Of course, you know in your heart you don't really need them. The power of the cosmos flows beneath your fingertips. With a word you can level mountains, destroy armies, dominate monsters, etc. But life would be so boring if you were all alone. Sure, you always have your familiar, but isn't it nice to have someone who has a different point of view about the world to talk to?
And if you were to admit it, you know deep down in your heart that, as powerful as you are, there just might be that one situation where you would really need the melee types.
If you were all alone that rival wizard So-and-So the Great, who also has the ability to level mountains, destroy armies, dominate monsters, etc, might just decide to teleport in and kill you for your spellbooks and items! You must protect yourself. If you had just gone "nova" to take out some monsters in a ruin you were exploring, you'd be hopelessly weakened and then it would "goodbye, cruel world."
True you could always summon creatures to serve you, but summoned creatures have a deplorable lack on ingenuity and self-will.
Your only hope is to develop a relationship with strong and dependable allies who have physical strength and martial skills you lack. How do you do this?
1. Make them feel useful and needed. Just because you could use combinations of spells to destroy any foe or group of foes you are presented with, doesn't mean you should. Stand back sometimes and let the fighters have their fun. Besides, if everytime there is a conflict you throw out every spell you have and then the group has to rest until you get back your spells, that could be the perfect time for your rival So-and-So the Great to teleport in and use HIS spells to kill you all and take your stuff--especially if you follow the same predicable pattern over and over.
2. When with a group, work together as PART of the group. It is very poor etiquette to monopolize things all the time. Use spells that enhance your fighters' effectiveness and make them look good. In the long run, those sorts of spells will deal more damage than direct damage spells anyway.
Remember, magic is a precious commodity. Treat it carefully. You never know what could be around the next corner so be prepared.
These are a few suggestions I have for wizards based on my experiences over the years. If any of my esteemed collegues have any advice along this line of thought, perhaps they would be willing to share it?
Obviously, buffing and protecting our meat-shield in battle is a good idea, not only because it destroys our enemies, but because it makes the meat-shield want to protect us. When So-and-So the Great inevitably makes an offer to the meat-shield to betray us, we want that meat-shield to view us in a positive light.
Nothing says "I love you" like permanent magic. Enlarging your meat shield is not that hard to do, and it's worth the 500 XP. Girallon's Blessing makes a great permanent addition to your meat shield, too, especially if he/she is a monk or a pouncer.
Crafting something for your meat shield can be very helpful, especially in a game where you have access to Psychic Reformation and don't have to carry around that nasty Craft feat during your adventures. This works especially well if the DM likes to closely limit magic items.
Because diamonds are forever.
One have to keep in mind that meatshields are by their very nature simple creatures with base needs that are thankfully easy for the concerned magic user to fullfill. Forsooth, keeping your meatshields content is in many way a less complex task than the care and feeding of simple pack animal.
Which I hasten to add, do not mean that you should treat, or use, your meatshields as pack animals. While they do much enjoy feeling useful, this does not usually extend to carry your gear around.
Besides, they do have a tendency to be less careful about your treasured belongings than even a mule. More apt to drop things without as much as a by-your-leave, should a chance to charge into a situation and swing their weapons at something present itself.
One have to remember that, however absurd it might seem, what drives your average meatshield is pride.
It is pride in their physical prowess that drives them to proove themselves on a toe-to-toe basis with some smelly, unhygenic, opponent, over and over again. Even when the stench alone would be sufficient for anyone with more refined sensibilities to keep as far away from a pysical battle as possible.
Strive to feed this pride, make your meatshield look good, make them believe that they are of an authorative or leadership position in the party, and you will find your meatshields to proove most loyal and malleable to your needs.
With pride comes that protective instinct that we so wish to develop in our meatshields. Nothing is more beautiful than a meatshield so wrapped up in his own pride to truely believe that he's the only thing that can protect your very person against the dangers of the world.
Battlefield control is always handy. I was in a long drawn out battle where I disabled half the mooks, making the rest easy to dispatch before the others broke free. Most of the time they died within a couple rounds, leaving no time to reach the softies in back. By the time the BBEG came out, he was nearly alone. He tried to bull rush through the meatshields, but by this time I already had greater invisibility on the entire back line. After being mage-blasted, TWFed by the "cuisanart", and sneak attacked - all twice - he finally managed to hit an invisbile guy, then promptly died from the next attack.
Stay away from bull's strength and other single target buffs. They are a waste of your precious reality-bending time. They will not deal more damage than your other abilities in the long run. But if you can buff ahead of time or mass buff then it's worth it. Haste is well worth it.
The idea is that b/c you CAN bend reality, you choose not to do so to fuel your meatshield's pride.
OR, you've already won the battle, gaming 3 or 4 moves ahead of your opponent, and now you're unloading that Bull's STR wand on your meatshield to make him more likely to hit your doomed opponent.
So, ummm... shouldn't there be a counter thread. 'Meatshields - your guide to the proper management of magicusers'? :D
Nah, meatshields are too busy lifting weights or polishing their swords to read or write.:fight!:
Nah, meatshields are too busy lifting weights or polishing their swords to read or write.:fight!:
