Post/Author/DateTime	Post
evoken_november 08-07-03, 09:25 PM	I noticed that there's an abundance of people on these forums who buy into the obvioulsy Koboldish propaganda that Sorcery is the result of dragonblood. ;) While this is certainly a viable theory, and one that works well enough in the context of the game (especially if you model your sorcerer's spell list after the spell like abilities of the dragon you claim to be descended from), I find that this class offers so much more potential than it seems to be given credit for. Therefore, I would like to hear some of your more inventive ideas for the roots of sorcery. I'll start with a rudimentary idea I've been pondering for the past day or so: Sorcerer-to-be lives a mostly mundane commoner's life, either urban or rural, whatever you feel more fitting. Nothing too terribly out of the ordinary happened in this character's life for a long time until he/she met the love of their life: a retired mid-level adventurer who'd had a few good forrays out into the world before deciding that they'd seen enough bloodshed, and made enough of a fortune that a comfortable life was not only within their grasp, but looked all the more appealing every day. The sorcerer-to-be met this former adventurer, and felt in awe of everything that they'd seen and done; never tiring of hearing the tales of danger that their mate had to tell... which was just fine because this former adventurer simply loved telling and re-telling the tales of their travels. The two lived happily for a while, until something from the adventurer's past decided it was time to catch up on old times. Perhaps it was a rival, perhaps a former ally, perhaps an untreated curse... whatever the cause, the former adventurer's days came to an end, likely in defense of their lover. During the period of mourning following this tragedy, some very strange things began to happen to the sorcerer-to-be... not only do dreams of the deceased lover haunt them, but it almost seems as though the deceased is trying to tell them something, or show them something... perhaps it's a clue to their demise? In other words, the source of the sorcerer's power is the spirit of their deceased lover trying to guide and protect them from beyond the grave. Depending on what sort of adventurer this character was in life, they could grant the sorcerer spells that would be appropriate to their realms of expertise... a fighter's spirit would grant stat buffs, direct AC protection effects, and direct damage rays. A rogue's would grant stealth and information gathering spells, and the like... but all forms of the spirit grant the alter/change/polymorph self spells for the express purpose of being able to manifest themselves physically in the body of their lover, so that they can use their old identity to help further the investigation by speaking to old contacts... this would of course require ranks in disguise as well, but it should be easy enough to CC. So what kinds of atypical sorcerers do you people dream up?
hiryuu 08-07-03, 10:11 PM	I tried starting a thread about this long ago, but it never panned out. I've had a couple in my day. I had one Sorcerer who gained her power in an old wizard's tower. SHe found it in a forest, overgrown and partially collapsed. Some sort of fungus had taken to growing in the lab, and she stirred some of it up. Over the next few months, the infection grew in her lungs. Now started to develop strange....powers based around control of fungi and acid. I got to dip into other clases for spells, since she had a very specific theme. Poison, Wall of Fungus, Entangle (with fungal vines), Spirit Worm, and so on. Eventually, the infection reached a certain point, and her sanity started to slip (with oozemaster levels), but she never truly lost it. I have another that is an entity of pure magic that likes to hop bodies. Each time it gets a new one, its memory, and the memory of the body, is wiped. It's currently working on a magic item to take care of that problem.
Vaalingrade Ashland 08-07-03, 10:21 PM	I don't have much to add, but I actually do by into the kobold propaganda. put it in my book too. I mean you can trust kobolds, right?
Edymnion 08-07-03, 10:27 PM	My sorceress (which I posted up in this forum, a few posts down at Wizard's request, who hasn't said anything about it yet), is taking Elemental Savant (Air) and has a storm/weather theme to all her spells. My backstory on her is that she's not the recipient of dragon blood, but of elemental blood. Somewhere way back there in the family line, one of them was a half air elemental, and she's inherited just enough of that elemental energy to allow her to manifest magic, and eventually she'll become an elemental herself. Not through study or work, but just normally grow into one, without really realizing it until it's too late. Worked up a thing with the DM where the friendly encounter with an elemental will be a "I sense great power in you, something familiar" sort of thing, which she won't understand. It will, of course, be them sensing her dormant elemental side, which will awaken after the encounter (aka start taking lvls in Elemental Savant).
