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There are no limits for armour on magic styles. This seems odd to me, is this an omission or the intention that a wizard can walk around in plate mail?
I think a limit of Strength <=4 armour only feels about right.
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Definitely up to you! It's your game now, of course.
It was intentional, though, to let a wizard walk around in plate, if he has the strength for it. A couple of reasons or points:
1) It's "magic hates magic," not "magic hates plate mail." The conceit of magic is that one wizard's tampering with magic upsets another wizard's tampering, that is, spells interfere with spells. There's nothing about a suit of armor that messes up magic.
2) Armor helps survivability a lot. Especially for dungeon crawl balance, but to some extent for any combat scene, the game expects that casters are going to be wearing at least some armor.
3) For combat styles, a limit on armor or shields makes sense to me because of restricted movement. But I don't see spell styles being as physically demanding as combat styles.
4) Strength becomes a consideration for a casting character. Maybe not a huge one, but if you want an extra point or two of damage ablation, putting a 6 or a 7 in Strength can make a difference. It's not just about Magic, Reason, and Heart.
5) I love the fighter/mage concept. What can I say, I'm a game geek to the core. :) If the magic styles put a limit on armors, then that would limit the effective fighter/mage combinations.
So those were some of my reasons, but I think they grow naturally out of the game world. I'll say this, though: to me, the idea of a wizard in plate mail is fine. It doesn't rub me wrong. If it did, I would have built the world and the metaphysics differently so that wizards in plate weren't really feasible (Scarred Lands' production of body heat from magic was one clever little scheme in that direction). I totally understand that some people just don't click with wizards in plate. If you want to restrict armor for magic styles, go ahead. The consequences would include greater disparity in damage-soaking between warriors and the caster classes, reduced party dungeon crawl viability, fewer fighter-mage options, increased premium on healing powers, and increased metagame pressure towards non-combat scenes.
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Thanks
I am happy with armoured mages and fighter mages as well. I just thought it odd considering the armour limits on things like Savage style.
I can fully understand the challenge of mage's strength. I think the biggest challenge for my players so far has been where to put the '4' during character creation.
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ironchicken wrote:
I can fully understand the challenge of mage's strength. I think the biggest challenge for my players so far has been where to put the '4' during character creation.
Yay! That makes my designer heart happy. :) I tried to make every characteristic useful for every character (as much as possible) so that finding a dump stat wouldn't be an easy choice.
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