Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
4e Power Sources
How do you guys feel about the 4e Power Sources table below?
The table develops from discussions that Wrecan and I had years ago.
Essentially, the sources are rows and columns that intersect each other. For example, ‘healing’ spells are both Divine and Primal, locating at the intersection of the two.
The columns describe the THEME of the spell: Elemental (Matter), Primal (Life), Psionic (Mind), plus Universal (Force).
Note:
• Primal (Life) is a special blend of Psionic (Mind) and Elemental (Matter).
• ‘Force’ always means mysterious ‘magical energy’, including telekinetic force and gravity.
The rows describe the PROCESS of magic: Divine (emanation), Arcane (alteration), Shadow (destruction), and Martial (action).
Note:
• Divine here tends to relate to the ‘Fifth Element’, that has been defined variously as ether, space, gravitational force, space-time fabric, consciousness, life energy, and immortality. These tropes interrelate, all being aspects of this transcendent level of ‘being’.
• Martial tropes tend to interrelate as nonmagical study and actions.
• Martial includes Detect Magic. Despite being mostly to fill in a grid, allocating Detect Magic and Arcana to Martial, corresponds to the tradition of Rogue Use Magic Device, and ‘scientific’ Artificer. But also, it is normal for a nonmagical creature to sense something ‘awesome’, ‘strange’, or ‘eerie’, hence detect magic.
• Shadow (destruction) is a distinctive application of Arcane (alteration) and an antithesis of Divine (emanation).
Tropes combine both a theme and a process. This combo systematically identifies EVERY 4e POWER with meaningful precision. To say, ‘Arcane Psionic’ for the Charm trope, or ‘Martial Primal’ for the Athletic skill trope, sketches what these powers are about.
These sources are keywords only, intended to be useful descriptions. A Paladin for example, will tend to have tropes from various combos. Whatever makes sense for a character concept.
How do you guys feel about the 4e Power Sources table below?
The table develops from discussions that Wrecan and I had years ago.
Essentially, the sources are rows and columns that intersect each other. For example, ‘healing’ spells are both Divine and Primal, locating at the intersection of the two.
The columns describe the THEME of the spell: Elemental (Matter), Primal (Life), Psionic (Mind), plus Universal (Force).
Note:
• Primal (Life) is a special blend of Psionic (Mind) and Elemental (Matter).
• ‘Force’ always means mysterious ‘magical energy’, including telekinetic force and gravity.
The rows describe the PROCESS of magic: Divine (emanation), Arcane (alteration), Shadow (destruction), and Martial (action).
Note:
• Divine here tends to relate to the ‘Fifth Element’, that has been defined variously as ether, space, gravitational force, space-time fabric, consciousness, life energy, and immortality. These tropes interrelate, all being aspects of this transcendent level of ‘being’.
• Martial tropes tend to interrelate as nonmagical study and actions.
• Martial includes Detect Magic. Despite being mostly to fill in a grid, allocating Detect Magic and Arcana to Martial, corresponds to the tradition of Rogue Use Magic Device, and ‘scientific’ Artificer. But also, it is normal for a nonmagical creature to sense something ‘awesome’, ‘strange’, or ‘eerie’, hence detect magic.
• Shadow (destruction) is a distinctive application of Arcane (alteration) and an antithesis of Divine (emanation).
Tropes combine both a theme and a process. This combo systematically identifies EVERY 4e POWER with meaningful precision. To say, ‘Arcane Psionic’ for the Charm trope, or ‘Martial Primal’ for the Athletic skill trope, sketches what these powers are about.
These sources are keywords only, intended to be useful descriptions. A Paladin for example, will tend to have tropes from various combos. Whatever makes sense for a character concept.
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