Meet the Wizard

Tagged: Meet the Fighters

“I hold the storm itself in the palm of my hand. Are you sure you want to get in my way?”

Welcome to the first in a series of articles called Meet the Fighters, in which we, well, meet the fighters. In this installment, we learn the ways of the Wizard!

Background

In Tempestia, “Wizard” is a catch-all term for magi who specialise in one simple area of expertise: destruction.

Off the battlefield, they may be scholars of eclectic things – arcane or mundane, dangerous or peaceful – but on it, they are single-minded in their focus on devastation. They channel the wind of light into deadly beams of superheated air, blistering blasts of fire, and blinding bolts of electricity, dazzling, burning and obliterating their foes.

A well-trained Wizard is the sort of thing anyone venturing into the Tempest should want to have on their side – and very much not want to have on the enemy’s side – so they are always in high demand.

Appearance

Wizardry is practiced all across the Continent and has no one way of looking. Some cast fireballs, while others throw frost. Some dress drably, while others dazzle in cloaks of shimmering silver. Some strike their enemies with crystal-tipped staves, while others wade into combat with dual-wielded battleaxes. Some are women, some are men, and many more are neither.

Simply put, a Wizard in the world of Magewinds need not conform to the fantasy stereotype of an old man with a beard, robe and pointy hat. They can look precisely how they mean to!

The harmful nature of the energies channelled by Wizards make protective gear particularly relevant. It is not uncommon to see a Wizard sporting magic-amplifying flame-proof gauntlets, or adorned with electricity-conducting pylons.

Whatever model you choose to represent your Wizard, make sure they look dangerous.

Rules

In game, Wizards have the standard set of attributes befitting an elite fighter:

With Toughness 6 and Armour 1¹, they are able to tank a few hits before being taken out of action, and with Deflect 2 and Dodge 4, incoming attacks can be negated entirely – if the right defence choices are made, that is. Meanwhile, Movement 5 means the Wizard is able to get across the battlefield (and into range of juicy targets) without difficulty.

Wizards also have access to a perfectly ordinary² melee attack:

The Light Attack is nearly impossible to Dodge, but easy to Deflect, while the Heavy Attack is hard to Deflect but easy to Dodge. Balanced!

The Wizard’s special abilities come in the form of two missile spell attacks - Zap and Blast.

Zap is like bringing a gun to a butterknife-fight. Unless your target gets out of the way, they are toast:

It does, however, require a Diamond and a Spade to cast, so you’re not always going to be able to get it off!

Blast, meanwhile, is like bringing a flamethrower to a butterknife-fight:

After making this attack, make it again against all fighters within 1” of the original target. Resolve the additional attacks in the order of your choosing.

If your opponent bunches up their fighters (and you’re able to channel 2 Diamonds), this is the perfect way to punish them for their poor decision by dishing out damage to multiple targets at once³.

Conclusion

And there we have it! In summary, the Wizard is a perfectly capable melee combatant who doubles as short-range artillery – provided you can meet their expensive spell costs.