Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Actually, as long as we're talking about spells, @BoneyM, could you explain how Shadowsteed as we currently cast it interacts with our buff spells? If we use Skywalk, can our Shadowsteed skywalk, or do we have to be on foot? If we have Take No Heed up, can people still notice the construct-horse even if they fail their willpower rolls?

Spells that effect you do not extend to your Shadowsteed.

What methods of control does the Army of Stirland use? It occurred to me that if they use horns/drums/etc. to do their battlefield commands/signaling, it might be worth learning so that we can imitate them with our Sound spell.

Musicians aren't much in use in the Army of Stirland, and when they are it's only for actual music. Commands are passed through the medium of sergeants shouting.

Has our Aethyric Armour grown stronger since game start, as our Magic score has increased?

I forgot that I had a 'currently' part in the description of that. It's currently at full chain level.
 
Yeah, honestly, Mathilde is best as a fast messenger at the moment attached to the General Staff.

Also, Blessed Hands is amazing for pistols, normally using an enchantment on a ranged weapon means you only enchant the bullet you're about to fire. Auto-enchant weapons you hold means that we can have magical bullets on demand.
But... we're still a Wizard. We can cast Magic Bolt, and now Burning Shadows. Colour me a little unimpressed with learning to fire a gun.
 
@BoneyM, I'm looking for creative options/ideas for Mathilda, if not for now, then for later - could You tell me whether any of below is viable?

a) Cape/cloak enchanted by magic derrived form "Glowing Light" or "Marsh Lights" (both very easy petty magic, and both known). Goal would be to explicitely to cast shadows for purpose of "Burning Shadows" - and since it's cape/cloak, with light blocked by Mathilde body, it casts shadow forward, onto whatever is in front of her.

b) Can Mathilde master or improve "Marsh Lights" spell? For example skew energy balance towards Ulgu to made them cast much deeper shadows? Or just to make lights brighter? If it's done, then together with "Burning Shadows" it could work it would be devastating combo - marsh light floating around, casting multiple shadows in any direction desired. On battlefield, if she really mastered "Burning Shadows" it could be both efficient, and very, very scary.

c) Can Mathilde work to master known spell? Would it be possible to practice "Burning Shadows" to get better control over it, or be able to keep it up without full concentration? It is not easiest spell to use due to shadow requirement, but it can be very, very useful in mastered.

d) Would it be possible for Mathilde to train willpower and concentration to cast spells in a middle of battle or when in pain? It is the same idea that Gustav taught her while training Greatswors - one needs to swing, and keep swinging even when in hurt, even when exhusted, even when arms seem to fall off. The same could be said about spells - even when tired, even when in pain, even when dazed - wizard needs to keep concentration and power her way through all of that to shape magic. Getting Gustav to help with this could prove useful.

e) The "Blessed Hands" trait show that direct manipulation of Ulgu is possible. It Mathilde skilled enough to try to develop other tricks/skills/traits that rely on direct manipulation of Ulgu?

f) The "Aethyric Armour" is a very good spell, and protection of 'full suit of chain' is nothing to sneeze at. But as with any protection - there is never enough of safety and one should always strive to get better at protecting oneself. Can Mathilde work towards mastering that spell? Or can she modify it to adapt it to Ulgu and her higher skills as wizard? The 'Aethyric Armour' is "Lesser magic" - if modified spell was at level of "Moderately Complex", could it give better protection or have additional traits?

g) Can Mathilde get fledging trading company to look for interesting things? Enchanted trinkets, books, etc.? It is not about geting anything specific, or anything right now - but about being there if something interesting comes across.
 
But... we're still a Wizard. We can cast Magic Bolt, and now Burning Shadows. Colour me a little unimpressed with learning to fire a gun.
Guns don't miscast. Additionally, at the Empires tech level basic dualing pistols don't misfire a statistically significant amount of the time and I would always take a misfire over a miscast.
Adhoc vote count started by Lupercal on Feb 16, 2018 at 3:06 PM, finished with 65 posts and 21 votes.

  • [X] Plan The Front Don't Need Us Yet
    -[X][Intel] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
    -[X][Personal] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
    -[X][Personal] Scribe: Altdorf's scribe did not get on well with the Prince. He's going to be rather busy with burning things, but maybe that'll put him in a better mood if you offer your own services. (NEW-ish)
    --[X] Ranald's Blessing(if available)
    [X] Plan No Offloading
    -[X][Intel] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
    -[X][Personal] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
    -[X][Personal] Scribe: Altdorf's scribe did not get on well with the Prince. He's going to be rather busy with burning things, but maybe that'll put him in a better mood if you offer your own services. (NEW-ish)
    --[X] Ranald's Blessing(if available)
    [X] Plan Help, I've Locked Myself In Van Hal's Study
    -[X][Intel] Attaché Paperwork: The Intelligence Attachés are your biggest expense by far - see if you can have them paid for by the Army of Stirland instead.
    -[X][Personal] Undead Research: You know the basics, now. Perhaps a great deal of effort will allow you to advance further.
    -[X][Personal] Snooping: Van Hal gave you a key to his Study. He didn't specifically say not to poke around and see what you could find.
    [X] Plan Bound Spells
    -[X] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
    -[X] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
    --[X] Ranald's Blessing
    -[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu. (NEW-ish)
    [X] Plan The Front Don't Need Us Yet edit
    -[X][Intel] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
    -[X][Personal] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
    --[X] Ranald's Blessing(if available)
    -[X][Personal] Scribe: Altdorf's scribe did not get on well with the Prince. He's going to be rather busy with burning things, but maybe that'll put him in a better mood if you offer your own services. (NEW-ish)
 
To be honest, Ulgu really isn't a great Wind for armor. An upgrade would probably involve being harder to hit in the first place.

