Is this too complicated for a "simple" RPG's Wizard spell system?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

The Wizard player picks all but one spell at each of the first 3 levels. The Elf Player gets the spells the wizard didn't pick. The Wizard player gets both level 4 spells.

Wizard Level 1

Fire Orb

Save DC: 5

Damage: 1D4+1

Ice Orb

Save DC: 5

Damage: 1D4, -2 Move for 1 Round. Undead take half damage.

2xSleep

Save DC: 5

Effect: Puts enemy to Sleep for 1D4 Rounds. A sleeping enemy has Armor Class 0 and gets no turn. Undead are immune.

2xLightning Strike

Effect: Target Friendly Character automatically lands each of the next two attacks he/she makes this mission. Upon hitting, deals a further 1D4 bonus Lightning damage. Undead are immune to bonus damage.

Wizard Level 2

Fire Ball

Save DC: 6

Damage: 2D4+1

Ice Bomb

Save DC: 6

Damage: 2D4, -3 Move for 2 Rounds. Undead take half damage.

Force Armor

Effect: Target Friendly Character gains +2 Armor for the next 2D4+1 Rounds.

Searing Stones

Effect: For the next 2D4+1 Rounds, your attacks become ranged and roll D12. They do an extra 2 Fire damage on striking.

Lightning Bolt

Save DC: 7

Effect: Flies to intended target, striking all foes along the way.

Damage: 2D4, Stuns target for 1 Round. A Stunned Target can't move or attack. Undead are Immune.

Wizard Level 3

Fire Storm

Save DC: 7

Damage: 3D4 + 1

Ice Storm

Save DC: 7

Damage: 3D4, -4 Move for 3 Rounds. Undead take half damage.

Black Staff

Effect: Your next two Quarterstaff attacks use D20. On Hit, slays target monster instantly if they fail their Save (DC: 7).

The Elf cannot memorize Black Staff.

Chain Lightning

Save DC: 7

Effect: Hits all foes in Sight Radius

Damage: 3D4, Stuns target for 1 Round. A Stunned target can't move or attack. Undead are Immune.

Wizard Level 4

Turbo!

Effect: The Wizard takes another 1D4+1 Turns in a row.

Drain Life

Save DC: 7

Effect: Hits a single foe.

Damage: 3D4+1. The Wizard gains HP equal to half the net damage. This can increase HP above normal Maximum. Undead are immune to this spell.

Updates

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Cleric spells work the same way, except they tend to be more defensive and buffing and healing abilities. The Elf also learns one spell per Cleric spell level up to level 3. So the Elf memorizes 6 total spells to start each mission, while the wizard and Cleric each have 14 total spells memorized.

Updates

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Wizard
HP: 4
Weapon: Quarterstaff, D8, Attacks 8 directions
Armor: 3
Strength: D8
Dexterity: D10
Save: D12
Move: 5
*The Wizard begins each mission with five Level 1 spells, four level 2 spells, three level 3 spells, and two level 4 spells memorized. These come from the Wizard pool. The Elf starts with the remaining Wizard spells memorized.

[msc545]

too complicated

[SeekerOfTruth007]

In your case, I think you are exaggerating the difficulty. I think a 12 years-old should be able to understand this just fine.

The game would come with Quick Cards to remind everyone what each character class can do and especially remind everyone what each Wizard or Cleric spell does. I owned two games with slightly different but slightly similar rules systems around 30 years ago, and they were marketed to twelve- year-olds. The games were "Hero Quest" and "Dragon Strike". In Hero Quest, the Wizard picks one element among 4 elements, then the Elf picks an element, then the Wizard gets the 2 remaining elements, so the Elf gets 4 spells (usually water or Earth) and the Wizard gets 12 spells. The monsters used a separate spells deck called "Chaos Spells".

I don't remember exactly how Dragon Strike's spells worked, except that it used a Level 3 system not too different than what I have, and everything had a spell DC of 5, so that rolling a 6 or greater on "Save vs Spell" negated the spell. I decided to have variable spell DC from 5 to 7.