Converting Warhammer's Winds of Magic to 4e Classes; any interest? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Converting Warhammer's Winds of Magic to 4e Classes; any interest?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Mist-Bound
Feb 17, 2011 16:31:29 I love both the 4e D&D ruleset and much of the flavor behind Warhammer Fantasy and its "Winds of Magic", so, I'm interested in the idea of trying to bring the Winds of Life, Death, Heaven, Beasts, Light, Shadow, Fire and Metal into the D&D game.

My thought is that, rather then trying to cook up an array of new spells with the appropriate flavors, which would just over-saturate the existing Arcane classes (not to mention all the headache over whether the Lore of Light is Arcane or Divine, or the Lore of Beasts is Arcane or Primal), I would instead take each of the Winds and use it as the power source for an entirely new Class or two.

This seemed to me to not be particularly difficult, as each of the Winds has aspects that relate to one or, in some cases, two class roles. The Wind of Metal, for example, could quite easily produce a Defender class (someone who uses it to empower themselves and infuse their own arms and armor with power) or a Leader class (someone who does the same thing to other people). The Wind of Fire could be a Controller class, or a Sorcerer styled Striker class. The Wind of Light is a Leader class, and so on, and so forth.

So, is anyone interested in helping me with this? If I can get folks to talk about the matter with, I'll then post up the details on one of the Winds and we can set about working with that.
#2
tequila_sunrise
Feb 17, 2011 18:34:40 Eh, I'm planning to transplant some of WH's mass combat fun in my next D&D adventure, but writing classes is way too much work.

Hopefully someone else has something helpful to contribute to your project.
#3
luvazza
Jun 21, 2011 0:25:13 I am interested in converting Warhammer to 4E D&D.
#4
Phantymwolf
Jun 21, 2011 1:53:40 One word, less headaches. Themes.
#5
luvazza
Jun 22, 2011 10:06:59 Care to elaborate?

So far my thoughts are to identify which WH spellcasters are divine, arcane or otherwise.
For example:
•Bretonnian Grail Damsels are not really wizards as such, but better fit the criteria of Invokers as divine spellcasters. Orc and Goblin Shamen are also tyically Invokers as they call on the powers of Gork & Mork respectively.
•The Beastmen Bray Shaman on the other hand really is an evil Druid - blood sacrificing on stone altars at the wilderness heart of the great forest.
•The Lizardman Skink Priest is obviously a Shaman - calling upon Lustrian totems and appealing to the spirits of the Old Ones.
•Dwarf Runesmiths neatly fit the criteria of Artificers.
•Ogre Butchers are in fact Clerics of the Great Maw.
•Sorcerers typically use Dark magic (even Necromancers fall into this category) and seem to do so by making pacts with dark and terrible powers and channel said Dark power through themselves. In this case they very much fit the Sorceror class but might utalise the Pacts (stolen from Warlock). There could be pacts to represent three of the four ruinous powers (Chaos), a Dark pact to represent Dark Eldar & Chaos Dwarf sorcery, and a Necromancy pact for Necromancers and Lich Priests.
•That leaves just Wizards! Wizards will need some means to reflect the eight winds.
#6
Phantymwolf
Jun 23, 2011 6:22:37 Themes are templates you can add to any class (or if you want to restrict it to a single class you can do that when you design it) that gives the option of taking powers that fit the theme instead of your normal class powers. Each theme gives you a featured ability (usually an attack power) and then a new power that is available at each levle you gain a power for the heroic tier, so a level 2 utility, a level 3 encounter, a level5 daily, a level 6 utility, a levle 7 encounter, a level 9 daily, and a level 10 utility. You can also design paragon paths around a theme.

So in this case you would have the theme of the Pyromancer of Aqshy. And you would give them a magic missile like fire spell for their feature ability, a level 2 utility that might grant any weapon he uses the spell on the ability to deal fire damage, a level 3 encounter fire attack spell and so on. These would not be mandatory to take (they are taken in the place of normal class power sif the player so desires), but they would apply the particular flavor you want the wizards to have with far less headache inducing work that would come with designing a new class or redesigning an existing class.

Now to keep your players wanting to choose the optional route that plays in type with the setting, you can make casters who actually use the themese more appealing by making some feats that synergize well with the theme. Like a bonus to hit and damge with fire spells for those with the Pyromancer of Aqshy theme. This would have players choosing the optional theme spells plus any already existant fire spells to round out their power lists and keep you happy because you have players playing characters that fit with your setting.

