D&D (2024) Martial vs Caster: Removing the "Magical Dependencies" of high level.

[Gammadoodler]

Supplying a default and allowing for alternatives, works well enough.

But isn't necessary.

 

[Yaarel]

But isn't necessary.

A number of forumers in this thread insist it is necessary.

 

[Gammadoodler]

In the 2014 Players Handbook, the description of the Weave is − appropriately − contained in a sidebox. So it is easy to ignore if the DM has a different theory of magic in mind. But it is there as a default flavor. The "Weave" is true for every official D&D setting, including Dark Sun and Eberron, and Theros and Strixhaven. The Forgotten Realms setting calls it as the Weave, but other settings can refer to it by other names. But it is true in every official setting.

"
THE WEAVE OF MAGIC
The worlds within the D&D multiverse are magical places. All existence is suffused with magical power, and potential energy lies untapped in every rock, stream, and living creature, and even in the air itself. Raw magic is the stuff of creation, the mute and mindless will of existence, permeating every bit of malter and present in every manifestation of energy throughout the multiverse.

Mortals cant directly shape this raw magic. Instead, they make use of a fabric of magic, a kind of interface between the will of a spellcaster and the stuff of raw magic. The spellcasters of the Forgotten Realms call it the Weave.

"

The Weave exists in all "worlds within the D&D multiverse". There is an ambient magic that "suffuses" all that exists. Existence itself is magical. Spellcasters make use of how this magic entangles things forming a "Weave".

This sentence annoys me, "mortals cant directly shape this raw magic", because creatures that have innate magic do shape it directly.

This weave is cosmic ambient magical potential. And Arcane and Divine use different methods to access it.

The definitions ignore Psionic and Primal, as well as superhuman Martial.

Tashas mentions the Psionic magic is innate "within" and personal, and its source is the "mind", "the minds power", "mental force", and so on. Notably, for the Psi Warrior, the "various Psionic powers" are class features and arent spells. Psionic is always magic, but not necessarily spellcasting.

In any case, the example of 5e Psionic that utilizes the mind of the soul, suggests the D&D tradition that distinguishes a personal weave that is distinct from the cosmic ambient weave.

So on the one hand.. the description of the Weave basically just boils down to..

"Magic is just kind of everywhere, don't think about it too hard"

Like it has no other characteristics, traits, or qualities beyond enabling magic.

On the other hand. It also makes all creatures innately magical in some way and therefore capable of supernatural feats (with enough experience presumably)

So again we come to yet another way that the game has already provided adequate narrative justification for martials to have supernatural abilities.

I'm sure some new objection will arise.

 

[Gammadoodler]

A number of forumers in this thread insist it is necessary.

I think that number is maybe 3 forumers. And I disagree with them

 

[Yaarel]

So on the one hand.. the description of the Weave basically just boils down to..

"Magic is just kind of everywhere, don't think about it too hard"

Like it has no other characteristics, traits, or qualities beyond enabling magic.

On the other hand. It also makes all creatures innately magical in some way and therefore capable of supernatural feats (with enough experience presumably)

So again we come to yet another way that the game has already provided adequate narrative justification for martials to have supernatural abilities.

I'm sure some new objection will arise.

If the Fighter utilizes either the cosmic weave (like environmental absorption or attuning the Star Wars Force) or ones personal soul (especially ki), to explain magical effects that would be fine.

Pick one as the default.

 

[Gammadoodler]

If the Fighter utilizes either the cosmic weave (like environmental absorption or attuning the Star Wars Force) or ones personal soul (especially ki), to explain magical effects that would be fine.

Pick one as the default.

No.

 

[Yaarel]

No.

The lack narrative is a problem for many D&D players. Maybe for a million times more than 3.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You know, after deep and careful soul searching and meditation, I realized that @Micah Sweet and @Yaarel are right. This task is the single most important thing I could ever do in my entire life. I must define the magic of the fighter, it is my sole purpose. So, I re-did my first, pathetically poor attempt into something far superior.

Fighters are magical beings, with magical powers. After much scientific research it was determined that the single and sole source of their magical power is that they breath in trace amounts of Mystara's weave of magic. Using this weave magic, they reinforce their muscles and bones, giving them strength and physical abilities far above that of the humans born on the planet Earth. They use their explicitly magical abilities granted to them by breathing in the magic of Mystara's weave to fight and do battle with monsters.

There. My task is complete. A single, defined, explicit, and incredibly important source of explicitly magical power. Now, I can rest easy, knowing that this is the final, definitive answer.

 

[Yaarel]

Fighters are magical beings, with magical powers. After much scientific research it was determined that the single and sole source of their magical power is that they breath in trace amounts of Mystara's weave of magic. Using this weave magic, they reinforce their muscles and bones, giving them strength and physical abilities far above that of the humans born on the planet Earth. They use their explicitly magical abilities granted to them by breathing in the magic of Mystara's weave to fight and do battle with monsters.

Something like that.

 

[HammerMan]

Superheroes have "origin stories". The "how" is the essence of the flavor of any superhuman character − especially in a roleplaying game.

To quote @GMforPowergamers every hero’s story starts with an origin. That origin doesn’t always tell you what there powers will be.