Innate Ability Spellcasting [Archive] - Wizards Community

Innate Ability Spellcasting [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rogue Newb
03-28-05, 10:30 PM In the descriptions of a couple of different spellcasters it mentions an innate internal ability that allows them to do ther spell thing. The most obvious classes for this are Sorcerer, Wilder and Favoured Soul. This has really been bugging me for a while now. Not every random human is gonna have the dragon blood for sorcerer. Not every person on the planet has internal pisonic powers just waiting to run rampant, and everyone most certainly isn't the conduit for a god's favor. After yelling about this in my head since like day 2 of my D&D enhanced life I came up with a solution. Here Goes:

At the creation of each character the DM rolls 3 d%. The first stands for arcane magic. Should it come up 30 or lower the character lacks the innate power to cast spontansouly. Should the number come up between 30 and 70 the player has enough to cast normally. Should the number come up between 70 and 90 the player gains a free level of sorcerer. 90-99 one free level and 1 extra spell slot levels 1-4. And should a 100 be rolled!!! Two levels and an extra spell slot for every spell level.

Divine: 0-50 no god takes favor upon you, favored soul is a closed class to you.
50-90 Your decision to become a favored soul will gain you enough favor to behave normally.
91-99 You are favored from birth, you gain a level of FAvored Soul regardless of your actions
100: You are your god's jesus, you gain two levels of favored soul and a companion of your choice equal two your HD

Psionic:0-30 You are not naturally psionic, you can't become a wilder or gain the wild talent feat. however you may still become psion and behave normally in that class.
30-80 You have the kernel of psionic ability you may gain wilder levels normally
80-95 You are wildly powerful you gain 1 level of wilder and 10 extra PP
95-99 You are wildly psionic you gain 1 level of wilder one extra wild surge point all the time
100 you can barely contain your own rampant pisonicness. You gain 2 levels of wilder 20 pp and a point of wild surge.

There it is. I just think it removes the way too equal playing field of innate abilities. Plus it allows for an extra RP dimension, maybe a psion who coulnd't be a wilder resents them. A wizard who can't be a sorcerer trys to get all sorcerers to become wizards. Or on the other side a favored sould who got a 100 does his best to train as many new clerics are possible. As you see the system is diverse. I wasn't able to make up anything for warlock any suggestions there would be great. Any comments on balance and overall quality are begged for.
HailSpork
03-29-05, 12:51 AM Personally, I like to avoid adding more randomness to character creation; it only adds to the power gap that lucky rollers can have over others.

What I do is this:
Those players who take a level of sorcerer are simply those who have the draconic ancestory. It's not that the player got lucky, it's that the player chose to play a character who got lucky.
If a player wants to become a sorcerer later, he needs to do something radical; make a deal with a devil (not proverbially), arcane experimentation (infusion of dragon/demon/fey blood comes to mind), wishes, etc.

For favored soul, I do this:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=396725
Just like sorcery, they either start with the special ancestory or they don't. (I arbitrarily call them Aasimar but it grants no extra special abilities)
Ibbins
03-29-05, 09:57 AM This rule is foolish. I entirely agree with HailSpork.
DragonWatcher
03-29-05, 10:06 AM Not every random human is gonna have the dragon blood for sorcerer. Not every person on the planet has internal pisonic powers just waiting to run rampant, and everyone most certainly isn't the conduit for a god's favor.

I agree with this totally. However, what you need to realize is that PC's aren't "Every Random <insert race here>". They're different... special. That's the whole point, and the reason that we don't just all play commoners.

Even if you had an entire party of sorcerers... that's still only what, 4 - 8 people out of how many in the setting? If a DM starts making entire cities of sorcerers, wilders, and favored souls (without compelling reason), then I would feel that there was a problem. However, that would still be a problem with the setting, not with the rules.

