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Kwinza
2010-09-17, 02:55 AM
Hey guys i've just been invited to join a warhammer fantasy game and as i've never played that before i was wondering how different to 3.5 it is?
I mean hows the class balence?
Is melee still a waste of time?
Would any of you mind giving me a quick run down?

Cheers guys =]

korifugi
2010-09-17, 03:16 AM
Right - it is a complete different kettle of fish.

To sum it up I'll quote an oft quoted ranger "Magic is impressive, now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!"

It can be very brutal (not quite as brutal as rolemaster but still pretty nasty).

Whilst magic is powerful, a good DM will restrict the mage's access to gunpowder somewhat, reducing the "Fireball! (or later on, Lightning Bolt), I win" effect.

Melee is effective, especially if you manage to get yourself up to a good weaponskill and strength (and a few attacks) - you'll be chopping your way through things quite easily.

Combat is actually pretty straightforwards with your options boiled down to hit thing with sharp bit of metal - theres no tripping, grappling or such.

Class balance is ermmm - different. You start in a basic class then move on from there, think of it as more of a class tree than a straight progression. It encourages you to think more of a role then progress in that direction.

All being said - don't expect huge amounts of magic and magic items, they are rare but do expect a really deep background to the world, EVERYWHERE has a history and it can be quite fun to play for this alone.

In short - you won't lose anything by giving it a go yourself, I'd say go for it.

Kwinza
2010-09-17, 04:18 AM
Ok cool cheers mate =]
That was a great help, im looking forward to hitting stuff with my sharp stick ;p

Psyx
2010-09-17, 05:16 AM
Which version of the game?

There are now three, and I only know anything about the first two!

Melee is brutally, horribly effective. And fun. Wizards are good, but hard work. And you may occasionally have to deal with going completely insane or villages trying to burn you at the stake.

misterk
2010-09-17, 06:01 AM
Combat choices are less meaningful in this system. Here are your optimal choices in combat:

1)Do you have two attacks? If yes, go to three. If no, go to two
2)aim and attack. Use fortune points to reroll parries
3)Use multiple attacks. Use fortune points to reroll parries.

The main things to be thinking about in combat is using outnumbering effectively, and positioning. Its fairly rare for players to get spellcasting abilities, as role generation is radnom, so most classes are melee.

WFRP is not a system about combat, and a good gm shouldn't be having any more than an encounter per session to be honest

Morty
2010-09-17, 07:55 AM
Most assumptions drawn from D&D don't apply to WFRP. While melee is effective, remember that you're not playing a tough-as-nails powerhouse a D&D melee fighter is. Enemies can and will kill you quickly if you're not careful.

comicshorse
2010-09-17, 10:40 AM
Its fairly rare for players to get spellcasting abilities, as role generation is radnom, so most classes are melee.



Yes, technically. I've never seen a WFRP game where the GM didn't allow the players to pick their starting career no matter what the rules say

misterk
2010-09-23, 04:41 AM
Well hourses for courses, but I personally would find that quite dull. The point of random generation is to ensure variety, so you have a rat catcher an entertainer and a troll slayer fighting evil. I have never been in a party with magic users, as I've always stuck with random generation (well, pick one of two usually)

comicshorse
2010-09-23, 07:05 AM
As you say, each to their own, personally I like playing the character I came up with not having one assigned by random roll

Kiero
2010-09-25, 05:22 AM
Yes, technically. I've never seen a WFRP game where the GM didn't allow the players to pick their starting career no matter what the rules say

Indeed, one of the only reasons I was willing to put up with random characteristic generation in our long-running WFRP2e game (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=421186) was because starting career was by player choice.

From the way I've observed a mage, compared to D&D "wizards" they are rubbish. Their magic is unreliable and not that powerful. They don't overshadow everyone else, and there's no way a part of mages (even third-career ones) would be better than a mixed group. I wouldn't play a mage in D&D as it is (magic doesn't appeal to me at all), but WFRP is the system I'd least like to play a mage in.

There's also no real role for the "battle healer" archetype.

Ravens_cry
2010-09-25, 05:38 AM
I played it at a Con. It was enjoyable, though you could fairly easily put the world in D20 if you wanted to, making new classes to fit. The world itself is harsh and gritty, combat is . . .random. I still enjoyed myself and if given a chance to play again, would.

Siegel
2010-09-25, 05:49 AM
For some more WFRP Information, check out the

Small but viscous podcast.
http://www.d20radio.com/sbv/

It's a lot of fun

Alleran
2010-09-25, 09:11 AM
There's also no real role for the "battle healer" archetype.
WHFRP is a low-fantasy setting crossed with dark fantasy. Battle healing isn't on the cards partly because it takes away the very real chance that you could easily die if you mess up. And even at the high end, where you're fourth (dare I say fifth?) career characters (assuming you lived that long, which is an accomplishment in and of itself), you are not going to go up against the real heavyweights of the world and win.

Kiero
2010-09-25, 09:17 AM
WHFRP is a low-fantasy setting crossed with dark fantasy. Battle healing isn't on the cards partly because it takes away the very real chance that you could easily die if you mess up. And even at the high end, where you're fourth (dare I say fifth?) career characters (assuming you lived that long, which is an accomplishment in and of itself), you are not going to go up against the real heavyweights of the world and win.

Surviving your first career is hard. After that it gets a lot easier, even with the annoying randomness of percentile dice. Finish your second career and it then becomes possible to risk combat as the shortcut rather than doing everything you can to avoid it first.

The Big Dice
2010-09-25, 10:18 AM
WHFRP is a low-fantasy setting crossed with dark fantasy. Battle healing isn't on the cards partly because it takes away the very real chance that you could easily die if you mess up. And even at the high end, where you're fourth (dare I say fifth?) career characters (assuming you lived that long, which is an accomplishment in and of itself), you are not going to go up against the real heavyweights of the world and win.

I'd say low magic rather than low fantasy. After all, having a realm of chaos that's inhabited by evil entities that represent all the bad things about the psyche and actively want to destroy the material world isn't exactly low fantasy.

I don't know if subsequent editions of WHFRP changed things, but what I found in 1st was that taking an Advanced Career made a HUGE difference to a character.

comicshorse
2010-09-25, 10:55 AM
Yeah not sure you can describe a world where one of the bad guys came within a hairs breadth of casting a spell that would kill everybody in the world and raise them as undead as low fantasy

Cubey
2010-09-25, 11:09 AM
See, the problem with Warhammer Fantasy is that we have two settings. Warhammer Fantasy Battle, with epic armies, bands of undead or marauding Chaos demons and elves and dwarves still mattering; and Warhammer Fantasy RPG with its down to earth grittiness and Chaos and more fantastic elements being somewhere out there but you still rarely meet them other than an occassional cult summoning a demon or something (and if you do, run).

Each setting is fine on its own. The problem starts when someone tries to persuade you that these two alternative takes are actually the same 'verse. Your head will implode from trying to wrap them both up into something that makes sense.

And yes, WFRP is a very different game to DnD. Don't try to compare these two in terms of gameplay or balance.