Epicuris 08-07-03, 10:37 PM	One of my sorcerers (my first character in 3E in fact) always rolled his eyes when someone brought up the whole dragon-blood theory. In fact, he went so far as to tell people flat out that he didn't know where his powers came from, nor did he care. "Dragon's blood... hmph. What a load of bugbear squat. What can I say. It's a talent."
TinySilverChalice 08-07-03, 10:56 PM	IMC, sorcerers often have other sorts of "weird" bloodlines: asimars, teiflings, etc. Often the ancestor in question was way down the line, like great x10 aunt or something. We figured that an outsiders' line would manifest in that way also. Sometimes sorcerous powers are attributed to divine choice. We have a sorceress, mainly a diviner, who believes she is blessed by Savras with her ablities. Her spells are techically arcane still, but the character firmly believes her spells come from as holy a place as a cleric's.
Edymnion 08-08-03, 02:40 AM	Originally posted by TinySilverChalice Sometimes sorcerous powers are attributed to divine choice. We have a sorceress, mainly a diviner, who believes she is blessed by Savras with her ablities. Her spells are techically arcane still, but the character firmly believes her spells come from as holy a place as a cleric's. Now thats interesting, one I hadn't thought of before. A sorcerer that believes they are the chosen of a god, go around with an attitude even holier than though than a paladin, that always likes to wear lots of white and gold (or whatever colors the god prefers), and converts people left and right. That sounds like a really fun character to play. If the DM kills my current storm sorceress, I may bring in a Lawful Good sorcerer of Tyr. After I beat the poor guy unconcious and paint him purple, that is.
evoken_november 08-08-03, 03:41 AM	Actually, one of my best friends had that same idea about a sorcerer who is convinced that his magic is a divine gift from a god, and who starts a cult. He hasn't tried it yet, but I had to admire his inventiveness. :D So far, aside from the religious sorcerer, I like Hiryuu's idea the most. I've also thought that most sorcerers should be just a little cracked in the head due to the fact that their spirits essentially are magic in its purest form... whether that madness is a result of the magic, or the result of a disease that gives the sorcerer that power, it's great to see that kind of thing played up.
hiryuu 08-08-03, 09:11 AM	Heh. I had a blast playing Naomi. She eventually went back to that tower and moved in. Now there's a decrepit wizard's tower out there that looks abandoned and is covered in all kinds of mosses, fungi, and forest shrubs. Folks brave enough to start poking around might find a suspicious pile of mold that seems to move about of its own volition, until at last deciding to take on a slick, humanoid shape. I had to come up with a few custom spells, since the current spell pool for a caster like that is horrible. Too many Fortitude saves, made it very hard for her to take on a fighter, especially with her relatively poor Charisma. But with the advent of 3.5, maybe there's a few spells there I can swap out.
Theocracity 08-08-03, 10:05 AM	Originally posted by Vaalingrade Ashland I don't have much to add, but I actually do by into the kobold propaganda. put it in my book too. I mean you can trust kobolds, right? They are Lawful....:D
Lord of the Ninth 08-08-03, 11:25 AM	I've only had one sorcerer, he was a gehemnisvoll (elf-sized blue skinned people with innate magical power who come from the Realm of Dreams). His people claim to have invented sorcery, like the elves say they invented wizardry, and that the dragons learned it from them. This probably isn't true, but my character believed it. He like using prestidigitation for trivial things, like conjuring popcorn and the like. I didn't get to play him for very long (and one of the other party members kept calling him a smurf...).
Daeri Maer'jiir 08-08-03, 11:53 AM	I have had an idea cooking in my head for a while now, a halfling is rescued from a villiage that has burnt down killing everyone, he is only very young. Latter with his human (foster-)parents he discovers his sorcerous powers and hides them, he soon get an idea into his head that he started the fire in his old halfling village and leaves home. His theme tune is Bother by stone sour.
