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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8826262" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Interesting.  So keeping silent is a better example of creativity and preventing people from complaining than actually saying something?  As we're in a thread where some people are complaining that they didn't say anything?I don't follow, sorry.Anyways, I'm not saying it's up to WotC; why can't the DM make an explanation that makes sense for their world?  And please don't respond with "The DM shouldn't have to, they have enough to do", this isn't exactly difficult.  Here, how about this:The apprentice frowned, unsure of how to frame her question to her master.  "I don't understand, you say that, as a wizard, we can unlock magical secrets from beyond the walls of our world, and yet, some creatures can use magic that is walled off to us?"The older man sat back a moment.  "I once asked the same questions you are asking now.  What I can tell you is what my master said to me, and my own studies in the matter.  You are familiar with how some priests are invested with powers by their faith, or how some unfortunate souls, desperate for power, will broker contracts with powerful, alien entities for a measure of magic?  Long ago, before the races of Elf, Dwarf, and Man rose to prominence, the world was a much more savage place than it is now.  This was the era where monstrous beings were born.The Gods, having begun the process of creation, were now populating the world with beasts of their own design.  Each more powerful than the last.  Seeing their creations being overrun by newer, stronger, and perhaps stranger entities, the Gods imbued them with powers.  In those times, there were no limits to the abilities one could give a creature, and so trolls gained their power to recover form virtually any injury, dragons gained the powers of flight and to exhale elemental power from within, and so on.  These abilities are certainly magical, in their way, but they do not function as spells do.  No learning or enlightenment is required to achieve them; they are innate to their being, though perhaps some training is required to master them.Eventually, however, the Gods realized the destruction they were causing, and they made an agreement; new races were created, with the ability to use tools, and the power to acquire powers through hard work and discipline.  The scope of these powers were given distinct limits, so that one could not acquire the power to level mountains without great dedication, so that when they gained such powers, one would hope they had acquired the wisdom to know when, and how, let alone if they should be employed.""But Master, why not take away the powers from the monstrous beings?  Wouldn't that make it harder for the younger races to survive?""Whoever said survival was meant to be easy?  The Gods willed that this would be a world where power must be earned.  But they are not in the habit of stripping away what they have given.  We have the potential to become masters of this world, by taming the Great Beasts.  But we have to work for it, it won't just be handed to us.  Now that having been said, there are ways to replicate the ancient powers, but remember, there is always a cost to one's body, mind, and soul.  For example, a spell could transform you into a dragon; but while the spell is in effect, you would become a dragon.  You would think as a dragon does.  And you would no longer be a wizard.  These are the rules of the world, and while they can be bent, or occasionally circumvented, they were not meant to be broken.  I urge you not to attempt to break them; the results may very well be...catastrophic.  Now, fetch me my book, Lysander's Theorems of Applied Sorcery, volume VII, if you please."</blockquote>

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