Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
A Dark High Fantasy RPG
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6275072" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I tend to jump around in design, partly to keep everything in balance / hold the bigger picture, and partly because I get exhausted with just focusing on one thing.</p><p></p><p>So...Wizards! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>A conceit of the dark high fantasy setting of Elderblade is that a Warrior, an Expert, and a Spellcaster are about evenly matched. What does that mean? They all can contribute in fun ways to every "mode" of e game, whether combat, exploration. a chase, a heist, a negotiation, an infiltration mission, whatever. They are not equal in all these areas, but neither are they horribly outmatched; a player will never be left twiddling his thumbs when outside of their class' specialty, or afraid to contribute for fear of hurting the team.</p><p></p><p>Wizards in Elderblade don't just cast "fireball." They are rigorously trained students of the Elder Tongue, part of an arcane society that operates parallel to the mundane society of kings and vassals. When a wizard casts a spell, they draw on great traditions of their forebears and master wizards of the day. A wizard casts "Melcantor's Explosive Fireball"!</p><p></p><p>Mechanically, I am reorganizing spells into Schools of Magic which involve rigorous training either at an institution or via apprenticeship. These schools include the traditional 8, but also anything you could add -mancy to the end of (e.g. oneiromancy = dream magic). Each school has a Cantrip which can be used for free (no fatigue) by anyone with proficiency in the school. Each school has 3 levels of proficiency: Trained, Expert, and Master. Casting spells is fatiguing (this is not Vancian magic), using a system similar to Blue Rose/True20 and a Fatigue Track similar to Star Wars Saga Edition...still working out exact details but probably will be a Constitution, Charisma, or Wisdom check (Player's choice, or maybe depends on school of magic) vs DC 12 to avoid fatigue. The DC may need calibration to account for casting easier or harder spells, not sure yet....</p><p></p><p>Wizards have a core feature called <strong>Schools of Magic</strong> which grants them Trained rank in a school of their choice at 1st level. At levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, the wizard learns another school at Trained rank. At levels 13, 15, 17, and 19, a wizard learns a school at the Trained rank or advances a school already trained in to Expert rank. At levels 23, 25, 27, and 29, a wizard learns a school at the Trained rank, or advances a trained school to Expert, or an Expert school to Master. Specialties and Paragon Paths will add a couple extra schools on top of these. Right now I'm thinking when a Izard gets a proficiency rank in a school they record all school spells from that rank in their spellbook (meaning they can cast them using the fatigue rules).</p><p></p><p>As an example, here are the Abjuration school and the Fire school in abbreviated form:</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Abjuration</span></p><p>CANTRIP: Resist Natural Hazard</p><p>TRAINED: Protection Spell (authorship contested, merges all the Protection from... spells)</p><p>TRAINED: Helena Sucumvort's Arcane Ward (merges Arcane Lock and Alarm)</p><p>TRAINED: Dietmar Ritterfeld's Marvelous Shield</p><p>EXPERT: Saher Afram al-Zulys' Field of Repulsion</p><p>EXPERT: Umqvist's Dimensional Anchor</p><p>MASTER: Grigori Pacostyev's Banishment</p><p>MASTER: Helena Sucumvort's Mind Block</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Fire (Pyromancy)</span></p><p>CANTRIP: Extinguish / Ignite</p><p>TRAINED: Gout of Flame (authorship contested, basically Burning Hands)</p><p>TRAINED: Arric Belgadris' Flaming Sphere</p><p>EXPERT: Fierna du Tarqinia's Fireshield</p><p>EXPERT: Melcantor's Explosive Fireball</p><p>EXPERT: Arric Belgadris' Wall of Shimmering Flames</p><p>MASTER: Fierna du Tarqinia's Incendiary Cloud</p><p>MASTER: Meteor Swarm of Archmage Orvad cep Alsayeez</p><p></p><p>For example, a 13th level wizard might be designed thus: Fire (Expert), Abjuration (Trained), Anti-Magic (Trained), Enchantment (Trained), Force (Trained). There would also probably be 1-2 more based on their selection of Specialty and Legendary Path.