JoeCarr28 wrote:Rather than adding additional house rules, I think I'm just going to delete the relevant sentence from my games ("If a spellcaster is attacked on the Initiative number on which he or she is casting a spell, the spell is spoiled and lost", page 15). It just seems plain unbalanced to me that the lowliest character or monster can prevent the most powerful Wizard or Cleric from casting just by beating them on the Initiative roll. By ignoring the sentence, spell casting is simply given initiative parity with other forms of attack, which seems fair to me.
Spell casting is the nuclear option of a fantasy game; by definition, a higher-level magic-user is pretty potent. To spoil his spell, you must (a) get the initiative, and (b) hold your action until his round, and (c) perform a credible attack on him.
Certainly, if Gandalf is in melee combat with kobolds, they are going to prevent him from casting any spells. But that's why magic-users have meat shields (fighters) in the front row... they need them, to prevent the baddies from spoiling their spells. And for that matter, to prevent the baddies from sticking sharp objects into their unarmored hides...
You don't have to declare actions in BFRPG, at least not by the book. Therefore, a magic-user facing opponents who can credibly attack him may choose not to attempt a spell if anyone can potentially spoil it; in "real life" terms, he can see that they are standing ready to attack, whether by melee if he was fool enough to get in arm's reach, or by missiles otherwise. The sensible magic-user may choose to wait until the time is right before casting a spell. If he has fighters in front of him, facing the enemy, those enemy combatants are going to attack the fighters unless they are just really, really clever and really, really disciplined; only unengaged enemy combatants are going to throw spears etc. at the magic-user. When his number comes up, he can choose right then to cast a spell, or do something else, or even do nothing if that's the smart thing to do.
The attack does not have to hit to spoil the spell. After all, if I throw a spear at you, and you see it coming, you're going to flinch, even if it goes wide. It's human nature.
The rule as written arose from my own game, where the players were just sure they could spoil the enemy spell-caster's action, yet somehow were just as sure that their own spells couldn't be spoiled. By providing a hard-and-fast test, the BFRPG rules remove this as a point of contention.
NOW, having said all that: Do it however you feel you must. BFRPG won't fall apart because you choose to do this differently. But rest assured, I DID have a reason to write the rules that way, and I'll urge you to try it before you throw it away.