Armour

[Tott]

the general fantasy/sci-fi rule is that wizards and such cannot have access to armour and heavy weapons for the sake of balance. they have powerful spells to do their attacking and defending instead. if a wizard could use the same items as the barbarian say, plus use his spells, he would have a massive advantage. theyre also different play styles, melee characters are 'supposed' to get in close and smash each other over the head, and have the gear and stats to do so, casters like wizards are 'supposed' to stand back, shoot at range and generally avoid melee combat.
the in-game answer is that they need to leave their hands free for the casting of magic, and armour also stops magic. somehow. unless its magic armour, which is fine. obviously.

[ken]

Tott, I understand what you are saying about the heavy weapons, but the restrictions on armour put the Wizard at risk when searching for treasure, and raising a WM. Also being attacked when doors are opened into rooms filled with powerful monsters who immediately try to catch the ill-protected Wizard. The DM cannot favour him, just because he is weak.

[torilen]

Yes...there is all sorts of things one can do with armor.

First - to make sure this is clear for you (though it has been mentioned already):
Armor bonuses, for the most part, stack. You can wear chain mail, a helmet, and use a shield, for the full
bonus that each offers.

Now...for making armor...someone mentioned that they were using Mithril armor, which is lighter and removes
the movement penalty that some armor gives a character.
Someone mentioned something about different magical armors, helmets, shields, etc. - that's all well and good, but
you can do much more with it.

Perhaps a helmet was made from a dragon head - it would require any goblin or orc you fight to make some sort of
roll (roll combat dice = to Body Score, must roll at least 2 white shields) or run away frightened.
Perhaps a helmet has horns, and offers an extra attack using one attack die.
Perhaps a set of plate mail is made of some black material, and allows the wearer to hide in dim light.
Perhaps some boots and gauntlets have special hooks on them that allow the character to climb a wall.
Perhaps a shield has special sliding pieces on the back-side...it can be placed on the ground and unfolded, so as to
allows the character to safely cross a pit.

Just be creative with them...any action that a character can take, there is an armor that could help out.

[Pugahla_272]

the general fantasy/sci-fi rule is that wizards and such cannot have access to armour and heavy weapons for the sake of balance. they have powerful spells to do their attacking and defending instead. if a wizard could use the same items as the barbarian say, plus use his spells, he would have a massive advantage. theyre also different play styles, melee characters are 'supposed' to get in close and smash each other over the head, and have the gear and stats to do so, casters like wizards are 'supposed' to stand back, shoot at range and generally avoid melee combat.

Yeah I see what your saying and is generally the best way to do a quest, this is most of the time how my group plays.

[Tott]

Tott, I understand what you are saying about the heavy weapons, but the restrictions on armour put the Wizard at risk when searching for treasure, and raising a WM. Also being attacked when doors are opened into rooms filled with powerful monsters who immediately try to catch the ill-protected Wizard. The DM cannot favour him, just because he is weak.

yup, i would agree with that, and thats also one of the reasons i thought that the wizard wasnt particularly well designed in HQ, the other characters had several ways of increasing their abilities via items, the wizard was pretty hard done by in comparisson.
the other could get better armour and weapons to increase their stats quite a lot - the wizard still had the same 9 spells. id have prefered a system where the wizard could have upgraded his stats and they in turn strengthened his spells. i.e. if the damage was linked to his mind points etc then the talisman of lore would have made his spells stronger. rather than doing nothing really.

[Ethica]

The Wizard's not too bad. Give him the Spirit Blade, Borin's Armour, the Wand of Recall, the Cloak of Protection and the Bracers and he'd have just as much attack and defence as the others can have.

I agree his spell casting ability needs to be upped a little bit as the game progresses. Sugesting by absorbing additional spells from other magic users he defeats.

[Pugahla_272]

I see what ur saying but there isn't much stuff made that only wizard can use, there are a few but not many.

[Jaguar69]

That is why i have made 'Wizard's Robe' giving +1 and an Artifact that is worn as a helmet giving +2 to defence, but i will not make these available until it gets hard, around the time of AtOH, possibly during RotWL.

