Ye Olde Inn

SadKitchen's Spell Casting Variant (The first person to properly identify where I stole it from gets a gold star... Well I don't have a gold start so I'll most likely just tell you that you are correct.)

- Each spell is given a Power Cost. (See below)
- At the beginning of each quest any Hero who can cast spells takes a number of Power Tokens equal to his Mind Points.
- At the beginning of your turn, and you can cast spells, roll a number of dice equal to your mind points. The total number of white shields rolled is your Temporary Power. It lasts only until the beginning of your next turn. Any Temporary Power you do not spend is lost.
- You can cast a spell by spending power equal to the Power Cost of the spell you wish to cast. Spend your Temporary Power first, and if that is not enough spend your Power Tokens to make up the difference. If you do not have enough Temporary Power and Power Tokens to cover the cost of a spell then you cannot cast the spell.
- The Wand of Magic grants you no additional Temporary Power or Power Tokens, so it must be used with caution as to not drain all your Power too early in an adventure.
- The Spell Ring is completely changed. Instead of granting the ability to cast a spell twice in an adventure (which is no longer impressive) The Spell Ring grants the Hero Wearing it 2 additional Power Tokens at the beginning of any quest in which he is wearing it.
- The Elixir of Life will also restore your Power Tokens to their maximum level but using it to regain power is lame.
- Chaos Sorcerers: Due to them giving themselves over to chaos completely, all evil spell casters that use the Chaos Sorcerer figure or have their own unique figure (all the wizards from the Wizards of Morcar expansion) count black shields as well as white shields when determining their Temporary Power.

Spell's Casting Cost by Card (These numbers were derived from a post by Deadalus. You can see it here "http://www.yeoldeinn.com/hqforum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=969")

Air
- Genie: 5 (Special note: A genie can only be cast three times per Quest)
- Swift Wind: 2
- Tempest: 3

Earth
- Heal Body: 6
- Pass Through Rock: 2
- Rock Skin: 3

Fire
- Ball of Flame: 4
- Courage: 6 (We use the lasts until you see no monsters opinion)
- Fires of Wrath: 2

Water
- Sleep: 4
- Veil of Mist: 2
- Water of Healing: 6

Chaos
- Ball of Flame: 4
- Cloud of Chaos: 6
- Command: 5
- Escape: 0
- Fear: 3
- Firestorm: 7
- Lightning Bolt: 6
- Rust: 4
- Sleep: 4
- Summon Orcs: 6
- Summon Undead: 6
- Tempest: 3

Fires of Wrath became our Wizard's go to spell as he routinely had at least 2 Temporary Power each turn and it damages way more regularly than a thrown dagger.
I don't like how restrictive it is for the Elf to cast the healing spells but cannot in good conscience bring their cost down as then they would be cast way too often. Suggestions?

-SadKitchen

nice i like this system a lot! id agree with the prices on everything except courage - 6 seems too high.

Lower the cost for the Elf to cast any healing spell by 1 point, problem solved.
Do not allow a spell to be cast two turns in a row. Put a cool down on spells like they do in some video games.

Spellpower... Tokens... Dice rolls...

Sound Warhammer Quest'ish?

Also sounds like a fun and pretty balanced magic system for Hero Quest.

Goblin-King wrote:Spellpower... Tokens... Dice rolls...

Sound Warhammer Quest'ish?

Also sounds like a fun and pretty balanced magic system for Hero Quest.

{insert lack of gold star here}
You are correct sir!

-SadKitchen

nice system - I bet that works out pretty well. I especially like the temporary power - not guaranteed, but
could offer a good amount of spell casting if a roll is lucky enough.
I was going to say that it sounds a bit like the casting power introduced in Unearthed Arcane for D&D 3.5.

The Wand of Magic is much to powerful as I origonaly planned when combining multiple low power cost spells.

Therefore I have changed the card to the following.
Wand of Magic: After you cast a spell you can spend 2 power to be able to cast another spell. You must follow all the normal rules for casting the second spell.

Let me know what you think.

-SadKitchen

First - I would change the Spell Ring power points to 4. The average of the total span of spell points needed for
all spells is 3.75. I would make the spell ring 4, so you can have a better chance of using ANY spell available, as
it is meant to be used.

Second - I would leave the wand of magic alone, in my opinion. It is meant to be a powerful artifact, which is why
it is usable only once per quest. The caster is still having to use their spell points and spell tokens to cast the
second spell.

That's my two copper coins worth.

The Wand of Magic has no per quest restriction.

@SadKitchen
It warms my black chaos heart that you found a use for part of my elaborate spell system! I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to actually play mine. Allow me instead to vicariously engage in some comments about your baby...

My feeling is it isn't necessary to cost Fire of Wrath at only 2. The fact that it is the go to spell instead of the other cost 2 spells shows it may be out of balance. I suggest raising it to a cost of 3, thus reigning in its usefulness a bit. A single hit scored from a distance is quite a boon, particularly against mosters with high Defend values. Don't worry too much about it not equaling half a Ball of Flame exactly- in many cases a single hit is as good as two if only 1 Body Point is left to a monster.

Don't cheapen the healing spells for the Elf...permanantly. One fix is an Elven-only artifact. If the Elf is casting water spells, make a special decanter/vial that cheapens the cost to 4 for Water of Healing, but only once per Quest. Same thing for the earth spell Heal Body, but make the artifact a healing crystal/stone.

If you feel the cheaper healing cost should be effective immediately, then rationalize the same once-per-Quest cost of 4 as intrinsic to the Elf Hero. Maybe it's in his nature, or maybe it's an artifact- an inherited heirloom. After the healing spell is cast once, "tap" the spell card 90 degrees to the right to indicate that further casting will have a cost of 6.

@Tott
Yeah, 6 is a high cost for a spell. A cheaper cost of 3 would fit into SadKitchen's system, but it would only provide the 2 bonus combat dice for one attack only (though the spell could be cast in advance for a later, triggering attack). The reasons for the limit were discussed within this thread about the duration of the Courage spell. You were in the continuing effect camp, so I assume cost 3 is out.

A cost of 6 for Courage is set for those who prefer the spell to have extended effect. The high cost is intended to limit Courage to only 1 or 2 uses in a Quest. This is necessary for balance, as an Elf or Dwarf will probably convert one use of the spell to attack multiple times with 4 combat dice...most likely resulting in 2 hits per attack. Compare it to Genie (cost 5), which provides just 1 more combat die for one attack only. A Barbarian can even equal the attack power of a Genie spell, or more accurately stated, multiple Genie spells.

For what Courage delivers in this interpretation of the spell, it's actually a bargain. Sure, the buffed Hero would have been attacking regardless, but that bonus skull from Courage will most likely not be stopped by armor, as another skull will have been scored by the Hero's weapon anyway. The result is usually an insured Body Point of damage- again and again. I'd say that's worth two or three of the other fire spells.

That all said, I'm only making educated guesses. I figure the Elf or Wizard will only cast this spell when at least 2, and preferably 3 or more shields are rolled. The Wizard is certainly better suited to cast this spell. The Elf, however, isn't as likely to roll 2 white shields at the beginning of a tough battle, while rolling 3 is even more remote. It is possible your estimation is correct, instead. Maybe SadKitchen can provide some insight, as he has had the opportunity to playtest his magic system. Perhaps another fix, like those suggested for healing spells, is needed.