[gurps] Mageborn versus Fighter discussion

[hal at buffnet.net]

At 03:09 PM 3/21/2008 -0800, you wrote:
>hal at buffnet.net wrote:
>> What Follows is a 100 point "Witch Hunter" based on the game world
>> environment of Yrth.
>
>100 points is a bad point level for this discussion; the balance 
>problems with mages tend to be more pronounced at higher point levels.

I'm amendable to suggestions on point costs :)  I am however, loathe to
discuss the creation of 150 point mageborn characters with access to magery
higher than 4, signature gear, etc - ie "unreasonable" no limits barred
character creation.  That is primarily the reason why I barred GURPS
GRIMOIRE based spells, because those, in my opinion, were never balanced to
begin with as compared against the original spells in GURPS 1e or 2e or 3e
prior to GRIMOIRE's publication.

I also made a point of building the Witch Hunter as a non-combat optimized
hunter so as to demonstrate the basic techniques of fighting mageborn
wizards.  I'm organizing my thoughts now, so as to write a reasonably short
and pithy post on how to use the Witch Hunter in a combat against mageborn
characters.  In a nutshell however, the basic tactics are simple enough:

Keep about 10 yards away from the mage - and be patient.

Unless a player builds an optimized mage with a large expense outlay in
powerstones, the ordinary fighter will generally be able to wear down the
mage in a contest of wits and patience.  Spells that are defensive in
nature are no real threat to the fighter.  Spells that render a weapon
ineffective for a time will result in the fighter needing only to wait
until such a protection runs out.  A mage who attempts to use walk on air
to reach an area that the fighter can not fight upon, also runs the risk of
coming to earth in a jarring manner - when the spell runs out.  Since
movement speeds of the guy walking upon air are not all that much faster
than if he had walked/ran on the ground, it isn't much of an advantage
overall in a one on one contest.  Sure, he can run without having to deal
with thickets, uneven terrain etc, but he still has to worry about what
happens then the spell runs out, he's fatigued, and there is a fighter in
relentless pursuit while he's tired.

No one "character" is invulernable to another, and sometimes, a wizard
character will win based on the luck of the die rolls favoring him over the
other, just as it may favor the fighter over him.  But a player who is
patient, and plays the waiting game, should usually be able to win against
a comparable point wizard character.

As for taking a 150 point mage versus a 150 point fighter, it can be done,
but imagine what I could do with the Witch Hunter using another 50
character points?