Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Thelon Fairblade 08-18-04, 12:57 PM	I was thinking about redefining the "niche" of these three classes, and calling them all "magic". (Arcane, anyway... I haven't decided what to do about divine magic in this plan.) Mechanically, the wizards (generalists only) remain unchanged. With proper components and established rituals (i.e. preparation spells from a book), and a bit of reasoning (INT requirement), anyone can learn to work spells. Happily, since wizardry draws power from the environment, wizard spells scale with caster level (i.e. experience in directing the flow of external magic). Unhappily, wizards are powerless in certain circumstances (restricted or missing components, null-magic areas). [Rule change: wizard spells are always cast at maximum caster level available... i.e. Wizard 10 cannot choose to throw a 5d6 fireball.] Psions ("Arcanons"? "Mage"?) are the opposite end of the magical spectrum. They master only a few spells, compared to the wizard's potentially infinite book of rituals, but those spells *are* mastered. They require no components, and are powered internally and hence are functional even in dead magic zones and when constrained or restricted. This type of magic tends to be a bit more versatile (i.e. "Energy Ball" instead of "Fireball") and controllable (can choose to use less than maximum power). However, it is also more draining since it uses the mage's internal power (i.e. 10d6 blast requires 10 PSP, not the base 5). (And here's the "gray area" in the middle of my idea...) "Sorcerers" lie in between these two ends of the spectrum. And they come in several "flavors": ** The Battle Sorcerer is something of a warrior-wizard, someone who studies magic like a wizard but also studies warcraft. The Battle Sorcerer, in current concept, comes from Unearthed Arcana, but is more of a "preparation spell-point wizard". He is still a spontaneous caster, but prepares his Known Spells out of a spellbook each day. ** The Warlock tends to be someone extremely talented in one area, and oddly crippled in other areas. They are essentially PHB sorcerers, but can choose one of these paths: ******They can gain a single Arcane Domain (from UA) as additional Known Spells. ******They can choose a single school of magic (as a specialist), lose 2 schools of magic (as a specialist), and in that chosen school they gain +1 caster level, +1 DC, and learn 1 additional Spell Known from that school at each spell level. ******They can hybrid, using the specialist wizard spell progression and wizard-like spell preparation, but all spells of the chosen school are automatically Spell Mastered (as the feat, and as the Unearthed Arcana Illusionist special ability). (The Warlock gains no other wizard or specialist benefits other than the extra school-focused spell slot.) Now the "hole" or cross-cut in the plan is what to do, if anything, with the followign rules and concepts: ** Psychic Warrior (kind of a match for the Battle Sorcerer) ** Wilder (no good fit, but could keep it just as an oddity, like the Adept NPC class) ** Psion Disciplines (kind of want to take this away from the "Mage", and maybe give it to a "warlock" concept) ** The obviously mind-oriented nature of the Psionics RAW. (First inclination is remove all the "ego-whip", "mind thrust", etc. style powers.) Comments?
Thelon Fairblade 08-19-04, 09:46 AM	Not a single comment? Is this the wrong board? :bump: