A common refrain in old-school games, most often from those new to old-school play, is that 1st level magic-users (MU) suck, don’t feel like masters of the arcane, and are very limited unless you have sleep and/or get to the point of gaining fireball. To those new to the game, the best way to play a 1st level MU is to just wait in the 3rd/4th rank until its time to cast sleep then lean back and look at your phone. Boring.
Regarding what to do after a 1st-level MU has cast their only spell, I have covered that in a previous blog post (and it was featured in KNOCK! #3 woot!).
Continuing that series, I would like to address how a DM can get their MUs off to a better start using options that don’t stray far from BX as a base chassis. So let’s look at how we can layer some decisions on top of a starting MU so the character feels like a proper student of the arcane and not just 2 HP chump waiting to feebly cast their one magic missile then pray they make it to more interesting levels.
Rolling Up A New Magic-User
After throwing 3d6 down the line as Crom intended, the player has ended with average stats but a 13 in INT netting a +1 bonus and +5% XP gain by choosing a magic user. By BX RAW, this PC has a spellbook, a dagger, no armor, and on average, 100-110 gp, plus 2-3 hp. This PC is Elizabeth the Lucky.
First, DM is given leeway to define the spellbook and the mentor
Out of the box, RAW in BX, the DM may choose which spells a MU character can start with. This advice is also mirrored by Gygax in AD&D when it is commented that MUs, after a successful apprenticeship, are gifted a spellbook from their mentor which includes read magic and 1 spell from an offensive, defensive, and utility 1st-level spell list.
Here are three great resources for unique spins on these aspects of MUs:
Ben L.’s Six Starting Spellbooks which lists six spell books with 2 first-level and 1 second-level spells in them and includes information on a particular topic
ktrey’s d100 - Mercurial Mentors & Weird Wizards which lists a mentor by starting spells.
Carcass Crawler #4 & Dolmenwood Crawler contains new grimoires which are easy enough to modify to create “lesser copies"; Dolmenwood PHB contains some different starting spellbook too
Elizabeth the Lucky rolls an “3” on for the starting spellbook giving her a lesser copy of Geometry of Unseen Potencies which includes level 1 spells hold portal, floating disk, and level 2 spell levitate. Plus she is given the read magic (this always makes sense to me). A complete version of the tome is described as:
The work of Daglon the Geometer, mystical master of force and balance, architect of suspended structures. He had the original crafted by confounding Ubaes who constructed books like puzzles and conundrums. Geometry of Unseen Potencies is bound between polished stones taken from the hearts of substantial clouds in Wishery. Although ponderous in appearance, the book weighs almost nothing.
Now for the mentor. Using hold portal as the category, Elizabeth rolls a “5” under the hold portal table on the Mercurial Mentors. She was instructed by:
Hernil's Flawless Clone and “[You swear] saw them dissolve into a puddle of goo once.”
So the player’s MU’s mentor is potentially cloned, could be sentient black pudding, and maybe there is a flawed version out there? And what of this spellbook? Is there a way to get a true copy of Geometry of Unseen Potencies? All great questions for the DM to incorporate into world-building.
Second, let the player decide which 1st level spell has been memorized and which 1st level spell has been made into a scroll✤
The decision on which spell to memorize and which spell to take as a scroll comes down to deciding which spell the player thinks will be immediately useful in the adventure and which spell might be situationally useful and so is good to “bank” in a paper spell slot- the scroll.
Elizebeth’s player decides that hold portal might help them escape their first dungeon delve while floating disk might be important only when they locate a treasure they can’t carry and so “banks” it in a scroll.
Now the starting MU has potentially two spells to cast instead of the normal starting one spell and we’ve not really deviated from the rules of BX.
Third, let the player decide if they want more information, more hands, or more spells
Old-school MUs are given the most expensive item their class needs, the spellbook, and they can’t wear armor or weld any expensive weapons so how can the money be put to use in a way that is in the form of an impactful decision? How about letting the player decide if they want to gain a:
Man-at-Arms (50 gp): A 1d6 hp fighting-type with a spear or axe (1d6 dmg) and leather + shield (AC 13) which might be good for protection and provide the player with a way to stay in the action
Another scroll (100 gp): This can be a copy of any spell currently in their spell book and allows increased casting potential
Map of the dungeon (50-150 gp): Could be complete but without room contents, could by 2-3 very specific rooms, or the location of a particular treasure; information variable depending in the amount spent
In keeping with average rolling, Elizabeth’s player gets a “10” on their 3d6 roll for starting money equaling 100 gp. Looking over spells, the player thinks that hold portal might be good for a quick escape and floating disk can transport something large, so a treasure map might be a good option.
