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View Full Version : Chaos Mage... Say what?



Nanoblack
2010-12-22, 07:15 PM
Recently, I keep hearing about this new-fangled chaos mage class (http://grandwiki.wikidot.com/qcmg) (yes I know it was created in 2003). I initially brushed it off as another crazy creation of a 3rd party publisher, but each time I pass a link, the temptation to play one increases.

So, I'd first like to ask the playground what their experiences with the class were like, and if there happens to be a handbook for these bad boys lying around anywhere on the internets.

FMArthur
2010-12-22, 07:46 PM
My 'gameplay experience' was a DM who saw the counterspelling ability and said "no".

Zaq
2010-12-22, 09:35 PM
Reading through it, it seems nifty, but almost unplayable at the table. Crafting the spell effects would take forever (even with some cheat-sheets drawn up ahead of time), difficulty adjudicating what it can and can't do seems like it would come up a minimum of once per night, and it seems to me that the Path of Chaos would inevitably lead to spotlight hogging at best and severe party disharmony at worst.

If you think you can handle it, good luck. It's a nifty idea. I just can't see it being actually fun to have in the group.

Nanoblack
2010-12-23, 12:56 PM
Well Ican see having some spell prepared ahead of time, though creating new ones using the guidelines shouldn't be much of a problem in PBP.

randomhero00
2010-12-23, 01:08 PM
Wow! something I haven't heard of before! Not only that, but that would be perfect for one of my players in my game! We play more roleplay and freeform, so him being creative on the spot will win cool points, repeating nasty tricks will lead to failures.

Nanoblack
2010-12-24, 05:54 PM
Anyone actually seen one in action?

Lord Syn
2010-12-24, 06:41 PM
Yo.

Let's take a trip in the 'wayback' machine, shall we...To a long time ago, when I had a group on the flesh-side of things to play with...

*ahem* Sorry, been writing too much fluff for a project of mine. Lemme try again with a bit less of 'TEH DRAMAH'.

I used to DM for my group back home, and had a player who brought this class to my attention. Now, originally this post was going to be somewhat of an overview of what-all happened during playtesting, but I'll spare you all the lengthy play-by-play and just give you the summary. (If you WANT the play-by-play, I'll try to hunt up my old game notes, but be mindful - it's been a long time since I ran for that group, and I don't quite remember everything from those days crystal-clear anymore.)

Pros: In the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, rolls fairly averagely and is good at roleplay without overdrama, this class provides an interesting challenge and wider versatility to the standard spell-lists, and a chance to really show off how creative you can be in both planning and describing your spells.

Cons: 'Dramatic' players should be discouraged, as the slow corruption that comes with botching can lead to a lot of unfortunate opportunities for 'wangst' (or whiny-angst, for the non-lingoists). Also, the class is fairly complex, and can overwhelm those who aren't good at balancing things, while on the flip-side can give a rules-lawyer or power-gamer far, far too much potential game-breaking ammo. Also, failed rolls can really eff-up your nicely planned encounters if they get out of hand. (All it takes is one really...really bad throw and some equally bad planning to turn a skeleton-raid into a TPK...)

Summary: Know your players. Know yourself as well. While this can be a rather interesting class to include in your world, it can also be potentially game-breaking in the wrong hands, or at the least highly frustrating. Also, if you do decide to introduce 'em, be ready to be flexible, and suggest to whomever's playing the Chaos Mage that he or she first writes down a good list of spells for some basic situations - in essence, think of the first three spell-levels in the Mage class, and suggest taking inspiration from those before designing their own.

Hope that's not too wordy for ya, and I hope that's kinda what you were hoping for. For the record, by-the-bye, while Raymond liked the class, he decided to switch back to playing his normal sorcerer after a few sessions, due to personal preference (and occasional math-induced headaches).

Noremak
2010-12-25, 12:53 AM
I have actually created several Chaos Mages over the last few years. When I went away to school I stumbled across the old version of the Chaos Mage (much less balance, and based on CHA which was awesome imo). I created a Chaos Mage as a DMPC for a pirate campaign my roommate and I were playing. The way I played him he was hesitant to use his powers (due to the sever drawbacks associated with them) but whenever he did use them I often shaped the effects to simply bring an overpowered challenge down to a normal challenge. This character lives on to this day (updated to 3.5), and is a crowd favorite when it comes to swapping Dnd stories.

My next chaos mage started in at level 1, and at low levels the mage quickly starts to run out of oomph. After only three casting (only one of which was sucessfull) the poor guy was ko'd and had to be healed awake. Problem is, if you get ko'd by spell casting you have to rest 8hours to 'recharge'. So for the rest of the adventure I was a powerless loonie.

My most resent tinkering with the Chaos Mage was in an Ebberon Campain. Enter 'The Prankster' a direct rip off of Batman's Joker, right down to using his gnomish prestidigitation to turn his prison uniform purple and manifest a lame yellow flower for the lapel. This Chaos Mage was a terrible thing for my players to face, especially with the introduction of the trigger events listed in the new version of the mage. First thing that happed was he melted all the party's ranged weapons, and then sprayed them with acid from his lapel. He was a wicked fun villain to play, but had he been a PC he'd have been far to powerful.

Long story short, a very fun class. Yes the magic creation takes awhile at first, but once you get used to it it goes quickly. I find that prepping a batch of 5-8 spells you use regularly speeds things up, and if you must build something on the fly set a timer. Giving yourself only 1 or 2 min to build your spell will keep things moving for everyone else, and remember you can always delay and buy sometime. If you plan to play with the 3.5 version, I would recommend leaving out the spell triggers, they are supposed to balance the mage, but don't do an exceptional job of it. Your unpredictability and your ability to manifest huge blasts of energy or throw your opponents around like toys are strong suits, and are very fun. But be aware of the limitations, chaos magic saves are very low compared to normal magic, and a lot of times you might pull off a big spell only to find yourself at 1/2 HP and the fighter just shrugged off the majority of the effect.

EDIT: As for a handbook, I don't know of one made. I have lots of tips and tricks from mulling over the class myself however if your interested. :smallsmile:

Nanoblack
2010-12-25, 08:19 AM
I'm interested in any help I can get. Most DMs would just say no, so I'd like to see what happens when one said yes.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-12-25, 02:51 PM
I'm interested in any help I can get. Most DMs would just say no, so I'd like to see what happens when one said yes.

You could always put up a request thread in the PbP forum saying "Hey guys, I wanna play this, anyone willing to DM?" and see what happens. It might even be interesting to have an entire party of chaos mages...or even an entire setting where chaos magic replaces arcane magic. Heck, I might be willing to DM one of those myself if you'd be interested; I've wanted to see a chaos mage in action for a while myself.

Nanoblack
2010-12-25, 02:59 PM
You could always put up a request thread in the PbP forum saying "Hey guys, I wanna play this, anyone willing to DM?" and see what happens. It might even be interesting to have an entire party of chaos mages...or even an entire setting where chaos magic replaces arcane magic. Heck, I might be willing to DM one of those myself if you'd be interested; I've wanted to see a chaos mage in action for a while myself.

Well, sir, I think we might have a deal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181085).

randomhero00
2010-12-25, 03:43 PM
Heh, just realized this is one were the warning is *in* the title of the class. Chaos Mage.