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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gordo" data-source="post: 1406499" data-attributes="member: 17158">yeah, but... (my take)hi folks. my 1st post here.thanks for all your incredible work fixing one of the most awkward and ill-conceived aspects of WOTC’s game design. i like nearly everything you've done with the class, but i still have some conceptual issues trying to delineate the differences btw even this version of the sorceror & the by the book wizard. bear with me, this may run on a tad...here's the root of the problem for me. this model doesn’t change how the sorceror uses magic. s/he still has spell slots limiting them to X number of 1st level spells, Y number of 2nd level spells and so on. (I think) this model still has them wagging their fingers around and chanting mumbo-jumbo to cast spells – and I think that all of this is still too close to wizards and how they do it. Kudos for easing the spell components restrictions, but to me, they should be gone completely.here’s where I’m coming from. as i understand the flavor text, the sorceror is essentially a creature of magic. magic is innate, it flows through them, it is part of who they are. by virtue of this, they are different than other folks. me, i can wiggle my ears independently of each other and touch my tongue to the tip of my nose. not everyone can do that. similarly, the sorceror lives, breathes, eats and drinks magic, mana or whatever you wanna call it. Their ability to twist it to their whim is as 2nd nature to them as wiggling my ears is to me.they have only finite abilities to use it, however, just as any of our muscles will tire after excessive use. to do new things with magic takes practice, time and experience. moreoever, each sorceror will probably figure out new things, new tricks.Wizards, by contrast, are like our scientists. They apply their intellect and will to a problem, logically and methodically probing the causal relationships btw natural forces. But the crucial difference for wizards is that they are outsiders to magic just looking in, just as a physicist is an outsider to the power of gravity. s/he can create experiments to manipulate and/or observe gravity, s/he can harness the power of it to solve problems, but gravity is in now way part of a scientist’s being. In this way, the regimented, proscribed way in which wizards practice their art is logical. Spells are like time honored experiments shown to prove repeatable results. They are engineered.Given that this is my understanding of the two classes from the flavor text, I find it pretty silly that:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Both classes use spell slots. A sorceror’s ability to manipulate mana is a direct function of his/her special ability (in this case, CHA). Slots don’t make sense here, instead I advocate…power points. (oh, btw, just chuck the psion. It sux) I haven’t done the math on how to award them, or how many to give, but the bottom line for me is this. I know that my leg muscles and lung capacity will carry me approx 2 miles before I’m really winded and can’t run any further (sad but true). Magic should be the same way for sorcerors. s/he can use so much magic per day before tiring and being drained. Who cares if it’s 1 4th level spell, 3 2nd level spells and a 4 1st level spells? I have X capacity, measured by my charisma bonus(?) and my relative proficiency (level) and I know a few tricks (spells). I just keep doing what I do until I’m out of gas.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Both classes essentially use the same spells. Huh? How is that supposed to work? Wizards, cloistered in towers and academies, passing down quasi-scientific knowledge generation to generation about how to manipulate mysterious forces will have exactly the same spells and effects at their disposal as a whole class of people, more randomly distributed across the land/world/plane, who all are flexing this strange ‘muscle’ in different, random, individual and experimental ways? That just doesn’t make sense, and implies that there’s a very finite number of applications for magic, something I inherently reject. Sorcerors need a separate list of spells. Moreover, their spells need to be simpler, less ‘arcane’, and more about the direct application of force; less studious, more practically motivated, stuff you could discover on your own if you had the skillz.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Spell components, somatic components, etc. should be dropped because sorcerors ability to use magic comes naturally from the fiber of their being.They should face a heavy concentration requirement (heavier than for wizards), and have a distinguishable tell (ooh, neat idea, have a sort of magical residue be like a magical fingerprint; everyone’s got a different one. Think of a D&D CSI type thing here. Interesting…). Think about it, wizards, who are trying to manipulate the forces of magic as an outsider to the stuff, need these spell components and incantations because they bind them to the forces they’re trying to control because it doesn’t flow thru them naturally. Sorcerors don’t face that problem, and shouldn’t have to jump through the same hoops. For balance purposes, it should just require more of their strength/energy to cast bigger spells.</li> </ol>The observant among you may have noticed that my conception of sorcerors borders on the wotc definition of a psion. Guilty. But they failed so miserably defining the psion that the class is worthless. Think the 3E & 3.5E sorceror is weak? Play the psion. And the whole “psionics is different/no, it’s not” debate is tiresome and stupid.Basically, to sum up, I’d like sorcerors to have no spell slots, use power points; have a diff list of spells w/an easier ability to make up individual one of their own; have no material or somatic components; but have a tough concentration requirement and a distinct tell.Ok, folks, waddya think? Am I crazy?</blockquote>

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