Other possible power sources

[Dannyalcatraz]

I agree that we'll definitely see Psionic (they've said so) & Artifice- heck, how many clockwork critters are there that could get lumped into that?

As to the others:

Aura, Music, True Names, Binding, & Shadow= subsets of other power sources- probably arcane & divine in particular- a different way of using the same thing.

Ki & Incarnum = I hope they actually merge these two concepts, with abilities similar to reserve feats based on your amount of stored Incarnum. The underlying philosophies of their RW counterparts share many of the same qualities.

Blood/Heritage = more fluff than mechanic. Might be a prereq for certain abilities, though.

Gadgets/alchemy = I think they'll be folded into Artifice. I'd love to do a PC like Cogline from the Shanarra books in D&D.

Personally, I'd also like to see:

Spirits
Tattoos
Gemstones
Runes
Vows

worked into the system in a coherent and balanced way.

 

[Aus_Snow]

For arcane, I would assume it is arcane magic.

Which derives its power from. . .?

I know it's not quite the gist of the question er, in question, but still. I have my own current house rules and flavour stuff for magics of many kinds, which is all good. However, I've not come across anything for arcane in 3e (or 4e yet) that is an equivalent to "psionics comes from the mind itself", or "divine magic comes directly from higher powers" - yeah, I know that in 3e it technically doesn't have to, but anyway. . .

Eh, never mind. If I pick up 4e, I'll no doubt rework everything in terms of both mechanics and flavour.

I was only curious.

 

[Sammael]

Belief. Not divine power, which comes from gods, but the power of belief itself - the power that drives the Planes of the Great Wheel.

Taint. And, conversely, Purity.

 

[Scribble]

How about Luck?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

One familiar to EQ1 players, and a natural lock, given how the race will be introduced in 4E: GNOME POWER

 

[Scribble]

If you work from also what kinds of "bonuses" you could get in 3e, then maybe also circumstantial, and perhaps synergetic power...

Perhaps certain characters when in a large group can draw on the power of others for the synergetic one... (thus adding to that whole the group will be important...)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Perhaps certain characters when in a large group can draw on the power of others for the synergetic one... (thus adding to that whole the group will be important...)

That's a hell of a good idea for a feat or spell, if nothing else. Or even just a trap effect. ("When X number of arcane characters come within Y feet, Z happens.")

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I see ... wands powered by AA batteries.

 

[~Johnny~]

Is this really what they mean by "sources of power?" I don't think there will be game rules that interact with "power sources" the way current rules interact with things like "celestial." I think it's more of a design & development question: "what's the fuel source for PCs?" In other words, what do heroes have more of than lesser men?

Fighters, rogues, and more! Arcane and divine characters have always had a source for their power, and now so do the rest of D&D’s classes.

D&D 3.5e has an inherent imbalance in the way characters are fueled. Fighters (and rogues) have a consistent power level from the first encounter of the day to the last, while wizards (and clerics) have a lower base level of competence but a limited number of "big bang" effects. This is a type of "balance," but it often results in half the party needing to sleep eight hours when the rest just needs to drink a potion and go.

It sounds like 4e will give rogues and fighters more "finite" abilities, probably defined by number of uses per encounter. So a fighter might have a "killing blow" that he can use once per encounter. At the same time, look for wizards to have a little more consistency. So 4e fighters might play more like today's paladins, and 4e wizards might play a little more like today's warlocks.

So each type of class will have a "power source," but expect them to be pretty generic: arcane knowledge, divine connection, skill training and combat training.

 

[Glyfair]

Could elemental be its own?

Very possibly fiendish, celestial, anarchic, axiomatic and elemental can all be combined into different flavors of "extra-planar."