Level 1 Magic User help... I suck.

[bighara]

I think Charm Person can be EXTREMELY useful.

trudat! Charm Person & Sleep are da bombzor for Lvl 1 MU types.

Think of several of these spells cast over the course of a few days. A Wizard can have several bodyguards. That charmed Orc can tell you alot about his tribe, guards, traps, treasure and the cave lay-out- along with guarding you.

Especially since you MU probably has a high enough INT for bonus languages!

[Eldrad]

Just remember also that as a Magic-User you are the person that is actually educated in many fields such as history and lore. Ask the DM to let you roll INT or less to see if you can. In my games the MU is always the person with the Lore.

[connivingsumo]

Just remember also that as a Magic-User you are the person that is actually educated in many fields such as history and lore. Ask the DM to let you roll INT or less to see if you can. In my games the MU is always the person with the Lore.

Yea, that's the smart way to DM low level MUs - IMHO.

Someone suggested posting my available spells, so I'll do that now!

[connivingsumo]

Here's my spell list. I already tried to do a familiar, but it didn't seem like he was really up for it and I didn't want to get an earthworm or something! (I know, not insects, but it seemed funny.)

BIZENGHAST'S SPELL LIST:
Message
Magic Missile
Charm Person
Detect Magic
Erase
Mending
Spider Climb
Summon Familiar (not an option at this time)
Unseen Servant

*I'm guessing you could probably search this forum for my character name and pull up my character sheet?

[Black Wyvern]

Charm Person is pretty handy way to get you some big burly friends. Detect Magic can also prove useful to your party if you are already set up with that burly friend.

[bighara]

Message: Distract/freak out enemy sentries.
Magic Missile: a never miss attack
Charm Person: covered pretty thoroughly above
Detect Magic: dead useful, especially when sorting loot
Erase: good for clandestine use (destroying a message without being obvious, etc.)
Mending: cut a peep hole and make it disappear when you're done. pry open a padlock or break a chain to free a prisoner then fix the link to confound the guards
Spider Climb: better for stealth than combat, also avoid things like pits and triplines
Summon Familiar: whenever you do get around to using it, it will depend (partially) on what you get
Unseen Servant: drop something or slam a door behind a foe to distract him (or cut off pursuit), retrieve a key from the jailer's belt

[Pat]

This stuff isn't a problem in my campaign. Combat takes up very little of the session - most of the time is spent exploring, trying to figure out the traps and tricks, and dealing with weird "special" encounters.

At first level, if you're really hard up in combat, throw some darts at the monsters and hope you don't attract their attention. Missile weapons are the way to go. But as I mentioned, in the campaign I run this isn't a big issue - my game isn't about combat, it's about getting treasure.

[GreyKatana]

Brumbar from Makofan's PbP game on the ODD74 boards was an awesome example of what a level 1 Magic-User can do beside casting his lone spell.

http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=makofan
Search for him (before he died) in the first chapters of the adventure.

[Lord Kilgore]

Search for him (before he died) in the first chapters of the adventure.

That "(before he died)" doesn't instill confidence...

[kipper]

ALL the players have had at least one character die in Makofan's long-running game . I'm on my 4th I think. (Although this is getting way off topic, here is a list of character deaths over the campaign: http://odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?bo ... hread=1886. Come to think of it, no one has died recently except an NPC, we'd better be REALLY careful... )