By the way, I would think that the wizard class as is would provide the basis for all wizards. They would be the 'generic' wizard or as they are called in the Warhammer world, a hedge wizard. Though I dare say that a sorcerer would be better for some of the winds, the aforementioned Aqshy being one of them, since it is focused on damage, and druid for green, evoker for white etc. One big thing you can do with 4e is strip away the fluff of the classes and refluff them to your liking. Change the power source, hell get rid of them even. They aren't required for a single thing mechanically. If you do that you'll have much more freedom in placing other classes as 'wizards' that use a particular wind of magic. Throw on a theme to really cinch in the idea and have at it.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Mist-Bound Feb 17, 2011 16:31:29	I love both the 4e D&D ruleset and much of the flavor behind Warhammer Fantasy and its "Winds of Magic", so, I'm interested in the idea of trying to bring the Winds of Life, Death, Heaven, Beasts, Light, Shadow, Fire and Metal into the D&D game. My thought is that, rather then trying to cook up an array of new spells with the appropriate flavors, which would just over-saturate the existing Arcane classes (not to mention all the headache over whether the Lore of Light is Arcane or Divine, or the Lore of Beasts is Arcane or Primal), I would instead take each of the Winds and use it as the power source for an entirely new Class or two. This seemed to me to not be particularly difficult, as each of the Winds has aspects that relate to one or, in some cases, two class roles. The Wind of Metal, for example, could quite easily produce a Defender class (someone who uses it to empower themselves and infuse their own arms and armor with power) or a Leader class (someone who does the same thing to other people). The Wind of Fire could be a Controller class, or a Sorcerer styled Striker class. The Wind of Light is a Leader class, and so on, and so forth. So, is anyone interested in helping me with this? If I can get folks to talk about the matter with, I'll then post up the details on one of the Winds and we can set about working with that.
#2 tequila_sunrise Feb 17, 2011 18:34:40	Eh, I'm planning to transplant some of WH's mass combat fun in my next D&D adventure, but writing classes is way too much work. Hopefully someone else has something helpful to contribute to your project.
#3 luvazza Jun 21, 2011 0:25:13	I am interested in converting Warhammer to 4E D&D.
#4 Phantymwolf Jun 21, 2011 1:53:40	One word, less headaches. Themes.
#5 luvazza Jun 22, 2011 10:06:59	Care to elaborate? So far my thoughts are to identify which WH spellcasters are divine, arcane or otherwise. For example: •Bretonnian Grail Damsels are not really wizards as such, but better fit the criteria of Invokers as divine spellcasters. Orc and Goblin Shamen are also tyically Invokers as they call on the powers of Gork & Mork respectively. •The Beastmen Bray Shaman on the other hand really is an evil Druid - blood sacrificing on stone altars at the wilderness heart of the great forest. •The Lizardman Skink Priest is obviously a Shaman - calling upon Lustrian totems and appealing to the spirits of the Old Ones. •Dwarf Runesmiths neatly fit the criteria of Artificers. •Ogre Butchers are in fact Clerics of the Great Maw. •Sorcerers typically use Dark magic (even Necromancers fall into this category) and seem to do so by making pacts with dark and terrible powers and channel said Dark power through themselves. In this case they very much fit the Sorceror class but might utalise the Pacts (stolen from Warlock). There could be pacts to represent three of the four ruinous powers (Chaos), a Dark pact to represent Dark Eldar & Chaos Dwarf sorcery, and a Necromancy pact for Necromancers and Lich Priests. •That leaves just Wizards! Wizards will need some means to reflect the eight winds.
#6 Phantymwolf Jun 23, 2011 6:22:37	Themes are templates you can add to any class (or if you want to restrict it to a single class you can do that when you design it) that gives the option of taking powers that fit the theme instead of your normal class powers. Each theme gives you a featured ability (usually an attack power) and then a new power that is available at each levle you gain a power for the heroic tier, so a level 2 utility, a level 3 encounter, a level5 daily, a level 6 utility, a levle 7 encounter, a level 9 daily, and a level 10 utility. You can also design paragon paths around a theme. So in this case you would have the theme of the Pyromancer of Aqshy. And you would give them a magic missile like fire spell for their feature ability, a level 2 utility that might grant any weapon he uses the spell on the ability to deal fire damage, a level 3 encounter fire attack spell and so on. These would not be mandatory to take (they are taken in the place of normal class power sif the player so desires), but they would apply the particular flavor you want the wizards to have with far less headache inducing work that would come with designing a new class or redesigning an existing class. Now to keep your players wanting to choose the optional route that plays in type with the setting, you can make casters who actually use the themese more appealing by making some feats that synergize well with the theme. Like a bonus to hit and damge with fire spells for those with the Pyromancer of Aqshy theme. This would have players choosing the optional theme spells plus any already existant fire spells to round out their power lists and keep you happy because you have players playing characters that fit with your setting. By the way, I would think that the wizard class as is would provide the basis for all wizards. They would be the 'generic' wizard or as they are called in the Warhammer world, a hedge wizard. Though I dare say that a sorcerer would be better for some of the winds, the aforementioned Aqshy being one of them, since it is focused on damage, and druid for green, evoker for white etc. One big thing you can do with 4e is strip away the fluff of the classes and refluff them to your liking. Change the power source, hell get rid of them even. They aren't required for a single thing mechanically. If you do that you'll have much more freedom in placing other classes as 'wizards' that use a particular wind of magic. Throw on a theme to really cinch in the idea and have at it.