Lord Welkerfan 08-08-03, 02:20 PM	I have a character named Alphomi Machi. His story is that his father was one of the most powerful mages of the Ivory Tower wizard's guild. His father decided that he wanted to have offspring but didn't want to contaminate his most pure blood with that of a lesser being (everything besides himself). So, he sculpted a statue his image, making a few corrections along the way. When he finished, he performed a ritual that removed all of the blood from his body and placing it in the statue. This killed him, as well as giving the statue life, changing it into a human, and making it sentinent. The statue, named Alphomi Machi after its creator, inherited the magical abilities of his father, as well his thurst for destruction and his gift of reincarnation (when Alphomi is killed, he reincarnates himself by taking over the body of a commoner and then using his powers to make himself appear as he did when he was created). Interesting story, eh!
Monikerrpg 08-10-03, 03:22 AM	My Sorc's powers are the result of some fey stuffing a fey soul into his mother's body before he was born, which he inadventantly ended up with. He has no idea that this is the case at the moment, though. All he knows is that he's suddenly doing things he shouldn't be able to do and is scared out of his mind. Poor Kid.
TheDarkestOfAngels 08-10-03, 08:10 PM	my sorceress would scoff at the idea that the talent for sorcery comes from dragons. While they have magical talent, she would say that her power is far greater. (she's confident of herself). She's a half celestial sun elf. No one in her family, other than herself, has the talent for sorcery, thus, she concludes that her inbore talent for magic stems from her father, (whom she never met), since none of her anscestors, mother, or half brother (who's a half human). She's also taken her special magical powers as a sign that she is destined to be something great. Currently, she's shooting to become the next magister. As far as her spells she always believe that the best defense is a good offense. She loves her evocation attack spells and some of them have an angelic theme to them... well... only two, really, but she considers herself a half angel and believes that she is destined to immortality as either a goddess herself or a powerful servant of her diety, Mystra. While she's chaotic good, she is egotistical, overconfident, and snobbish, but always calm, kind, and patient. She's a fun roleplay... :) her powers are inherited from her true father, because I'm not sure if I mentioned that earlier...
Stormborn 08-11-03, 05:30 PM	Forgive the pride but: check out Arcane Ancetry in Dragon 311 for Feats related to this thread.
Kukanil 08-14-03, 03:45 AM	Argh, my idea was semi posted. The sorc I played was a Calishite who wanted to be a cleric of torm. However, he didnt really have a nack for divine magic (7 wisdom anyone?) and in a burst of frustation, he set off a spell, but it wasnt a divine spell, it was arcane. He firmly belives that its a gift from torm, even though his father was 1/4 efreet, so that might do it to. He became an Arcane Devotee of Torm, and helped his party (A Paladin of Tyr, A Cleric of Tyr, and a Rogue/Fighter of Torm) fight Bane at every turn. That was a great group.
The_Dark_One 08-14-03, 04:22 AM	Justin Shadra: Before he was born, a group of righteous adventurers sought to bring down an evil witch. She fought viciously and to the last breath. There were several spellcasters in the group, both arcane and divine, and they put their powers to good use. As she lay dying, she gave birth to a child. The boy, named Justin Shadra. Was taken to an orphanage. Changed by the spells that arced through him in the womb, he eventually became a sorcerer. He took on the identity of a wandering jester from far-away lands and went about seeking his revenge. He was known as Rimmor the Jester (and as the one legged bum Reggie;) )
Theocracity 08-14-03, 09:19 AM	A long time ago, a very powerful and reclusive wizard who worships the Far Realms called upon their power to help in the process of his becoming a god. He managed to bond part of his soul with a powerful Far Realms monster; unfortuanately for him, though, a brave group of adventurers managed to disrupt the ceremony and closed the portal before the creature was fully through. Part of the monster made its way through, though, and the wizard used this added power as the final push to give himself Divine Rank. He promptly smote the adventurers, and went on his way as a brand-new god. The Far Realms creature inside of him took over, driving the new god insane with delusions of grandeur. He set about trying to undermine the other deities. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't exactly the biggest fish in the sea. Upon irritating Helm, he was summarily banished from the deific realms by the much more powerful god, and stuck into mortal form. The sorcerer is the mortal form of this banished god, who's still insane enough to think that Helm has imprisoned him in a dream-world, where he has to "play along" with the god's "pathetic redemption play" that he thinks Helm has put him in to "change his ways." He has huge delusions of grandeur, bouts of insanity, a clear insane purpose, and an inherent ability to cast spells he could once cast as a god.
