NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 8745620" data-attributes="member: 72555">That is why, fiction wise, I've been playing with explicit power sources as mechanical hooks.Mechanically, a power source starts out as something like a feat or an attuned magic item (a small to medium sized thing attached to a character), but you can use it to justify gaining levels in a class.  And as you do so, the power source also gains power (becoming like a feat chain, or a more powerful version of the magic item).Power sources might have a max on how many levels they can be used to justify.  And they can be found in-game.  And all PCs will start with one (which also explains why, mechanically, you gain competence so much faster than random people do; the world simulation problem).Your power source could be Divine Blood (1) -- which starts out giving you death ward once per long rest.  And it might be good for 5 levels (to start!), upgrading the death ward to 1/short rest, and maybe another feat-like ability you can pick from a menu.Maybe later you kill a dragon, and bathe in its heart blood as you slay it -- and gain the Dragon Blood power source.  Which gives you fire resistance initially, but could go a lot of directions from there (scales?  fire breath?  Turning into a half-dragon?  Lots of ways!)Like magic items, you can have a limit to how many power sources you are attuned to.Anyhow, once you have these power sources as justification, martial abilities at higher levels can be insane without asking "why can a street urchin do that?".  You can teleport as a high level Rogue?  Well, you do have divine blood!  Or, you bathed in the blood of a dragon.  Or you swallowed the heart of the time lord.  Or you practiced using ancient, mystic scrolls.  Or one of many, many power sources, all of which justify "you are awesome" narratively.This also works for spellcasters.  It should take more than a few weeks to become an archmage -- but not if you have the soul of a demon prince, the blessing of a fey lord, and have read the entire endless book of all that which we do not know.</blockquote>

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