D&D 4E 4E Wizard = Harry Potter Wizard?

[CleverNickName]

People have mentioned (and argued, and waged flame wars over) many of the different sources of influence that went into the 4E game. We've heard (and keep hearing) about everything from anime to WoW, but the biggest one that I am seeing so far is J. K. Rowling. Does anyone else feel that 4th Edition spellcasters are going to be more like Harry Potter wizards than ever before?

At-will spellcasting, for example, more closely follows the spellcasting methods described in the Harry Potter novels than any other mechanic we have seen released (except maybe for Reserve Feats, but I've never used them.)

Potterverse wands seem to have a great deal in common with these new-fangled 4E wizard implements. Certainly more than those 3.5E "spell bucket" wands, anyway.

Rituals? We haven't seen much on this yet, but from what we can gather on various blogs and boards, is that they are for non-combat magic. You know, like brewing up some polyjuice potion, or regrowing your arm bones.

I think we are a set of magic duelling rules away from having a Hogwarts wizard in our midst. Is anyone else seeing it?

(I, for one, welcome our new Hogwarts overlords!)

 

[Think0028]

What about Lord of the Rings? Gandalf uses his staff as a focus for his power, he flings a lot of spellpower around, doing little things nigh-constantly. Sadly, I don't know enough about Lord of the Rings to think of a good analogy for rituals, but it's not like LotR actively opposes the idea of rituals.

 

[Duckforceone]

i wouldn't worry about that.

For it to be like harry potter, it would first have to be a form of witch magic, and not fantasy magic.

Also, wands do not play a major part of a wizards spell casting, like they do in harry potter.

And i think the last place dnd would take stuff from, would be j k bowling.

Just because the spell casting system is changing, does not mean it's going to be like some other system.

 

[CleverNickName]

i wouldn't worry about that.

Who's worrying? I think it's a good thing. I think that 4E will make it a lot easier for me to create a "Harry Potter" campaign setting, something I've been wanting to do for several years now but couldn't get the mechanics to work right. With 4E, I just write a couple of house rules about wands, and add a bit of flavor text on "witch magic" vs. "fantasy magic," and I'm golden.

 

[Think0028]

And Mage Hand doesn't say: "Special: Must say 'Wingardium Leviosa'"

 

[snkline]

*sigh* Why does it have to be "influenced by Harry Potter"

1) Vancian spellcasting isn't the way magic has been looked at throughout history. Like it's name implies, it was a system made up by Jack Vance in the 50's. Just because Potterverse characters don't use a Vancian system, doesn't mean a non-Vancian D&D system is based on freakin Harry Potter.

2) Magical implements, including freakin wands, have been associated with wizards/witches/etc... since forever, they are not an invention of Harry Potter.

 

[CleverNickName]

*sigh* Why does it have to be "influenced by Harry Potter"

I think I am being misunderstood. I did not mean any offense whatsoever to the new 4th Edition version of the game, when I pointed out similarities between it and Harry Potter. If anything, I think these nuances are a huge selling point. Even if this Harry Potter influence is an invention of my own mind, it has made me more excited about the product (and therefore, more likely to play it.)

Nobody's hatin' on 4E here. Sheesh.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

*sigh* Why does it have to be "influenced by Harry Potter"

Better than influenced by WoW?

In any event, I like being able to whip out magic every round. Based on a single playtest adventure I ran, the at-will spells should do a bit less damage. They come close to rivaling fighter damage. (The dwarven fighter did 1d10+5 damage at first level, plus an at-will exploit. The mage did 2d4+5 damage at first level, which is only 0.5 damage less, but they gain no specials with it.)

 

[Loghren]

I really don't see a whole lot of Harry Potter influence (which, and I'm sure Rowling would freely admit, isn't a system that's really of her own creation but is borrowed from standard tales of spell-casting). But, as you said, I'm sure this would be much easier to modify to create a Potter influenced/based campaign than Vancian magic could have done.

So, in summary, it's similar - yet different.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I have seen that too, but preferred to keep my mouth shut for obvious reasons. And no, its not to bad using potteresque magic with or without wands...

Vancian magic is also used by terry pratchets mages... but i think mustrum ridcully is better informed than I am...

And actually i like the new magic system. It has as much vancian magic to keep consitency with former editions (for what I know so far from DDXP pregen) and enough at will magic and encounter magic to keep up with common sense (a mage only beeing able to use light or mage hand once per day and using a candle for the rest... sad...)