[Rampant Speculation] The First New "Power Sources"

[erf_beto]

I really hope they keep power sources down to a reasonable number, and find ways to fit new classes into existing power sources. I don't suppose there's anything inherently wrong with a large number of power sources. I just think that if every class has its own source, then there's not much reason to group the classes into sources in the first place.

I agree, wich makes me wonder: do we really know what a power source really is? Is it just Flavor and Fluff behind an ability, or the actual Rules and Mechanics supporting it? I mean, how different is an Energy Ray from a Scorching Ray? To me, it's not just the fact that one is a psionic power and the other is an arcane spell: we already have spell/power descriptors for that - what we didnt have before Psionics came out were the power point rules, as opposed to the fire-forget vancian casting. If I wanted a power point caster, what's stopping me from house ruling "every instance of the word 'psionic' will be renamed to 'sorcerous'. The Sorcerer class is gone, to be replaced with the Psion, wich is now called Sorcerer" ?
I really hope Power Source is more than just a name tag. In fact, take a look at some of the playtest reports: there a wizard who thinks and calls himself a "psion".

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I agree, wich makes me wonder: do we really know what a power source really is? Is it just Flavor and Fluff behind an ability, or the actual Rules and Mechanics supporting it? I mean, how different is an Energy Ray from a Scorching Ray? To me, it's not just the fact that one is a psionic power and the other is an arcane spell: we already have spell/power descriptors for that - what we didnt have before Psionics came out were the power point rules, as opposed to the fire-forget vancian casting. If I wanted a power point caster, what's stopping me from house ruling "every instance of the word 'psionic' will be renamed to 'sorcerous'. The Sorcerer class is gone, to be replaced with the Psion, wich is now called Sorcerer" ?
I really hope Power Source is more than just a name tag. In fact, take a look at some of the playtest reports: there a wizard who thinks and calls himself a "psion".

This is just what I've gathered from the subtext of the previews, but I think they want to try to cluster sources. They want a psion to feel different than a wizard, but similar to someone else who uses psionics. Perhaps this will manifest itself as intra-source mechanical similarities, but inter-source differences, perhaps it'll just be fluff. I hope it's the former. I like the idea of taking different approaches to the same task. Of course, there is the risk of unnecessary rules bloat, but I think that if you make the actual at-the-table play experience as smooth as possible, you can do whatever you like with the mechanics without overcomplicating things. So long as it doesn't take any more than five minutes to learn how to invoke powers from a new source, you're good.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm not sure I like the idea of having a dozen different power sources in the game. Arcane, Divine, and Martial power sources cover a lot of class abilities pretty well. The only things I would add are Nature and Psionic.

Maybe they will call the psionic power source "Spice."

 

[Kobu]

I started a topic on Nature as a power source on the Wizards boards:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=920419

I was hoping the ranger would be nature powered, but that's unlikely if it is in the PHB1.

 

[GreatLemur]

I think we can all agree that Psionic is the most inevitable post-PH1 power source.

Nature (or something like that) seems extremely likely, too, unless it turns out that the Druid is in the PH1 as a divine controller, as some have theorized.

Fey is a really interesting idea for a power source, but it might be a bit redundant if there's already a Nature power source. The idea of racial abilities (such as a gnome's spell-like abilities) is also really interesting, and seems inevitable now that I think about it.

Ki as a power source also sounds pretty interesting, but I've got to agree that I'd like to see it be declared essentially the same thing as psionics (maybe a more neutral-sounding power source like Mental?).

I would love to see a Far Realms (or Far-Realms-related) power source, just because it would be awesome if Alienists and kaorti and such were using powers that are explicitly, fundamentally different from normal magic.

Incarnum would definitely qualify as a distinct power source if they ever bother to bring it back for 4e. I wouldn't say that's exactly inevitable, though. There wasn't a lot of interest in those classes, was there? There were a lot of nice ideas in that book, but the flavor never really came together, in my opinion.

Spirit(s) would make a great power source. The Binder and Spirit Shaman might both fit under that.

As for just what "power sources" mean beyond fluff, I'm guessing it's going to be largely a question of determining when various bonuses and penalties and anti-magic effects apply. Maybe a Cleric's dispel magic will only work on divine effects. Maybe Dwarves have a +2 to resist arcane powers. Maybe there are meta-magic effects where you can boost an ally's effective caster level, as long as they're using the same power source as you. And so on. These distinctions sort of existed in 3e, of course, but they were often forgotten, ignored, or muddled. The whole weird thing about Artificers' tricks being both arcane and divine, the silly "magic-psionics transparency" the rules generally assumed, the question of just what kind of magic all the Tome of Magic classes are using, etc. I'll be really happy to see the whole power source issue actually addressed in a meaningful way.

 

[Scribble]

What he said
And whatever the binder is...

Hopefully a quality three ring one.

Also might want to get a few packs of reinforcements, in case we'll be revisiting it a lot. (Don't want the holes to rip on our pages...)

 

[Howndawg]

A possible alternative to "nature" would be "primal"; the character taps into his wild side. Barbarians would fit into this mode, and possibly druids.

Another possibility would be "spirit", for characters like witches and sha'ir.

I like psionics, ki, steamtech, and chaos.

Howndawg