New Design: Wizards...

[Pazu]

The wand is a perennial favorite for wizards who favor accurate, damaging attacks. Emerald Frost adepts use wands to help channel powers of cold and deadly acidic magic, while Stormwalker theurges channel spells of lightning and force through their wands.

Someone really needs to tell the Wizards folks that "theurgy" should (in the D&D system) apply to divine magic, not arcane.

 

[WayneLigon]

I could take or leave the names, but it still better than 'school of conjuration' and no worse than some of the tongue-twisting flavor names we've had in the past. Those might also be simple examples, or references to whatever prestige classes become in 4E. Could be that they put in a lot of flavor-like things like they did for some of the classes and prestige classes in later books.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Someone really needs to tell the Wizards folks that "theurgy" should (in the D&D system) apply to divine magic, not arcane.

I've often felt theurge to do just that.

 

[breschau]

Read through the nine pages of positive comments about the four implements.

Tome is not only a bedrock of D&D, but it's a much loved part of the archetype and original source material, no, not just Tolkien. Bring back the Tome!

 

[Yergi]

That's actually a really cool idea, and I'm a little ashamed I didn't think of it.

It makes perfect sense, though. If we consider the tradition names to equate, not to some big college, but to the name of (say) a martial art, then it becomes an issue of passing down the teachings as the master learned them. It no longer matters if any given tradition has 5 practitioners, or 50, or 50,000.

Gee thanks. I really like the imagery too. You could end up having several different traditions, and maybe some of them are similar (limited number of talent trees and all that), but the practitioners wouldn't know that their schools are near identical because they never left their small region or town.

There's a lot of ways you can make it similar to martial arts practices in ancient China, where different traditions were practiced in different regions. Not saying you'd have to give it an Oriental flare (b/c apparently some people are vehemently against such things), but just have the organization of learning similar to the way martial arts were taught in the place and time.

 

[Masquerade]

Well those names are going out he window in my home games. Players can call them waterever they want.

I imagine that the designers would encourage you to do just that. If WotC wanted everyone to play with the same example names/organizations/fluff, they wouldn't publish multiple campaign settings.

As with the Bo9S disciplines they seem to resemble, I imagine the new wizard traditions will serve as a good starting point and little more.

 

[Rechan]

There's a lot of ways you can make it similar to martial arts practices in ancient China, where different traditions were practiced in different regions. Not saying you'd have to give it an Oriental flare (b/c apparently some people are vehemently against such things), but just have the organization of learning similar to the way martial arts were taught in the place and time.

You mean like how people in That Cold Place Up There are likely more interested in Cold-based evocation, People Over There are more interested in Necromancy, and People In That Place That's Full Of Intrigue are more interested in illusion/enchantment and People In That Wartorn Chaotic Nation are inclined towards Defensive magics?

 

[Pazu]

Apparently, Tolkien is too anime.

Yeah, you can't even blame Peter Jackson for that one.

I've often felt theurge to do just that.

Maybe it's not too late to fix this mys-tic!

(Okay, it's a little forced...)

 

[Celebrim]

I'd say that just form this thread, what almost 400 posts (in 15 hours), the vast majority of them positive about the original article, that WotC should keep the original as posted.

Right now, WotC could post anything and the vast majority of posters would make positive comments about it.

That's because no one, including me, is really discussing 4e, but rather the 4e we want to have.

If one is generally upbeat about the idea of 4e, any vague thing WotC posts will be made to fit into ones hopes and desires for 4e and will be taken as evidence that 4e is going to be awesome.

If one is generally pessimistic about the idea of 4e, any vague thing WotC posts will be made to correspond to ones fears and misgivings about 4e and will be taken as evidence that 4e is going to be another 2e disaster all over again. As Mearls put it, "The edition that showed everyone how not to do it."

 

[Driddle]

(shudder) I just had the most disturbing premonition that 4th edition will be bumped to an April 1 release date, at which point they'll gleefully explain why all this information was being jerked around. ... Talk about an elaborate set-up. I shall be deeply impressed.