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- Article 1293 of rec.games.frp.dnd:
- Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
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- From: l2wang@napier.waterloo.edu ( Lei Wang )
- Subject: 2nd Ed. Spell Memorizing Process
- Message-ID: <BqutnB.6uL@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu>
- Sender: news@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu
- Organization: University of Waterloo
- Date: Sat, 4 Jul 1992 07:47:33 GMT
- Lines: 56
-
- As in all editions of the D&D game, according to rules, every spell
- user(mage or priest) must, after a full night of rest, spend a large
- amount of time memorizing each spell that he plan to cast at the beginning
- of the day, preparing every spell in advance.
-
- Of course, this means that in order to cast Any spell, you must have
- memorized that spell earlier. In the case of priests, you must have
- prayed for that exact power in your meditations.
-
- It makes for careful planning, true. But it forces players to always
- choose the common, generic spells, like fireball or lightning bolt or
- cure light wounds or magic missile, with no cause for variety.
-
- I find this all very boring. What I'd like best(and what is most often
- shown in fantasy fiction), is for a player to be creative. You can't be
- really be creative with a fireball: You either blast your enemy with it
- or you don't.
-
-
- There are a few ways to avoid the above scenario:
-
- 1. Allow the player to spend the time studying/praying in the mornings,
- but allow to cast any spell in a situation, provided they have the spell
- components.
-
- This is good, but it's too much freedom. It also consumes much of
- a campaign's time, when during a melee round a mage flips through his
- Player's Handbook for half an hour looking for the right spell.
-
- 3. (My idea) Allow the player to select, beforehand, as many spells
- as his intelligence allows, then cast only from those spells. If you
- want to cast two fireballs, you must have devoted two or more slots
- to fireball.
-
- This is a bit better, but it doesn't allow for the level of the caster.
- A 20th level mage has as much freedom as a 1st level mage, if their
- intelligences are the same.
-
- 4. (My better idea) Allow the player to select, beforehand, twice
- the number of spells that he can normally memorize, and he can cast
- from this increased pool of spells.
-
- This is very good, in my opinion. It allows for variety, but also
- makes for planning. Allowing three times the normal number is also
- acceptable, though perhaps a bit too many.
-
- 5. (Your idea) What is your opinion? Any house rules that you prefer?
- What do you normally play on?
-
-
- --
- l2wang@napier.waterloo.edu
- ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
- ME: Univ. of Waterloo YOU: Huh? o=> ME: in Canada, YOU: Huh?
- ME: in Ontario, YOU: Huh? /o/ ME: up north! YOU: Aaaaaahhh...
- ME: near Toronto, YOU: Huh? ==o Huh??
-
-
-