Re: Making Magic-users more useful? Ideas.
Blood axe wrote:Another is cantrips or minor spells. In the pouring rain- the Mage stays magically dry. In the jungle & swamp- those annoying insects are repelled. A Wizard lighting a nearby candle with the sweep of his hand. A small ghostly image of the hunted dragon appearing in the Wizards hand. etc,etc. Minor things really. Things you read Wizards easily doing in fantasy books, but not used much in games. JUst makes the Magic-user seem more "magical" !
I've been thinking about writing up a list of cantrips for LL. My group uses them straight our of Unearthed Arcana for the most part. I allow 2 cantrips for every spell. So a 1st level magic-user can cast 1 1st level spell and 2 cantrips. As far as I know, cantrips have not yet made it to the OSR. If they have, please point me in the right direction.
Another mod I've used is the bonus spells for high Int (the same clerics get I think in 2e). Hasn't seemed to unbalance the game much and makes the mage more integral at lower levels.
Pete