I am a big fan of the Osprey Games miniature wargame, Frostgrave. Many years ago, I wrote two articles on my personal blog about how to use the rules to create wizard “specialists” – unique spell casters inspired by specific themes. I have re-published the articles below.
I hope you enjoy!
Here is an idea to provide some additional flavour and depth to your Frostgrave wizard. The ten schools of magic cover a lot of ground, but there is still room to “drill down” and create even more specialised wizards.
This idea came about as I was thinking of all the kinds of wizards and mages we see in literature, film and roleplaying games. I started to wonder if it was possible to “build” a “Storm Wizard”, or a “Mind Controller”, or the like. Short answer: Totally! As a Frostrgrave wizard actually has to take a very broad range of spells from a wide variety of schools, you can carefully choose options to represent all kinds of magic styles and preferences.
Here are a few I have come up with so far. Each wizard specialist has a brief description and a list of starting spells suitable for their magic style. Each specialist is based on one of the current schools of magic and uses the standard spell allocation rules. I have suggested some alternative spell names [in square brackets] where I felt it seemed fitting.
GEOMANCER (ELEMENTALIST)
Master of earth and stone, the Geomancer is an Elemental magic specialist, able to manipulate the very ground beneath their feet.
- Elementalist: Destructive Sphere [Earth Quake], Elemental Shield, Wall [of Stone]
- Chronomancer: Crumble
- Enchanter: Animate Construct [Stone Golem]
- Summoner: Plane Walk [Stone Step]
- Necromancer: Bone Dart [Hurl Stone]
- Witch: Mud
This is quite a balanced specialist, with a number of direct attack spells, a defence spell, and a couple of spells that affect movement. In my mind the Plane Walk spell can simulate the wizard moving through the ground, building magical bridges of stone to cross chasms and the like, and do all the other cool things that an earth wizard might do. The spells Grenade (Enchanter) and Petrify (Chronomancer) would also work well with the Geomancer, and you might consider those instead.
STORM CALLER (ELEMENTALIST)
Master of weather and meteorological events, the Storm Caller is another Elementalist specialist able to manipulate the air and sky.
- Elementalist: Call Storm, Elemental Bolt [Lightning Bolt], Elemental Shield
- Chronomancer: Slow
- Enchanter: Telekinesis
- Summoner: Leap
- Sigilist: Furious Quill [Whirlwind]
- Witch: Fog
I think this collection of spells captures the magic of a weather wizard quite nicely. I imagine the Slow spell uses wind or rain to distract the target, and I really like re-imagining the Furious Quill spell as a mini-tornado that makes life very difficult. The spell Push (Sigilist) would also nicely simulate the wizard summoning a gust of wind to move a target, but I like the Furious Quill much better. The only slightly odd choice in the collection is Telekinesis, as i had to include an Enchanter spell. I imagine the wizard uses wind or water to push the treasure across the battlefield.
PUPPET MASTER (NECROMANCER)
Master of controlling others, forcing them to take action against their will, the Puppet Master is a specialist of the Necromancer school.
- Necromancer: Strike Dead, Control Undead, Raise Zombie
- Chronomancer: Petrify
- Witch: Control Animal OR Animal Companion
- Summoner: Bind Demon
- Enchanter: Control Construct
- Soothsayer: Mind Control
I really like the concept of this wizard specialist, however it is a bit of a “one trick pony” with so many control spells. I chose “Petrify” (Chronomancer) to represent a target being frozen in place, like so many evil wizards like to do. “Strike Dead” (Necromancer) represents a Puppet Master telling a target to just “Die!”. As the wizard is from the Necromancer school it was compulsory to take a Summoner spell, and I really didn’t think there were many good options in this list – the bind demon is the closest to the control spells so I went with it. “Push” (Sigilist) works for the Puppet Master, representing the wizard commanding the target to move, and if your opponent(s) were agreeable to bending the spell selection rules slightly I would swap it with Bind Demon.
More Frostgrave Wizards
Last week I wrote post exploring themed spell lists for wizard specialists in Frostgrave. This was originally done because I was looking at spell selection for one of my war bands. I had a figure that I decided was a master of earth and stone, so came up with a list of spells for a Geomancer. It was fun and sparked my imagination, so I have written some more!
Once again each wizard specialist has a brief description and a list of starting spells suitable for their magic style. Each specialist is based on one of the current schools of magic and uses the standard spell allocation rules. I have suggested some alternative spell names [in square brackets] where I felt it seemed fitting.
ENTOMANCER (SOOTHSAYER)
Master of insects, the Entomancer uses bugs to divine secret knowledge. They are able to control and command bugs of all varieties.
- Soothsayer: Awareness, Reveal Secret, Wizard Eye
- Chronomancer: Fleet Feet
- Illusionist: Monstrous Form
- Thaumaturge: Blinding Light [Swarm of Beetles]
- Summoner: Plague of Insects
- Elementalist: Scatter Shot [Ant Swarm]
This is another list that was very easy to write. When I brainstormed possible spells to include there were lots and lots of options. I particularly like the idea of Blinding Light being used to represent a blinding swarm of bugs. I also really like the idea of the soothsayer using bugs to gather information and reveal secrets. Two spells that almost made the list include Furious Quill (more bugs to interfere with the target!) and Imp (summon a giant bug!).
SHADOW WALKER (SUMMONER)
Having delved into the dread shadow planes once too often, the Shadow Walker drags the darkness with him, wherever he goes. The Shadow Walker lives between the mortal world and the nightmare shadow realm.
- Summoner: Plane Walk, Planar Tear, Summon Demon
- Elementalist: Elemental Hammer [Shadow Blade]
- Necromancer: Reveal Death
- Witch: Curse
- Illusionist: Invisibility
- Thaumaturge: Blinding Light [Darkness] OR Will Power
This wizard specialist went through number of iterations and could have been a Necromancer or Illusionist specialist. In the end I decided on Summoner because the other options had too many spells in common with some of the other wizard specialists I have already created. I really like the idea of the Elemental Hammer representing a weapon that has been imbued with the power of darkness and therefore easily slips through armour.
ALCHEMIST (ENCHANTER)
Potion master and transmuter, the Alchemist is a Enchanter specialist that has devoted their life’s work to the creation of magical elixirs.
- Enchanter: Strength, Grenade, Enchant Weapon
- Elementalist: Elemental Shield [Potion of Iron Skin]
- Sigilist: Absorb Knowledge
- Witch: Brew Potion
- Illusionist: Fool’s Gold
- Thaumaturge: Heal
The Alchemist is an obvious wizard specialist and the spell choices available make it quite easy to represent – especially if you imagine most of the spell effects coming from a potion of some kind. I like the idea of the Grenade spell being a vial of volatile chemicals, or the Elemental Shield being a potion rubbed over the wizard’s skin.
So there are some ideas for Frostgrave wizard specialists. What kind of specialist or iconic wizard-type would you like to play in Frostgrave?
These articles were first published on the 23rd September, 2015 and 28th September, 2015
This article originally appeared on my personal blog. I have consolidated that material here in order to bring everything into one easy-to-find location.