The Wizard and game play questions

[StratosVX]

A big thing to remember is that you are making your own house rules, you can do whatever you want to do. You can rewrite the cards to say whatever you want. If you want the Wizard to be able to attack in the same turn he casts the Courage spell, do so. Here's the thing about your house rules - no matter what you decide, someone will disagree with you. Bottom line, they're your games; do what you want to do to make it fun for you and your players.

[Kitch1982]

A big thing to remember is that you are making your own house rules, you can do whatever you want to do. You can rewrite the cards to say whatever you want. If you want the Wizard to be able to attack in the same turn he casts the Courage spell, do so. Here's the thing about your house rules - no matter what you decide, someone will disagree with you. Bottom line, they're your games; do what you want to do to make it fun for you and your players.

Will do!

[wallydubbs]

The spell Courage - it's my understanding that if you cast courage on yourself (playing as the wizard) the next turn you can attack with two extra combat dice. So you enter a room and come face to face with say a or a . You can't exit the room as i understand it you must fight or prepare to defend. Assuming you want to attack you can cast courage but then you can not attack, meaning gargoyle has a chance to attack you first. Does anyone else allow the Wizard to cast his spell and attack in this situation?

What are everyones thoughts on the Wizard spells and how they work and does anyone play the Wizard differently to the house rules?

Next the WOM spells...so I'm currently working my way through all the quests (about to complete normal hereo quest) from here i plan to play, Return of the Witch Lord, Kellers Keep, Against the Ogre Horde and then WOM. Would you suggest doing the quests in this order? I realise the wizard doesn't get any new spells until this quest! Once he has access to this spells can the wizard then choose from these spell sets for the remaining quests? I am a little confused as i have never been past ROTWL!

Finally a question about equipment and potions (nothing to do with the wizard, just a question in general). Can you carry equipment over to new quests for example from first box set to another box set (assuming your hero doesnt die?) or do you always start a fresh each new box set? Same applies for potions, can you carry potions over quest to quest?

Yes, the wizard would have to wait for his next turn to attack. Generally he casts courage on another hero (preferably the Barbarian), but he may cast it on himself and continue using 3 dice attack (or 4) until no monsters are in line of sight. Some players might allow the wizard to use heroic brew to cast a spell and and attack rather then make 2 attacks.
However I don't really see a problem with the Wizard being allowed to back out of the room... if he opens the door, he could choose to sidestep and not go in, allowing other heroes to charge in first.

Keller's Keep should probably be played after the original game system. If you're going by the casual storyline the Emperor is urgently in need of help and the heroes are the rescue party.

The Wizard of Morcar spells are a bit weaker then the 4 elemental spells (though spells of Darkness is somewhat debatable), as Morcar (or Zargon) you can make the decision to implement these spells into the original game system, like I did. In so doing, I also upgraded the treasure deck. You may even include the Elf spells too, if you wish.
In mustering the power of Morcar/Zargon certain rules can be bent and molded to the way you see fit, but you need to be consistent, fair, and balanced. You don't want to make their journey too easy, nor do you want them to be overpowered.

I allowed my heroes to use the expansion spells because I think it adds flavor to the game. I also added a houserule that if the Wizard gains additional mind points (such as from the Talisman of Lore), I allow him to have 4 sets of spells.
The heroes were dismayed the first time we played to find that the Treasure deck was very limited with 14 positive and 10 negative cards, in the (U.S.) Treasure deck, so I upgraded the Treasure deck using some cards from the expansion packs, now having a deck of 42 with 16 negative, 24 positive, 1 both, 1 neither; this does add a bit more safety to the Treasure Hoard spell card, and makes the heroes more confident in their searches.
However I'm not going to make it too easy on them, adding chaos spells to certain monsters that otherwise had none. Also the next time a hero triggers a poisoned chest trap, he'll have to roll to see if he keeps his mind points too.

