Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 7914566" data-attributes="member: 5142">Most people are probably familiar with three: warrior, mage, and rogue. (Not sure why so many people fall back to using archaic and unintuitive terms like "fighting-man" and "magic-user" when perfectly good terms like "warrior" and "mage" exist in popular use.) I personally disdain the distinction between Arcane and Divine magic as it exists in D&D, which remains (since the beginning) one of my biggest hangups with D&D. If such distinctions exist, there should be a greater distinction between how you cast rather than what you cast. As it is now, divine casting and arcane casting exists mostly as a difference of spell lists rather than casting method. For what it's worth, I don't think that the difference of "praying for spells" and "preparing from a spellbook" really amounts to much for most people when they are both fundamentally neo-Vancian casters with "I prepare my spells this morning" being common shorthand for skipping the flavor text of the respective classes. Compare that, for example, to the difference between mages in Invisible Sun. If you are a Vance, than there is a limitation to the number of spells that you can prepare in your mind as represented through the number of spell cards of varying sizes (representative of their spell level) that you can fit on a grid. Or if you are a Goetic, then you summon angels, demons, fey, and other extra-worldly beings, with whom you negotiate for what you are asking them to do (e.g., knowledge, a task, fight, etc.). This represents a better Warlock and Conjurer than either the D&D Warlock or Conjurer. Or compare that with RuneQuest, where theistic rune magic requires committing to a cult, performing the appropriate obeisance to the cult and its deity to regain use of that magic, and the like. Or the difference in effect and method that spirit magic from theistic magic. Or between these magics and sorcery. As it stands, the difference between arcane and divine magic in D&D feels superficial and milquetoast, especially given the overlap that exists between spell lists.</blockquote>

Verification