What if everyone was a sorcerer (gestalt concept)?

[NoWayJose]

Another thought. The D&D world is already quite unrealistic as is. Standard of living is way higher than in the middle ages. Democracy and equality are prevalent. Technology is more like renaissance-era. And somehow, tiny villages manage to survive in a terribly hostile world.

It seems to me that the standard D&D world is rather out of sync with the full implications of translating D&D rules into fiction.

However, if you take the real world middle ages, and give everyone a touch of sorcery, you might advance the standard of living by a few hundred years.

So the idea of sorcery-for-everyone is not necessarily all that world-altering, but simply may help prop up the believability of the average D&D setting as already exists now.

Furthermore, if sorcery-for-everyone is a relatively new phenomenon (several generations or so), you can introduce all sorts of powerful magics and assume it takes a few decades for it to take effect on society (similar to the way that it took a decade for cell phones and internet to change our modern society).

 

[SuperJebba]

Dude, that sounds like a really fun idea. A couple of things I would suggest:

1. I would reduce the number of spells known by everyone so things did not get too out of hand. I would maybe also reduce the number of spells per day by some, too.

2. I would only use the spellcasting and skill part of the sorcerer class. I wouldn't want everyone having a powerful will save. That might take some of the fun out of it.

3. I think a couple of people have suggested it, but allowing access to only one school might be cool. It would definitely create various classes and social dealings in your world. Enchanters, I think, may be powerful as well as maybe evokers. Necromancers might be frowned upon.

Either way, very cool idea, bro.

 

[Kaodi]

I think it is illogical to assume there would be no need for weapons or armour. Just because everyone can do magic does not mean everyone can make it work well or use it reliably or protect themselves with it. Rather, at the very least, I think leather armour and weapons with wooden hafts would still be prevalent because those materials do not conduct heat very well, and thus are going to afford the best general protection against offensive magics utilizing fire, cold, or electricity. General durability might be a bit of an issue, but if you live through a fight you probably take your time using the correct spells and rituals to repair them.

 

[Thunderfoot]

The current (4e) campaign I'm running is set in Eberron, so I'm quite familier with the low pervasive magic is quite common (which has many impacts) while big powerful magic is rare. The current campaign I'm running focusses primarily on The Church of the Silver Flame and eventually political wrangling etc. - so I will be going for a completely different, probably more exploratory tone in my next game.

So, it sounds like you have everything on the ball.

 

[Mika]

In regard to gestalt sorcerers and a society where everybody is a sorcerer -- we don't have to assume that charisma has the same distribution in the population that it would in a normal game. I could easily see going with the assumption that the standard random roll for this attribute is 2d4+10 or 2d6+8. Most player characters would either be well above or well below average in terms of sorcerous ability, depending on whether they decide to focus on or downplay their sorcerous halves.

 

[Mort]

Dude, that sounds like a really fun idea. A couple of things I would suggest:

1. I would reduce the number of spells known by everyone so things did not get too out of hand. I would maybe also reduce the number of spells per day by some, too.

Something to consider - though sorcerers don't get that many spells and it's going to also depend on prime stat distribution.

2. I would only use the spellcasting and skill part of the sorcerer class. I wouldn't want everyone having a powerful will save. That might take some of the fun out of it.

That's a good point.

3. I think a couple of people have suggested it, but allowing access to only one school might be cool. It would definitely create various classes and social dealings in your world. Enchanters, I think, may be powerful as well as maybe evokers. Necromancers might be frowned upon.

Certainly something along these lines. Perhaps most people only have access to 1 school, a rare few have 2 or so and certain rare (exceptional) individuals have all of them (hence the breeding programs etc.) - Something along the Mistborn series by Sanderson perhaps.

Either way, very cool idea, bro.

thanks!

 

[Mort]

In regard to gestalt sorcerers and a society where everybody is a sorcerer -- we don't have to assume that charisma has the same distribution in the population that it would in a normal game. I could easily see going with the assumption that the standard random roll for this attribute is 2d4+10 or 2d6+8. Most player characters would either be well above or well below average in terms of sorcerous ability, depending on whether they decide to focus on or downplay their sorcerous halves.

That's a good thought. Depends on how long the magic has been around (how many generations etc.) And also what the nature of it is - something for the players to discover perhaps? But certainly if everyone for generations has developed a certain talent, the stat for that talent might be significantly higher than the norm of other campaigns.

 

[Achan hiArusa]

That is an idea for a Magitech game based on Modern d20. I had the idea of letting the characters choose a base spell casting stat and then using the bonus spells or the spells available to a caster of their level (which ever is lower) or basing access of spellpoints/spell levels on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft.