The Best/Worst Chaos Spells

[GimmeYerGold]

I feel like the original 12 from the core system are a batch of good, flexible Chaos Spells that fit several different evil magic user types. If a Chaos Warlock had to pick 3 at random, odds they'd get something pretttty good.

Ball of Flame
Cloud of Chaos
Command
Escape
Fear
Firestorm
Lightning Bolt
Rust
Sleep
Summon Orcs
Summon Undead
Tempest

If I had to pick any "fluff spells," they would be Fear, Sleep, and Tempest, (but Sleep and Fear are both interesting because they exploits Mind Points) considering it might down to a Chaos magic user vs. 4 Heroes, those spells have lost their usefulness in the end game of the fight. However, I'd still keep them, because they are very simple in their execution and they get some cred for being part of the core Chaos spells

I think when expansions happen, (I've noticed this myself when creating my own fan-made additions) there's a tendency to add for the sake of adding, and sometimes that just complicates things. The best part of HQ is when they do more with less. Three of the six expansions offer more chaos spells, however, some of the evil wizard cards in Wizard of Morcar are basically duplicates of the core Chaos spells: Rust, Escape, Fear, Summon Orcs, and Lightning Bolt, and Summon Mummy & Call Skeleton are basically "Summon Undead," broken into two different spells)

In your opinion, what are the least useful Chaos Spells when you include all expansions? And what Chaos Spells stands out to you as valuable spells in the Evil Wizard's "tool kit?" If you include all the expansions, (and if you count the WoM Evil Wizard spells as "Chaos spells, including "duplicates") then there are a total of 49 total Chaos Spells to choose from! I realize that some might have their strategic strengths, and some make mind points a worthwhile factor, but there are probably some fluff spells, right? And some that are really awesome?

Personally for me, less is best, because that one really situation spell is cool when it comes in handy, but playing as the Evil Wizard, when the players are often powering up very quickly, and monsters are dropping like flies, a decent arsenal of Chaos Spells is a great equalizer.

[Count Mohawk]

The strongest of the Chaos Spells are either the Summon spells or the area-of-effect spells. Summons add more raw meat to the equation, which can give the Chaos Sorcerer some much-needed space to cast the rest of his hand (or just kill the Heroes themselves, since Summoned monsters can move and attack immediately). On the other hand, spells like Firestorm and Lightning Bolt are effective because they do a lot of damage in aggregate. Why kill just one Hero when you can burn all four? Special props goes to Cloud of Chaos, which does not do direct damage but can potentially shut down all Heroes' offense for multiple turns (well, except for the Wizard, but still). Now consider that nearly half of the base-set spells fall into these categories and it's easy to see why they remain favorites of Evil Wizard players everywhere.

The spells in the expansions are more of a mixed bag. Many of the Wizards of Morcar spells are race-specific, which of course reduces their efficacy. On the other hand, we have a few new concepts such as the Walls, which are really just a highly defensive summon spell, and Dispell and Mirror Magic, which are the closest the game gets to actual countermagic. And of course, at the very top of the list are the Chaos healing spells Soothe and Restore Chaos, which restore three and six Body Points respectively. Healing magic is arguably the strongest type of Chaos Spell available, for the same reason that Potions of Healing are the strongest types of Potions available in the Alchemist's Shop.

[GimmeYerGold]

The strongest of the Chaos Spells are either the Summon spells or the area-of-effect spells. Summons add more raw meat to the equation, which can give the Chaos Sorcerer some much-needed space to cast the rest of his hand (or just kill the Heroes themselves, since Summoned monsters can move and attack immediately). On the other hand, spells like Firestorm and Lightning Bolt are effective because they do a lot of damage in aggregate. Why kill just one Hero when you can burn all four? Special props goes to Cloud of Chaos, which does not do direct damage but can potentially shut down all Heroes' offense for multiple turns (well, except for the Wizard, but still). Now consider that nearly half of the base-set spells fall into these categories and it's easy to see why they remain favorites of Evil Wizard players everywhere.

The spells in the expansions are more of a mixed bag. Many of the Wizards of Morcar spells are race-specific, which of course reduces their efficacy. On the other hand, we have a few new concepts such as the Walls, which are really just a highly defensive summon spell, and Dispell and Mirror Magic, which are the closest the game gets to actual countermagic. And of course, at the very top of the list are the Chaos healing spells Soothe and Restore Chaos, which restore three and six Body Points respectively. Healing magic is arguably the strongest type of Chaos Spell available, for the same reason that Potions of Healing are the strongest types of Potions available in the Alchemist's Shop.