In my plan, as the wizard progresses, he gains more mind points, and other spell sets. I will upgrade the spells currently available by allowing the attack spells to roll black dice (4 skulls, 1 w/shield, 1 b/shield) at a high enough mind point level. This makes it more likely to do damage. Then maybe allowing ball of flame etc to attack with 3 dice etc.

[Tott]

realistically, you can make anything you want. thats one of HeroQuests greatest strengths, you're only limited by your imagination and by game balance. you can create any item so long as you dont make it too strong, e.g.:

Shadowsilk Cloak
A cloak made from silk that has never seen the light of day before being spun and woven in the moon pools of Ithil’ Saren.
Allows one extra combat dice in defence, increases damage done by spells by one.

is fine and a nice upgrade for the wizard or the elf, but

Excalibur
The greatest sword EVER!
Allows 10 combat dice in attack and defence.

is just too strong to be feasible, and would pretty make much make any game ridiculously easy. theres plenty you can do in between though:

Graceful Woven Sandals
Made from fine Elven silks, these simple sandals are incredibly comfortable and far more durable than they seem.
Allows one extra combat dice in defence and allows the wearer to move diagonally.

Darkwoven Hood
A tatty old hood with what appears to be a human eye sown into it… did it just blink?
Allows one extra combat dice in defence. Once per quest the wearer of the hood may ask for the contents of any one room to be laid out. If the room is empty the ability is wasted.

Rune Weavers Gloves
These simple leather gloves are stitched using strange fibres with tiny intricate runes scrawled over them
Allows one extra combat dice in defence. If any offensive spell cast is fully blocked and fails to cause any damage, the wearer may retain that card to use again on a later turn.

[Pugahla_272]

That is why i have made 'Wizard's Robe' giving +1 and an Artifact that is worn as a helmet giving +2 to defence, but i will not make these available until it gets hard, around the time of AtOH, possibly during RotWL.

In my plan, as the wizard progresses, he gains more mind points, and other spell sets. I will upgrade the spells currently available by allowing the attack spells to roll black dice (4 skulls, 1 w/shield, 1 b/shield) at a high enough mind point level. This makes it more likely to do damage. Then maybe allowing ball of flame etc to attack with 3 dice etc.

These sound very good, and the black dice for stronger spells is a good idea.

Wat is AtOH and is RotWL - Return of the Witch Lord?

realistically, you can make anything you want. thats one of HeroQuests greatest strengths, you're only limited by your imagination and by game balance. you can create any item so long as you dont make it too strong, e.g.:

Shadowsilk Cloak
A cloak made from silk that has never seen the light of day before being spun and woven in the moon pools of Ithil’ Saren.
Allows one extra combat dice in defence, increases damage done by spells by one.

is fine and a nice upgrade for the wizard or the elf, but

Excalibur
The greatest sword EVER!
Allows 10 combat dice in attack and defence.

is just too strong to be feasible, and would pretty make much make any game ridiculously easy. theres plenty you can do in between though:

Graceful Woven Sandals
Made from fine Elven silks, these simple sandals are incredibly comfortable and far more durable than they seem.
Allows one extra combat dice in defence and allows the wearer to move diagonally.

Darkwoven Hood
A tatty old hood with what appears to be a human eye sown into it… did it just blink?
Allows one extra combat dice in defence. Once per quest the wearer of the hood may ask for the contents of any one room to be laid out. If the room is empty the ability is wasted.

Rune Weavers Gloves
These simple leather gloves are stitched using strange fibres with tiny intricate runes scrawled over them
Allows one extra combat dice in defence. If any offensive spell cast is fully blocked and fails to cause any damage, the wearer may retain that card to use again on a later turn.

The 'Shadowsilk Cloak' had a very good effect and would come in very useful when fighting bosses and stronger monsters.
The 'Graceful Woven Sandals' are good in that it changes the movement, because I have never seen an artefact or equipment ect.... that changes movement, the only thing I have come across is 'Potion of Speed'. Maybe the adding defense might make it to good, but this could be an upgrade. Just a thought.

The Excalibur I think is far too strong like u were saying, whoever equips that is going to be blasting the monsters.

Rune weavers Gloves, the effect maybe a bit strong, but thats just my opinion.