Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Birbin]

Hi,

I'm planning a power list for wizards without damaging spells. Do you have experiences with such a concept in the game?
What about the power level? I suppose they are less competent in combat but some spells still useful like puppet.

[Crumbs]

In my deadlands campaign the posse huckster was a pacifist so his entire spell selection was non-damaging. He wasn't hurt in combat at all.

So from my experience it's pretty easy to do and still be useful in combat.

Once you get rid of any spells that cause damage from the spell list you'll see that the utility magic in savage worlds is pretty awesome.

[sablemage]

Yes, this can be done.

In my campaigns, characters with few or no damage-inflicting spells tend to focus on Boost/Lower Trait, which they use to buff friends.
_________________
Andy
Halfway Station

[Birbin]

So they won't be very limited. Thanks.

[farik]

I've designed a few arcane backgrounds without damaging powers. They usually focus on being information or protection/healing based. They work fine as long as the expectation is clear during character creation what those types of arcane backgrounds are capable of.

[SeeleyOne]

I have played several spellcasters that don't have spells that cause damage. Those characters are more of a "support role", and now that I think about it, they became the party leader.

Healing spells and spells that help your allies be cool in some way are great. As are information and detection-type spells. You don't necessarily need a special form of Arcane Background, as Magic, Psionics, and Miracles handle the concept just fine. Making edges that make those other spell types an attractive option are a good idea, like maybe a Healer edge that makes it so that Healing and Greater Healing cost half as much, and maybe Greater Healing is available as a Novice or somesuch.

It all comes down to niche, though. I like for each PC to have some sort of niche or style. When I used to play GURPS there are many times that I accidentally stole the niche of other characters. Savage Worlds actually works better in this regard, as in GURPS the skills are based on your attribute, so if you have Smarts d10 your Smarts skills start out higher than those that have a lower Smarts. I had a high Smarts character that had a higher skill in his hobbies than other characters had in their specialties.
_________________
Sorry for type-os. I am freaking blind in one eye and completely blind in the other.

To be evil is to live backwards

[sablemage]

Two very successful builds I've seen:

1. Boost/Lower Trait and Taunt. This guy used to buff his friend's Fighting, lower the opposition's, and then dance around the outside of the fight using Taunt to Shake the opposition.

2. Holy Warrior, Banish and Boost/Lower Trait. This lady uses Holy Warrior's repulse power and Banish to thin out or Wound the enemy, then boost her husband's PC to finish them off or sneak around their flank. More of a cleric really I suppose, in that the PC is optimised for dealing with undead.
_________________
Andy
Halfway Station

[Gammon23]

Also entangle is always useful.

[Lord Inar]

Agree to all this. In our game, buffing/healing the party's Grim Servant o' Death made for a fairly lethal combination.
_________________
Lord Inar
Sherwood and Gaslight
Rocky Mountain Savages
SharkBytes