Newbie Questions

[nukesnipe]

Okay, I'm not really a newbie as I've been playing TFT since the late '70s, but a Newbie thread seemed like a good thing.

Besides, I have some newbie questions....

I picked up HOW, the Magi Carta, and Terrors and Treasures a few days ago.  I've been through the HOW rules a couple of times, but haven't had a chance to open the other two.  Surfing the forum, I haven't seen these questions asked/answered.

1. I understand the inability to raise the four attributes, and the reasoning behind that restriction.  If one were to enact a house rule that enabled the increasing of attributes, would using the same mechanism for increasing skills be reasonable?  I.e., increasing strength from 10 to 11 would cost 1100 experience points.

2. The one thing I haven't quite wrapped my mind around are wizards and high IQ spells.  I think I understand the intent, but allow me to voice it in my own words: My IQ13 wizard can learn an IQ 18 spell, but he has to roll 4/IQ in order to cast it.  So, when I create him I spend one spell point an he learns Wizard's Wrath.  He would then be able to cast that spell successfully if he rolls 14 (IQ13 + 1) on 4/IQ.  He can continue to improve his skill at Wizard's Wrath to +6, expending 2000 experience points in the process.  After he achieves +6, that's it: no further improvement possible.

3. Continuing with my Wizard's Wrath question, are the automatic pass/fail numbers of 3/17 applicable to 4-die rolls, or are their different pass/fail numbers for die rolls involving more than 3 dice?  In other words, does a 17+ on 4/IQ still constitute a failure?  Also, when using the optional rules for spell and weapon critical hits and fumbles, is the "3" result simply not an option when using 4 or more dice?

I think that's it for now.  I really like the HOW rule set, especially tying the experience points to successful die rolls.

[Deleted]

hey scott!
i see that your questions were posted 6 days ago and no one has responded. i think by responding myself, others will be motivated to respond also. just a pattern i've noticed

#1 seems very logical to me. i've been lurking here, the blog, and the G+ page for quite some time. CRB has slipped 1000XP into the conversations in the past. others have nominated values between 400-600XP.

#2 - that is how the core rules read to my eyes. however, based on other posts here and there, i believe Magi Carta makes suggestions for limiting what spells you may learn. i don't own MG but this is what i've deduced from the free preview of it and the posts of others...

in order to learn an IQ 18 spell, you must first learn an IQ17 spell. in order to learn an IQ17 spell, you must first learn an IQ16 spell...and so on. get the picture?

#3 i believe you are correct. that is how i read the core rules and it makes sense to me. if you cast a spell above your IQ, you are more likely to fail than if it were at or below your IQ. also, you are more likely to critically fail. if i recall correctly (it's in the core rules so double-check me), rolling 17 is a fail and you still pay the EN cost. rolling 18 and up is a fail and you pay double the EN cost! if you roll 4 or less, you succeed and the EN cost is halved or waived (not sure which). when rolling with 4 die, you have a much lower chance of critical success and a much higher chance of critical failure.

i hope that helps. if it doesn't i'm sure someone will be along shortly to make a fool out of me!

[nukesnipe]

ewookie,

Thanks for the reply.

Being mildly OCD, I went all in and purchased the core rules and the Magi Carta and the Terrors and Treasures supplements.  The Magi Carta has a crazy number of spells that would probably best be used to populate spell books.  I can see it being a good way to create plot hooks: The ancient wizard hires you to find the Book of Darkness, a spell book containing spells of pain an misery.  He wants to ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.  Really.  The Magi Carta also has enough spells to where you could probably set up your own spell colleges.  All in all, I think it's a pretty good resource.

I'm only about half-way through the Terrors and Treasures supplement, but it's a treasure trove of information.  I'm very pleased with it.

I've been pondering answers to my own questions for the past week.  I think I understand that HOW is intended to focus more on highly skilled "normal" people than on superheroes.  I'd never heard of "Conan the Librarian" before this forum, but that was always one of my issues with TFT.  But, I do like the idea that the uber-smart weakling could improve his physical prowess with time and effort.  Keeping the 100xNext Level mechanism seems both easy and sufficiently painful to keep it "real".

Your explanation of critical success/failure was well written and makes good sense.  Thanks for providing the clarity.

I'll see if I can't push some metal around my table this weekend...