House Rules to Jazz up Magic-users

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Persimmon
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House Rules to Jazz up Magic-users

Post by Persimmon »

While I generally like magic-users as is, I have made a few tweaks to give them a bit more oomph, especially at the low levels. Here are my house rules:
 All spellcasters receive a scroll with d3 randomly determined spells at character creation
 Magic-users may purchase a magic wand or mage staff at character creation or later at the price of 100 gp per character level (i.e. at 2nd level it costs 200 gp); any caster may have only one such item at a time as they are attuned to the caster, though this does not preclude also using standard wands and staves
 Magic wands allow the caster to focus magic and fire energy bolts for d3+lvl in damage. One bolt can be fired per round; target gets save. This is unlimited but the wand must be recharged at the cost of 100 gp per PC level (i.e. 200 gp at 2nd level) every time the character advances
 A mage staff allows the wielder to strike monsters normally hit by only magic items, though it confers no to hit or damage bonuses unless the wielder has magically enchanted it. It also allows the wielder to lock/unlock doors, even magically locked portals at the rate of 1 per level per day. So a 6th level magic-user could use this power 6 times per day. The mage staff also casts light in a 30’ radius lasting a number of turns per day equal to the user’s level. The staff must be re-charged each level at a cost of 200 gp/level so it would cost 800 gp for a 4th level caster to recharge the staff
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merias
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Re: House Rules to Jazz up Magic-users

Post by merias »

Scrolls are great for low-level MUs. I like the Holmes rules that allow MUs of any level to create scrolls - if MUs are careful with their starting gold, or if the party chips in, they will usually have a scroll for their first delve.

The wand of arcane bolts + save seems like a neat replacement for the thrown dagger MUs always fall back on when their spells run out. I've also played with wands as a way to store spells for later use, as long as the MU knows the spell they can store it in the wand. So I guess like a scroll but in wand form.

I like that the mage staff is not overpowered at low levels. It would be just enough to make a 1st-level MU feel useful. I think overall these rules impart a very cinematic feel, they make me think of (LOTR movie) Gandalf in the Mines of Moria.

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