Talk Fantasy Football

I've had what I think is a neat, simple idea for on-pitch Spellcasters (as existed in 1st and 2nd ed). Without trying to complicate it too much, here is a very basic sketch:

Each team gets access to a spellcasting player, listed on their roster as normal. They'd be a lineman with -1 AV and Loner at maybe a 30K premium. E.g. Humans would get 0-1 Wizard _ 80K _ 6 3 3 7 _ Loner, Spellcaster _ GASP. They'd have access to all four main skill categories to describe their minor magic cantrips.

"Spellcaster" would be an Extraordinary skill. It would allow a player to cast a spell at the end of any Move action. Spells work on a 2+ with a -1 modifier for each TZ on the player when he casts (other than the target's). A failure would result in a turnover.

That's it. No Armour roll, no random effect. Just a turnover.

The spells a player could cast would be listed in the Spellcaster description. They be simple things like negate a TZ or knock over a player. The power of a spell would be balanced by the range rather than the casting roll. So for example a player could knock over one opponent in his TZ. Or negate one TZ in 3 squares. Or make a Stab roll on one player within 7 squares. Or "heal" any one friendly player anywhere on the pitch (goes from stunned/prone to standing).

Thoughts?

I could see this I think. Not unlike a Big guy.

It'll have pros and cons and would be up to each coach to field or not..

Depending on the spells though, these guys might become no-brainers which I don't think the big guys are.


I do worry a bit about the Wood Elf spell caster though. Or any player getting the team access to previously denied st skills.

7 3 4 6 Loner, etc. 100 GASP would be an interesting piece.

Also with a WE or Skaven Spellcaster being able to cast after a move action, that gives them quite a bit of range. Would it be better if they can't move and cast?

I guess it depends on the range of the spells. But a Dwarf spell caster (could there be such a thing? ) would be handicapped by range more then most races.

I like the idea though, keep fleshing it out.

Thoughtful feedback, cheers.

Good point on the ST skills. Though Loner and -1AV makes taking skills such as Guard high risk.

Also good point on various MA. The Dwarf does have other advantages though ... AV8, Block and TS is going to keep him in the game longer to be able to cast his spells. However, you could reflect different MA in the range. For example - a spell listed above as 3 square range could instead have a range of 9-MA. Seems a bit unwieldy though.

The big question is what spells they should be able to cast:

Heres what I would/wouldnot like:

no gamebreakers like extra blitz, dont like the idea of say extra movement either.

No copies of ordinary skills, ie, no remove tacklezones since thats essentially a hypnogaze.

Maybe instead of having a 2+ success test, make ag-test, str-tests, even av-tests and ma-tests depending on what spell it is. That would diffrentiate spellcasters from diffrent teams, making them good at diffrent spells. A skaven spellcaster would be extra good with ma-based spells, whereas a dwarven would be extra good with av-based spells.

Spell-suggestions could be found among the special playing cards.

Only "instant" spells that is resolved immediatly. (all bonuses removed at the end of the turn, or maybe better at the start of your next turn). No +1 AV for all of the game.

Possibly longer spells, but they must be potentially beneficial for both teams, like changing the weather for the rest of the drive (new weather roll) etc.

I liked spellcasters too in 2nd ed, although spells could sometimes have a bit too much of an effect there. It would be hard to come up with a varied and fun spellcaster skill description without having the skill cover an entire page on its own in the skill description list.

Ideas to consider (not necessarily good ideas, just wanted to add to the discussion):
A. Race-specific spells
B. Make spellcasters star players
C. Make each new spell available on a skill choice (this option if spells are to be slightly more powerful than if all spellcasters have access to all spells from scratch)

All suggestions complicate the spellcaster of course, but introducing spellcasters as a concept would introduce lots of extra rules anyways, even if the spells are to be kept minimal in the skill description.

I would love to see rules for spellcasters again, along with expanded rules for mixed race teams, werewolves, secret weapons, etc. Slab these along with half the "new" teams (chaos pact, nurgle, slann, pro elves, khemri, ogres...) in an "advanced rules" section of the rulebook so you can either run a rookie-friendly league (vanilla BB) or one for the old geeks (BB XP).

Some feedback more in line with the original suggestion:

A. Make the turn-over more visual. Have the wizard be knocked over (possibly even with armour roll) if he fails casting a spell (fumble/power surge).
B. Cast spell action instead of move action (like a bombardier; as someone said, certain races might benefit too much over others otherwise).

The spell effects you suggest sound balanced. I like the weather spell someone else suggested as well. How about some ball-scattering spell (loose balls only)?

I once had an even simpler idea for wizards:
Offensive magic is not allowed, instead wizards may only use their magic to boost other players: Bestow 1 skill on them for their next action (on that turn).

limitations and a casting roll apply, but let's not go into that.

Cheers
Martin

Some thoughts on wizards:

0-1 Wizard Stats as Lineman –1AV. Loner, Spell-caster.

Spell-caster
Extraordinary skill.

A coach may choose to have the spell-caster who is not Prone or Stunned cast a spell instead of taking any other Action with the player. Spells work on a 2+ with a -1 modifier for each TZ on the wizard when he casts a spell. Casualties caused by a spell do not count for Star Player points.