Re: magic and fighters

["William W. Dyess" <dyessww@Eng.Auburn.EDU>]

> If you're wearing a tin can, your spells should fail more often.  I would
> MUCH rather see this built in to the code than trying to hard-code
> distinctions between classes.

Hear hear!  There's no reason that spell casters shouldn't be able to 
wear armour, nor any reason that warriors shouldn't be able to learn spells.

Spell failure, or some sort of spell power reduction is a good idea.  
Maybe, to help out lower level players, have something where your spell 
casting level is 1/2 normal when wearing armour.  Perhaps have the 
percentage vary by armour type.

>   Why does everyone hate the concept of the Renaissance Man so much?
> What's wrong with one player being very, very good at two different things?
> Koss, that ice skater from Norway, won some gold medals and is also in
> medical school.  Why should we hard-code it so that players like Koss are
> impossible?  It happens in real life, but we want to make it impossible
> in a fantasy game?
> 
>   It is sufficient to build in a greater chance of spell failure
> if you're wearing too much garbage.  Prayers should be immune to this.
> This is also much easier than building in class distinctions.
> 
>   I really disagree with the idea that you should always be what you start
> as.  I think you should be what you are good at.  Comon, a fighter who has
> a strength of 16 and an int of 25 should be played like a wizard, not
> like a fighter.  And with an int of 25, he should be a damned good wizard,
> not crippled because he bears the arbitrary label 'fighter'.
> 
>   I DO agree that a person should not be both a good fighter and
> a good magician at the same instant.  I do not think Koss could wear ice
> skates and do surgery at the same time.
> 
>   Similarly, a player should not be able to wear armor and swing a sword
> around and cast spells at the same time, at least not very successfully.
> 
>   I think that's a much better way of doing it than having 'classes'.
> What needs to be done:
> 
> 1)  Build in spell failure dependent on armour worn and weapons wielded
> 2)  Make it MUCH more expensive in time to take armour on and off.
>
>   I will eventually do these things if no one does them first.
>
>PeterM

Are you planning on having a system where a player can switch from class 
to class or one where he gains experience in a class based on his actions?

It seems silly to award experience to a Wizard for killing monsters with 
a club.

--Bill