Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr Simon" data-source="post: 3598769" data-attributes="member: 21938">"Wizard" essentially means "Wise Man", hence the image of an old geezer dispensing advice. Gandalf was definitely a 'wizard' in this respect and you can be sure that Tolkien was very specific in using this term - Gandalf's main power was not in magic but in giving counsel, his powers of fire (which are possibly via his ring anyway) are as much about 'firing up the hearts and courage of men (sorry Men)' as they are about fireballs. The term Wizard has probably stuck to Merlin for the same reason.On a game-related note, it's interesting to consider the changes to the magic system in Arcana Evolved when thinking about D&D 'sacred cows'. From Monte Cook's design diaries, it's apparent that some elements of the Wizard class are holdovers from D&D, kept for the sake of familiarity.d4 Hit dice, for example, make for a very tricky disparity in hit points when you get to higher levels.The other interesting element of AE is to do away with the arcane/divine division. All spellcasters can potentially access the same list of spells, but this can be varied through feats that unlock spells with certain descriptors. The requirements for the spells varies with the caster, not the spell.  Whereas D&D spells are discerned with V,S and M components (and DF,XP), in AE it depends what your spellcasting class is as to what components you need.  Only Witches, for example, use material components. They can cast without them but it takes longer. Magisters have a staff as a focus, again casting takes longer without it. Magisters always use somatic components andt thus face spell failure checks from armour. Greenbonds, on the other hand, only have a verbal component (a call to the spirits) and thus don't suffer armour penalties.Whether you are a healer, a flash-bang caster or a mix is down to how you choose your spells (and some feats).</blockquote>

Verification