Post/Author/DateTime	Post
_awally_ 05-23-07, 10:12 PM	i currently have a paladin who i wish to take sorcerer lvls with and am looking for some cool RP moments and ideas that awaken his sorcerous powers and present it to my DM so far the only idea i got is he encounters some outsider that stirrs something up inside of him...and thats about it... so please people of the board bestow upon me inspiration for my character much obliged :)
Shadow_Hanzo 05-23-07, 10:43 PM	I don't know but i think this belongs on the character development board.
Shadow_Hanzo 05-23-07, 10:47 PM	Lol i clicked the wrong one i meant to go to op board sry
Gingerbread Guy 05-24-07, 04:07 AM	Hey there, Good question! I've done this a couple ways myself, and its always been fun so long as it isn't over the top. People seem to like equating the development of sorcerous powers with puberty, portraying it as an awkward phase with little control. Along those lines, I had one dwarven sorcerer who started casting spells only in his sleep (only cantrips) and for a whole week he thought his fellow adventurers were pulling some kind of prank on him. He never had any memory of casting the spells by the time he woke up, and the most embarrassing thing he did was create a tiny hollographic representation of his dreams with a prestidigitation. For the life of me I can't remember what he was dreaming at the time, but it was pretty childish. Anyway, the trick to casting his spells, he discovered, was to let his mind seek clarity by allowing it to wander, and he eventually learned to trigger his magic deliberately. I also played a female human wilder who had grown up from an infant to her early 20s in a brothel, herself the daughter of a harlot. She developed her psychic powers in a similar, initiatlly-uncontrolled manner, but her first manifestation was decidedly less pleasant than a nocturnal cantrip: I won't go into details as to what gave her a sudden emotional outburst, but the result was that she friend a client's brain with an accidental augmented mind thrust. The first time it happened she chalked it up to some freak thing - it wouldn't be the first client to have died of a heart attack or something like it. But when it happened a second time, and finally a third time, she was considered cursed, lost all her regular clients, was dead weight to the brothel and was summarily expelled. With no other applicable skills but seduction and making peoples head asplody, she sort of fell bass-ackwards into adventuring. Depending on how your DM explains sorcerey, your character could find out that he shares blood at a very distant level with what he believes was a dragon or at least a sorcerer. Perhaps that one great grandmother finally kicks the bucket and her diary reveals a tryst with someone with the gift. Rather than have the powers pop out unexpectedly, your character works and works and works to pull his powers to the surface, forcing them out of sheer will and determination. To make it interesting, have him always convinced that he can do it, that he can "feel" his powers somewhere inside him. Throw away the occasional combat round to "cast" a spell with absolute certainty that "this time it will work, guys, I can feel it!" even before you've taken levels in Sorcerer. When you've cried wolf enough times to make the other PCs sick, take that level of Sorcerer and whip out an actual spell when they least expect it. ^_^ ~Ginger
_awally_ 05-24-07, 10:33 PM	thanks gingerbread i like the idea of he can "feel" the power coarsing through him and crazy idea with the wilder kudos on that anything else you guys or gals?
Terjon of the Blue Rose 05-25-07, 12:20 AM	To make it interesting, have him always convinced that he can do it, that he can "feel" his powers somewhere inside him. Throw away the occasional combat round to "cast" a spell with absolute certainty that "this time it will work, guys, I can feel it!" even before you've taken levels in Sorcerer. When you've cried wolf enough times to make the other PCs sick, take that level of Sorcerer and whip out an actual spell when they least expect it. ^_^ ~Ginger I love this idea.:ayyyy!: "I'm a sorcerer:w00t:" "You're not a sorcerer:rolleyes:" "Yes I am:tantrum:" "NO. You're not:rant:. Now stop it." "YES I AM :mage:" ":shocked:" Now for the alternative. I as a DM don't force the sorcerer powers from dragons theme. I allow it from any source that could provide a bloodline. Magical experimentation, celestial or fiendish bloodlines, gods' blessings, etc. You're a paladin but haven't said of what god. If its a god of magic you've got an easy reason for this transformation. Otherwise think about why you want this level. It really won't give you a lot of powerright away, though its can later. As for RP moments it depends on if your character is trying to become a sorcerer in which case just go with Gingerbread Guy's suggestion or if he is spontaneously changing. If its a spontaneous change consider confusion. You think you're a favored soul or cleric and can't understand why you have access to such strange spells. When casting let your character act confused for a round afterwards as he trys to understand what he just did. And if you really want to go all out then wait until at least your second level of sorcerer before casting a spell as the result of planning. i.e. don't cast sleep on the guards at the front door but feel free to ray of exhaustion them during combat. Combat in particular is a good location for high stress moments for the character; a paladin even more so as he may not want to really harm many targets. In RP you can use charm when diplomacy is failing badly but don't forget to play it as a loss of control... in other words don't worry about the guards watching just the king you're talking to.
_awally_ 05-27-07, 01:36 PM	great advice terjon i appreciate it very much, does anyone think a modified memory reversed would be a reason enough for his powers to awaken? you see my characters mentor within the church of St. cuthbert activated a modify memory to make my character forget a tramautic event that involved the death of his parents and i figure if my character could intentionally or untintentionally awaken these memories it would lead to him also awakening his powers! i know that seems kind of vague but i'll explain "the memory that was forgotten" if anyone inquires about it thanks to everyone, please keep it coming!
Terjon of the Blue Rose 05-27-07, 11:26 PM	I don't really know about powers being awakened by memories. That sort of thing usually works better if you had some pre-existing skill with the magic. On the other hand the reverse can work out quite nicely. As the powers awaken you start remembering things as a result. The following requires working with the DM before-hand but I have this image in my head of you casting a spell in the middle of battle and falling immediately unconscious. You enter a fever-dream type state and come to remember your mother arguing with a dark figure about his rights in relation to you. If you question the right people you discover you may be the illegitemate child of a powerful sorcerer. *edit* This works especially well if your falling unconscious makes the encounter unusually difficult for the rest of the party.
_awally_ 05-28-07, 02:08 PM	wow i really like that idea and thats what the memory was about, an argument my mother and my supposed father had over who was the real father of my character, also the idea of the powers just coming forth in battle and then passing out and falling into a fever dream is a superb idea, one that i think my dm would go for...thank you again terjon!
Terjon of the Blue Rose 05-31-07, 01:42 AM	Sure thing.:D Gonna make the usual request to know how things go over though.
_awally_ 06-03-07, 02:16 PM	will keep you posted! my dm and i are hanging out tonight so hopefully he will go for it
_awally_ 06-11-07, 09:30 PM	bump
Stormbrand 06-11-07, 11:37 PM	My thoughts are typically far simpler - not know where your paladin spells end and sorcerer spells begin. As Terjon said, you could believe yourself a Favoured Soul or something similar. A few spells - Prot vs Evil, Endure Elements, Light, Magic Weapon, Detect Undead - feature on both paladin and sorcerer spell lists. Others - like Flare - can seem related. So when you cast spells simply see them as more paladin spells. After all, think of it, who would know IC that paladin spellcasting is truly that limited. Cannot a paladin just have an incredible talent for the spells?
_awally_ 06-27-07, 08:11 PM	bumpity bump bump bumpity bump bump!...
Terjon of the Blue Rose 06-28-07, 12:35 AM	Good time for a bump but how is it playing?