5e: Scoring up alignment, Spell Fragments

[Michael Morris]

If I convert my setting to 5e (and that's a pretty big if, I still need to read, completely, the three core books) I'll have quite a bit of things to convert around. There are 600 spells in the Dusk setting. I'm also itching to further explore the "at higher levels" concept. So at the moment these are just ideas that haven't been playtested or even fully fleshed out. Just musings at the moment - but I will give 5e this, it has me musing and seriously thinking on the enormous task of rewriting that core book of mine again.

Alignment
The alignment system I use won't change too much - It's the system of five interconnected philosophy groups first introduced in Magic: The Gathering. Over the years I've diverged significantly from the card game's iteration - primarily to insure that all the alignments can be played in a good or evil manner. Quick recap for the uninitiated

Valra (Yellow) - Community is preeminent. Opposed by Sodra (Self v. Group) and Shunra (Chaos v. Law)
Balcra (Blue) - Knowledge is preeminent. Opposed by Abora (Nature v. Nuture) and Shunra (Instinct v. Intellect)
Sodra (Violet) - Self is preeminent. Opposed by Abora (Life v. Death) and Valra ( Group v. Self )
Shunra (Red) - Emotion is preeminent.
Abora (Green) - Nature is preeminent.

The largest change this alignment system introduces is the five root alignments aren't exclusive - though they can be cognitively dissonant. Your character can have multiple alignments, even all five alignments, and counts as all alignments they have.

The thought I've been having reading the basic rules is to score the classes and background choices with point values towards each alignment, and add new ones that likewise have scores towards other alignments. For example, a Barbarian gives you 3 points of red. Being an elf gives 2 points of green and so on. Make your character choices normally, then score it all up - whatever has the most points - that's your alignment. You can play your character however you want and after awhile the DM may assign other alignments to you based on your actions. The atonement spell can remove the taint of alignment from you.

Spell Fragments
To replace metamagic feats, spell fragments. These are spells that can't be used alone, but have to be tacked onto another spell - which they alter. Wizards have the most freedom in this regard - if they learn a fragment they can prepare it with any spell they know. Sorcerers who learn fragments can also freely apply them to the other spells they know. Some fragment ideas..

Recovery - The spell will be reusable after a short rest instead of a long rest. +2 levels.
At-Will - The spell can be cast at will +5 levels.
Quicken - The spell can be cast as a bonus action. +3 levels (I know the feat is +4, but bonus actions are a bit more limited than swift actions).

Still going to hold off on working through all of this and concentrate on setting specific stuff because, for all I know, this sort of thing will be in the DMG. Also, until I've done some serious play I don't know the current balance. The above could be quite out of wack.

 

[Michael Morris]

So now that I have a PHB and have read through the classes section I can put some more thought into this. Here's the color associations of classes.

Abora (Green): Druid, Ranger
Given that this alignment is nature themed, it should be no surprise to find the two nature classes attached to it.

Valra (Gold): Cleric, Paladin
The paladin is classically Valran. I haven't read through the oaths yet to see if both of them match up to Valra or not. Clerics certainly don't always strike a Valran pose - but structured religion is a Valran concept, and clerics are proponents and representatives of such faiths, so the class itself falls here. Note that just because clerics tend to be gold doesn't mean all clerics are gold.

Balcra (Blue): Monk, Wizard
Wizards are a dead ringer here. Monks fit mostly because of their seeking of inner truth and knowledge fluff they've always had. Valra is the only other logical place to put them, and as can be seen at this point, I'm trying to make sure each color has one full caster class and one primarily martial class.

Sodra (Purple): Warlock, Rogue
Rogues land here because they always seem to get played at least a little selfishly, and Sodra if anything is a me-first alignment. Warlocks land here in opposition to clerics. While clerics call upon authorized fonts of power in the gods, warlocks call upon unsanctioned fonts. Both of these classes use a casting method of invocation - they invoke the power and will of an outside entity.

Shunra (Red): Barbarian, Bard
Shunra is about passion and emotion. Rage is an emotion. Most of the bard's spells manipulate emotion.

Unaligned: Fighter, Sorcerer
The fighter and sorcerer have an equal chance to be found in any of the five alignments, so they get to be the two unaligned classes. Members of these classes will have alignments though, stemming from their race and background. Class is a factor in determining alignment, not the only factor though.