Topic: Problematic Spells

[jasonbrisbane]

You neednt worry about i the cost.

DND 3.5 - Expiditous Retreat = HARP Long Door at base cost.

Remember that the mage needs one round to cast this. Throw in an archer or two shooting mages and the spell is ruined. (You cant dodge and cast a spell at the same time! Both require full concentration for the full round.) Throw in ANY spellcaster with Counterspell with 4+ ranks and they can counter his attempt!

Mages with a huge range of spells at L1 cant do ANYTHING!. Cant wear armor, cant defend themselves (need time to cast those defense spells and who had that time when ambushed? You run out of PP's VERY quickly when trying to cast or keep spells going - you cant maintain the spells each hour let alone the whole day.

The BIGGER worry is a mage with an item (5 DP's) that allows them to cast Long Door (Base cost only) once per day. Then they dont have to cast a spell to use it, they simply "Activate" the item... Then they start buying these each level for 5DP's each...
 There are a heap of other things  that COULD effect the game play but in the end the sacrifice is in DP's.

You can try to be a jack of all trades but in the end your master of none.

My first mage was as you suggested - he lasted four rounds I think (including the suprise round) becuase I couldnt do Anything well enough.

It all balances out...

[Saddith]

IMO, one of the main issue about spells is that there are too PP cheap.
A lot of them can be cast by a first level spell-user.

I am against making the spells cost more.

One of the biggest draws for me is that I can make powerful spell casters. This is one of the only RPG games left where we can be proud to play a spell user. When I wanted to play a weak caster I play GURPS or D&D.

Please don?t weaken the epic feel of HARPS.

[jasonbrisbane]

Rememebr,

A HARP character has multiple spells (from 1 - 20 max per profession - generally!) that he can start learning early and can escalate as he gets betetr - learns more ranks.

DnD charaters have weak spells that cant be scaled or changed - you can only learn a different spell that has a similar effect (ie. Acid hand is touch and does 1hp, then Magic Missile does more damage but limited to a max effect), increasing to more powerful spells at much later levels...

These are different tyypes of magic systems and this is how it is supposed to be. Changing the PP cost isnt the answer.
Dont make it into a Rules issue it is a personal GM issue. if you dont want people of low levels have the spell then just tell your players that you are making a house rue: "No Long Door until Level X".

Problem solved.