Fourth, introduce the concept of scroll production because it provides an immediate beneficial downtime action and sinks for gold
Not groundbreaking but I feel often forgotten or ignored. The Holmes Basic D&D prescription of 100 gp/week/spell level to transcribe is widely adopted in old-school circles. So a 2nd level spell takes 200 gp and 2 weeks to produce. This provides some immediate downtime activities and choices for the MU to make. And it increases the number of spells they can cast in a given adventure beyond what they can cast by spell slots! This might not seem a lot but if a game occurs weekly or bi-weekly, this can allow for an accumulation of 2-4 extra scrolls greatly augmenting the spell caster’s power.
Finally, introduce the (nebulous) concept of magical research
In the BX text, there is a reference to conducting magical research mainly to learn new spells- 1,000gp/spell level and it takes two weeks with a 15% chance of failure. There is an additional note about “other magical research” which opens up a lot of other options for study:
Magical marganilia in their spellbooks
Components✤✤ to augment a spell’s effects (or magical cooking)
Answering in-game questions that might arise- like where a true copy of Geometries is located or how to hurt a particular monster
Starting Changes Summary
BX RAW we have this:
Magic User 1st level, 3 HP, AC 10, dagger (1d4 dmg), hold portal, 100 gp
However, by layering more interesting starting decision-making choices, we get something like this:
Elizabeth the Lucky (INT 13), mentored by the Flawless Clone of the Mage Hernil, has finally departed the strange tower outside Greywold. The clone let her keep the ruined copy of Geometries she rescued from an errant nest of rat familiars and now she dreams of building cloud castles promised by a complete text. Until then, she recites the basics hold portal to herself and keeps a copy of the floating disk folded inside her hat. The small piles of coins the clone mage haphazardly dropped in her hands were used to buy information on the barrow complex north of the village- the home of a former wizard. Money from that venture could fuel a quest for a true copy of Geometries. Right now Elizabeth is trying to make floating disk last a little longer- so far past remarks have said by casting in the reflection of a silver charger depicting the god Pan, but Elizabeth has no gold for such an object- yet.
Cantrips Are Not The Answer, Just Give Them A Crossbow
Often I find that the cantrips people want are what 5e has given them: consistent damage-dealing spells that come at no magic-expenditure cost✤✤✤. But I don’t like this for four reasons:
Fighters, clerics, dwarves, elves, and thieves already do a decent range of damage 1d6 to 2d6 damage given particular circumstances, so throwing another 1d6 or so damage on top to me is not interesting
Often those cantrip damage-dealing spells also require a to-hit role further making them feel less magical; at least the lowly magic missile auto-hits which can really be clutch in the right moment
A magical 1d6 to 1d8, to-hit source of damage is also similar to starting the worse “fighter” in the party a magical +1 sword that sucks the magic out of true +1 swords (or other magical weapons)
It potentially draws a MU player’s thinking away from lateral strategies to utilize non-damage dealing spells which often are the more powerful and potentially lucrative options
If a player still insists on having something to do, then don’t change the magic just let wizards use a crossbow. Its ranged, does 1d6+ damage, fires every other round, but could be ever ready for a quick first shot– and it feels like a wizardy weapon they would fool around with instead of a bow.
But also as a DM, don’t forget to add magical stuff to your dungeon: scrolls, potions, arcane scrawl only magic users can read, bizarre contraptions or distillation equipment only they can use. Also think about allowing your player to incorporate components taken from dungeon foes in your games allowing a low-level magic augmentation in addition to scrolls.
✤ If you are feeling really generous as a DM, you could say they have scrolls for one of the first and the second-level spell.
✤✤ ktrey at d4 caltrops has a ton of useful tables that span all sorts of fantasy gaming material
✤✤✤ I do, however, agree with the old-school trick of allowing a prepared spell to be burned in a released bolt of magic energy to deal damage, but that is because it comes at a cost
