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="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7767413" data-attributes="member: 6873517">? No clue what you're getting at there. We may be having a case of vehement agreement, here. I'm not sure that's true, but even if it is, magic in Middle Earth runs on fundamentally different premises than D&D. In many cases the practitioners of magic deny they're doing magic at all---it's just something they do, a technique they've learned, or something in their nature. In general, sorcery is an "art of the Enemy." (Tolkien is not entirely consistent, though. Luthien sings songs that are an awful lot like spells.) Spellcasting as it works in D&D is an artifice of the game rules. It clearly shows its war-game roots and was largely a lift from The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. No writer needs to be nearly as consistent as a set of game rules and, by and large, they are not. Aragorn's use of athelas is a sign of him being the True King and is clearly described as such. That's handled quite explicitly in LotR. The men were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Men_of_Dunharrow" target="_blank">Oathbreakers</a> to Isildur who are fulfilling their Oaths to escape undeath. Aragorn is the proclaimed Heir of Isildur. Once again, this is a sign of Aragorn being the True King. It's not a class feature, as it were, as there does not appear to be any suggestion that other rangers make use of it. Perhaps they're lower level and can't cast spells yet. However, the 1E ranger did get followers at high level, as did many high level 1E classes. I should be 100% clear: The 1E ranger isn't Aragorn, it's just got a number of semblances of Aragorn. (Two weapon fighting rangers is a 2Eism, and it came from Drizzt.) Similarly, the 1E barbarian isn't Conan, but has semblances, just as the Paladin isn't Holger Carlson but has semblances. Many cleric spells are pretty much a lift from The Bible. The way magic-user spell casting works is like the wizards of The Dying Earth. The thieves' guild is a lift from Lankhmar and Conan. Gygax told us his inspirations.</blockquote>

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