Am I the Only One Totally Apathetic About Power Sources?

[Gryffyn]

I also believe that power sources have been implicitly present in D&D for quite some time. This edition simply makes them a more prominent part of the game. That being said, I am quite apathetic about the change, since it doesn't feel like a change to me. It's like the class roles in that regard.

 

[Ktulu]

Huh? Did you refluff the background for the Primal Power Source, since besides telling the Primordials to get lost the Primal Spirits don't mix with the Primordials.

Psionics is my most waited for Power Source, me love my psychics

Yes, I did. In my campaign, I mixed primordials and primal spirits together. The true primal spirits became the gods (carrock (the phoenix) became Pelor, Genru (the frost wolf) became the raven queen) and the "primordials" (Zehir, tharizdun) were those that resisted the change, becoming powerful and twisted.

With their return, the practitioners of the old ways (druids, shamans, etc..) began to manifest powers.

It's a heavy raping of the system (something I love about 4e; makes it easy to do so) to fit the world and make it different. As such, someone recognizing a weilder of primal power is as important to the plot as it is the mechanics.

 

[TheNovaLord]

OP

No, you are obviously not alone


Things have a different power source name, but they dont 'feel' different. Even on the occassion they get close to some difference, maybe say primal, it gets a bit lost in that everyone sorta has +10 to hit to do a similar affect, as mentioned above

So no you are not alone.

Given how the game works in this edition, im not sure how it can be improved to 'feel as though it is different'.

 

[D'karr]

OP

No, you are obviously not alone


Things have a different power source name, but they dont 'feel' different. Even on the occassion they get close to some difference, maybe say primal, it gets a bit lost in that everyone sorta has +10 to hit to do a similar affect, as mentioned above

So no you are not alone.

Given how the game works in this edition, im not sure how it can be improved to 'feel as though it is different'.

The game rules are mute on the "feel of" the power sources, and in a sense that is very good. It gives the DM complete latitude to make them "feel" however he wants for his game.

I designed an encounter in which the players were fighting in the middle of an ancient battlefield. Mechanically, any attacks that used the Martial Power source was augmented, granting the character a +1 bonus to attack and damage. In that same area, the Arcane power source was muted and had a penalty. In "feel" terms I explained to the players that the area had been heavily bombarded with magical energies to suppress the arcane powers of anyone not of the "proper" army. Later on, they found specific talismans that when worn allowed the arcane power source to function normally in the same area. When they were later ambushed on that same field, the casters had a marked advantage.

If you want the power sources to mean something, then make it so. You don't need the permission from the designers (game rules) to develop the power sources in whatever manner you would like.

 

[Umbran]

If you want the power sources to mean something, then make it so. You don't need the permission from the designers (game rules) to develop the power sources in whatever manner you would like.

While true, you can do this - do be aware that just because you are a DM or player, doesn't mean you are particularly skilled at, or have time available for, developing your game rules.

The entire point of paying for game content from a publisher is to have someone who knows better and/or has more time and resources for it to do game development for us. It is therefore a fair critique to note when they have not yet done so.

At the moment, "power source" mechanically means diddly.

 

[D'karr]

The entire point of paying for game content from a publisher is to have someone who knows better and/or has more time and resources for it to do game development for us. It is therefore a fair critique to note when they have not yet done so.

At the moment, "power source" mechanically means diddly.

I'm glad that at the moment mechanically they mean diddly

I see the point of the critique, I just don't agree with it. Power Sources are very loosely defined, currently without any mechanics. IMO that is a good thing. It gives a whole lot of design space to the DM right now, and if the designers later wants to expand it mechanically, they can.

As for paying for game content, we paid for over 300 pages of game content. Just because not everything in that content has a corresponding mechanic, and at the moment only has a "look & feel" reason for existing, does not make it a bad way to design/develop it.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

If it looks like magic and acts like magic, its magic. I suppose that a good narativist could make me believe that (most) martial powers aren't magic, but mechanically they are. So I just ignore which type of 'magic' it is and just play the game. (Well, for the one time I actually got to play, anyway!)

 

[jmucchiello]

I'm disappointed in Power Sources. I wish they'd have been made concrete character components with their own section in the various PHBs. It would make them feel like they served a real purpose.

The Arcane power source should grant cantrip abilities to all its class types. Only the Wizard would have access to all of them but every arcane whatnot should have some kind of cantrip ability.

The Divine power source already has the channel divinity power source ability. Just would make more sense to centrally locate them and allow the classes to pick and choose among them all rather than having them be local to the classes. (I want my paladins turning undead!)

Not sure what the other power sources should do but similar minor abilities being attached to the power sources instead of the classes would give the player some customization options.

 

[Umbran]

Just because not everything in that content has a corresponding mechanic, and at the moment only has a "look & feel" reason for existing, does not make it a bad way to design/develop it.

I never said it was a "bad way to design".

It is, in my mind, an incomplete or inadequate implementation of the design.

I submit that they don't even have sufficient "look and feel" difference to really merit their inclusion. If you did not play previous editions to know what the differences really are, I don't think the current rulebooks give you enough information to get a feeling for the differences.

Mechanical differentiation would help - but that differentiation has been moved out of the power source, and into the roles. I don't see why the differences should be restricted to roles.

 

[renau1g]

Jumping back to the discussion on power sources (thanks Umbran ), I have the same feeling as the others do regarding the tacked on nature of the sources. I still love 4e and do find a significant difference playing a sorcerer vs a rogue, despite them both being "strikers". It's the same to me as previous editions though as barbarians were always "primal" as were druids (although so were rangers...). Wizards/sorcerors/bards were arcane, clerics and paladins were divine.

So in the end they didn't add a lot of value to me.