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Is a sling as small as a dagger? Perhaps. Does that make it suitable for a mage to use?

kingius wrote:Is a sling as small as a dagger? Perhaps. Does that make it suitable for a mage to use?

I've always allowed mages to use slings in any TSR D&D style game...so yes...I think so.

This came up in my new OEC campaign. I said "nay." Dagger, dart, and staff (the magic-user on the cover of the OEC has one, so that's BtB enough for me), and that's it.

LL is a bit vague on this, but luckily B/X is more specific: "Magic-users... may only carry a daggar for a weapon." Allowing use of a staff is a popular house rule, in B/X it is a two-handed weapon which does 1d4 damage.

I don't worry about the damage. Any magic-user stupid enough to get near melee so he can exploit his staff's 1d6 damage capacity will very soon get his AC 9 ass kicked.

LOL, definitely agree with that one. Anytime a MU has to use a melee weapon, he's already in deep ****. [/derail]

You're right about that one. Even the mage's AC2 shield spell (nice AC... but those hitpoints are not going to cut it!) is really just an emergency measure.

one thing I've noticed in my own campaign is that access to a sling really takes darts out of the game, no one ever seems to use them.

Yeah, my players are always using slings too. There's just something about that weapon that raises my hackles.

aspiringlich wrote:I don't worry about the damage. Any magic-user stupid enough to get near melee so he can exploit his staff's 1d6 damage capacity will very soon get his AC 9 ass kicked.

I think over at DF Frank Mentzer said in his games he let mages use any weapon. Anything to get them into melee.

Black Wyvern wrote:

aspiringlich wrote:I don't worry about the damage. Any magic-user stupid enough to get near melee so he can exploit his staff's 1d6 damage capacity will very soon get his AC 9 ass kicked.

I think over at DF Frank Mentzer said in his games he let mages use any weapon. Anything to get them into melee.

I remember something in the Thieves World books by Robert Aspirin- it was a reputation thing. If you used weapons like a sword , it showed you were an incompetent Mage. A "real" Mage would not resort to a crude weapon like a sword, his weapon is MAGIC!! One Mage did use a sword and was looked down on by his peers. That was interesting to me. Also every Mage had a secret. If another Mage could guess that secret- you lost all your powers. One Mage was secretly a woman, but was ugly & could pass as a man. Another had relations with goats.