Starter magic schools vs levelling magic schools

[wrinklestiltskin]

Last game was probably the last game we played, before we are going to start our frostgrave campaign. I've tried an elementalist, witch and now an enchanter in our warming up games. My enchanter build was really efficient: grenade, telekinesis, enchant weapon, fog, elemental ball, push, heal and dispel. In the game only twice did I fail my casts, most spells have low casting values. Also the spell selection is in theme there is a tool for everything.  This spell selection should help me level fast in a campaign. At least I won this game, and the amount of gold and XP that I would have gotten was quite nice.

The only downside; the spells effects are a bit.....bland. Not certain that that is the right word. I mean they are very direct, not flashy or anything. If you look at the spells for for instance a soothsayer, he has some very cool things he can do. Only he needs to level first to get those spells off regularly. I see the same with my buddy who is playing a chronomancer. Some cool spells, but it's hard to get off in a starting warband. So on one hand these guys will probably get stronger as the campaign progresses, but initially they are behind, and will have an uphill battle to start with.
I guess what I'm trying to answer for myself is how do you get the most out of the frostgrave experience? I haven't played through a campaign yet, so I'm trying to predict how it would go  and trying to figure out what would be most rewarding.

I'd love to hear some experience from people that have played through a campaign with a wizard school that needed to level a bit to get more effective.

Thanks!

[styx]

Well, I have been reading various articles including the spreadsheet that the Shed Wars blog posted that had some nice comparisons in the % of magic success in each area, some jump rather high and it does paint an interesting picture.

Been reading the PDF off and on while I wait for my hard copy but I have to say that the school you start with is key....so to me I would figure out which school you want to start with reasonable level spell targets 8-10 to me is good...then figure out which ones you want in the next tier with the +2 then moving up to the next one. Plus the theme to me is important as playing a wizard that is boring would not be rewarding at all.

Also, when you level up you can lower the target number for your spells as well, so higher target spells can be lowered down with some planning for your leveling and progression.

[wrinklestiltskin]

Hey Styx,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. Not exactly the answer I was looking for. I think in the end I could have asked my question with a lot less text; "What's peoples experience with wizards that need some leveling like the sigilist, soothsayer and chronomancer in campaigns?"

However your answer did spark me to re-examen my list and how I build it. I looked at which spells did I cast during last game, and of the spells I didn't cast would I realistically try to cast them in any of the previous games. So that gives me a bit of room to play around and build a more "flashy" spell deck.

Still I'd like to hear a bit about peoples campaign experiences. (I love this game) 

Thanks.

[Eric the Shed]

Thanks for the plug styx - link here if anybody missed this

http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/frostgrave-study-on-wizards.html

I have played about seven games so far and have built my Elementalist to a respected 14th level.

I chose the elementalist because of the aligned schools (and the availability of easy to cast and useful spells in these classes)

These games have allowed me to improve the spells I regularly cast - there seem to be three core favourites - Elemental Bolt - the +8 Shooting Attack is just awesome. I can now cast this on a seven!

My opponent regularly uses Wizard Eye - So crumble is useful to remove this (cast now at 10)

In addition the Wall Spell is a great defensive spell ( now cast at

The other useful spell in my armoury is Furious quill - a great spell to support my troops in combat. When I have no targets I always cast Enchant Weapon on troops close by if only to get experience.

cheers

[JohnDSD2]

I've been playing a Soothsayer, allegedly one of the least favoured schools and its been good fun.
I think when it comes to spell selection you need a mix, something direct and offensive, something to help with movement or to move treasure to you (Telekinesis), something out of game and something that you want in the future with a high casting number but that you intend to work on as you level to bring it into play.
To start with I pretty much used my levels to improve casting numbers, there is a strong case for improving Fight/Health to increase survivability. Learning new spells is at the bottom of the list for me, if you have chosen wisely to start with then improve those before adding something new and again considered the casting number. Once you are into the game and have a base you can get some help with rolls depending upon what you build. I've recently learnt Brew Potion which is an opposed spell so I need a massive 18 with my wizard by adding a cauldron  I get a plus 1 and as its an out of game spell any potions will be a bonus, I'm not counting on them and its a spell I will slowly improve as time goes by.
I think one thing to remember is that the games are quite short and even with two spell casters you won't need to use many spells, my core spells seem to be Reveal Secret (out of game), Wizards Eye (for seeing round corners), Mind Control, Bone Dart and Teleport getting attempted every game and more often than not a couple of times each with another 3 or 4 spells getting attempted once per game.
Hope that helps.

[wrinklestiltskin]

Thanks guys.

I think that is indeed a key difference to realise between one-off games and a campaign. In a campaign you don't necessarily need to be able to cast every spell right away. As long as you have a couple of spells that will allow you to get treasure early, you can build up your wizard.

[wrinklestiltskin]

Again thanks guys, based on your feedback I've decided to take the plunge and go for an Illusionist. I think it might be hard in the beginning, but will be more rewarding/fun going forward. I've gone for this build:

Beauty, Transpose & Glow
Mind control, Dispel & Push
Bone dart, fog

In the beginning I can focus on casting Beauty, glow and push to level up. Transpose, bone dart and fog will be the first spells I start putting experience on to get more options in the game.

To offset my lack of killyness my warband consists of the following soldiers:
2x Archer, 1 crossbowman, 1 infantryman, 2x javelineers, 2 thieves.
I think the combination of glow and shooting will give me good milage, further on I can decrease the amount of shooting in my list.

[Drachenklinge]

After playing four 1:1 games and two somewhat testing campaign games I am actually anxious to even get my sigilist tested with three core-sigilist OOG spells.
But absorb knowledge and create crimoire/scroll could be fairly effective I assume. And living in a library might make be effective even more so with a chance every turn (library: dicover book on 17+ or something).

In addition I may try some OOG spells before game, some after. So, without risk or hurt two spells. Quite good I'd say.

But then this kill the enemy wizard XP reward might really give the killer an advantage. That said aggressive spells might simply pay of more, as already mentioned elsewhere often enough.

I think in a campaign, there are many things levelled out simply by making fitting chlices for your repective warband. Good choice for sigilist might be bad one for elementalist.

[tys123]

I think Create Scroll could be a very good spell for a campaign.
I picked it for my enchanter have improved it so I have a decent chance of getting a scroll after each game.
It means that if you find a grimoire for a decent spell but the casting cost is 16+ due to the school it is still worth learning.
For instance I have a learnt dispel now and while I won't try to cast it very often if I really need to get rid of a spell I now can as I have a scroll.

[Philhelm]

I think Create Scroll could be a very good spell for a campaign.

I think it would be worthwhile to learn most of the out-of-game spells, even if further points aren't invested into them.  Absorb Knowledge is a given, since for a single point of investment, the wizard will develop significantly more quickly in the long-term, even with a higher casting roll.  Brew Potion, Write Scroll, Enchantment/Embed Enchantment, etc., all seem to be worthwhile, economic investments.