Re: Several topics

Some bits of confusion need to be cleared up:
I've been talking about the common prices for magical services, presumably
hired in a reasonably civilized city that can supply a luxury conscious
mage what they want, including security.

My idea is of a storefront mage, who casts spells to be marketed later as
the demand rises.  If a particular spell is desired, he may have it on
hand, or he may need a days notice.  For example, a major construction
job might call upon a wizard to stand by with a Levitation Spell, a simple,
nondangerous, uncomplicated task, probably fairly inexpensive.

I expect that in a major trading city, all sort of magical alarm spells
are sought.  Stuck discretely behind a door, it could be a sleepless,
unbribable guard.  Not very useful versus a determined foe of course. :+)
It doesn't take much time each day for a mage who is also spending time
teaching or doing research to cast a few spells each day.  Or if the mage
is a student earning his training, even better!

Most mages aren't adventurers.  Of course, those who do dream of finding a
lost spell that no other mage has, or magical ingrediants of great potency,
in short, faster advancement in the craft.


Back to using Magic Mouth Spells as a warning, the greater the distance they
can be set off, the less likely they will be spotted, or disarmed by a
silence spell.

On the subject of Silence spells, imagine a poor thief with a silence spell
on him walking past a ticking clock.  Silence in a noisy place can be detected.

It is fairly simple to create a general purpose warning device, write a
Password on a slip of paper tied to the warning stick, and it can be stored
for a long time until someone wants it.  Perhaps the mage ensures that the
trigger conditions are particularly sensitive in order to ensure repeat
replacement business, as well as proving the device works.

With Magic Mouth, the number of ward sticks isn't terribly important compared
to the care and cleverness is setting the discharge conditions and the
placement of the ward sticks.

Also, buying these in a market place might be cheap, but what if the mage
works for the thieve's guild and has installed a back door 'don't trigger'
condition?


I'm of the personal opinion that if players have a good deal of time to
stock up for an expedition, it will pay.  If the scenario calls for haste,
one is stuck with what one can carry.  Just like our world, explorers
spend lots of money getting the best equipment because it is their lives
at stake.  It may take a few days or weeks for the one-shot magical
equipment to be prepared, but if the characters are the only ones with the
map, or the guts to visit the ruins, what is time?  Besides, there is always
winter to prepare for the next adventuring season.

If the adventurers are silly enough to adventure in winter without adequate
winter gear, be nice and give them lasting colds.  Or frostbite, soaked
spellbooks, frayed cloaks, rusted armor, etc...

Even adventurers will have _some_ free time.  However, that doesn't mean they
will be able to sell their spells as easily as a respected local community
member.  Would you get your warning spells from a wandering rootless
mage?

I too don't like players who adjust their past spell choice depending on
whether you throw encounters at them.  I know it is time consuming
book keeping, but ask each player to keep a log of daily spells.  SOme
might choose not to cast spell everyday only to have to relearn them.  This
allows more time for travelling in 'safe' districts.

On the subject of irritating players:
The other character was a centaur with Horseshoes of the zephyr and this
character _refused_ to buy a horse, even though most of the campagin area
was connected by roads.  They were _always_ in a hurry, and the guy always
said, hey, I'll ride the centaur, even if that overloads him!  Sheesh.
I prefer a little respect to the general requirements of travel.

Who guards the horse when you find an interesting hole in the ground to
go into?  I wouldn't mind a little attention to appearances and the
necessity of cleaning clothes after spending weeks in the wilderness
fighting rotting corpses. with no clean springs or soap in sight.  Getting
into town should be a relief!  Travellers are respected, even awed, for
the difficulties they go through.

ah well, off my high horse, and to bed...
more later.
Michael Sandy