The Black Company (aka Rawr, the Lady)

[BiggusGeekus]

What stops everyone in D&D from playing a wizard? The fact that wizards don't get to do all kinds of cool stuff, like fight or sneak around or turn into animals or whatever. Why is this a problem? I don't get it.

From what I remember of the first Black Company book, even the BC wizards were very powerful. It is my personal belief (feel free to disagree) that starting characters should be of roughly equal power.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

The Black Company's "tame wizards" seemed like D&D wizards in a lot of respects. They avoided going toe-to-toe in a melee combat because they didn't seem to be very good fighters, were used as the "heavy artillery" or "special forces" of the Company, and did the bulk of their fighting with magic. They seemed to fill the role of the D&D wizard/sorcerer quite well.

The Taken varied widely, but all seemed like very high D&D-type wizards/sorcerers. Some may have multiclassed.

 

[barsoomcore]

From what I remember of the first Black Company book, even the BC wizards were very powerful. It is my personal belief (feel free to disagree) that starting characters should be of roughly equal power.

Sure, but the BC wizards are like 100 years old. Well, One-Eye is. They're not apprentices, they're not greenhorns, they're all of them experienced wizards with years of working with the Black Company behind them. I would expect a starting wizard to be significantly less powerful than they are.

 

[dave_o]

BC d20 Project + Wizards Am Rare.

Hey all, if you're interested in helping with a d20 Black Company project, gimmie an e-mail so I can begin building a database of victim-er...workers. I, off the bat, got an e-mail from an illustrator, which is typically one of the harder things to find.

And as my stance on wizards in The Black Company, true, they are rather powerful even in the beginning, but keep in mind most of their magic is based on illusion, and thus can't cause actual harm, then.

A while ago I slapped together some house rules for true names, and while they aren't at all complete, they give a pretty rad concept of them. They went something like:

1. Everyone who uses magic, ever, has their true name scribed into some massive cosmic scroll containing all true names.
2. As such, most magic-users use an alias and seek to destroy all remnants of their true name.

Alas, I made all the numbery things in 2E, but the use of someone's true name should call for all manner of Saves, and then add considerably to the DC of any spells cast against them.

But: E-MAIL ME IF YOU'RE INTERESTED!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Sure, but the BC wizards are like 100 years old. Well, One-Eye is. They're not apprentices, they're not greenhorns, they're all of them experienced wizards with years of working with the Black Company behind them. I would expect a starting wizard to be significantly less powerful than they are.

Gotcha.

And I think at this point I should shut up and read the books!

 

[barsoomcore]

I think at this point I should shut up and read the books!

So should I. Oh, damn, at work.

 

[dave_o]

Shameless, so shameless.

Just a shamless bump to keep this thread alive.

 

[Limper]

Magic in Cooks world.... the insanity/loss of humanity seems to be based on how far you push yourself. The Taken were very DRIVEN to greatness Goblin wasn't.


If you follow the link in my sig.... I'm off to make a forum header for this... Glittering Stone.

http://pub34.ezboard.com/flimperlandfrm14

I'll email you Dave_O when I can get on a fast line I'm doing this dial up.

*Edited to include a direct link*

 

[War Golem]

Cheers all!

Cook's Black Company series rocks. It's definitely near the top of my favorites list.

First off, anyone who is interested in the Black Company setting should be subscribed to the Glen Cook mailing list:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
To unsubscribe, subscribe, or access the archives of this list,
visit <http://www.xmission.com/~shpshftr/GC/GC-Mail.html >.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Lot of good stuff in there. In fact, just yesterday somebody posted an excellent overview of the Taken and the Shadowmasters in a thread entitled "List of Taken and Shadowmasters."

The campaign I've been running since 3e was released is called "Return of Khaos," and the main enemies, the 8 Khaos Lords, are loosely modeled after the Cook's Taken. I've been waiting for the Epic Level Handbook to stat them up, though. As well as the forvalaka.

I'm interested in helping out with cobbling together a d20 BC, but for the time being, probably more likely to serve in an editorial capacity rather than writing stuff up.

Cheers,

-War Golem

 

[drothgery]

Sure, but the BC wizards are like 100 years old. Well, One-Eye is. They're not apprentices, they're not greenhorns, they're all of them experienced wizards with years of working with the Black Company behind them. I would expect a starting wizard to be significantly less powerful than they are.

Of course, Shukrat was a teenage girl and pretty much One-Eye's equal magically, while at about the same age Tobo was a heavy-hitter at least on a level with the Taken; the twentysomething Lisa Bowalk was probably somewhere in between -- no weaker than Spidersilk, no stronger than Exile.