Snake Sneak
Posts: 124
Joined: Tuesday, 27th January 2015, 17:12
Give all book backgrounds 1 starting consumable
My suggestion is that all spellcaster backgrounds be given 1 potion or scroll in their starting kit. Maybe it's an equal chance coin flip between a Potion of Magic and a Scroll of Teleportation.
My contrast comparison would be the Fighter start and the Gladiator start. Each starts with a type of consumable that is a nice early panic button. Potion of Might is a very powerful starting inventory item for Fi, and Throwing Nets on the Gl background can help you make a quick escape if you walk around a corner in early Dungeon and find Sigmund, a gnoll pack, an Ogre, etc.
On the whole I want to play more games where my primary/initial way of killing foes is to cast spells. But my book background D:1 and D:2 life usually looks like this ...."Blast your L1 spell, burn through your 3/4/5 starting points of MP, run away and pillar dance foes until restoring some MP, repeat, repeat".
So does the design philosophy dictate that "melee backgrounds should be easier beginnings than the book backgrounds"? Or is it more specific, like "Fighter should be an easier start than a Fire Elementalist"? I guess I'm fine with the latter case. But having all spellcasters categorically feel harder to get off the ground than melee-dudes should be re-visited, I think.