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Message: <blockquote data-quote="humble minion" data-source="post: 8225399" data-attributes="member: 5948">I get what you're saying, and it certainly one way they could take it.  Historically, Ravenloft has always had the concept of some abilities and creatures being inherently corruptive.  If you cast (for instance) chill touch to kill the goblin that's about to massacre the helpless orphans, you still had to take that Powers check because chill touch is necromancy and necromancy corrupts, always.  It's not just about whether the deed itself is evil, it's about the means you use to perform the deed.  (And I know the means-vs-ends debate is one we could have endlessly, but Ravenloft's back catalogue is pretty clear on the question)That's where i have the questions about the stance 5e is going to take.  A fiend pact warlock, for instance - this is someone who has knowingly made a deal with a fiend in exchange for power.  That's certainly a failed powers check already, and probably a short road to Fiendish Transposition and a horrible fate if you stick to how Van Richten's Guide to Fiends and subsequent material treated the matter.  If 5e Ravenloft parallels that even relatively closely, there's going to be a LOT subclasses out there that you can only play if you pretty much accept from the start that your PC is doomed.But also, the in-world fact that so much magic is corrupting actually contributes to the feel and culture of the setting.  Superstition, intolerance, witch hunts, the scythes-and-pitchforks mob - they're all absolutely classic tropes of gothic horror.  In a world where magic very frequently corrupts its users, it makes perfect sense that these attitudes of anti-magical prejudice have evolved, and it also means that these attitudes can actually be defensible from time to time and be held by otherwise reasonable, sympathetic people.  If magic is merely an impersonal amoral force, then you're left in the situation where you're playing a large percentage of the population as bigoted jerks.  Of course, rarity of magic is also a contributor to these attitudes making sense in context.  Reading the Gazetteers, other than in specifically wizard-ruled domains one thing that is noticeable is the dearth of, and often prejudice against, casters in general and arcane casters in particular.  Common magic gets demystified a bit, rare magic is scary.  I think that this magic-light world that RL has often (especially in 3e) been illustrated as, is part of the concerted attempt they're making to bring the setting closer to more classic 1800s-era gothic tropes and away from heroic medieval fantasy.  The proliferation of firearms is another example of this.  But 5e magic is a lot more widespread across classes than it has been previous editions, so it'll be interesting to see what WotC do about this.</blockquote>

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