I had read "The Hobbit" before I'd encountered D&D.
I remember being upset during character generation that my Magic User couldn't wield a sword. Gandalf had a sword, Glamdring.
Looking back now... In most cases my magic user was a more effective member of the party than Gandalf ever was. At least using direct action.
One reason I liked D&D 3e, and then Pathfinder, is that if you wanted your wizard to use a sword, by golly you could make one who could.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Gandalf wasn't really a member of the party. He was more like an Ally, functioning as the GM's chekov's gunman/deus ex machina where necessary.
ReplyDeleteThe two things that bugged me about Magic Users was the sword thing and the once a day spell thing. That was later amended to once a "reading". When Warhammer FRP came around I loved the magic rules. I hit the ground running on GURPS because sword was just a skill anyone could learn.
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