Re: Wild Mages and Spelljamming helms

Grimwulf wrote:
>
> On Thu, 3 Jul 1997, David Sarkies wrote:
>
> > On Thu, 3 Jul 1997, Linda G. wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > I have question about a ild mage taking the helm( major or minor)
> > > At what level would you consider the  wild mages upon the helm if his/her
> > > level varies according to the wind so to speak?
> > >
> > > I was think and thought this was a good quesation and wonder how everybody
> > > handled it.
> > >
> > > Jeremy G.
> >
> > I never really thought of this as we have never had a wild mage on a helm.
> > I guess to keep with the ramdom aspect of the character to check for level
> > variance every time the wild mage goes to take the helm, and not check
> > again until the next time the mage is on the helm. Might even through in a
> > couple of wild-surges if you want to make things interesting.
>
> In my not-so humble opinion, I think this would be a patently BAD idea.
> The "random aspect of the character" is not based on the individual mage,
> but is based on his ability to tap into and control magic in casting
> spells.  Since NO SPELL is required to power up a helm or a ship, NO WILD
> MAGE CHECK IS MADE.  Again let me re-itterate that the true level of the
> Wild Mage NEVER VARIES.  Like I said, if it did, his/her HP, THACO,
> Saves, etc. would vary every minute!  Which they of course don't.  (Thank
> goodness, what a book-keeping nightmare!)  There can be NO WILDSURGE
> UNLESS A SPELL IS CAST.  Therefore, throwing in a wild surge just because
> a Wild Mage took the helm is VERY incorrect.  Also, what would the target
> of the Wild Surge be?  In many of the Wild Surge results, the surge
> affects the target of the spell.  Since there is no spell, there is no
> target.  Even if you decided that the helm or the ship is the target,
> imagine the complete and total unbalance the game would receive when the
> result "All non-living material within 10' of the target is
> DISINTEGRATED."  Just the 1 in 100 chance that might happen would make
> me, as a captain of such a ship, very wary in allowing the wild mage to
> ever come within 10' of the helm.
>


Okay, let's think about this for a while. If you want power surges for
wild mages it would be perfectly acceptable.  A wild mage may have a
power surge any time he summons magical energy, and a mage summons his
magical energy to power a helm.  This must be so, as this energy is used
by the helm.  The helms are designed to use the magic energy of a
structured mage (a normal mage, if you will).  A wild mage does not have
a structured style of summoning his energy, it would be like a high
octane engine being forced to run on kerosene (ignoring the actual
physics if anyone out there is an internal combustion engineer).  When
the mage summons his energy when he is on the helm, especially in a
combat situation (where he is accelerating, turning, stopping, starting)
he may create a surge.
 In this next point, I agree with Grimwulf.  You cannot use the chart as
it stands, as the mage is not summoning a _spell_.  If this idea
intrigues those of you who really like wild mages, I would suggest a new
chart.  Perhaps surges in speed or Manueverability, decreases in SR or
MC, not to mention some wild things that may have no realation to the
helm logically (its a wild mage, why should logic enter into this?).
	However, I firmly believe that if you disagree, wild surges should not
be allowed on the helm.... but if you play or have a player play a wild
mage, such consistency on the helm would be boring.....


Captain Tempest, USS Aries