Ye Olde Inn

Playing the Wizard, I'd open a door & find a monster to strong for me to fight & would just stand there in the doorway throwing daggers while all the other heroes rushed in to fight it. This would get boring so I'd wonder the corridors making Searches to keep busy while wishing I could open a door & find a single weak monster I could fight. Of course I won't do this because with my luck it will be two ChaosWarriors.
So I wait for the other heroes to catch up before I open this new door & guess what, its a lone Goblin.
Now I feel like an idiot & most likely another hero will get the kill. Lame!

If only there was a way to partially know what types of enemies are behind a door & I've found only three:

PEEK THROUGH KEYHOLE
Invented on the forum years ago for this purpose, if you dig around you'll find it.
Not sure if it allowed you to see all monsters & furniture inside a room or just one type of monster (just Orcs) but not other Goblins & Fimirs in there I can't remember. Also pretty sure a roll was required.

LISTENING
This is you simply putting your ear to a door & making a MindPoint roll to discern one or more "species" that might be in there. Skeletons walking around, Goblins talking etc.

HOLD DOOR SHUT
You open the door, take a full look around at everyone & they at you, now you must hold the door shut till the other heroes arrive! Lol
This would be a contested strength roll between the hero & up to three monsters on the other side if furniture permits three monsters to stand in front of and adjacent to the door. Up to three heroes can do the same.
I have my own strength/Athletics system for this but you can use whatever.


LISTENING & PEEKING could be handled similarly using MindPoints, roll 's:

ONE = You identify ONE of the weakest species in the room (a single is placed on the board).

TWO 's = You ID ONE of the weakest & ONE of the next strongest (ONE & ONE ).

THREE 's = etc, etc.

I think you should never show how many of each species is in there & never show a Boss or even lesser Bosses like Goblin Shamans so as to keep some suspense. I suggest not showing more than one piece of furniture (if any) when PEEKING for this same reason.

Of course you don't need intelligence to PEEK through a key hole but you would when identifying languages, outfits ( since its blurry) or sounds & I just like using MindPoints whenever i can, but you do you.

When LISTENING you won't "hear" furniture of course & None of these show traps or Secret Doors.

The whole point of this is to give Hero's with higher MindPoints something to feel cool about, gives a lone exploring hero something to do & finally to allow the Wizard better odds at slaying monsters by himself dammit!

Anyway, have any of you guys dabbled in this lately or did it cause problems?

The Wizard is not a fighter, and he must be played differently. In our groups he is the support team. Healing, and casting spells at appropriate moments. We give him all the things that it would be a waste of time for the others to use. No point in the Barbarian throwing a Magical Throwing Dagger or casting a Ball of Flame or Heal Body scroll. Let the Wizard do that and free up a Battle axe attack. The Wizards' contribution can be vital. Taking the last BP of a powerful monster, putting an Ogre to sleep, or saving the Dwarf from death, again. And there is always a crafty staff attack or dagger throw from a safe position, with what we call his 'trusty staff' as it always seems to hit and is rarely defended. In return the other Heroes cut him a proper share of the loot.

Our main Wizard is now the most powerful character by a long shot. We worked out he could almost certainly take out the other three together, but it takes time and patience to build up a powerful Wizard. It isn't for everyone, but he is my favourite character.

The Admiral wrote:Our main Wizard is now the most powerful character by a long shot. We worked out he could almost certainly take out the other three together, but it takes time and patience to build up a powerful Wizard.

What kinda stats does your Wizard have? What's the most powerful monster he can handle on his own?

burglekutt wrote:HOLD DOOR SHUT
You open the door, take a full look at everyone & they at you, now you try holding the door shut till the other heroes arrive! Lol This would be a contested strength roll between the hero & up to three monsters on the other side if furniture permits three monsters to stand in front of and adjacent to the door. Up to three heroes can do the same.
I have my own strength/Athletics system for this but you can use whatever.

Roll for a tug O war and hoping help arrives before your sold a set of Readers Digest from a travelling salesOrc.

If the heroes try to be sneaky and reveal the room (with monsters inside) but never open the door, I eventually try a "villainous feat" and roll 1 combat die on Zargon's turn. If it's a skull, the monsters have broken down the door to escape the room... (I suppose you could also have any monster on the outside go and open the door, "alerting" them to the presence of the heroes if they won't do it)

burglekutt wrote:

The Admiral wrote:Our main Wizard is now the most powerful character by a long shot. We worked out he could almost certainly take out the other three together, but it takes time and patience to build up a powerful Wizard.

What kinda stats does your Wizard have? What's the most powerful monster he can handle on his own?

Crispin -Wizard
Attack - 4 or 3 diagonal, Defence - 5, Body - 7, Mind - 8.

Stats aren't mind-blowing, but it's what he has and can do that is the force multiplier:
Artifacts = Armbands of Healing, Rabbit Boots, Spell Ring, Fire Amulet, Wand of Magic, Wizards Circlet, Minds Eye, Stone of Knowledge, Ring of Return, Robe of Control, Pendant of Power, Pendant of Protection, Wizards Staff, Trance's Rapier, 3 Magical Throwing Daggers, Wizard's Cloak, Bracers, 2 Anti-Poison quills
Equipment = Dagger, Tool Kit.
Scrolls = Sleep, Fire of Wrath, Genie, 2 Rock Skin, 4 Heal Body, 2 Courage, Pass Through Rock, Tempest, Swift Wind, Restoration, Magic Darts, Veil of Mist, 2 Protection, Twist Wood.
Potions = Major Restoration, Elixir of Life, 2 Recollect, 3 Intense Magical Fire, Venom Antidote, Defence, Magical Aptitude, Speed, 2 Charm, Vision, 2 Heroic Brew, Battle, Alchemy, Anti-Venom, Holy Water.
Gold = 1985.
Spells = 3 Fire, 3 Water, 3 Air + 2 enhanced spells for each element + 3 Random Chaos spells for18 in total.

His biggie is the Mind's Eye. This allows him a re-roll of anything all the time, although only once each time.

He has just come through a series of tough quests and so he is a bit low on stuff at this moment in time.

The Admiral wrote:He has just come through a series of tough quests and so he is a bit low on stuff at this moment in time.

Holy heaven above! If this is what your Wizard looks like at half power, what's the stats of the most powerful monster you have in your game?!

I haven't played the expansions since the 90's & the best I ever came up with was a Dragon from Dragon Strike.
8 = BPoints, 5 = MPoints, 8 = Move.
A couple 4Attack Claws, A Tail Sweep, 5Attack Bite & Fire Breath. With a couple ChaosSpells.

Its stats were somewhere in this range.

Just the monsters encountered in whatever questpacks he played. Ramiah, from the Rise of Ramiah was pretty strong.