Replace slow with exploit weakness in minor magic book

[Baldu3]

So, my latest demigod wanderer got a minor magic book start, and it reminded me why I don't play wizards anymore. It's not the lack of utility and power, it's that if no other books are found, clearing d1-d10+lair+orc with minor magic is slow and boring.

I saw a new exploit weakness wand, which shoots either magic dart/throw flame/throw frost depending on enemy, and I'd like to propose to remove slow from minor magic book, and replace it with exploit weakness as a level 3 spell. This would make it much more fun, while still having much less upfront power then the other more specialized conjuration books.

If this happens, maybe the book of minor magic could get a name change to minor wizardry too.

[Sar]

clearing d1-d10+lair+orc with minor magic is slow and boring

My favourite spell Wizards start with is Tab.

[reaver]

clearing d1-d10+lair+orc with minor magic is slow and boring

My favourite spell Wizards start with is Tab.

Agreed.

This does not sound like a design issue. It sounds like the game isn't communicating that picking up a melee weapon on a wizard is a good idea. For example, try a MfWz and pick up a polearm. Reaching to hit monsters on the other side of conjured flames, confused by Mepthitic Cloud, over the heads of your Imps or after blinking away from melee range is quite powerful.

[ackack]

I am very much of the mindset that all characters want melee at some point. That said, I'm unconvinced that Wz benefits much from trying to do it too early unless you find a badass weapon. Because your starting book is all over the place, you're dropping a decent chunk of xp into either a bunch of different schools or putting quite a bit in Spellcasting to get everything functional. So your melee skills will be somewhat weak by comparison, thus a lot of the nastier monsters in Lair will still be pretty difficult to kill straight up in melee. You still need to use most of the Minor Magic gimmicks to get it done.

[Baldu3]

I completely agree with both saying that wizard's tab spell is very important. I also use it constantly and like suggested I find polearms to be ideal with minor magic because of conjure flame and imps. But even then slow is very rarely used and minor magic could stand to be made more fun and exciting, and it seems to me like exploit weakness would fit perfectly as a level 3 spell, especially if throw flame has priority over throw frost in case of enemy with no resistances so it won't douse flame clouds.

Anyway, not a big complaint, crawl is in a very good place right now, but small improvements can still be made here and there.

[Lasty]

I am very much of the mindset that all characters want melee at some point. That said, I'm unconvinced that Wz benefits much from trying to do it too early unless you find a badass weapon. Because your starting book is all over the place, you're dropping a decent chunk of xp into either a bunch of different schools or putting quite a bit in Spellcasting to get everything functional. So your melee skills will be somewhat weak by comparison, thus a lot of the nastier monsters in Lair will still be pretty difficult to kill straight up in melee. You still need to use most of the Minor Magic gimmicks to get it done.

Since the Wz starting book tops out at l3 spells, and wizards start with good intelligence, it actually takes very little xp to get everything castable at a decent level, meaning that unless you find a fairly early book, you generally have XP to spare. Admittedly, less than a berserker, but still plenty.