Spellcasters

[Joemanji]

Okay, here is another idea I am pretty excited about (borrowed shamelessly from Space Hulk).

There are two problems with wizards on the pitch that I see: they are banned in the fluff and ranged attacks alter the dynamics of the game (devaluing the cage). One way to kill two birds with one stone is to make all magic zero range. Either aiding the caster directly or affecting someone in his TZ. This means that magic a) doesn't alter game dynamics too much, and b) stays within the fluff by keeping magic covert (chainsaws are banned too remember).

Spellcasters would be rostered players with Loner and -1 AV. This to reflect both a) the fluff that armour impairs magic in the Warhammer/BB world, and that wizards are strange individuals that don't play well with others, and b) the game mechanism that spellcasters should rely on their magic rather than operate as a better version of a normal player. They would also have GASP access to reflect their various magical cantrips and that they rely on their own abilities rather than team training.

Spellcaster (Extraordinary)
Although technically banned, using magic on the pitch has a long history within the game. It has always remained popular with the fans, and nowadays referees tend to turn a blind eye so long as wizards keep their spells fairly discreet. A player with this skill starts the game with 8* "magic points", which you should keep track of using counters, dice or chocolate buttons. Magic points may be spent in two ways. Firstly, the player may add a bonus to any D6 roll he has made. Each point spent adds +1 to the dice roll. The points are spent after the dice is rolled and any reroll has been made. A natural roll of 1 is still always a failure. Secondly, the player may cast one spell during any of his own team turns. This costs the player a number of magic points depending on the spell being used.

Blast: The player may cast this spell instead of taking a Block action, allowing him to release a concussive blast of magical energy. Roll a D6, on a 2+ a player of your choice in the caster's tackle zones may be placed Stunned. On a 1 the magic rebounds on the caster and he should be placed Stunned instead. If a player hit by this spell has the Thick Skull skill he should be placed Prone instead of Stunned. This spell costs 1 magic point.

Wall: The player may cast this spell after completing a Move action. One empty square anywhere on the board is blocked by a wall of invisible energy. This square counts as occupied (as if by a Prone player who must use Stand Firm) until the caster is knocked down or takes an action. Place a coin or counter in the square to indicate this. This spell costs 2 magic point.

Fireball/Lightning Bolt: The player may cast either of the spells available to an induced Wizard (as listed on page 50 of the rulebook) after completing a Move action. Either spell costs 5 magic points and the caster is immediately sent off for overt use of magic, causing a turnover.


*8 is a number plucked out of the air, mainly becuause you could use a reroll track to keep a tally.

[dodolulu]

do i understand it right that eg a dwarven mage would be 4328 ...,spellcaster,loner and a lizard mage 8236 ...,spellcaster, loner?
and you can buy them normally or only as inducement?

and i really think the chocolate buttons idea isnt good since my mage would be magic-points starved from turn 1 on.

[nazgob]

Firstly, the player may add a bonus to any D6 roll he has made. Each point spent adds +1 to the dice roll. The points are spent after the dice is rolled and any reroll has been made. A natural roll of 1 is still always a failure. Secondly, the player may cast one spell during any of his own team turns. This costs the player a number of magic points depending on the spell being used.

So I can dodge into cages on a 2+ right?

Blast: The player may cast this spell instead of taking a Block action, allowing him to release a concussive blast of magical energy. Roll a D6, on a 2+ a player of your choice in the caster's tackle zones may be placed Stunned. On a 1 the magic rebounds on the caster and he should be placed Stunned instead. If a player hit by this spell has the Thick Skull skill he should be placed Prone instead of Stunned. This spell costs 1 magic point.

So I get an uber chainsaw? nice!!

Fireball/Lightning Bolt: The player may cast either of the spells available to an induced Wizard (as listed on page 50 of the rulebook) after completing a Move action. Either spell costs 5 magic points and the caster is immediately sent off for overt use of magic, causing a turnover.

So i get a 150k inducement that does other things as well? And possibly rostered?


I actually really like the idea, but is broken for all of the reasons above.

I would suggest that the Blast power become an armour roll vis a vis stab (maybe with mighty blow?).

The bigger issue relates to the 8(!) magic points. They allow me to dodge into a cage and Blast the ball carrier (2 2+ rolls, 5 magic points), or act like the inducement (5 agic points). i would suggest that they need to be limited. One way would be to reduce the number (boring).

The other would be to only allow a wizard to spend one per turn. However, I would add two caveats - GFIs and Concentration:

Concentration A magic user may choose to Concentrate as his action. This allows him to use one extra magic point in his next activation. (Cumulative). Being knocked over or taking any action other than spell casting or Concentrating will cause these points to be lost at the end of his activation (wasted). [the idea is that a player could spend 5 turns doing nothing but charging, and then unleashing the fireball]

GFI Instead of doing this while moving, a magic user may GFI to use up to two extra magic points in a turn (not to concentrate, only to use). [use GFI rules. if fall down, use mighty blow once per GFI. e.g. if falls down on second GFI, mighty blow counts as +2 not +1]

[Darkson]

The bigger issue relates to the 8(!) magic points. They allow me to dodge into a cage and Blast the ball carrier (2 2+ rolls, 5 magic points),

Secondly, the player may cast one spell during any of his own team turns.

[nazgob]

darkson, what you wrote does not contradict what i wrote.

the ability to get +1 on a roll is not a spell.

[Joemanji]

You can only Blast as part of a Block action however, as stated in the description. Blast is meant to be a mechanism to stop people picking off Wizards as a weak link. You'll be lucky to win a game from it, but it can do something to stop Wizards being.

Yes, you can dodge into a cage on a 2+ if you so wish. Using most of your magic points I'd guess. And then what is your ST3 Loner going to do? Best case roll a one-dice block. Then you have a crappy player for the rest of the game. But that's the point, this is flexible. You can blow all your points on a long shot, or use them gradually to help you out on a turn-by-turn basis.

[plasmoid]

Hi Nazgob,
Blast is only on a block action. Not a blitz action.

[nazgob]

that makes me feel better - i must have misread something there in that case.

still a little concerned about the lightning/fireball though.

how would you cost something like this?

[Joemanji]

Fireball/Lightning is tempered by the fact you can only cast it at the end of your turn. An Induced Wizard is effective by casting at the start of your turn.

No idea on cost really. +50K on lineman seems a place to start (seeing as they get at least 30K of reductions from -1AV and Loner).