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.

Is there life beyond Vancian magic?

I was wholly unimpressed with 4E's system of powers. I thought it had potential but probably should have been applied to just spellcasters. When they turned it loose on all classes, it compounded the whole every-class-feels-like-every-other-class problem.

I'm also willing to admit that 3rd Edition's use of the Vancian magic system wasn't without flaws. Particularly at high levels, it gets cumbersome and the lower spells become nearly useless. There is a lot of bookkeeping involved. It's not especially flexible. Etc...

So, I was slightly disappointed to see the system yet again in 5E. Not surprised, but disappointed.

Yes, it's familiar and as such it won't take any time to learn. Okay, there are the rituals and that's a pretty cool idea.

But, I kinda hoped that the designers would seize this opportunity to try something a little radical. Something with spell points like most of the video games and MMOs use.

While I rail against designers of a Role Playing Game making decisions for the sole purpose of marketing it as an IP to video game developers, I understand the need to turn a profit. As such, I can accept that designers need to keep at least one eye on possible video game impact. I only hate it when they bend over backwards for strictly video game issues like class balance.

So, it looks like the x number of spells of x level per day system is here to stay. I'm okay with that. At least they added some tweaks, such as using higher level slots to boost the power or effectiveness. I can't wait to hit some chump with a 9th level Magic Missile. I'll be picturing the look on his face as he thinks, "Ha! That's just a lowly magic missile. Pshaw...owwww fuck that hurt!"