Dragonalnce Campaign Setting

[Ashrem Bayle]

The Age of Mortals
-first half: gods are gone, no divine magic
-second half (current timeline): gods are back, four types of magic

This is where I get lost.

Why did the Gods leave?
Why did they come back?
Four types of magic??

Thanks for posting that BTW.

 

[jonesy]

This is where I get lost.

Why did the Gods leave?
Why did they come back?
Four types of magic??

Thanks for posting that BTW.

Mind you this will slightly spoil the War of Souls trilogy.

The gods supposedly left after the Chaos War because that was what Chaos insisted on if they wanted him to leave as well (the whole ending of Dragons of Summer Flame is still a mite iffy as to what really happened at the end).

They came back when they found out in the War of Souls trilogy that Takhisis had stolen the world and was in the process of enslaving everyone (living and dead).

Clerical magic, Mysticism, Wizardry and Sorcery.

 

[Stormprince]

Minus the free-form magic - the one gem of the Saga system and Fifth Age setting. Using the 3rd edition Sorcerer with the same spells as the Wizard just plain doesn't fit with that seting at all. Sorcerers were supposed to be something entirely different. And the whole reason people in the 5th age had to discover new magic was that the old ways just didn't work anymore.

Instead they took the easy way out and just kept the 3.5 Sorcerer. Well to hell with them!

Well, thank you very much Luckily, I'm well acquainted with the Lord of Darkness, so I was allowed an evening pass so that I could address a few things (particularly since I'm back from Origins).

We did work out completely divergent systems of magic for clerics, mystics, sorcerers, and wizards. It consumed an entire book. However, one thing that you must remember, is that Dragonlance, particularly the Campaign Setting sourcebook, is a Wizards of the Coast product. Everything in that book was a joint effort between Sovereign Press and the WotC design staff. We made the decision to stick with the 3.5 sorcerer and created the mystic as the divine magic counterpoint. Why? Believe it or not, it wasn't because we took the "lazy way out." It was because in the end, we decided that the system required to cover spontaneous spellcasting as done by the sorcerers and mystics was something that bogged down game play. Some people like it, some people do not. Can't please everyone, although we did give it our best shot.

Oh, and remember, it's not like we don't have experience creating new spell systems. Check out the Sovereign Stone campaign setting that we designed

Christopher

 

[Alzrius]

Chris, the one question I really had about the Sorcerers and Mystics in the 5th Age was, did the new DLCS keep the old paradigms for them that Sorcery only affected non-living things, and Mysticism only affected the living (and the dead)? That would seem to be more along the lines of their spell lists than anything else.

Of course, if you guys didn't keep that, there is certainly room for justification...in Dragons of a Lost Star, Dalamar says the Shadow Sorcerer taught him Necromancy (obviously with the new Sorcery), which shouldn't have been possible since only Mysticism affected the dead.

 

[talinthas]

the preview of the mystic class says nothing about the fifth age restrictions, so i get the feeling that they are pretty much gone.

Of course, i'm gonna house rule that in my game...

 

[Kai Lord]

The last sentence of the first paragraph of the DLCS Mystic preview says, "Mystical energy affects only the living or the spiritual energy that leaves the body upon death."

Don't know how that will be applied in mechanical terms, though.

 

[talinthas]

thats what i get for not reading close enough =)
However, the rules pretty clearly state that mystics use the cleric spells list.

 

[reutbing0]

So was anyone able to pick up the book at Origins ? If so, please spill the beans

 

[PA]

Oh, and remember, it's not like we don't have experience creating new spell systems. Check out the Sovereign Stone campaign setting that we designed

The best d20 magic system on the market.

 

[Stormprince]

Chris, the one question I really had about the Sorcerers and Mystics in the 5th Age was, did the new DLCS keep the old paradigms for them that Sorcery only affected non-living things, and Mysticism only affected the living (and the dead)? That would seem to be more along the lines of their spell lists than anything else.

Of course, if you guys didn't keep that, there is certainly room for justification...in Dragons of a Lost Star, Dalamar says the Shadow Sorcerer taught him Necromancy (obviously with the new Sorcery), which shouldn't have been possible since only Mysticism affected the dead.

Truly, that game limitation only seemed to exist in the game mechanics and not in the novels. The thing is that many spellcasters could simply multiclass to cover the differences...and there were no classes in Saga. If you had a high enough score, you could simply do it...which was kind of a pisser, because that meant that there were suddenly a LOT more potential spellcasters than ever before!!!!

We had created separate lists of spells for each grouping of magic...primal sorcery, mysticism, clerical magic, wizardly magic...and then more lists for the three Orders of High Sorcery... again, something that would have required an entire book on its own. In the end, we decided that if we were going to go with the sorcerer from the PHB then we needed to make the mystic correlate to that. So, although we do give the "flavor" of mystics and sorcerers in the books, we don't impose upon them a limitation that makes them less balanced with the other classes. If you want to house rule it, along with "wild talents," that's up to you

Christopher