Also, above. It should be noted that a good wizard is one who almost never ever has to actually cast a spell. Because Magic is dangerous.

If it's a choice between throwing a dart of magic and just shooting the other guy being equally effective, I'll take the bullet any day. A misfire might fuck up your hand (But probably won't destroy it, because there's not really enough powder loaded in a pistol to do much more than burn your hand and need a doctor to look at it), a miscast can flay your soul.
 
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Guns don't miscast. Additionally, at the Empires tech level basic dualing pistols don't misfire a statistically significant amount of the time and I would always take a misfire over a miscast.
I still don't care. I've not seen Mathilde miscast once (though Burning Shadows is obviously risky).

Sure, being able to fire a gun is a skill, and objectively having it is better than not...but the utility is much lower for a Wizard than just about anyone else, and the opportunity cost is high. Even learning s the basics of command would have been much more useful.

To be honest, Ulgu really isn't a great Wind for armor. An upgrade would probably involve being harder to hit in the first place.

Also, above. It should be noted that a good wizard is one who almost never ever has to actually cast a spell. Because Magic is dangerous.

If it's a choice between throwing a dart of magic and just shooting the other guy being equally effective, I'll take the bullet any day. A misfire might fuck up your hand (But probably won't destroy it, because there's not really enough powder loaded in a pistol to do much more than burn your hand and need a doctor to look at it), a miscast can flay your soul.
Blowing Shit Up isn't our job, though. It's not our wind colours job. Avoid conflict, win through knowledge and sneakiness, not shooting it in the face. Even then, Magic Dart doesn't miss. Bullets do. And a Mathilde seems to use magic fairly casually, so I'm assuming the misfire rules Boney is using are different from WHF.

Note: None of this should be construed as a dig at Boney. The turns instruction left it up to Gustav what he'd teach us, using the dice to decide is a perfectly rational and reasonable response to that.
 
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At this point I'm very much in favor of learning to wield a gun properly (meta, I know). However, after that I think we've learned enough weapons, we've gotten proficient with a greatsword of all things and now we are close to achieving the same with a gun.
I think it's cool, very much so indeed, but enough is enough I think. I don't see the need to become a battlemaster of sorts when we are a wizard spymaster.

Maybe look into our lord and saviour Ranald a bit more or try to increase our Magic score or spell-reportoire could be next. We've also got the enchanting-trait, with which we haven't done much yet, except put time and money in. And finally there is the fiscal matters that we might want to deal with some in the coming turns. [All of this is of course primarily meant for after the Purge, maybe more urgent things will pop up. {Aside from fiscal matters, those should be solved asap imo.}]
 
a) Cape/cloak enchanted by magic derrived form "Glowing Light" or "Marsh Lights" (both very easy petty magic, and both known). Goal would be to explicitely to cast shadows for purpose of "Burning Shadows" - and since it's cape/cloak, with light blocked by Mathilde body, it casts shadow forward, onto whatever is in front of her.

b) Can Mathilde master or improve "Marsh Lights" spell? For example skew energy balance towards Ulgu to made them cast much deeper shadows? Or just to make lights brighter? If it's done, then together with "Burning Shadows" it could work it would be devastating combo - marsh light floating around, casting multiple shadows in any direction desired. On battlefield, if she really mastered "Burning Shadows" it could be both efficient, and very, very scary.

Magical light can work for Burning Shadows, but the as a general rule it's always better to keep spells separate. Magic from two different spells interacts unpredictably. You can use the aforementioned ritual casting (I'll add it to the spellbook threadmark in a bit) to crank up the lumens, but it'd usually be easier and less risky to just build a bonfire. Nobody ever miscast a match.

c) Can Mathilde work to master known spell? Would it be possible to practice "Burning Shadows" to get better control over it, or be able to keep it up without full concentration? It is not easiest spell to use due to shadow requirement, but it can be very, very useful in mastered.

No, using a spell over and over in controlled setting is the opposite of Mastering it. It needs to see active, effective use for you to grow in your grasp of it. As I've said before - any attempts to game or grind mastery will go badly for you.

d) Would it be possible for Mathilde to train willpower and concentration to cast spells in a middle of battle or when in pain? It is the same idea that Gustav taught her while training Greatswors - one needs to swing, and keep swinging even when in hurt, even when exhusted, even when arms seem to fall off. The same could be said about spells - even when tired, even when in pain, even when dazed - wizard needs to keep concentration and power her way through all of that to shape magic. Getting Gustav to help with this could prove useful.

