Magic QA: Loopholes, Abuses, and Fixes

Elementalist had their shield broken in 1st hit once it was up, so 2 post wasted casting, and Fighter just smacked, and then they had to spend another 2 posts to spin up Evocation Bolt. Elementalist did cast Bolt once and deal 4 dmg, and then died in the next turn. If the dice allowed them to live, they would get to shoot another 1 spell and if it hit it would kill a light armored fighter but medium and heavy would still be alive (without using brushing off abilities or trait skills, racials, etc).

Fight goes as this if the Evocation mage is first:
Get hit=Attempt
Fighter dmg=3
Fighter hp=11
Elementalist hp=5
Elementalist dmg=4

Prepare Shielding, get hit by Fighter, Shield finishes casting, get hit by a fighter (breaks shield), prepare next spell, get hit by a fighter, finish casting next spell (Evocation) first time you attack, get hit by a fighter, chain Evocation, get hit by a fighter, chain Evocation, get hit by a fighter.

So in all of this, mage attacked 3 times (2 post to shielding, 2 post first evocation, 1 evocation, 1 evocation), fighter attacked 6 times. Note that if Fighter was first, he would attack 7 times. Fighter breaks Shielding in 1 hit, not much point in using it unless you're battlemage. Mage can take 3 hits and die, Fighter can take 3 hits and die. However, Fighter attacks twice as often. Conclusion, Shielding is useless. (Not to mention, by the time you land your 1st attack, Fighter can hit you 4 times)

Without shielding:
Start spell, get hit by fighter, evocation spell, get hit by a fighter, evocation spell, get hit by a fighter. And so on. Only note that without Shielding the Mage will survive 2 hits and die (healing doesn't suit combat, 2 posts to heal 2hp gives fighter 2 free hits). Elementalist needs to land 3 successful hits to kill heavy armor, Battlemage needs to land 4 successful hits, all other schools (light armor, heavy armor, no armor) need to land 5-6 successful hits (2 dmg spam or using other spells with long posting time) but the posting time for anything that does low damage would cost them their life. They might be able to survive 1-2 more hits but their attacks would still be slow.

Note these are 'basic' builds. If a Mage has a Animal Companion that would help deal 0-3 hits or take 1 hit more. Or if a mage walks around with Lesser Summon monster. They would have decent chances with one of that, minor advantage with both, but if you add Battlemage school to them they're overpowered (Shield for 6 points, let 2 creatures attack enemy, then start attacking too, redo shield when needed). Which is why the 'gap' is so large between being useless in combat and being overpowered. Also if a mage casts a spell before start of combat and buff or summons something they would have starting advantage, but the person would probably end up attacking them the next moment they saw them as a threat so that is unlikely unless ambushing.

Spending 2 posts to throw a spell that does less than 4+ damage or has impressive effect isn't really good. As you give enemy one hit attempt at you, and as a Mage you cannot really risk that (dead in 2 hits).

This doesn't mean Magic is bad, it's really awesome, but for combat scenario there isn't much wiggle room, you either go Elementalist(with companion) or Battlemage, then shoot 1 Evocation spell until target dies (battlemage shield themselves). For cheese - Battlemage takes companion as well, and for max cheese they take Lesser Summon+Companion and keep them both up at all times. (Any mage who has 2 companions with them is going to pretty much win, as it's 3v1.)


We could test in-world so you see what I mean by all of this, I did post few suggestions above and submitted several new spells, though they are suggestions and not complete solutions. A solution to magic could be done with a 1hour magic meeting.

Few spells not mentioned in the thread yet:

Call the Wild: *
This spell allows the caster to summon a number of small animals and birds to act as defenders. It takes 2 posts to cast and costs 1 Magic. They all act in unison, attacking a single target, or intercepting damage done to the caster that would normally affect him. The 'swarm' has Fighting 4, Strength 2, Reflexes 6, and does Light damage on a hit. In total it has 4 Hit Points, which can either be taken from hits that would affect the caster, or are directed at the swarm. Once all Hit Points have been used, the animals flee into the surrounding area.
Make them deal Medium damage?

Call the Wound:
This spell takes 1 post to cast and costs 2 Magic, and requires that the target has been already wounded. The mage causes the previous damage to worsen, doing 1 more Hit Point of damage. A target can only be affected by this spell once per scene.
Do 2-3 damage?

Call the Dead:
This spell allows the mage to call up an undead servitor, a skeleton or zombie, to serve him. It takes 3 posts to cast, and a corpse or the pieces of one. He must spend 1 point of magic per corpse animated, and feed them some of his blood (causing one wound, regardless of how many he creates, though this does not count against his Hit Points). The undead obey his commands exactly, but have no will and no ability to speak or reason. They have the following traits: Fighting 4, Magic 1, Shadows 2, Reflexes 3, Strength 4, Huntsman 2, and 2 Wounds. Undead automatically fail any resolve rolls required. They remain until destroyed orthe caster allows the bodies to revert to inanimate matter, but no mage can have more than his magic rating in undead at any one time.
Replace wounds with Hit points, could make it for every HP given to increase their HP (more corpses). How much damage they do?

Shark's Teeth:
This spell takes 2 posts to cast and costs 1 Magic to use. This allows the caster to grow a pair of pointed sharp teeth in more than one row and enlarge their mouth. When biting using this mouth, it counts as a Medium weapon.
Make it large?


Clawed:
This spell takes 2 posts to cast. This allows the caster to grow a pair of clawed hands or feet. When using these appendages to attack, it counts as a Medium weapon.
Make it large?

Fleshmelding:
A form of healing that is intensely painful and leaves raised, ridged scars on the target. It takes 3 posts to cast, and any open wounds the target has are closed up, sealing themselves behind thick scar tissue. The target restores 1 Hit Point of damage per 3 points of Magic rating the caster has, effectively healing the wound, but is left weakened for a day (Strength and Reflexes reduced to 1).
(remove offensive use or half it instead?)

Lightning Bolt too strong as it stuns.
Potential to infinite stun.
Spectral Grasp needs different effect cause it doesn't skip armor anymore.
Lingering Hex, how does it work with new armor ruling?
Illusion Images (Phantom Assassin) should drain 1/2 Magic every time they're hit as up-keep.
Lookie Here should drain 1 magic every turn and 1 magic every time it's hit or have HP.

There aren't many combative/damaging spells now that I had a good look.