I have a long running fantasy campaign with Savage Worlds and I wonder if the Arcane Background (Magic) is too powerful. The wizard can quickly overwhelm the fighter types with the ease that they hit with range attacks and the amount of damage they dish out. Is this a correct perception and, if it is, what can I do about it?
[RPG] Is the Wizard in Savage Worlds too powerful
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Related Solutions
Savage Worlds is a remarkably robust system—there is very little you can do that would actually break the system as it's just not that fragile. As long as you keep in mind the principle that things should be "fast", you'll be fine.
If you're having problems with flat saves, make them opposed. This will bring the high stats of a Legendary creature into play against your PCs' similarly-Legendary stats.
Pair up your creatures in complementary ways. You have a Lich that has fancy powers but is a bit squishy, think of all the nasty things it has already summoned or created to serve it—demons, dark squamous things, soul-devouring intelligent gems, powerful servitor undead, grave golems, etc. Pair up your Power-chucking Lich with a combat monster, perhaps with some weakening effects in its arsenal that trigger off hits. Then put your Lich behind the combat monster, where the wizard belongs.
Make sure your Legendary critters fight unfairly. They've almost always got home advantage, so make it count.
Magical wards can keep the PCs at arm's length while Powers rain on them with impunity, and they'll scramble to solve the "puzzle" before taking too many hits so they can paste this weenie.
A winged creature in a cave isn't going to sit around and be hit—it's going to use its extensive knowledge of the chaotic, upside-down landscape of the ceiling to always be in cover when the PCs are shooting and swooping down at precise, practiced locations for devastating charge damage. If it's got ranged abilities then they're really in trouble, since it can play hide-and-seek for as long as it takes to wear down PCs who don't get creative.
A well-prepared humanoid opponent is going to have traps and contingency plans for all sorts of things that would help in combat. Drop the PCs in a pit that's large enough that the Agility roll has that nice big -4 penalty. Drop portcullises to separate them and make them sitting ducks. Drop boulders on them. Make 'em hurt, but also show them how if they scout their fights better (or get creative right now) they too can take advantage of the terrain.
Despite all this, don't worry too much if not every fight is a nail-biter. Your players will appreciate a challenge, but they'll also remember fondly the time that the Lich Lord was pasted with a single mighty swing of an axe whose damage Aced like crazy. Savage Worlds is built for those kinds of unpredictable moments. Keep in mind your PCs' strengths and weaknesses and play on those, but share in your players' moments of glory when they just wipe the floor with the badguys. After all, they are legends!
By the original formulation of the rules, a Shaken character begins their turn with a Spirit check or spending a Benny to remove the condition. Upon success, the condition is removed, but without a raise the character's turn ends.
This rule is no longer in effect. In a May 2015 rules update, the condition was changed so a successful Spirit roll eliminates Shaken and allows the character to act normally. Failing the roll means the character can only perform free actions. The update can be downloaded for free here: https://www.peginc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/SW_FAQ_May_2015.pdf
By my experience, the rule change greatly reduces "stunlocking": prolonged periods of gameplay during which a character is unable to act because of being Shaken.
Other than preventing defensive actions, Shaken doesn't make the target easier to hit. It represents, in part, the opponent's defenses being down enough to actually land a proper attack - the target is not easier to hit, but is easier to wound. At the same time, it makes abilities that inflict Shaken slightly less valuable on their own.
Best Answer
From my experience (two Savage Worlds campaigns, Empire of Ashes and Legends of Steel), the wizard was the massive heavy artillery without a lot of weak points. The main issue was how easy it was to arrange your Edges so you were never losing Power Points (I forget how our wizard players worked it, but as long as they got a good roll they didn't lose the points). This means the wizard can boost-multi-bolt with impunity.
The way I'd fix it is to just make sure they can't have a huge number of Power Points and that they always spend them when casting, no "keep them on a raise" shenanigans. Then it should be fine – they can do loads of damage, for a few rounds a day.