[Anderas]

Take a look at Mohawks expanded spellbook

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2898&hilit=Spellbook

I think I have seen an item in there that allows to play courage, then attack. Or do some likewise stuff for the other support spells.

[lestodante]

Technically the Wizard is the strongest character. Cast rock skin on yourself at the start. Same body points as the barbarian thanks to a spell. As long as you don't go all Leroy you'll be fine.

I know many prefer to cast it at the beginning... but its effect will last until the character is wounded. It means that you will return normal if you fall in a pit trap or a spear trap and in both cases you can't defend using the rock skin but normally. So maybe a better choice to save it for later.

[mitchiemasha]

Technically the Wizard is the strongest character. Cast rock skin on yourself at the start. Same body points as the barbarian thanks to a spell. As long as you don't go all Leroy you'll be fine.

I know many prefer to cast it at the beginning... but its effect will last until the character is wounded. It means that you will return normal if you fall in a pit trap or a spear trap and in both cases you can't defend using the rock skin but normally. So maybe a better choice to save it for later.

very true but you'd be a pretty dumb wizard falling into pit traps.

[Jafazo]

The vanilla Wizard is a terribly underpowered scrub.

A note on Courage, the thing that fuels that spell is being able to see a Monster. As soon as you cannot see a monster the spell breaks and does nothing. This means if you cast the spell behind a closed door planning to move in and attack later then as soon as you cast the spell it will break because you cannot see a Monster. The spell is usually best used on another hero but even then it is hard to put up properly. Say the heroes are at a closed-door planning to move into the Next Room. If the wizard goes last the other Heroes will have moved in and begun their attacks. This means the wizard would have to move in and cast the spell so it can kick in by the next turn. In hero Quest there isn't usually a second-round or third or fourth. Not usually. On that same example if the wizard goes first and opens the door it means he is standing in front of the door and that means the other Heroes are either next to him or in positions where they can't see into the room very well. The wizard would have to be careful who he casts the spell on because it's possible to cast it on a hero who cannot see a Monster meaning it'd break immediately. A clever EW can move monsters accordingly to step out of that heroes line of sight briefly resulting in the spell breaking immediately, only to come back with the remainder of his move and face the hero without his Courage spell.

Rock Skin is another spell that got an unnecessary nerf. 1 combat die to defend isn't saving anyone anytime soon if it disappears after 1 point of damage. This spell isn't worth the trouble of saving then burning an action to cast. Problem is, it usually isn't worth casting in advance either because heroquest has ways of inflicting a point of damage on you here and there whether it's from a trap or something else.

[j_dean80]

Have the Wizard first in the lineup. He jumps in the boss room and throws Tempest at the boss then the other Heroes follow and hack down the boss who cannot defend. Or if the Wizard can cast 2 spells he follows up with the Genie and gets all the glory himself. I don't find the Wizard to be underpowered. He isn't meant for hand-to-hand combat. He can buy and throw daggers (I allow him to carry 10 - not like he has anything else to spend his coins on). He has spells like Ball of Flame, Fire of Wrath, Genie, Sleep, and Tempest that can stop a lot of monsters. If played right he can be just as strong as the other Heroes.

I find more issue with the Elf. He can fight as well as the other Heroes and usually never casts his spells (except Healing).

[mitchiemasha]

The vanilla Wizard is a terribly underpowered scrub.

You're taking the LoS rule to literal, this is HQ not Warhammer. As for the nerf, use the UK spells, I believe that was the consensus in these parts.

[Jafazo]

Have the Wizard first in the lineup. He jumps in the boss room and throws Tempest at the boss then the other Heroes follow and hack down the boss who cannot defend. Or if the Wizard can cast 2 spells he follows up with the Genie and gets all the glory himself.

Tempest only makes the monster lose its next turn, it doesn't make it unable to defend, but it's still a good idea so Courage can catch up.
The Courage/Genie combo won't work because it's the Genie attacking, not the hero. Courage reads, "The next time that hero attacks".