Daeri Maer'jiir 08-14-03, 04:18 PM	Chaotic god, heh heh heh
Iuducium 08-15-03, 03:01 PM	I'm liking all the ideas rolling around here. Sorcerer is my favorite class, so this is kinda fun. My character, the hopefully by now infamous Curien Laelithar, has been trying to figure out his ancestry and power from day one, although his is more complicated because he's a sorc. and a spellfire wielder. First he thought it was his elven (foster) parents. That one was wrong. Then it was a magic ring he had for a long time. That one was also false. One day, he find's out he's an Aasimar. He says "Hmm, maybe this is the answer." Curien sets about learning all he can about his ancestry. He suspected that he had some great long ago ancestor who was a celestial or something. (Note: the following info supersedes anything I have posted previously on other boards, if you've read my info before.) The truth turned out to be a lot closer than that. His father was a man who turned into a panther, and somehow got stuck in a hybrid form. His mother was a wizard who adventured with this creepy guy who's name starts with C. C'mon, GUESS! You know you want to. The current year is 1373 DR. Our group found a the birth records for a community in a ruined temple of Lathander. There was one entry on there for a child brought to the temple by an old man who looked like a wizard. He asked them to place the child in the care of a good family, as his parents could no longer be with him. The strangest thing was, the child looked like a cat. (Yay for furries!) When asked why the child could not be raised by his parents, the man replied that his mother and father had gained responsibilities that were larger than the child. The name of the child was: Given name: Curien Surname: Lyor....... (it was smudged out. You'll see in a second) Father's name: K. L. (initials written by a friend of the father) Mother's name: Midnight. My sorcerer just discovered that he is the son of Midnight, known to the rest of Toril for 14 years as Mystra, the Mother of Magic. Fathered by Kelemvor Lyonsbane, who became the deity of the dead soon after his son's birth (though he doesn't know I exist). :D
Daeri Maer'jiir 08-16-03, 01:25 PM	So his dad was was a panther thingy, his mum was Midnight, who adventured with Cyric, they went of to be gods and kelemvor gave him to some orphanage? Cool wit me.
Chronic Alcoholic 08-17-03, 03:21 PM	Well actually I like the idea that dragon blood is only one of hte many reasons some one is a Sorcerer. One player in my FR game group plays a calishite sorcerer who's father was a fire genasi, his blood has not enough genie blood in it so he is essantially human except for fire blazing eyes. But it's actually pretty archtypical too have a genie blood in an arabic country though but I am designing a prestige class specially for him that later in the campaign a choice he will make let's him on the path to become somekind of fire genie/human. Cool thing he won't get too know anyhting about it until it happens and then i'll require him to take it if he chooses that path. Otherwise i'll never tell him about it.
Trydan 08-18-03, 11:20 AM	My halfling sorcerer uses sonic magic to make lots of noise to make up for his otherwise small stature. His long suffering wife can't decide whether it is better to have him at home or to just get him out of the house. In the latter case, he's off adventuring, earning money to bring the trinkets home to impress the little ones and to get a decent meal out of wifey. Dragon-blood? Er... unlikely. Magic is just a talent. You either have it or you don't. A bit like height really... okay, okay... who said that! In contrast, my human sorcerer (with a couple of levels of fighter) is electricity obsessed. He's always up on mountain tops trying to catch storms and is always blasting searing bolts of electrical energy at anything that moves. Very serious, but slightly deranged. He still hasn't figured out that wearing metal armour and casting arcane spells is not a good idea. Dragon-blood? No way. His aptitude for the silk-and-amber came after he was hit by lightning a ten-year ago. Nothing's been the same since.
