Am I the Only One Totally Apathetic About Power Sources?

[Tequila Sunrise]

Arcane, divine, shadow, martial, ki, psionic, blahblahblah...anyone else feel the same way? We finally have an edition where every third spell doesn't interact differently with other spells and creatures depending on its source, and yet WotC insists on defining a new power source every third Tuesday.

I'm going to keep calling things "magic" or "not magic", and ignoring power source-related rules, how about you?

 

[Ktulu]

Quite the opposite. I've been enjoying the difference. In my campaign, the emergence of the primal power source has signaled the return of the primordials, causing a major religious war.

Not excited about psionic, but I'd kill for the shadow power source...

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Quite the opposite. I've been enjoying the difference. In my campaign, the emergence of the primal power source has signaled the return of the primordials, causing a major religious war.

Not excited about psionic, but I'd kill for the shadow power source...

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

 

[Jack99]

Hmm.

What power sources have been announced since june 6th last year?

 

[Hairfoot]

Arcane, divine, shadow, martial, ki, psionic, blahblahblah...

Which one do you tap for green mana at the start of a turn?

The one that involves you not threadcrapping with edition war nonsense, please. Thanks! ~ PCat

 

[Mephistopheles]

It seems to me that power sources are there as an attempt to provide some contrast between classes doing things that may be very similar in terms of game mechanics. They feel kind of tacked on and cosmetic and I haven't seen them come into relevance in actual play - although none of the campaigns I'm in are above 5th level yet so maybe that will change - so they're not something I find exciting.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I like power sources.

What? So, I don't play 4e, OK.

But anyway, yeah, I'm pretty insistent on having power sources neatly sorted in M&M. It's optional, strictly speaking and all, but I much prefer to know which sources are what, where powers come from, and so on.

Having your descriptors laid out like that helps for certain kinds of future rules developments (or house rules, if you're so inclined) as well. So, in 4e, I wouldn't have been too surprised to see sources utilised more, somewhere down the track. Uh, if was playing it.

 

[TheNovaLord]

It seems to me that power sources are there as an attempt to provide some contrast between classes doing things that may be very similar in terms of game mechanics. They feel kind of tacked on and cosmetic and I haven't seen them come into relevance in actual play - although none of the campaigns I'm in are above 5th level yet so maybe that will change - so they're not something I find exciting.

100% agree. as basically fighters and wizards attack the same way, its an attempt to seperate them by tone ven though mechanics are the same

one of several reasons i have dumped 4e.

 

[Byronic]

I'd rather have then then leave them out. True, they don't have any mechanical means but it's a nice way to categorise powers. It's nice that a power source tends towards certain mechanics. It makes suspense of disbelief a little bit easier... something that 4th edition direly needs.

 

[Derren]

It seems to me that power sources are there as an attempt to provide some contrast between classes doing things that may be very similar in terms of game mechanics. They feel kind of tacked on and cosmetic and I haven't seen them come into relevance in actual play - although none of the campaigns I'm in are above 5th level yet so maybe that will change - so they're not something I find exciting.

Agreed.
Power sources are there so that there is a difference between a martial class doing "[w]+shift 1 square" and a arcane class doing "[w]+shift 1 square".