hello again. just wondered apart from the free petty spells how many spells can a apprectice wizard start with? and is it true hw can even have rank 2 spells?

also some of the none combat cards read with one success "you influence the target .." what exactly does this meen?

Mouseguard said:

Spells are action cards and are bought just like all other action cards (but are wizard exclusive). So if a wizard for example spends 3 creation points on Actions, acording to Table 3-2 (p 30, Roleplay Rulebook) he gets 4 Actions. He can then choose to buy up to 4 rank 1 spells, or less if he wants to buy some non-spell action cards too. Note that he can ONLY buy spells from the College of Magic he has chosen though.

P 31, last paragraph under "Step 4. Acquire Action Cards" state:

"Some action cards have a rank listed. A character may acquire an action card above his current rank during character creation, at the cost of one additional action card from his investment allotment for every difference in rank. Starting characters begin at Rank 1."

So with this in mind, a wizard can buy rank 2 spells if he wants, but he must spend 2 action advancements to get 1 Rank 2 card (they effectively costs double). Using the same example as above, if the wizard ONLY wants to buy spells and has maxed out his advancement in actions giving him 4 actions to buy he can:

• Buy 4 rank 1 spells.
• Buy 2 rank 1 spells and 1 rank 2 spell.
• Buy 2 rank 2 spells.

The "you influence the target" is mainly for social encounters. If you f.ex. are using a progress tracker during a Social encounter, the "you influence the target" could mean that the player makes the progress marker move forward. (You can read more about progress trackers at p 24-30 in Tome of Adventure, and specifically social encounters on p 27).

Just a side note: Don't forget that the wizard Acquires the skills Channeling and Spellcraft for free (but they are not Trained). (p 42, Tome of Mysteries).