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

[SSquirrel]

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.

Glorfindel (Arwen in the movies) making the river rise up and attack the Nazgul
Gandalf using his powers to make the bridge in Moria shatter on the Balrog

Couple of examples off the top of my head.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

That's it. I could handle the WoW influence. I could handle the anime influence. I could handle the board game influence. I could handle the CCG influence. I could handle the "dumbed down" influence. I could handle the "overly complex" influence. But, finally, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. I can't handle the HP influence. 4e is dead to me.

YOU HEAR THAT WOTC?!?!?!?!? 4E IS DEAD TO ME!!!!!! DEAD!!!! BECAUSE OF THE HARRY POTTER INFLUENCE!!!!!!

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

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

Actually, magic in the Discworld is very inconsistent, since the wizards we see the most (the Unseen University Faculty) are a bunch of lazy, fat bureaucrats that only care about their tenure benefits and avoid doing anything resembling work... And of course anything they do, including spellcasting, is played for laughs...

On the first book Rincewind cannot learn any spells because one of the spells of the Octavo lodged itself into its brain and other spells are afraid to go there (which may be a reference to Vancian magic)

However in later books, the wizards of the faculty are seen slinging fairly powerful and destructive spells without the restraint suggested by a Vancian system.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Actually, magic in the Discworld is very inconsistent, since the wizards we see the most (the Unseen University Faculty) are a bunch of lazy, fat bureaucrats that only care about their tenure benefits and avoid doing anything resembling work... And of course anything they do, including spellcasting, is played for laughs...

On the first book Rincewind cannot learn any spells because one of the spells of the Octavo lodged itself into its brain and other spells are afraid to go there (which may be a reference to Vancian magic)

However in later books, the wizards of the faculty are seen slinging fairly powerful and destructive spells without the restraint suggested by a Vancian system.

Discworld wizard magic is referred to several times as "a thumb on the scales of the universe" - really minor effects used to trigger major ones, and exchanges of energy that mesh surprisingly well with conventional physics (the Archchancellor magically toppling a heavy rock off a castle in order to counterbalance himself being propelled upwards into the air for instance).

And it's seen in later books that the Octavo spell had nothing to do with Rincewind's magical inability - even after it leaves, he's magically inept at best.

And I think that in order for a roleplaying game to emulate harry potter, the first step would HAVE to be throwing out all possibility of coherence, balance or progression. Harry Potter magic doesn't make sense if you think of it outside of the bounds of the books (or even sometimes within them).

The closest I could imagine would be under a system like Wild Talents (under a power called "Cosmic power" with some restrictions thrown in).

Now, that said, the players could at least CHOOSE to play harry potter or discworld under the existing system - but the rules wouldn't enforce it, and they'd have to be willing to explain away why they didn't use certain spells (ie - nobody uses the unforgivable curses, but for moral reasons, and when the GM uses them, they miss. Nobody teleports because it's restricted etc.)

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I think wand implements are just a small start to create something like Harry Potter magic. We'll also need to see the rules for potions. Though if they are indeed created by Rituals, it might be able to replicate the Harry Potter feel...
The biggest problem with replicating Harry Potter is that there doesn't seem to be a direct correlations between levels and spells. The unspeakable curses can be used by any mage, can't they? (You just need to really mean it...)


Nah, that was in Banewarrens (Malhavoc Press adventure set in Ptolus). (Our DM had the habit of saying "Valut" when "Vault" was written. The thing has gotten nearly as funny as the player that always insists on casting "Child of Faith" to improve his AC )

Thanks. I think your "Child of Faith" has created one of the first incidents in the history of the internet where someone spew rice on their keyboard.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

While I'm pretty sure it wasn't a design intent, the similarities between 4e wizards and Potterverse wizards is there, and I agree with CleverNickName that it probably wouldn't take much to extrapolate a Potter-type RPG using 4e rules.

Heck, combine 4e wizards and warlocks with the old Redhurst Academy book, and you've got an instant Potterish campaign ready to roll

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Actually, magic in the Discworld is very inconsistent, since the wizards we see the most (the Unseen University Faculty) are a bunch of lazy, fat bureaucrats that only care about their tenure benefits and avoid doing anything resembling work... And of course anything they do, including spellcasting, is played for laughs...

On the first book Rincewind cannot learn any spells because one of the spells of the Octavo lodged itself into its brain and other spells are afraid to go there (which may be a reference to Vancian magic)

However in later books, the wizards of the faculty are seen slinging fairly powerful and destructive spells without the restraint suggested by a Vancian system.

Indeed. Based on information you can also read in the books, I will describe in the following way:
- Magic is a bit more complex then the Vancian system. But it provides definitely a good starting point.
- Most wizards use staffs that are charged with their favourite spells. I prefer Fireball, for the most part. It was very useful against the shopping carts during the time of Soul Music, for example.
- Magic is dangerous. Only after years of training, wizards know how to use it appropriately. Which usually means not using it all, unless necessary. For example, turning annoying civilians into frogs and stuff like that.

Thanks. I think your "Child of Faith" has created one of the first incidents in the history of the internet where someone spew rice on their keyboard.

No problem. I suspect that the way "Child of Faith" must work is very similar to Mirror Image, but you don't conjure images of yourself, but instead.. well. Let me say if there was a Child of Faith spell with similar effects to Shield of Faith, it should probably get the [Evil] descriptor.