombies no information that mummies are present will be divulged.}

[slev]

Several years ago, Flint from the German HeroQuest site (), posted his alternative rules for the Wizard. They where quite intriguing, but relied on the custom coloured dice from Germany. They where also tied into an advancement system and a few other bits.

I thus elected to rip the idea apart and reconstitute it for a more general use without these dice. So, with my apologies to Flint, these rules which may be of help!


Rules: Mastery Spells
At the start of each Quest, after all Heroes select Spell Groups, you take the four Mastery Spells. They do not count against the limit of Spell Groups you may select
At the start of every Quest, gain a number of Mastery Tokens equal to three times the number of Spell Groups you normally draw, not including Mastery Spells.
When selecting Spells, you may elect to draw one fewer Spell Groups. If you do gain a number of Mastery Tokens equal to your starting Mind Points.


Ignis Flatus
The Wizard blasts the enemy with fire.
Spend one Mastery Point when casting this Spell.
This Spell affects any one figure in line of sight, who will be attacked for two white dice.

Terra Arma
The Wizard shields the enemy with a glittering sphere of energy.
Spend one Mastery Point when casting this Spell.
This Spell affects any one figure in line of sight, adds two white dice to their defence until the start of the Wizard's next turn.

Aqua Vita
The Wizard heals his friends with the laying on of a hand.
Spend one Mastery Point when casting this Spell.
This Spell affects any one figure in line of sight, who will be regain a number of lost Body Points. Roll two combat dice, one Body Point is healed for each Skull rolled.

Aeris Virtus
The Wizard fills his friends with energy.
Spend one Mastery Point when casting this Spell.
This Spell affects any one figure in line of sight. Roll two combat dice. If two skulls are rolled, the target may either make an extra Attack, Move, or Cast during their next turn. If you target yourself, you may make a further extra Attack, Move or Cast during your current turn.

[cynthialee]

Not bad.
I think I would make the Mastery points equal to the Players starting Mind Score. If the Wizard looses a Mind Point during the quest, he must relinquish one of his tokens.

I would ditch this rule: When selecting Spells, you may elect to draw one fewer Spell Groups. If you do gain a number of Mastery Tokens equal to your starting Mind Points.
If I allowed for this I would alter it to an additional 4 points and not allow them to cast the mastery power of the spell group they passed on.

[cynthialee]

Adding a link to the Cantrip thread as it is useful and germane to this conversation.

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2700

[artisturn]

1. My main twist: LoS for spellcasting is not the same as for ranged attacks.
Rather, any figure in the same room or corridor section as the spellcaster can be the target, LoS interrupted or not.
That helps a lot and is one of the easiest (part)solutions to the (semi)problem.

We tried this in our last game session and it worked out pretty well, The Wizard had almost used all his spells and was able to be more active in game.

[knightkrawler]

1. My main twist: LoS for spellcasting is not the same as for ranged attacks.
Rather, any figure in the same room or corridor section as the spellcaster can be the target, LoS interrupted or not.
That helps a lot and is one of the easiest (part)solutions to the (semi)problem.

We tried this in our last game session and it worked out pretty well, The Wizard had almost used all his spells and was able to be more active in game.

I'm very happy to see this playtested and hear good results. We have made the same experience.
Funnily, in 1992, when we played many a HQ game at the age of 11, we intuitively played it like that.

[Bob-Bob]

I have a short list of ways to potentially buff the wizard, but it's still kinda rough:

#1) Use the rules from the Japanese release.

For starters, allow the Wizard to use the "beginner" and "intermediate" spells as a fallback in case he uses up all his spells. They're weaker than the "expert" spells, but they can be used infinitely. For those who didn't read my other threads, they are:

First Aid:
May be cast on yourself or a fellow hero. Restores 1 BP.

Heal:
May be cast on yourself or a fellow hero. Roll 4 combat dice and restore BP equal to the number of white shields.

Holy Flame:
May be cast on a monster. Roll 2 combat dice and deal damage equal to the number of skulls. The monster must roll defense dice equal to their MP.

Secondly, various cards feature rule tweaks that are clearly geared towards making the Wizard more powerful:

- The spells are all generally based on their EU rules instead of their NA rules.
- Swift Wind can now teleport a hero to any visible space in the dungeon.
- Pass Through Rock only allows heroes to move into visible rooms, which decreases their chances of accidentally dying.
- Ball of Flame has 3 attack dice instead of just 2.
- Flame of Rage follows the EU rules, except now it does 2 damage to any monster on the board instead of just 1. The target still only gets 1 defense die.
- The Wand of Recall can now only be used by the Wizard and allows him to use all of his spells infinitely, rather than just letting him cast two spells.

My personal favorites are the buffs they gave to the fire spells and the Wand of Recall's new effect. Though some of you guys might find that a bit too powerful.

#2) Use a 'Spell Point' system.

I think I've seen this proposed somewhere, but I don't see it around here very often. Basically give the Wizard and Elf a certain amount of 'Spell Points' (maybe abbreviate it as 'SP') which can be spent on spells during a game, rather than having each spell disappear after one use. More powerful spells could cost more SP while weaker spells could cost less. A hero's amount of SP could be determined by their Mind Points or some other factor, depending on how the evil wizard player sees fit. Now the Wizard would have to be careful about how often they cast certain spells. They could go the economic route and fire off several fireballs, or save their SP for something really big and summon the genie.

Further ways to augment this would include some sort of item that restores SP, much like the many items that restore BP. Maybe you could treat spells like equipment and have the Wizard gradually buy them from a magic shop instead of giving them all at the very start. That way the Wizard wouldn't be able to spend all of his SP right at the very beginning.

#3) Use a 'Spell Charge' system.

A slightly different take on the above. In the normal rules, each spell disappears after one use, but what if each spell had a different amount of uses? A weak spell like Courage or Rock Skin could have only 3 or 4 uses, while a strong spell like Genie could have 1 or 2. You'd still have to be careful about what to use and when, but the person playing the Wizard would have a little more leeway with the weaker spells.

Gimme your thoughts. Obviously these methods can't all be used at once, but I wanna know what you guys think in terms of which one you feel would work best.