Mages with non-120 spellbook points

[andy]

Mages have a variety of starting life totals.  Both the Priestess and the Druid (with the Treebond ability) can alter their life totals during the game.  Mages also have a couple of different starting channeling stats, and there are many game cards that affect channeling.  All current mages start with 0 armor, but there are plenty of cards that give/take armor (and I saw some speculation in another thread that the Paladin might be a mage with starting armor).

The fourth stat at the top of all mage cards is the 120 spell points.  I see no particular reason why this should be fixed.  In fact, it seems to me the only reason to print this on all the mage cards (instead of just in the rule book) is with some plan to let it vary at some point.  Here are a few different ways this stat could be adjusted:

Direct bonus/penalty: This would be a mage whose printed spell points are more/less than 120.  There would have to be some other stat or ability to offset this.

Conditional extra spell points: It would be neat to see, for example, a mage who gets 1 extra spell point for every 10 level 1 spells in the book (or with some other, better tested, numbers).  Or a mage who gets 1 extra spell point for every out-of-school creature, etc.

Pay spell points for bonuses: I really like the idea of having a mage with a very high spell point stat and the following ability.  Before the start of the game, the mage can

• lower their spell stat by X to gain training in any major school
• lower their spell stat by X to gain training in any minor school
• lower their spell stat by X to raise their starting channeling by 1
• lower their spell stat by X to raise their starting life by 1
• lower their spell stat by X to raise either their melee or ranged attack by 1

(Note: The X values would all be different, and would likely depend heavily on playtesting.  The mage would have to communicate all decisions before the start of the game.)  It would especially neat if, along with such a mage, there were "this mage only" cards that referenced this ability.  For examples, an equipment which gives armor and Flame -1 if trained in Water, Earth -1 if trained in Air, etc.  So the "this mage only" cards would also become customized by the ability.

Sideboarding: Imagine a mage with a spell stat like "120 + X", where they can spend X spell points on a pile of spells separate from their spellbook.  Upon some game condition (perhaps as a full/quick action), the mage would be able to add 1 of these cards to their spellbook for the remainder of the game.

[iNano78]

Cool ideas!

For the record, every mage can alter his/her life total during a match (e.g. via [mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]).  The Arraxian Crown Warlock's "Bloodreaper" ability even lowers his life total, while [mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]Drain Soul[/mwcard] can increase it.

[Sailor Vulcan]

I heard in the podcast that Mage Wars was originally going to be designed to allow players to spend points to design their mage as well as their spellbook. So you'd be able to make your mage more powerful by sacrificing spellbook slots, or vice versa. You basically make any spell or put anything on your mage ability card if you had the points to spend for it. They scrapped this idea because it was WAY too complicated.

It would be nice to have a creative expansion with an alternate format where we could design our own mages and fan-made spells.

I would totally make some sort of arcane/mind mage, a mind/nature shapeshifter that wears the creatures it summons, and that tanking alt warlock I've always wanted to play.

Maybe if there was some sort of non-legendary demon with something like thorg's taunt and intercept. It would probably be quite mana expensive though.

[wtcannonjr]

I imagine Archmages will have more than 120 spell points to use and the Academy mages already have a lower number for their limit so variable levels already exist just not within a given "mage level".

[andy]

I've been trying to think of what spell point costs would be reasonable for the mage I proposed in the initial post.  The worry would be creating school combinations that allow for too many cheap, powerful answers in one build.  For example, a mage trained in Arcane, Nature, and Water would be able to cheaply pack a full set of Dispels, Dissolves, and enchantments (Bear Strength, Cheetah Speed, Lion Savagery, Rhino Hide, Regrowth, Nullify, Jinx, etc.).  For that reason, I think it would be safest for the cost of primary schools to be fairly substantial, and the cost of one primary and one elemental school should probably take the total near the usual 120.

The cost of +1 channeling probably doesn't need to be too high, but it's hard to choose a value here.  The risk, if the value is too low, is that a mage could train in only one school and then pump their channeling too high.  It seems safest to impose a maximum here (and with the +1 melee/ranged for similar reasons).  The cost of +1 starting life can probably be fairly low without much worry.  I think I would start with the following for testing:

Spell Points: 175
Life: 32
Channeling: 8

Pay 30 spell points for training in any primary school.
Pay 20 spell points for training in any elemental school.
Pay 5 spell points for +1 channeling (max +3).
Pay 3 spell points for +1 starting life.
Pay 5 spell points for +1 melee or ranged attack (max +3).

Basic Attack: 3 dice.  You must choose melee or ranged before the start of the game.


Because of how flexible this mage is, I'm sure this is quite breakable.