These are excellent criteria: Area-of-Effect, Summon, Healing, and Counter.

Summon Spells are so fun. When you roll the dice, and start plopping down monsters to surround and defend a Chaos Warlock... the heroes freak! The "Restore Chaos" healing spell is very powerful at 6 body points. I think only the MotM Ogre or a custom sorcerer can benefit from its full effects. That would really screw over some heroes to whittle away an ogre just to see him come back at full strength!

Thanks for the valuable input, Count Mohawk.

[Goblin-King]

Lightning bolt is evil because of the automatically inflicted damage.
Cloud of chaos is objectively better than both Fear, Tempest and Sleep which have similar effects. It's also better than Command because it can affect all heroes.
Finally Firestorm has devestating potential.

I agree with the "less is more" statement.
One spell for each situation, and perhaps a few that vary in effectiveness (giving a random fimir firestorm in the first quest may be a bit too much!)

[cynthialee]

I never really look at any spell being better than other spells. In the right moment any of the spells can be rather devastating.
My favorite story of a well placed low power spell that netted ultimate victory for heroes (D&D) is the time I saw a mage cast a push spell at the dirt under the bad guys foot just as he put his foot down. This of course forced a Dex roll to stay stable and not fall down. The bad guy rolls a botch, which is sad because he had a really good Dex, it wasn't likely he was going to loose footing. Well see the thing is the bad guy was fighting the warrior next to a cliff and had been backed to the precipice in the prior movement. And the bad guy falls off the cliff to his doom.

In the right conditions every one of the Chaos spells can be devastating to the Heroes. I try and keep that zen mindset about magic when playing any high fantasy setting or game system. All spells are powerful.

[Daedalus]

I like me a table in a thread about Chaos spell comparison.

Main Game System	Against the Ogre Horde	WoM High Mage	WoM Necromancer	WoM Storm Master	WoM Orc Shaman	EQP	BQP
Ball of Flame	Mind Lock	Dispel	Call Skeleton	Blinding Sleet	Orc Berserker	Dispel	...........................Chill................................
Cloud of Chaos	Mind Blast	Escape	Death Bolt	Earthquake	Sharpen Blades	Mind Blast	Ice Storm
Command	Dominate	Madness	Fear	Hurricane	Shield of Protection	Mirror Magic	Ice Wall
Escape		Rust	Raise the Dead	Lightning Bolt	Spirit of Vengeance	Reanimation	Mind Freeze
Fear		Strands of Binding	Skulls of Doom	Thieving Wind	Summon Goblins	Restore Chaos	Skate
Firestorm		Wall of Flame	Summon Mummy	Wall of Ice	Summon Orcs	Summon Wolves	Soothe
Lightning Bolt						Werewolf's Curse
Rust	. .
Sleep		. .
Summon Orcs	. .
Summon Undead
Tempest	. .

The High Mage spell Rust strikes me as powerful because it removes any one chosen piece of equipment. That sort of pain lasts several Quests. Bye-bye battle axe or armor. This is uber-useful for game balance.

I see the Necromancer spell Fear as fluffy. It's the Chaos spell Tempest, but the target can possibly move to a safe position. Heroes already have enough combat advantage. The High Mage spell Madness does Tempest better because Morcar may move the Hero.

Werewolf's Curse from the EQP is devastating while a cure isn't available. With 6 AD as a Werewolf, an affected Hero will need to spend his turns trying to stay away from the other Heroes, while Zargon may use 9 movement to place him within harms way or keep him from harming monsters. Summon Wolves packs more punch than 1 to 3 Genie spells for more multiple turns, most likely. Bump that with a timely Restore Chaos and those Giant Wolves can bring on the pain even longer. Yikes.

In the BQP, Mind Freeze backed by Command basically insures one Hero is either made irrelevant or is changed to a continuing threat against the other Heroes. This is a nasty combo the Zargon player should recognize and choose for the Frozen Horror.

[Gold Bearer]

This table's really handy because I can easily see which spells need renaming to keep them all different from each other. I haven't got around to that yet.

MGS: Lightning Bolt - Lightning Strike
WOMhm: Escape - Transport/Rust - Ruin
WOMn: Fear - Terror
WOMsm: Lightning Bolt - Lightning Blast
EQP: Dispel - Countermagic/Mind Blast - Mind Numb
Protection: Invisibility - Vanish

(I've got a custom made Lightning Bolt and Invisibility.)

[slev]

This table's really handy because I can easily see which spells need renaming to keep them all different from each other.

I did that! SOme where the same as existing spells too, so that often freed up a name and/or arts. I gave them all the same "Chaos Spell" Backs.