You could, but if you roll even a little bit badly it will end in utter disaster. You'd be effectively deliberately inducing miscasts in the hopes of getting better at not doing so.

e) The "Blessed Hands" trait show that direct manipulation of Ulgu is possible. It Mathilde skilled enough to try to develop other tricks/skills/traits that rely on direct manipulation of Ulgu?

I don't understand what you're asking here. Yes, direct manipulation of Ulgu is possible. That's how Mathilde casts spells.

f) The "Aethyric Armour" is a very good spell, and protection of 'full suit of chain' is nothing to sneeze at. But as with any protection - there is never enough of safety and one should always strive to get better at protecting oneself. Can Mathilde work towards mastering that spell? Or can she modify it to adapt it to Ulgu and her higher skills as wizard? The 'Aethyric Armour' is "Lesser magic" - if modified spell was at level of "Moderately Complex", could it give better protection or have additional traits?

See above.

g) Can Mathilde get fledging trading company to look for interesting things? Enchanted trinkets, books, etc.? It is not about geting anything specific, or anything right now - but about being there if something interesting comes across.

No. The Warhammer universe doesn't have magical items just waiting for someone to find them. They're either already owned by someone who will go to incredibly violent lengths to prevent anyone from taking it from them, or if they're not owned it's for a damn good reason.


In general, I don't think you've quite grasped Warhammer magic. This isn't the sort of low-stakes setting where wizards light their pipes with magic just because they can. Warhammer magic is forcibly tearing yanking chunks of raw Hell into reality, wrestling it under control, and making it break the laws of nature to your exact specifications, and there's a non-zero chance of Hell deciding it doesn't like you doing that and doing terrible things to you for your temerity. Mathilde has gotten very, very lucky that she hasn't suffered a miscast since the beginning of the game, but I'll remind you that the Wisdom's Asp that took a great deal of effort and expense to deal with was the result of a miscast, and nowhere near the worst kind of miscast.
 
[X] Plan Bound Spells
-[X] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
-[X] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
--[X] Ranald's Blessing
-[X] Bound Spells: Though the corrosive Dhar made them high-maintenance, the design of the bound spells in the castle's infiltrators has fascinating possibilities. The memories had faded but you've managed to refresh them. Try to adapt it for use with Ulgu. (NEW-ish)

Bound Spells is still the most crucial skill upgrade we could possibly get; the ability to expand our reach (and Burning Shadows) beyond our immediate presence.
Seeking out a leader for the Watch gives us an effective +1 action every turn, forever.
 
Seeking out a leader for the Watch gives us an effective +1 action every turn, forever.

I'd like to stop having to correct this. It doesn't give you +1 action every turn, forever. Having personal control over the Watch will still drain your personal attention as much as ever. What it does mean is that the person controlling it is able to micromanage the fine details and bring whatever skills and expertise to the role, and the Watch is still able to function when you can't give it as much attention as usual.
 
Anyway, Miscasts are always a risk. You can mitigate that risk tremendously by making sure you don't cast outside your means (AKA: Don't cast a spell that you can't cast 'Safely' unless you've no other choice), but the chance is only zero if you can bring your number of effective dice that can cause Tzeentch's Curse down to 1.

And there's always a possibility that you might just end up rolling only a minor Manifestation, and then having the rolls explode to instant death and being replaced by a powerful Daemon. Miscasts are terrible.
 
[X] Plan The Front Don't Need Us Yet edit
-[X][Intel] Information Broker: Start selling tidbits of information, just enough for your information network to start paying for itself.
-[X][Personal] Seek out a new leader for the Watch.
--[X] Ranald's Blessing(if available)
-[X][Personal] Scribe: Altdorf's scribe did not get on well with the Prince. He's going to be rather busy with burning things, but maybe that'll put him in a better mood if you offer your own services. (NEW-ish)

@veekie
I'm moving the blessing onto watch leader action. A bit meh on elf stories.
 
I'd like to stop having to correct this. It doesn't give you +1 action every turn, forever. Having personal control over the Watch will still drain your personal attention as much as ever. What it does mean is that the person controlling it is able to micromanage the fine details and bring whatever skills and expertise to the role, and the Watch is still able to function when you can't give it as much attention as usual.
... finding a Watch leader is equivalently +1 action per three turns while the Purge is going on (i.e. a normal six month turn)!
 
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Also, above. It should be noted that a good wizard is one who almost never ever has to actually cast a spell. Because Magic is dangerous.
I'd agree with that if the QM didn't say the reality was effectively the opposite. If we only play it safe with spells it'll lead to our magic stat atrophying.

With that in mind, use of the pistol might end up being a bad thing if Mathilde starts to rely on it as anything more than a backup.

[X] Plan The Front Don't Need Us Yet

I'm fine talking to the dragonlord now. Didn't want to wast two actions on it, but with only three available, and a failed scholar, I'm good. I'd like to join the fight at some point for those juicy future combat gains tho.
 
Yeah miscasts are horrible and most end with the wizard and anyone around them exploding to S10 hits which is an instant kill to most humans
 
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