I couldn't find this in the rulebooks,errata, or in the forums so I'm asking here...how do you work out what spells an apprentice wizard starts with? I assume each spell is an action, and they have to use creation points to buy actions just like every other character. I assume they have to buy the Channel Power action in exactly the same way. So if you spend 2 creation points you can take 3 actions, eg. Channel Power and 2 spells. Sound correct?

So then, which spells can an apprentice wizard choose from? In the previous versions of WFRP, you were limited to petty magic spells. But I don't see that stated explicitly anywhere. And as the beginning character is Rank 1, does that mean they are allowed Rank 1 spells?

I wrote this in another post to answer a question about the difference between the Apprentice Wizard and the Initiates starting abilities. Just copied and pasted it here, since it answers your question (and i'm to lazy to rewrite the answer to just your question . Anyways.. wizards get a whole lot for free.

The Apprentice Wizard and the Intitiate follow different rules.

1) Apprentice Wizard begin the game with the Channeling and Spellcraft advanced skills already acquired. (p42 Tome of Mysteries, for those who want a reference). They also get all the "Basic " action cards, which for an apprentice wizard include: Cantrip, Channel Power, Counterspell, and Magic Dart.

2) The Initiate DO NOT gain any advanced skills for free, so if he/she wants to acquire the Invocation and Piety skills, they have to buy them. They do however get all the "Basic" action cards, which for an initiate include: Blessing of Health, Curry Favour, Minor Blessing, and Minor Ward, but they probably wont be of much use unless they spend som creation points to get Invocation (needed for Blessing of Health and Minor Ward) and/or Piety (needed for Curry Favour).

Freiduin said:

Thanks for posting that. Actually that's jogged my memory - I remember reading about the apprentice wizard getting the basic action cards for free, but I have no idea where I read it . So do you agree that an apprentice wizard can then purchase Rank 1 spells during character creation?

Yeah, at least that's how i understand it. (if anyone finds any reference to the contray, please gimme a shout).

The simplest way is to just dont think of them as spells but as action cards. They follow the same rules as any other action cards with one simple exception: "... only wizards can acquire new spells, and even then, the wizard can only acquire spells from his particular College of Magic." /from p 35 Roleplay Rulebook.

You might also want to check out page 47 in the Tome of Mysteries book, about how you chose an Order card for your characters order socket.

There is also a mention in the rules (in two places that I remember, character creation and advancement, I think) about being able to buy actions of a higher Rank than your own for increased cost.

For the cost of an additional action (per rank above) you can buy higher ranked spells. For example, during creation a wizard's apprentice has bought 4 action card slots. He could buy 2x rank 2 spells (which will cost 2 action slots each). Of, 1x rank 2 and 2x rank 1, etc. These are in addition to the Basic spells mentioned above.

I had a player taking apprentice as his second career. I had already planned for a serious elapse of time between adventures.

I gave him the option of buying the things he wanted at the usual cost, or adding 3xp to the normal transition cost in exchange for all 6 apprentice items (spellcraft, channeling, channel power, counter spell, cantrip, magic missile). I decided to make it an (optional) cost to the transition, so as not to fill up his advance slots with acquiring all the basic skills a wizard should have.

I think that looks perfectly fair and his party will likely appreciate the addition.

jh

Hi there,

AFAIK an initiate does NOT get the minor blessings for free UNLESS she unlocks Invocation during Character creation.

Same for Curry Favor, which she only gets when she unlocks Piety.

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If you switch to one of the careers later you need to unlock EVERY single one of them via an advance.

So for a wizard: buy 2*Spellcraft, buy 2*Channeling (first to aquire, then to train). Then buy the minor spells for on advance each as any own action card.

same for initiates.

that means by transition to wizard apprentice later you need 7 advances to be on par with the starting career.

Of course you could forgo some of the minor things and focus on CONFLAGRATION OF DOOM early on… BUT consider the +1 challenge die per rank overcasting…

Cheers

Olaf