MeepoTheMighty 09-08-03, 05:26 PM	I've played: A dwarven fighter/sorcerer who thought his magic was a gift from Clangeddin Silverbeard. He focused on spells like shield, mage armor, etc, and most of his spells manifested as shimmering metal. A human sorcerer whose powers manifested when she was being burned at the stake for being a "witch." As soon as the flames touched her skin, she burst out into a frenzy of magical fury, destroying all of the inquisitors. A human from a tribe of desert nomads who woke up one day to find his home on fire and his family burning. Laying next to him were a bundle of scrolls written in Ignan, and he somehow knew how to both read and speak the language. He thinks he's posessed by an efreeti, but doesn't know for sure. I'm considering: A character who makes a foolish bargain with demons, trading his soul in exchange for magical power. The character himself is good-natured, but can feel the temptations of evil always just outside his grasp. A variation on the above, a character who believes to have traded his soul to demons and tries to repent by being as charitable and good-natured as possible. In reality, though, it was a celestial that made the bargain, knowing that he could be turned into an agent of good if he thought his soul was at risk.
Skyrocket 09-08-03, 09:36 PM	My sorcerer, a good natured fellow by the name of Revis Keel, was very much interested in the idea that Fey blood was a more likely sorce for sorcereres than dragon blood. The reason for this being that his great-grandfather, Treis, had been a fairly high level ranger who took the Tree Friend PrC to help protect a dryad named Lyrea who was living in his area. He was a handsome guy and, well, things happened as they are want to do between dryads and handsome human males. Anyway, our ranger, despite being a Tree Friend, got sucked into an adventure that took him away from home for several months. He returned only to find his beloved forest under siege by a Blighter. He quickly rushed to where his dryad lover was only to find her mortaly wounded and the Blighter standing over her snickering to himself. After one hell of a battle Teris killed the Blighter. He rused to Lyrea and she managed to inform him that she had born his child while he was away and managed to hide the baby before be the Blighter got the drop on her. She then died. So Treis quickly found the baby and decided it would be best to relocate to a small village nearby where the baby could be raised properly. And the rest is history. Revis, being 1/8 Fey, is convinced that this is where his power comes from. He learned Slyvan as soon as his powers manifested at 13. He`s read just about anything there is to read on Fey and always has a million questions for any Fey he meets. Revis also actively tries to talk with people who have Fey, Outsiders, Elementals, Half-dragons and other people who have non-humanoids as ancestors. He plans to write a book on the subject. :D
inci 09-10-03, 10:14 AM	I played this Barbarian/Sorcerer once. being raised in a very remote region (a jungle in the south) his life went fine and "normal" until this one day when - while defending the city vs. a monsterattack - he blew up a good part of his hometown. Believing he was cursed by one of his gods - for whatever reason(maybe he shouldn't have met that daughter of the shaman...) - he left on the same day. Maybe one day, when this curse is gone he could come back home. the main concept of this char is mainly a 'stereotype' barbarian not really understanding (and ofc. fearing) his own talents. To bad that our group ended very soon after i started this character, so i cant say how this story ends. maybe one day he accepts what he is, but he prolly manages to kill himself before that in a heroic fight.
Mr. VanderMeer 09-10-03, 10:37 AM	I sort of like mutant sorcerers. And with mutans I mean x-men mutants. Born from normal parents, with no special bloodline but gifted nonetheless.
