How do Wizard's work? Makes no sense to me that studying some books and saying a specific sequence of words with odd hand gyrations while holding a few specific items would give you supernatural powers. Clerics I get. Druids I get. Sorcerers I get. Warlocks I get. But Wizard's, how the heck does that work?
but what makes the oath work? it bugs me metaphysically.
manipulation of a back layer of reality that can be subject to sapient thought thus wizards are magic physicists.
If your response to every class is "what makes them work" your issues aren't with the cleric or the druid, but instead with the fundamental nature of D&D.
How does that work? By being one of the explicitly called out paths to power that is fundamental to the game world. No suspension of disbelief is required. It is a given within the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons. If you are unwilling to accept the givens that Bards gain access to power through their supernatural connections to the arts and that Paladins gain access to power through their Oath, and that Sorcerers are born with innate access to powers, and that Druids can access to power through their essentially divine connection to nature, then D&D may not be the right game.
In 3E & 5E Bards fit the role perfectly. They draw upon a different source of magic than the divine powers of the cleric or druid, instead tapping into the magic of music. Still considered arcane in 3E, their unusual practices allowed them to access healing magic and similar things normally denied arcane casters.
I thought the warlock might appeal because its not like a cleric that you have to roleplay having some sort of transcendental faith.
OK. Why do you hate divine soul sorcerors? If you accept that magic power can be innate to some creatures, then its not much of a leap to think that sometimes a PC race has that power.
Dark Sun absolutely can have Artificers:
If you're asking where the concept of the "combat lutist that sings to be heard over their clothes" comes from, we probably need to blame Gygax.
Sorcerer = Innately Magical Person (manipulates the back layer of reality due to their nature)
magic of music?
I will consider I am annoying yes but the fiction does not make sense I have heard in the past editions they served the gods and that worked much better in how they got their power, an oath can change people but warp reality not so much.
warlock and clerics are very similar to me they are made to serve also never gotten a sufficiently good patron idea nor found one, as they are both based on how humans relate to gods in old faiths.I thought the warlock might appeal because its not like a cleric that you have to roleplay having some sort of transcendental faith.
For example I have a Warlock whose power was gifted to her by a celestial phoenix due to the actions of an ancestor. She respects it, but she doesn't worship it like a cleric.
OK. Why do you hate divine soul sorcerors? If you accept that magic power can be innate to some creatures, then its not much of a leap to think that sometimes a PC race has that power.
Eberron has a couple of non-worship religions: The Silver Flame and Blood of Vol. One doesn't care whether you worship it on not, just that you're willing to defend others from evil. The other believes that you have all the power you need within you: you just have to unlock it.
Dark Sun absolutely can have Artificers:
A Halfling Lifebinder that has created plants whose seeds can invigorate you, or burst with acid. Their body is covered with vines that grow around them and into their skin, granting them additional powers.
A Thri-Kreen covered in fetishes crafted from the bones of its previous prey. Its gythka thums with psionic power and it is accompanied by a manifestation looking like a beetle made up of plates of force with a piece of amber suspended within it.
A human hermit walks out of the desert, the crystals dangling from their harness swaying and chiming in the nonexistent breeze. Focusing their latent pyrokinesis through a long chunk of quartz, a point in the air a short distance away resonates with the same energy, then superheats and explodes into plasma.
If you're asking where the concept of the "combat lutist that sings to be heard over their clothes" comes from, we probably need to blame Gygax.
If you're asking about where their magic comes from, then you have to have an idea as to where any magic comes from. - And you haven't told us what yours is.
If you don't get it, it is a wonderful thing to try. One of the uses of role playing outside of games is allowing people a chance to "walk in the shoes of another" and come to understand things they do not. I'm not telling you to do it or anything along those lines... just mentioning it.
