WodenKrait wrote:
It always seemed odd to me that Indirect Attack spells are always dead on target; unless the target dodges, they will hit. The lethality of these spells could be greatly diminished simply by requiring an Attack roll by the Sorcerer, Warlock etc.
Isn't that what Speed vs. Evasion represents? Given how feeble sorcerers are without spells, it seems reasonable that the ones they do cast are effective.
Dragonbreath is fine for scaring peasants, and will work on your more sluggish low-ranked adventurers, but is too slow to be reliable. So you're really looking at
Shadowbolt before the sorcerer gets a decent indirect attack spell that has a chance of incapacitating someone before they can get close enough to the sorcerer to do some real harm, and even high ranked sorcerers can't cast many shadowbolts a day - a 6th rank sorcerer can only throw 5 shadowbolts per day, only 3 or 4 of which are likely to hit. The 17HP damage each bolt will do, on average, will be enough to take down a most young adventurers, but not an average 6th rank knight.
I like that DW has a dangerous combat system and deadly spells - it ensures the characters don't always try the frontal approach (which is why typically happens in a lot of FRPGs), they use tactics, they bargain, etc. In other words, they role-play
.