I like your RP ideas between the different classes, but you don't need random character generation rules to put those into effect. Maybe the wizard in the party really WANTED to be a sorcerer... but couldn't be. That's why he's studying so darned hard to be a wizard. You don't need to prevent the PLAYER from playing what he wants to play to have the CHARACTER start off with unreachable goals that make them bitter toward another class. :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rogue Newb 03-28-05, 10:30 PM	In the descriptions of a couple of different spellcasters it mentions an innate internal ability that allows them to do ther spell thing. The most obvious classes for this are Sorcerer, Wilder and Favoured Soul. This has really been bugging me for a while now. Not every random human is gonna have the dragon blood for sorcerer. Not every person on the planet has internal pisonic powers just waiting to run rampant, and everyone most certainly isn't the conduit for a god's favor. After yelling about this in my head since like day 2 of my D&D enhanced life I came up with a solution. Here Goes: At the creation of each character the DM rolls 3 d%. The first stands for arcane magic. Should it come up 30 or lower the character lacks the innate power to cast spontansouly. Should the number come up between 30 and 70 the player has enough to cast normally. Should the number come up between 70 and 90 the player gains a free level of sorcerer. 90-99 one free level and 1 extra spell slot levels 1-4. And should a 100 be rolled!!! Two levels and an extra spell slot for every spell level. Divine: 0-50 no god takes favor upon you, favored soul is a closed class to you. 50-90 Your decision to become a favored soul will gain you enough favor to behave normally. 91-99 You are favored from birth, you gain a level of FAvored Soul regardless of your actions 100: You are your god's jesus, you gain two levels of favored soul and a companion of your choice equal two your HD Psionic:0-30 You are not naturally psionic, you can't become a wilder or gain the wild talent feat. however you may still become psion and behave normally in that class. 30-80 You have the kernel of psionic ability you may gain wilder levels normally 80-95 You are wildly powerful you gain 1 level of wilder and 10 extra PP 95-99 You are wildly psionic you gain 1 level of wilder one extra wild surge point all the time 100 you can barely contain your own rampant pisonicness. You gain 2 levels of wilder 20 pp and a point of wild surge. There it is. I just think it removes the way too equal playing field of innate abilities. Plus it allows for an extra RP dimension, maybe a psion who coulnd't be a wilder resents them. A wizard who can't be a sorcerer trys to get all sorcerers to become wizards. Or on the other side a favored sould who got a 100 does his best to train as many new clerics are possible. As you see the system is diverse. I wasn't able to make up anything for warlock any suggestions there would be great. Any comments on balance and overall quality are begged for.
HailSpork 03-29-05, 12:51 AM	Personally, I like to avoid adding more randomness to character creation; it only adds to the power gap that lucky rollers can have over others. What I do is this: Those players who take a level of sorcerer are simply those who have the draconic ancestory. It's not that the player got lucky, it's that the player chose to play a character who got lucky. If a player wants to become a sorcerer later, he needs to do something radical; make a deal with a devil (not proverbially), arcane experimentation (infusion of dragon/demon/fey blood comes to mind), wishes, etc. For favored soul, I do this: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=396725 Just like sorcery, they either start with the special ancestory or they don't. (I arbitrarily call them Aasimar but it grants no extra special abilities)
Ibbins 03-29-05, 09:57 AM	This rule is foolish. I entirely agree with HailSpork.
DragonWatcher 03-29-05, 10:06 AM	Not every random human is gonna have the dragon blood for sorcerer. Not every person on the planet has internal pisonic powers just waiting to run rampant, and everyone most certainly isn't the conduit for a god's favor. I agree with this totally. However, what you need to realize is that PC's aren't "Every Random <insert race here>". They're different... special. That's the whole point, and the reason that we don't just all play commoners. Even if you had an entire party of sorcerers... that's still only what, 4 - 8 people out of how many in the setting? If a DM starts making entire cities of sorcerers, wilders, and favored souls (without compelling reason), then I would feel that there was a problem. However, that would still be a problem with the setting, not with the rules. I like your RP ideas between the different classes, but you don't need random character generation rules to put those into effect. Maybe the wizard in the party really WANTED to be a sorcerer... but couldn't be. That's why he's studying so darned hard to be a wizard. You don't need to prevent the PLAYER from playing what he wants to play to have the CHARACTER start off with unreachable goals that make them bitter toward another class. :)