</p><p></p><p>It is a very themed way to look at a wizard, one which requires a choice between breadth and depth. Also, it lines up nicely with Fighting Styles, Rogue Tricks, Barbarian Rage Powers, Monastic Disciplines, and other class features that mirror the progression of Schools of Magic...this makes multi- or split- classing much easier to implement.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 6275072, member: 20323"] I tend to jump around in design, partly to keep everything in balance / hold the bigger picture, and partly because I get exhausted with just focusing on one thing. So...Wizards! :) A conceit of the dark high fantasy setting of Elderblade is that a Warrior, an Expert, and a Spellcaster are about evenly matched. What does that mean? They all can contribute in fun ways to every "mode" of e game, whether combat, exploration. a chase, a heist, a negotiation, an infiltration mission, whatever. They are not equal in all these areas, but neither are they horribly outmatched; a player will never be left twiddling his thumbs when outside of their class' specialty, or afraid to contribute for fear of hurting the team. Wizards in Elderblade don't just cast "fireball." They are rigorously trained students of the Elder Tongue, part of an arcane society that operates parallel to the mundane society of kings and vassals. When a wizard casts a spell, they draw on great traditions of their forebears and master wizards of the day. A wizard casts "Melcantor's Explosive Fireball"! Mechanically, I am reorganizing spells into Schools of Magic which involve rigorous training either at an institution or via apprenticeship. These schools include the traditional 8, but also anything you could add -mancy to the end of (e.g. oneiromancy = dream magic). Each school has a Cantrip which can be used for free (no fatigue) by anyone with proficiency in the school. Each school has 3 levels of proficiency: Trained, Expert, and Master. Casting spells is fatiguing (this is not Vancian magic), using a system similar to Blue Rose/True20 and a Fatigue Track similar to Star Wars Saga Edition...still working out exact details but probably will be a Constitution, Charisma, or Wisdom check (Player's choice, or maybe depends on school of magic) vs DC 12 to avoid fatigue. The DC may need calibration to account for casting easier or harder spells, not sure yet.... Wizards have a core feature called [b]Schools of Magic[/b] which grants them Trained rank in a school of their choice at 1st level. At levels 3, 5, 7, and 9, the wizard learns another school at Trained rank. At levels 13, 15, 17, and 19, a wizard learns a school at the Trained rank or advances a school already trained in to Expert rank. At levels 23, 25, 27, and 29, a wizard learns a school at the Trained rank, or advances a trained school to Expert, or an Expert school to Master. Specialties and Paragon Paths will add a couple extra schools on top of these. Right now I'm thinking when a Izard gets a proficiency rank in a school they record all school spells from that rank in their spellbook (meaning they can cast them using the fatigue rules). As an example, here are the Abjuration school and the Fire school in abbreviated form: [size=4]Abjuration[/size] CANTRIP: Resist Natural Hazard TRAINED: Protection Spell (authorship contested, merges all the Protection from... spells) TRAINED: Helena Sucumvort's Arcane Ward (merges Arcane Lock and Alarm) TRAINED: Dietmar Ritterfeld's Marvelous Shield EXPERT: Saher Afram al-Zulys' Field of Repulsion EXPERT: Umqvist's Dimensional Anchor MASTER: Grigori Pacostyev's Banishment MASTER: Helena Sucumvort's Mind Block [size=4]Fire (Pyromancy)[/size] CANTRIP: Extinguish / Ignite TRAINED: Gout of Flame (authorship contested, basically Burning Hands) TRAINED: Arric Belgadris' Flaming Sphere EXPERT: Fierna du Tarqinia's Fireshield EXPERT: Melcantor's Explosive Fireball EXPERT: Arric Belgadris' Wall of Shimmering Flames MASTER: Fierna du Tarqinia's Incendiary Cloud MASTER: Meteor Swarm of Archmage Orvad cep Alsayeez For example, a 13th level wizard might be designed thus: Fire (Expert), Abjuration (Trained), Anti-Magic (Trained), Enchantment (Trained), Force (Trained). There would also probably be 1-2 more based on their selection of Specialty and Legendary Path. It is a very themed way to look at a wizard, one which requires a choice between breadth and depth. Also, it lines up nicely with Fighting Styles, Rogue Tricks, Barbarian Rage Powers, Monastic Disciplines, and other class features that mirror the progression of Schools of Magic...this makes multi- or split- classing much easier to implement. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
A Dark High Fantasy RPG
Top