8 power sources. so what are the other 4?

[hamishspence]

Soprano Sorceress

I kinda liked the music as magic theme. It also went with spells being physically draining to the caster, and epic magic had option of caster taking backlash damage.

The obvious problem being that its hard to do rules that work well. if high level chracter is constantly being killed by own spells, could get frustrating.

 

[Greenfaun]

Dragon.

Yes, it's a bit arcane, but the dragon classes of 3.5 (well, the Dragon Shaman and Dragonfire Adept) always seemed to be a bit different and distinct from the others. I'd say it was a good place to put the sorceror, but I realise many people dislike the idea that 'all sorcerors and the distant offspring of giant magical lizards'. So then I put forward my second, and in my opinion better, suggestion:

Blood.

Your character's powers stem from an innate connection with whatever horrible creatures have been mixed in with your bloodline. An Infernal-blooded Sorceror would learn fire and poison attacks, his body slowly morphing to mimic the mighty pit fiend, while the Dragon-blooded Sorceror gains breath weapons and fear spells to compliment his tough scaly skin and wings. You could even throw in celestial, fey, shadow and, for the far-realm fans, aberrant blood. I imagine your character slowly evolving over your adventuring career from being humanoid and becoming something far worse to be pretty, uh, awesome.

I'm with you on this, but I actually think a Draconic or Dragonblood powersource is more likely than the general one. WotC has a Thing about dragons, largely because the D&D fandom apparently has a Thing about dragons. I don't think being able to play Dragonborn characters will hold them over forever.

I mean, in 3.x there have been three base classes, a ton of PrC's, and three different books all about this one monster type. We're going to be seeing more dragon-based PC options, and it seems like a power source is a strong possibility.

What's more, Even the 3.5 classes map pretty well to the 4E roles. Sorcerer could be controller or striker, Dragon Shaman is clearly a leader, Dragonfire Adept could be a striker or controller, and the Dragon Disciple (still probably the most iconic and well-known dragon-based PrC) could work as a Defender. They'd all need total mechanical overhauls, but the concepts are reasonably strong.

So I guess that makes my vote for the other four:
5. Shadow
6. Primal
7. Artifice/Dweomer/Golems and Gizmos
8. Draconic

 

[drothgery]

Really? Must tell that to my very-fun-to-play, Stun-damage-taking Shadowrun Mage.

I've never found 'using a core ability hurts you' to be a fun mechanic. YMMV.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Based on the DDM stats, they seem to imply that anything Elemental or Draconic for classes are of the Primal power source.

 

[HeinorNY]

1-Martial
2-Divine
3-Arcane
4-Psionic
5-Primal
6-Shadow
7-Ki
8-Open (knowledge, artificier, song, rune)

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Based on the DDM stats, they seem to imply that anything Elemental or Draconic for classes are of the Primal power source.

Makes sense, I've had a hunch that the Sorcerer would be a Primal class.

 

[Klaus]

I've never found 'using a core ability hurts you' to be a fun mechanic. YMMV.

Think of it as a built-in "cooldown", with the option of bypassing it at a cost. Not unlike a psion who spends all his power points and then is forced to take ability damage to get more power points in an emergency.

 

[Ondo]

8-Open (knowledge, artificier, song, rune)

I think we can rule out song, as the Bard has been confirmed as an Arcane Leader (source here).

Also, Races & Classes lists a "dwarven runic warrior" as a type of Swordmage, so I think we can rule out rune as a power source.

 

[wherwrthal]

Good spot Ondo.

 

[HeinorNY]

I think we can rule out song, as the Bard has been confirmed as an Arcane Leader (source here).

Also, Races & Classes lists a "dwarven runic warrior" as a type of Swordmage, so I think we can rule out rune as a power source.

Good spot indeed.
IIRC, one of the designers also mentioned that they didn't want the gnome to have the artificier flavor 'cause they didn't want "technology" in D&D. So, if it wasn't specifically related to the gnome, maybe we can also rule the artificier Power Source out.