Winds of Chaos

Hello all!

First post after some time of lurking. I found relatively few sites discussing WFRP 4th edition and I'm not hip enough for Discord. So, I hope you don't mind me posting the occasional question here as my regular group can't meet up at the moment.

I played WFRP 1st edition when I was a kid in school, read some rulebooks of the 2nd edition ( forgot most of it), didn't realize there was a 3rd edition and for some months now, our RPG-group plays 4e. I obviously always liked the Warhammer setting and didn't mind the rules as much. I am not very crunchy or creative when it comes to rules: I mostly accept what is given to me and always fear that houseruling unbalances things (even though good houserules can greatly help to balance things). This is to say, I was rather surprised that 4e does get some serious criticism here. I don't think it's wrong but I am seldom bothered by a rule set - often because I don't realize what absurdities these rules can lead to.

That only as a small introduction, now to my question.

I play a human Scholar Level 2/Wizard Level 1 and I finally am ready to advance into the Wizard Level 2 (level 1 is completed). I have 750 XP to spend (maybe only 650 XP if our GM does not let us advance for free as an endeavour; we never used endeavours before) and I am asking myself how to spend those.

Some stats (just an excerpt):
WS 32 (5 adv taken) BS 33 S 26 T 40 (8 adv taken) I 32 Ag 32 Dex 28 Int 40 (8 adv taken) WP 40 (13 adv taken) Fel 34 (I rolled my character and rolled not too well)
I have a relatively large number of petty magic spells (Animal friend, Eavesdrop, Open lock, Twitch, Warning, Dart, Marsh lights, Prot. from rain, Produce small animal). For background reasons, my character will follow the Amber college.

Relevant talents: Aetheric Attunement (1 taken)

Skills: Lore (Magick) +10, Lang. Magick + 11, Channeling +11

So, for the 750 XP :

100 XP goes to the Talent Arcane Magic (Amber)

I thought of picking 4 spells, so 400 XP (I assume that I can choose rather freely the spells I want to learn)

Then taking Aetheric Attunement a second time for 200 XP.

The last 50 XP I save...or get another adancement in channeling or Lang. Magick.

First question (finally!): is it ok to take Aetheric attunement a second time? Or should I invest the 200 XP in 4-5 advances in Lang. Magick or Channeling? My stats are not very good, so I think my only chance to succeed on higher spells will be by channeling and with the talent two times, I'll have two additional SL when I succeed at my channeling test, so channeling shouldn't take too long.

The spells I thought about:

Blast and Bolt. Pretty boring but it gives me some much needed combat value and I should be able to cast them with only one or two rounds of channeling. Don't know if they're too redundant but I want a stronger single target combat application and an AoE weapon.

Beast Tongue and Beast Form: they both offer some out of combat versality, fit the background and don't have too high CN.

Second question: What do you think about the spell selection? I am not necessarily looking for the optimal options but I don't want to make my character's life harder than it already is (only 2 FP and 1 RP remaining).

So, I am looking forward to reading your thoughts. Thanks in advance! (And sorry for the longwinded post)

Shambler wrote: ↑Mon Apr 20, 2020 5:40 pm First question (finally!): is it ok to take Aetheric attunement a second time?

In 4th edition, you cannot take Talents from an earlier career step. So if you want a second level of AA, you'll have to purchase it while you're an Apprentice, before you advance to Wizard.
This also means that once you go to Wizard, you won't be able to advance it any more (without changing careers back to Apprentice). So you may want to consider that in your thinking about how to spend your exp. The same is true for your other talents, obviously. So if you don't have Read/Write or Second Sight, and conceptually you want your character to have those things at some point, you should purchase them before you advance to Wizard.

Or should I invest the 200 XP in 4-5 advances in Lang. Magick or Channeling? My stats are not very good, so I think my only chance to succeed on higher spells will be by channeling and with the talent two times, I'll have two additional SL when I succeed at my channeling test, so channeling shouldn't take too long.

Looks like your rolls for both channeling and casting are 51%?? Yeah I'd probably bump those up. Right now it's actually cheaper for you to bump up your Characteristic; 30 exp each for the next two INT advances, while bumping up Lang(magick) and Channeling 1 each would cost 20 x 2 skills = 40 exp.

But I'd also say from your comment that you have a good grasp of the situation, so in terms of channeling vs. characteristic/skill advances, go with what you want and what makes playing your character more fun.

Thanks for your reply and sorry in the delay. You're of course right about not being able to take Talents from earlier career steps but since I haven't yet changed the career it's no problem to say, I'll take Aetheric attunemt and then advance to level 2. But pointing this out has made me realize that I more or less have to take the Talent now a second time because I won't be able to later on. So there won't be much XP left to bump up the skills.

Unless I ditch Blast at the moment, hoping to be able to target more enemies via Overcasting and Bolt as some "small AoE"-effect. That'd give me 100 XP more to advance Lang. Magick and/or Channeling (or Int/Wp). I'll think about it.

Again, thanks for the reply and I am still interested in hearing your or others opinions.

Shambler wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:09 am Thanks for your reply and sorry in the delay. You're of course right about not being able to take Talents from earlier career steps but since I haven't yet changed the career it's no problem to say, I'll take Aetheric attunemt and then advance to level 2. But pointing this out has made me realize that I more or less have to take the Talent now a second time because I won't be able to later on. So there won't be much XP left to bump up the skills.

Unless I ditch Blast at the moment, hoping to be able to target more enemies via Overcasting and Bolt as some "small AoE"-effect. That'd give me 100 XP more to advance Lang. Magick and/or Channeling (or Int/Wp). I'll think about it.

Again, thanks for the reply and I am still interested in hearing your or others opinions.

Speak to your GM. If it's too restrictive for you, they may let you advance Talents you've already bought further down the line (I do this when I GM).

Again, sorry for the delay in responding.

Anyway, I'll ask the GM if he'd oppose to me taking talents from a former level (at least when I have already taken them once). I think he already mentioned once that he'd be ok with that. Thanks!

Shambler wrote: ↑Sat Apr 25, 2020 2:38 pm Again, sorry for the delay in responding.

Anyway, I'll ask the GM if he'd oppose to me taking talents from a former level (at least when I have already taken them once). I think he already mentioned once that he'd be ok with that. Thanks!

No problem. I find it's tricky keeping track of whats available and what's from previous levels without checking the book a few times. I just usually say, 'Once it's on your sheet, you can keep advancing it.'