Warriors casting spells

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JRR
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Warriors casting spells

Post by JRR »

How exactly can a warrior cast a spell? From the beta document, I notice the following:
Spell checks by other classes: Foolish warriors have been known to read magical scrolls in dangerous attempts to wield magic. A warrior, thief, or other character untrained in magic may attempt to cast a spell from magical instructions he encounters. Characters of untrained classes roll 1d10 for their spell check instead of 1d20, and they do not add any modifier for an ability score or caster level.
But it takes a 12 or higher to cast a spell, and that's just for a first level spell. How exactly, do you roll a 12 on a D10? Don't get me wrong, I have a player who can do just that, but let's ignore him for the moment. :-)

The only way I see is to burn luck. Maybe a warrior in a last ditch situation could do this, but he's most likely better off burning luck for some other action, an attack roll or something. If the goal is to keep warriors from attempting spells, why have this mechanic at all? I suppose you could burn all your luck to try and cast charm person on the barmaid, or attempt to teleport away from Asmodeus or something. Is the design goal for just these rare and last ditch situations? If so, that's cool, I'm just interested in the design goal.
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by GnomeBoy »

What if the warrior is the only party member left standing and there is no one else to read the scroll that will banish evil from the world? I'd burn Luck to do that...
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jmucchiello
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by jmucchiello »

JRR wrote:How exactly can a warrior cast a spell? From the beta document, I notice the following:
He has a 16+ Int and rolls a 10 on the d10.
JRR
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by JRR »

jmucchiello wrote:
JRR wrote:How exactly can a warrior cast a spell? From the beta document, I notice the following:
He has a 16+ Int and rolls a 10 on the d10.

Characters of untrained classes roll 1d10 for their spell check instead of 1d20, and they do not add any modifier for an ability score or caster level.
jmucchiello
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by jmucchiello »

JRR wrote:
jmucchiello wrote:
JRR wrote:How exactly can a warrior cast a spell? From the beta document, I notice the following:
He has a 16+ Int and rolls a 10 on the d10.

Characters of untrained classes roll 1d10 for their spell check instead of 1d20, and they do not add any modifier for an ability score or caster level.
Ahh. Missed that bit. So did the designer, I'm sure.
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by smathis »

JRR wrote:The only way I see is to burn luck. Maybe a warrior in a last ditch situation could do this, but he's most likely better off burning luck for some other action, an attack roll or something.
Could Warriors use Spellburn? That would kind of make sense then. Otherwise, you got me. I have no idea how they'd do it outside of spending lots and lots of luck.
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abk108
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by abk108 »

Warrior : "Damn, we're out of luck!I burned all i had and it's just worth +6!"
Dwarf : "Squeeze the bloody halfling! SQUEEZE HIM!"
*SQUEEZE*
Warrior : "...Hey! It worked!! we're on +12 now!!"

*messed halfling crawls away in the background* :lol:
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Hamel™
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by Hamel™ »

jmucchiello wrote:Ahh. Missed that bit. So did the designer, I'm sure.
Unless 10 on d10 is a sure hit, like 20 on d20.
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by jmucchiello »

Hamel™ wrote:
jmucchiello wrote:Ahh. Missed that bit. So did the designer, I'm sure.
Unless 10 on d10 is a sure hit, like 20 on d20.
Inconsistent with two weapon fighting. And spells don't "hit", they have variable effects based on the sum of the die and all modifiers.
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Hamel™
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by Hamel™ »

jmucchiello wrote: Inconsistent with two weapon fighting. And spells don't "hit", they have variable effects based on the sum of the die and all modifiers.
Spells don't hit in a classic way, but they do as written on page 92: 20 is a critical, 1 is always a failure.
Unless racism against the d10, the same should apply with it (otherwise it's a design error).
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by jmucchiello »

Hamel™ wrote:
jmucchiello wrote: Inconsistent with two weapon fighting. And spells don't "hit", they have variable effects based on the sum of the die and all modifiers.
Spells don't hit in a classic way, but they do as written on page 92: 20 is a critical, 1 is always a failure.
Unless racism against the d10, the same should apply with it (otherwise it's a design error).
No, if you attack with a d16 with two weapon fighting, a 16 is not a crit. It is not a design error or dicism. If you don't roll a d20, you can't crit.
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Hamel™
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by Hamel™ »

jmucchiello wrote: No, if you attack with a d16 with two weapon fighting, a 16 is not a crit. It is not a design error or dicism. If you don't roll a d20, you can't crit.
I don't care a damn of TWF, because I've never talked about it (and I've never said 10 is a critical).
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by jmucchiello »

What does a sure hit do on a spell? A first level spell fails from 1-11, needing as 12 or better. A fifth level spell needs a 20+ to succeed (1-19 fail). So can a fighter rolling a 10 on d10 auto-succeed on both a 1st and 5th level spell? Also, spells have varying levels of success, if he really wants the 16-17 result does the 10 still auto-hit?

Automatic success does not make sense for spells.
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abk108
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Re: Warriors casting spells

Post by abk108 »

jmucchiello wrote:What does a sure hit do on a spell? A first level spell fails from 1-11, needing as 12 or better. A fifth level spell needs a 20+ to succeed (1-19 fail). So can a fighter rolling a 10 on d10 auto-succeed on both a 1st and 5th level spell? Also, spells have varying levels of success, if he really wants the 16-17 result does the 10 still auto-hit?

Automatic success does not make sense for spells.
I could see a dwarf wasting 10 scrolls of Wish, and eventually saying "whooo-ooo!!!" :P
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