Wands

[SirRick]

Has anyone considered using consumable wands that the wizard could buy?

For a WQP, instead of creating a wizard themed Alchemist's Shop, I wanted to have "The Mage Guild" instead. Here the wizard (and maybe the elf) could buy wands based on the 4 main spell groups, each having limited uses.

Here is what I'm considering:
Wand of Air: 500 Gold, Casts Swift Wind x 5
Wand of Earth: 500 Gold, Casts Rock Skin x 5
Wand of Fire: 500 Gold, Casts Fire of Wrath x 5
Wand of Water: 500 Gold, Casts Veil of Mist x 5

I feel 500 gold is a fair price for what you get, but considering how much the Alchemist's Shop potions cost, I'm not sure if I should increase the price.

I chose spells that usually don't get used much, and will not break the game if used repeatedly (assuming you don't allow multiple castings of Rock Skin on the same person). These spells would see more use and give the wizard something else to buy other than a buttload of daggers.

A wand of Tempest or Heal Body would be too powerful to be available for purchase, but could be treasures found during quests. I think a wand of Tempest would be very fitting as a treasure in AotOH or the EQP for example.

[knightkrawler]

I like the idea AND the choice of spells. These are the spells that are underused because of their supposed weakness, but once the Wizard has multiples of those, I see freer usage for tactical play, especially in rooms full of monsters.

For earth, Pass Through Rock would be nice, too. Underused because of its dangerous nature, but once the wizard knows he can get back to safety...
He just has to make sure he has two actions.

[lestodante]

yes, Rock Skin is very powerful!

[Goblin-King]

Why not use scrolls? It's a mechanic that's already in the game, and you wouldn't have to keep track of how many uses you have left.

I feel like Rock Skin and Fire of Wrath is perhaps a bit too powerful?

[SirRick]

I thought about scrolls, but everyone can use them, whereas the Barbarian and Elf quest packs introduce some potions that only the Barbarian or Elf can use. I figured wands might be a better choice.

In the game system quests and early quest packs, Fire of Wrath and Rock Skin wands would be very powerful, but in adventures like BQP and EQP when you are battling ogres, wolves, and polar war bears, it seems the heroes will need all the help they can get. I guess they could hire a bunch of mercenaries. You could buy 5 crossbow men or halbardiers for the price of one Wand of Fire, so I don't see it as being too powerful if introduced in later quests, but it would give the wizard more options.

As for Rock Skin, its a nice boost, but the spell ends when the hero takes any damage, so traps, ice vaults, and other effects seen in later quests make it less powerful later on.

I haven't played any of the later quests, but they do look really tough even for fully equipped heroes. Doesn't Mentor give the heroes 20 healing potions in the Agaisnt the Ogre Horde quest pack? I'm trying to think of more subtle ways to help the heroes, but not having played them its hard to think what would helpful without being too powerful.

Has anyone here allowed heroes to purchase scrolls? Or maybe created Wizard only potions more in line with the Barbarian and Elf packs?

[Goblin-King]

ok, makes sense.
It's always hard to gauge house rules, as you don't know people's play style. The 8 attack dice DragonSlayer Sword is not OP if there are also Dragons as regular enemies

[Spookyhappyfun]

Has anyone considered using consumable wands that the wizard could buy?

For a WQP, instead of creating a wizard themed Alchemist's Shop, I wanted to have "The Mage Guild" instead. Here the wizard (and maybe the elf) could buy wands based on the 4 main spell groups, each having limited uses.

Here is what I'm considering:
Wand of Air: 500 Gold, Casts Swift Wind x 5
Wand of Earth: 500 Gold, Casts Rock Skin x 5
Wand of Fire: 500 Gold, Casts Fire of Wrath x 5
Wand of Water: 500 Gold, Casts Veil of Mist x 5

I feel 500 gold is a fair price for what you get, but considering how much the Alchemist's Shop potions cost, I'm not sure if I should increase the price.

I chose spells that usually don't get used much, and will not break the game if used repeatedly (assuming you don't allow multiple castings of Rock Skin on the same person). These spells would see more use and give the wizard something else to buy other than a buttload of daggers.

A wand of Tempest or Heal Body would be too powerful to be available for purchase, but could be treasures found during quests. I think a wand of Tempest would be very fitting as a treasure in AotOH or the EQP for example.

I like this idea a lot! I might use them.

[Kurgan]

I really like the idea of a bunch of items that only the Wizard (or equivalent high mage) can buy. The USA instruction booklet made it sound like "future quest packs" would offer such "powerful magical items" that the Wizard should "save your gold" for... so I'm all for it. Make the stuff expensive. But we need creativity, not just another equivalent of the "spell scroll" recycling stuff we've already gotten. I have some ideas of my own but it will take some time to hammer them out... perhaps also there could be items that increase in power or can't even be used until you reach a certain "level" (using a basic leveling system like number of quests completed). Limit the number of times they can be used per quest for balance sake.

I realize that to a certain point, the spell scrolls can turn a Barbarian into a Wizard (except his mind points will still be low and once he uses a spell, it is gone for good). There should be similar limitations if you were trying to turn a Wizard into a Barbarian (like "magical armor" and "magical weapons" that give him the same strength and durability as a tricked out warrior like that). To my mind the hard fighting should be left to the fighters, while the mages should be the "wait for the right time then WHOA look at what he did" sort of characters that can make the difference when it counts.

[Anderas]

Folders full of spell scrolls. That's what I see here.

It's a variation of the idea that the Wizard just needs more spells and his power level will keep up with the other heroes. And it works.

[j_dean80]

Make new spell scrolls that only the Wizard knows how to decipher. Or even use same existing ones but when found the other Heroes are "unable to read them" so they give them to the Wizard. Seems a more simple (vanilla) way to handle it.