CaG 2020: Magic User (OD&D)

 

    The artillery to the fighting man's infantry, the magic user uses magic to progress from "mundane version of Penn & Teller" to "living deus ex machina" in eleven levels or less.  Our build goals are thus:

1. make 'em squishy
2. make 'em magical
3. make 'em feel like it's tool time, all the time. That means all of the cyphers, most of the time.

First Tier

    Our magic-user will be an Inquisitive Adept who Masters Spells.  As the Monte Cook type, your pools are 7/9/12 in might/speed/intellect order before we dump our bonus points into intellect, and 7/9/18 after, with 1 intellect edge because you're a Genius™, and can carry three cyphers instead of the usual two.  Of course, because fair is fair, you have an inability to use medium and heavy weapons (swords, longbows, etc.).  To balance out that fairness, however, your goodie bag will contain:

• Clothes, which means you get pointy hat and normal clothes.
• 2 expensive items (a "walking stick" and wizard robes)
• the stick will be a medium weapon with an asset to spellcasting—a wizard's staff, if you will—while the robes provide medium armor against magic and light armor otherwise.
• 2 moderately priced items (a dagger so you can at least defend yourself, and a backpack)
• 4 inexpensive items (candles for rituals and stuff)

    As for abilities, Magic Training is the obvious choice, granting you training in Magic 101, while Prestidigitation Hedge Magic lets you do fantasy/weird fiction/sci-fi parlor tricks for 1 intellect point (see: free), Scan lets you Sherlock Holmes a small room for 2, and Erase Memories lets you get your Mordenkainen on for 2.  If you end up having to replace your robes, however, you can swap out the latter with Ward, which gives you +1 armor.

    Our magic man's descriptor… was honestly pretty hard to pick since it was pretty much free to do what it wanted,  but because the magic-user is sort of the nerd in its final form, we're going with  Inquisitive, which means the same  +4 intellect and training in book learnin', geography, and history at the low, low price of inabilities to sensing danger and Initiative that I have, but with different books.

• Screw the Gods!  I did, and look how I turned out! by Elminster Aumir—theology/satire(?)
• Bilbo's Guide to Earth by Bilbo Murray, with foreword by Earnest Gary Gygax—geography/history
• The Lazy Wizard's Companion by Olomyar Blackleaf—magic theory, tips, and tricks

    Now that you've been kept in enough suspense, I guess you deserve to know our magic-user's focus: it's Masters Spells.  Just hear me out: what if I told you that the focus starts you off with Arcane Flare, a 1-IP attack which can either snipe someone for 4 damage or buff a weapon with +1 damage?  There's also an implied spellbook that you get so you don't have to waste one of your item slots on it, but whatever.

    Our first batch of advancements will comprise of 4 intellect points, +1 intellect edge, upgrading our Magic 101 skill to specialized, and a level of effort.

Second Tier… and Beyond!

Second and Third Tiers

    Apparently, some poor intern thought Monte was serious when he said he didn't want Cypher System to suffer from linear fighter/quadratic wizard syndrome, because the Adept only gets one ability; ours will be Stasis, which allows to freeze anyone within short range for a minute at the cost of 3 intellect points, or IP… and by "freeze", we mean "lock in spacetime".  Meanwhile, our focus will gives us a short-range, 1-damage, all-hindering spell called Ray of Confusion, which costs 2 IP.

    Well,…that was quick.  Time to advance, then.  4 more intellect points to pump our pool to 30, +1 int edge, specialization in learnin', and another level of effort.

    At third tier, Adroit Cypher Use gives our cypher bag a fourth pocket, and counterspell countermeasure lets you spend 4 IP to either counterspell, dispel magic, or turn magic device off for 1d6 rounds.  Oh, and our focus gives us the "choice" between Fire Bloom and a lesser option  that isn't worth mentioning because Fire Bloom!  You spend 4 IP and maybe some effort, point at something, and everything within 10 feet of it takes 1 damage for showing up—3 if your d20 is worth its salt— and stuff gets lit on fire!  Our advancements this time will be a 3/1 point split between might and speed so that Merlin over here can finally cross the street without needing a nap after, +1 intellect edge because fireballs and information both deserve to be free, and training in initiative so we can spread the good news of fireball even faster (read: at normal speed).

Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Tiers

    Back to one ability again: Wormhole this time.  For 6 IP, you open a long-range, well, wormhole, that lasts for a minute.  Our spell mastery grants us Soul Interrogation, which opens the stat block shop for 5-IP premium stat blocks that make their subjects easier to fireball for the next six months.  Now for 4 more fireball points, +1 intellect edge, training in initiative (for real, this time), and one more effort.

    At fifth tier, we'll grab Conjuration so that we can conjure thing like level 5 elementals, level 5 giant spiders that we didn't have to waste an ability on, allowing us to take Fire Bloom, level 5 baboon masseuses, etc. for up to a minute, and Create so that we can do the dame thing with objects up to level 6 for the difference in hours.  The best part is, both cost 7 IP each.  Our next focus ability, Granite Wall, cost the same plus effort for a big, beautiful 20×20×1-foot wall that last for 10 hours—or permanently if you apply three levels of effort.  Thus, our last round of advancements will consist of specialization in initiative for maximum fireball speed, 1 more intellect edge, 4 more intellect points, and whatever fourth thing suits you.  For our purposes, we'll go with effort.  We'll then top off our magic-user with Control Weather so we can do just that for 10 IP, and Word of Death, which for 5 IP plus effort kills any level [1+effort] creature within earshot then and there.

And that is our old-school magic-user.  Let's see how he pans out.

Pros and Cons

    This build kind of assumes your GM is at least open to the optional spellcasting rule (CSR2, pp 259-60), but the variety of abilities and 4-cypher bag will at least get you 70% of the way there, and you'll have more than enough fuel to channel your inner Elminster.  That said, you're also a 1-hit-point wonder and are going to need to stay a few miles behind your local fighting-man.  Oh, and your defense tasks against GMIs may or may not be hindered.  In the meantime, character sheets can be downloaded here

Next week, meet the original third wheel—the Cleric!  Despite it all, I and the voices in my head wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!