Friday, August 1, 2014

Sorcery is afoot.

Read this Codename: Morningstar post and...

Sorcerers! Yay!

Sorcery points! Uhm, okay... yay. I guess? Sounds like quite the departure from the good old Vancian magic we all know and love (or at least tolerate because there's never been anything else).

Honestly, I'm intrigued and eager to see where WotC is going to take that. I mean, it's a system that other RPGs have done (sorry, too lazy to Google that for you, but know I've seen references. DragonLance?) and I always wished they had done something like it in 3E or 4E.

Now, I always preferred the Sorcerer over the Wizard in 3E; mainly because I didn't want to do a lot of bookkeeping (literally and figuratively). With the Sorcerer, it was all a very straight forward X number of spells known and Y number of castings of Z level per day. I never had to worry about selecting spells to prepare each "morning" and then feeling like a schmuck if a few weren't used that "day". The Sorcerer would simply use those castings on other spells in his repertoire, and rely on scrolls for those seldom needed but super useful when they are needed spells like Knock and Heroe's Feast.

Ideally, I think I'd love to see Sorcerers literally pulling pieces of magic together to craft specific effects. I want fire, in a straight line, doing 4d8 damage, with Dex save of 15 for half damage; that'll be 45 Sorcery points, sir. Paper or plastic.

Such a thing, in my mind, would really make the Sorcerer something far different than a Draconic Wizard without a book.

On the downside, that would not only mean a ton of bookkeeping (yuck!) but it would drag many a fight to a standstill. Even a decisive guy like me would occasionally hem and haw like that annoying person in front of you at McDonalds. It's the same fracking menu as last month! Just get what you always get, asshole!

So, the actual Sorcery points thing will probably be more about spending them to boost or alter your spells than magical currency. Judging by the bits in the Wild Magic section, at least. And, I'm okay with that.

I'm also hoping that the Sorcerer is an Archetype under the Wizard. I love the description of the archetypes as seen in the Fighter and Rogue classes, and I think that has real promise. Imagine, me, being okay with having just four basic classes. Has Hell frozen over?

Bards suck. Dragonborn probably suck. Tieflings definitely suck. Phew! Normalcy has returned. Good night.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Creo Imaginem"

Not as much book keeping as you'd think. Have you ever tried Ars Magica? It's a noun-verb combo (in pseudo-latin) with skill levels for each that provide the scale of ability under normal circumstance. The modifier tables allow for quick modifications, like it's combat and I need it now, and my hands are tied. Well, you might just fail--or worse critical fail for fun had by all as you set the post you're tied to on fire.

Griff said...

Never played it, but it rings a bell.

To add, just saw mention at Enworld that the DMG will have an optional points system for magic. Woot?! (if legit\credible)

http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?1631-Dungeons-Dragons-Starter-Set-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Fundamentals-(D-D-Boxed-Game)-Hits-Amazon!#.U-EyjfldVzM