Lhiannon Sidhe 09-24-03, 03:47 AM	I made a sorcerer character that I have not yet had a chance to play. She's from a poor peasant family, and in her home city is a school of magic (it's a low magic world, and only the richest and most intelligent princes and princesses are sent off to learn the arcane arts) Though she had the intelligence (18), and more importantly, the desire, to learn magic, she had neither the money nor the station. So, she started practicing herself, taking notes from legends and tales and watching carefully when she had the chance to observe a wizard cast a spell. In time, she learned to cast a few spells through trial and error. Her spells are in no way related to her having a supernatural bloodline, they are wizard spells that she's figured out on her own.
CaffeineGenasi 09-24-03, 05:42 AM	Doesn't anybody just mix up a handful of potions and chug it down anymore?
Ranthanas 09-24-03, 08:08 AM	First a scholar. Should have been a wizard except for the fact that he had enough drive to actively learn the principles behind spellcasting and master the magic rather than just mixing the spells together every morning. The sorceror spent as much time poring over books as a standard wizard, trying to learn how the spells worked rather than just how to cast them, and eventually became a loremaster (just before the campaign ended) Secondly conceived or born on a planetary conjunction (night of the eye in Krynn would be best)/ in an area of wild magic/ at time of major spellcasting or magical effects (start of the avatar campaign or when someone dropped a rock on the DL Kingpriest of Ishtar)/Other major event. Thirdly magical accident (chugging 25 potions at once or the like) Fourthly Eugenics or being experimented on. Fifthly, no one knows.
Morka 09-24-03, 10:46 AM	Originally posted by Ranthanas Thirdly magical accident (chugging 25 potions at once or the like) Obélix!!! :D :cool:
ryanroyce 09-25-03, 03:20 AM	One such story involves a series of happy coincidences that led to my character, Errol Driftwood, gaining his first Bard level. We we adventuring in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (in the Realms) when Errol took a moment to examine a knightly statue. While searching, Errol apparently triggered the statue's electrical trap, zapping him pretty good. However, it was too late in the night to continue playing, so the game stopped right there. Fortunately, we had gained enough experience to go up a level after that session, so I got an idea and took a level of Bard (which I had already planned on). When we met again two weeks later, I said that Errol was knocked out by the electrical blast, but he didn't seem too terribly injured. The cleric cast a cure minor wounds on him to see if it would work, but all it did was heal a minor electrical burn, so he remained KO'd for about thirty minutes into the session. After about thirty minutes, though, Errol's eyes shot open and he began to sing at the top of his lungs in an ancient elven tongue. He quickly sprang to his feet, shouted an apparently inspiring phrase (using his inspire courage for the day), and then dashed down 80ft of unexplored dungeon, singing all the while (a big :thumbsup: to my DM for not smiting me with a gazillion traps along the way). The minstrel-turned-cleric then tried a Perform check for some reason and failed miserably (natural 1, of course!). The truly foul note that sprang from her instrument jarred Errol out of tune, bringing his noble song to a stuttering halt. When asked about it later, Errol described being surrounded by primitive humans in furs with pointy helmets and big axes. He doesn't remember much beyond that, but he nonetheless retained the spells and abilities granted by the episode, permanently imbued with the creative spirit of some long-dead skald. He's been a bard ever since. :) Another character I play is a gnome tinkerer/elemental savant (air) by the name of Jan van Zotmeister. He speaks with a germanic accent and has a tall stack of frizzy "Einstein Hair" that sports the occasional arc of electricity running up it. Whenever he shakes hands with someone, they get a tiny electrical zap (the kind any person can make after rubbing their feet on a thick carpet or vigourously petting a cat). He is bound and determined to harness lightning as a power source for his various doohickeys, but he has had no success as of yet since the only stable source of electricity is him. Originally, I had a vague notion of him having an air elemental in his family tree, but as time rolls on (the character is only 2 sessions old), I think something more... inventive would be appropriate. Visions of Ben Franklin and his Kite in the Storm are creeping into my head, now... :mage: Ryan
Ranthanas 09-25-03, 08:15 AM	Bards can be anything. All the sorceror justifications work, as do many, many others. To keep this post short, I'm just going to point to my The Lore of the Bard (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69857) post in Redgar's for a list of types of bard.