Showdown Homebrew: Spellcasting House Rules

[Showdown35]

Well, I've been working on this for a long time now, and I think it's about time I shared it with the community. I would like to get some feedback, so feel free to criticize, pick apart, or point out any glaring oversights I may have made.

I have browsed many attempts to "fix" the Wizard on these very forums. New rules for spellcasting, additional spells, item upgrades for spellcasters. All have merit in their own right, but none were what I was looking for to fit in with my Homebrew Project. I just wanted to make spellcasters more fun to use, with a little more strategy involved, but still keep the game simple enough to play with anyone. There is a link below to my project site with my new spellcasting rules. To fully understand, you'll also need to visit my New Spell Colleges topic, if you haven't done so already:
http://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3185

Once you've seen my new format for the spells, these new house rules should make sense. The idea is to make re-casting spells a possibility. Less powerful spells can be re-cast over and over with a little bit of risk, while powerful spells are very risky to attempt, and might not even succeed. I believe I've found a good balance to make re-casting a possibility and a fun strategy, while not making spellcasters over-powered. These rules also increase the value of Mind Points, as they are the main resource for re-casting spells. This might actually cause heroes to fight over the Talisman of Lore! Anyway, I'll be monitoring this thread, hopefully responding to and explaining my thoughts on the rules, as well as getting valuable feedback that may lead to some changes.

http://www.showdowndave.ca/heroquest/houserules.html#casting

Please keep comments in this thread about the house rules, and not about the new spell colleges I introduced in the other thread.


For those unable to view my project site:

I have copy and pasted the spellcasting rules below, and also added a couple sample pics of spell cards so you can see the new format I designed.

Re-Casting Spells
- Each spell a Spellcaster "knows" can be cast for free as normal, but is not discarded. Instead, it is placed in a seperate "re-cast" pile.
- A Spellcaster may attempt to re-cast a spell from the "re-cast" pile by rolling a number of Combat Dice equal to the Spell Value, represented by the number in parenthesis beside the spell type (usually 1, 2, or 3).
- The Spellcaster suffers 1 Mind Point of damage for each Skull rolled.
- If 1 Black Shield is rolled, the spell fails and the Spellcaster looses his action.
- If 2 or more Black Shields are rolled, the spell fails, the Spellcaster looses his action, and may not attempt to re-cast that spell for the remainder of the Quest (it is discarded as per original rules).

Targeting
- The new wording on spell cards introduce the term "target".
- In order to target something, it must be in sight of the Spellcaster and meet any restrictions on the spell card.
- A Spellcaster is always in sight of himself, and can therefore be targeted.
- A "Figure" refers to any figure (friend or enemy) present on the board, but again, must be in sight to be targeted.

Spell Types
- Attack Spells - Instant effect, cause direct damage or harm to figure(s).
- Task Spells - Instant effect, do not cause direct harm to figure(s).
- Hex Spells and Buff Spells - Lasting effect (duration noted on spell card), immediately broken when Spellcaster dies or chooses to end the spell.
Sub-Types
- Area of Effect - No targets, affects a defined area or condition (usually the room the Spellcaster is in).
- Reaction - May only be cast or re-cast immediately after a certain event happens (noted on the card), even if not during the turn of the Spellcaster, in which case it does not use an action.


A few sample spells from my updates (sorry for the huge size, these are high resolution images and there is no re-sizing on this forum):

[blakscot]

Would love to check it out but still can't access www.scon.comze.com at home or at work on firefox, chrome or explorer (disappointed).

[Showdown35]

Would love to check it out but still can't access http://www.scon.comze.com at home or at work on firefox, chrome or explorer (disappointed).

Copy and pasted the rules to the original post!

[Count Mohawk]

First, a touch of math! The chances of rolling...

	...at least one Black Shield	...at least two Black Shields
...with one Combat Die:	16.7%	0%
...with two Combat Dice:	30.6%	2.8%
...with three Combat Dice:	42.1%	7.4%

As you can see, only the lowest-level Spells have good odds for a re-cast to work properly, although the chances of actually discarding a Spell are quite low.

I find it interesting that your rule for re-casting a spell includes both a chance to fail/discard the Spell and a chance to lose Mind Points. Most of the other improved wizardry systems use just one of the above as a limiter on the amount of magic a spellcaster can cast. The two play well with each other, though: losing Mind Points puts a limiter on the total amount of extra magic a wizard can cast, while the chance of spell failure limits the amount of times a Hero can cast each individual spell multiple times.

Your use of keywords to describe the type and area of each spell is also spot-on.

[Showdown35]

Why thank you! And thank you for the math! That's actually quite helpful, and confirms what I was going for with these rules! The idea was to make the Wizard need to use strategy beyond just holding on to Genie until the boss of the Quest. He still gets to cast each spell he has once for free, but I wanted to make it fairly difficult AND risky to re-cast the powerful spells, while fairly easy and less risky to cast the less powerful ones (like Fire of Wrath) over and over. It gives him something to do aside from casting a spell, then hanging back while the heavy hitter move in. Especially if he's burned his spells early on, in which case, he usually ends up trailing behind the group to stay out of danger.

I really like the idea of the Wizard being able to be a little adventurous on his own. If he runs into a room he can't handle, at least he (almost) always has a chance of casting a big or useful spell, even if he's already used up his free casting.

[Daedalus]

It looks like you're happy with lots of recasting, so I agree that you're rule accomplishes what you set out to do. I prefer a more conservative approach for the Wizard that tweaks your rule. I'd say any black shield should cause a spell to both fail and be discarded from play. In addition, I'd shift the Mind Point loss onto black shields rather than skulls. That assumes MPs aren't readily replenished-maybe you have a remedy that calls for faster loss with skulls.