Post by Admin Pete on Aug 10, 2017 16:04:11 GMT -5
I quoted this post since the poster was linking to his blog.
aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.com/2014/09/expanded-melee-attack-matrix.html
That last post was of course a bad joke.
Having high-level Magic-Users be able to use magic swords is an interesting and attractive idea. I'm trying to think what the downside is, but in honesty I can't. In the 3LBB's only Fighting-Men can use such items. But in Zylarthen, Thieves, (the Cleric substitute) can use them as well (though they will be limited to the smaller number of neutral ones). So why not just open it up to everyone? Indeed it wouldn't be totally unreasonable to give it to Magic-Users from the beginning.
In Zylarthen, the difference between the attack capabilities of, say, Fighting-Men and Magic-Users (in terms of their to hit bonuses and the attack and damage differences between weapons) is not anywhere near as great as it is in, say, AD&D. Rather, there are more important reasons for Magic-Users not to get into melee engagements: 1) they can't use their spells, 2) their hit points are probably relatively low and 3) they're not wearing armor. So giving them the option to use magic swords wouldn't appear to unbalance things. Jumping into melee would usually be a bad idea anyway (as JD pointed out in his post). But it would leave open the potential for the occasional back-to-the-wall and/or epic Gandalf vs. the Balrog sorts of confrontations.
Sept 23, 2014 16:18:32 GMT -5 @jdjarvis said:
I whipped up some expanded combat tables to cut out the need for in the hit roll during combat. I took a few liberties with the odds for some weapons for higher level characters that make them vary from the rulebook progression a little and added magic swords for high level magic-users for the Gandalf fans.aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.com/2014/09/expanded-melee-attack-matrix.html
Sure, you COULD have high-level Magic-Users use magic swords, but in that case you just wouldn't be playing SEVEN VOYAGES of ZYLARTHEN ™. You might as well be playing ZYLARTHEN and BEAVERS.
That last post was of course a bad joke.
Having high-level Magic-Users be able to use magic swords is an interesting and attractive idea. I'm trying to think what the downside is, but in honesty I can't. In the 3LBB's only Fighting-Men can use such items. But in Zylarthen, Thieves, (the Cleric substitute) can use them as well (though they will be limited to the smaller number of neutral ones). So why not just open it up to everyone? Indeed it wouldn't be totally unreasonable to give it to Magic-Users from the beginning.
In Zylarthen, the difference between the attack capabilities of, say, Fighting-Men and Magic-Users (in terms of their to hit bonuses and the attack and damage differences between weapons) is not anywhere near as great as it is in, say, AD&D. Rather, there are more important reasons for Magic-Users not to get into melee engagements: 1) they can't use their spells, 2) their hit points are probably relatively low and 3) they're not wearing armor. So giving them the option to use magic swords wouldn't appear to unbalance things. Jumping into melee would usually be a bad idea anyway (as JD pointed out in his post). But it would leave open the potential for the occasional back-to-the-wall and/or epic Gandalf vs. the Balrog sorts of confrontations.