Proposed Rules Mod - Minimalist Magic (Reroll)

[SirGarnet]

Minimalist Magic REROLL SPELL MOD: March 10, 2009
INCLUDE: MAGICMOD - SPELLCASTER MOD 1.

1. THROW: A throw means 2 CMT or 2 CT dice, or all the dice thrown by a BG in a shooting or close combat against one opposing BG target (the SpellCaster chooses).

2. CASTING: Once in each friendly turn and once in each opposing turn each SpellCaster using this Spell Mod may SpellCast 1 reroll spell (which may instead be used as a Counterspell to immediately cancel an opponent’s announced reroll spell). A SpellCast (or Counterspell) affects a single throw of Shooting, Impact or Melee combat dice rolls or rolls on the Complex Move or Cohesion Test tables by one side or the other and must be declared before the throw. (Hint: Granting an enemy BG an extra reroll is seldom a useful tactic.) Normal sequencing applies (i.e., if either player raises the issue, the active player decides who declares SpellCasts first before a throw of dice) – whenever a spell is cast, the other player has a moment to decide whether to also declare an immediate SpellCast or Counterspell if able to do so, then dice are thrown.

3. SPELL EFFECT: The effect of the spell is that the lowest numbered die in the throw that is not either a combat hit or already allowed to be re-rolled (or required in the case of Poor 6s) MUST now be re-rolled, but as always the reroll result is discarded if the result is lower than the initial roll.

OPTIONAL RULE A – DOUBLE TROUBLE: SpellCaster is allowed 2 spells rather than 1, but may use no more than one spell for a single throw.
OPTIONAL RULE B – CORRUPTION (Evil Mode!): A Block Reroll spell may be cast on a BG that cancels one reroll attempt for the upcoming throw.

Design Notes:
 This Spell Mod uses the addition of rerolls to represent the effects of force of personality, arcane science or wizardry to inspire troops or try to tip the balance in particular combats. Mods providing for other Spells and Magic Effects can also be used in conjunction with this Mod.
 The reroll mechanism is a proportionate and easily integrated way of representing magic and will integrate easily with game play. This Mod only allows additional rerolls where the Basic game system already provides for rerolling. If this concept is modified to include other rolls, I urge any significant single die throws such as Death Rolls be excluded.
 Unlike a quality bonus that depends on rolling a specific number, this spell can be more powerful in that it allows a reroll regardless of the failing roll. Obviously it is more likely to be useful in combat where there are no other rerolls and hit odds are low than where hit odds are high and the BG is already entitled to rerolls, just as it is more likely to be used for CTs and CMTs with Poor or Average quality troops than Superior or Elite. I view this as an advantage of this approach and consistent with the general FoG approach to shapes of probability distributions of outcomes.
 There is no carryover between turns and no bookkeeping other than remembering whether a SpellCaster has cast during the turn. A colorful mana marker could be employed to track this.
 It is fun for both players to be proactive and conduct magic each turn, which differs from the effects of casters in some magical fantasy realms being largely to cancel each other out. Having casters simply cancel each other out is not very interesting as the fundamental basis of a magic system but is a tactical result that may occur at times with this Spell Mod as a result of a Counterspell or both sides casting rerolls on opposing sides in a combat. Indeed, the quick choice of whether to cast a reroll or just Counterspell the enemy side in a fight is an interesting one (that is why there is just a moment to decide – no time for statistical analysis at that point).
 Several approaches to having a backfiring effect were considered but add complexity.

[SirGarnet]

Magic users tend to favor saving their ability for cohesion tests - stick one with some average troops under continual shooting and it keeps them in good shape by rerolling their worst die roll. Does it sound reasonable for a magician to provide this sort of support, or would it be better to limit the bonus for such tests to rerolling only a low roll (i.e., a 1 or 2, or a 1-3)? Would that encourage taking more of a chance on combat rolls, or should that be encouraged?

[willb]

It is very unlikely that this would be used to re-roll anything higher than a three, unless both dice were 4's and a very high score is needed to pass. The odds are 4:2 against getting anything better than a 4 with a 50% chance of getting a lesser score. For a die roll of 3 there is a 50% chance of getting a higher number and a 33% chance of something worse. Placing a restriction on what can be re-rolled wouldn't be needed.

You might want to ask how others feel about having this sort of magic affect enemy units. In some stories magic users have caused fear in opposing troops. Using this sort of magic to cause the enemy to re-roll their higher die, like poor units have to re-roll a 6, could cause them to fail a cohesion test reflecting this sort of fear. This would not just be something an "evil" wizard would use as Gandalf had this sort of effect on the enemy. This could have a very powerful effect on the game though and might make magic users overly dominant and should be play-tested to determine the affect on the game. If magic users from both sides were trying to affect the die roll of the same unit in this way, what would occur? Would they just cancel each other out or would both dice be rerolled as one is affecting the high die and the other is affecting the low die?

How far away can the magic user be from a unit to have a re-roll?
What would be the point value for this as written and for also causing the enemy to re-roll the higher die?

[MARVIN_THE_ARVN]

An interesting idea , its simple and requires little in the way of background or rules.

Have you used this method yet?

[willb]

Mike and I did use his rules as written during a game. The Hyborian magic rules were also used.
an AAR can be found at http://iranistan.blogspot.com/

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