Randomizing starting wizard spells or Heritor abilities in FG or GA?

[Murawski1812]

OK, I was responding to the thread... "Thug, Thief or Treasure Hunter".... and I got into that area of... "This should be another thread".....

Obviously, the supporting members of your warband should compliment your wizard's and apprentice's abilities..... (that is discussed in the other thread....

But.... what do you guys do for starting wizards and heritors, etc.....? Spell-wa8ise that is?

I have found that you can really "min-max" your spells if you are allowed to pick your starters and I have never seen a game that was really unfair by randomizing starter spells....

So, in essence.... do you prefer to choose your wizard or heritor & warden starter spells/abilities or randomize them? If so, do you find that it can really unbalance or "min-max" a game quickly?

My answer is that I am always at a disadvantage as I always chose "themed" spells when we did allow picking them.... By that mean, if I played my enchanter, all of my out of discipline spells I took were "enchanter" themed from the other schools, even if that meant foregoing a more powerful spell to take something that seems more mundane (non min-maxing), but fit the theme of "enchanting".. while my friends always spend hours pouring over the spells and lists and choosing the best combination... leap, teleport, movement... whatever spells mathematically gave you an advantage in the game.... and, the game is, in essence, really all about getting treasure off the board and surviving to gain knowledge and become the most powerful wizard without really putting your wizard or apprentice in too much of harms way.... pick your fights, etc...

So, how do you guys do it? Are your players as competitive as mine? Are you as competitive as them? Or do you like to add in that essence of FG or GA being a minni RPG.....? Obviously, there is no wrong answer, just play styles....

[mikedemana]

I am going to let my players choose them. Randomizing just seems too unbalanced. One person rolls up a sweet combination, and another rolls up weaker ones...then you're stuck with them in what is -- in the end -- a competitive treasure grab.

Plus, like you say, it allows you to "theme" your spellcaster, to give them related abilities that make sense.

Just my opinion...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[JohnDSD2]

In FG we choose spels because a wizard will decide what School to learn and what spells he wants.

We randomise in GA , as Heritor abilities are inherited and so its a matter of genetics, you get no choice.

[Murawski1812]

Both answers excellent and thanks for responding.. it seemed like folks were avoiding posting on this topic.

I like the idea of casters in FG choosing their spells, yes, but I also listed my cons above.. min maxing players in America... yes, I said it.... folks in the US are so competitive they sometime lose the spirit of playing the game.... this especially happens in 40k! I digress... the heat in out games could be cut with a knife....

As for GA....  they used the same argument.... "Heritors are born with the ability to do any of the skills.. they pick and choose which to hone over time".. I cannot argue, it is true if you randomize, you can get a really bad group of spells or abilities and someone else could get a great combo.

I guess I was just prompted to post on the subject as sometimes the competitive ness leads to the min maxing and then pretty much everyone has the same spells.... and then it gets boring.

[Bloggard]

In FG we choose spels because a wizard will decide what School to learn and what spells he wants.

We randomise in GA , as Heritor abilities are inherited and so its a matter of genetics, you get no choice.

interesting, and inclines me to think we weren't quite getting the rules right in our games thus far: we randomised heritor abilities, and seemed to find that a central part of the game was missed, as we somehow or other didn't seem to have any that would 'chain' thus bringing the bloodburn element properly into play ...
as I say, probably our mistake, but we are intending to 'choose' next time 'round.

[critsmash]

In FG we chose the spells, but in GA I like having the randomizing for the heritor as an option to avoid min-maxing. My current warband in GA I randomized. For the warden there is no randomizing table, but I have decided for my own warden that I will learn all the spells from his school (wind warden) before picking from any other school when advancing. I think its good to agree with your opponent If you'll both go picking or randomizing before creating the warbands. Next warband Im thinking we should pick the abilities just to try that out too as Bloggard has a good point with the bloodburn element.   

[Murawski1812]

Thanks for the feedback! I know it is hard to discuss for some. Either way is correct according to the rules. It is just everyone has to do it the same way to keep it fair.

As for blood burn.... I had similar thoughts when I first read the rules.... how or why would you get/use it..... very quickly you can see the dynamic of linked/chosen abilities.... it is scary to see how high some folks are willing to push it!

[mikedemana]

The key to the min/max is to play with your own group of chosen friends. But then again, for those that game at shops or clubs, they may not be able to do that. No one in my group would go overboard on min/max, I feel. So, in my campaign I will give the players the choice to choose or roll randomly.

As for the inherited argument, remember - you're playing a Heritor who has survived long enough to garner a following and make it to the archipelago. So, I justify his more effective abilities by realizing we're playing the elites - not random people walking the streets "back home."

But hey! It is a good game that can accommodate both beliefs!

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com
http://leadlegionaries.blogspot.com/

[Coenus Scaldingus]

I like the idea of rolling for random abilities, but in practice will likely choose them most of the time. The reason for this is that I tend to create a warband around a certain theme with particular models in mind, so ending up with shooting skills for a melee character or abilities related to movement and evasion for a hulking brute wouldn't work well. Might consider a compromise, rolling but allowing a re-roll or a combination of chosen and randomised. To be fair, most of the skills seem useful enough anyway, and there are relatively few very powerful or very useless combinations from what I see.

[LeadAsbestos]

I had a fine evil egyptian styled wizard all painted to lead my GA warband, and then we rolled for abilities, and it was purely defensive stuff. Gave me another idea, and its back to the painting table! We don't really min/max, and push the storyline pretty heavily, so hopefully this is a good start!

[joe5mc]

Thoughts on Heritors:

All Heritors are born with the possibility of learning any Heritor Ability in the same way a baby can learn any language. However, unless the Heritor is specifically taught how to use an ability (by another Heritor), they are likely to only develop abilities that they have an actual need for in their lives. A kid who got into a lot of fights would pick up some of the combat abilities, but if he lived nowhere near water, he probably wouldn't ever realize he could develop water lung!

Joe

[LiamFrostfang]

  cool.
my woman got me red raven figure. (I love plastic crack)
i wanna make em like batman ish...
thoughts on heritor powers?
i must CHOOSE soon... an im abit overwhelmed bros.....