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
Power Sources
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="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8865830" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>The idea of the "Power Source" is just giving a name to a thing that some people care about but that most people don't even concern themselves with.</p><p></p><p>Bards produce magic via their performance of music. Warlocks produce magic due to the pact they've made with the devil. Wizards produce magic by remembering funny words and hand gestures they have written down in a big leather-bound book.</p><p></p><p>The fact that that the GAME calls all of these things "Arcane Magic" is virtually meaningless. The name of this group of "stuff" doesn't matter to most people. Now if it matters to you in your own personal world-building then maybe you might do something with the term... but most other people couldn't care less. Same with Druids-- "Primal" magic or "Divine" magic? Whatever. The book can call it whatever they want. But all I know is that Druids cast specific types of spells, many of which are ones that other characters in the party can't. Or won't. And what you CALL those spells has no effect on anything within the game unless you choose to make it mean something in the game.</p><p></p><p>Are 'Sorcery Points' and 'Ki' the same thing-- the same so-called "Power Source"? The answer of course is that it doesn't matter. Most people don't care. Some of you might, and some of you may say they are both representing the same thing. And yes, there are a few of you out there who will come up with this Grand Unification Theory of magic for your own world and how every class has a way to use it and how those classes overlap with each other and where the magic comes from yadda yadda yadda... but that's you. None of the rest of the D&D gaming populace hold any concern with any of that.</p><p></p><p>So just make up whatever world-building decisions you want and slot things in as you so please and call them and categorize them however you want. And the rest of us will just ignore it like we do any other stuff that appears written down in the books that we don't care to use.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8865830, member: 7006"] The idea of the "Power Source" is just giving a name to a thing that some people care about but that most people don't even concern themselves with. Bards produce magic via their performance of music. Warlocks produce magic due to the pact they've made with the devil. Wizards produce magic by remembering funny words and hand gestures they have written down in a big leather-bound book. The fact that that the GAME calls all of these things "Arcane Magic" is virtually meaningless. The name of this group of "stuff" doesn't matter to most people. Now if it matters to you in your own personal world-building then maybe you might do something with the term... but most other people couldn't care less. Same with Druids-- "Primal" magic or "Divine" magic? Whatever. The book can call it whatever they want. But all I know is that Druids cast specific types of spells, many of which are ones that other characters in the party can't. Or won't. And what you CALL those spells has no effect on anything within the game unless you choose to make it mean something in the game. Are 'Sorcery Points' and 'Ki' the same thing-- the same so-called "Power Source"? The answer of course is that it doesn't matter. Most people don't care. Some of you might, and some of you may say they are both representing the same thing. And yes, there are a few of you out there who will come up with this Grand Unification Theory of magic for your own world and how every class has a way to use it and how those classes overlap with each other and where the magic comes from yadda yadda yadda... but that's you. None of the rest of the D&D gaming populace hold any concern with any of that. So just make up whatever world-building decisions you want and slot things in as you so please and call them and categorize them however you want. And the rest of us will just ignore it like we do any other stuff that appears written down in the books that we don't care to use. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Power Sources
Top