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Most of the time the universe operates under fairly normal
physical laws. Things fall down. Broken items don't
jump back together into an unbroken whole. And enemies
certainly don't spontaneously catch fire. If you are a wizard
this is terribly upsetting state of affairs.
This does not mean that wizards are absolutely dissatisfied
with the laws of physics. They like it when gravity works in
their favor. They are just ego-maniacal enough to think that
the laws should only apply to them when it is
convenient.
The scary thing is that these hubris filled lunatics have
actually had some success getting the universe to bend to
their will. The fortunate thing for everyone else is that the
universe is a very unwilling accomplice in the schemes of
wizards. The universe wants to stay the same, it wants to
enforce the law of gravity, a body at rest tends to stay at
rest. Breaking these laws requires a
tremendous amount of energy.
Wizards have discovered five different ways to
consistently come up with the energy they need to cast their
spells. All wizards must use one of these five sources to
power their spells. The method that a particular wizard
uses is known as his or her "potentiality". Energy isn't free
and each potentiality comes with benefits and hindrances. See
below for a description of the five potentialities.
Once wizards had the energy necessary to alter the laws of
physics they immediately set about inventing new and
interesting things to do with it. Eventually wizards
interested in similar uses of magic banded together to study
together. They built schools to teach their particular use of
magical energy. These are the traditional eight schools of
magic and the type of magic a particular wizard studies is
known as his or her "specialty". Unlike other
games where the generalist "mage" exists all wizards must be
specialists. They are still entitled to the one bonus
spell per spell level from their specialty.
Wizards are clever people who wield great power. This tends to
make them natural schemers. Unfortunately this isn't exactly a
stabilizing force in wizard society. Scheming occasionally
deteriorates into outright warfare and that is often bad for
everyone involved. As such wizards are expected to extend
courtesy and occasionally accept orders from others who share
their specialty as well as those that share their
potentiality. This dual loyalty has served as a stabilizing
force within the wizarding community for centuries.
Channeler
Energy Source: Their own life
energy.
Benefit: Cannot be separated from their
power source (no magic dead zones). At higher levels they
can regenerate energy levels lost to undead or life draining
spells. As a last resort they can channel all of their life
energy, even the large portion they must usually retain to keep
themselves alive, into an enormous, cinematic, and
invariably fatal blast.
Hindrance: As they near the end of
their allotted spells they
become weak. This makes them particularly vulnerable at low
levels.
Other Notes: As part of their
training channelers burn down and
build up their life energy constantly, just as body
builders damage and repair their muscles repeatedly. As a
result their life force expands and they get better at
repairing damage to it.
Light Mage
Energy Source: An extradimensional
plane of positive energy
Benefit: Easy magic readily
available.
Hindrance: Working with positive
energy over time tends to stain
the skin and/or eyes purest white. This makes them readily
identifiable, which isn't a big problem.
Other Notes: The ability to tap into
the extradimensional plane used
by light mages is known to be inherited along the male
line.
Wild Mage
Energy Source: Energy for spells is
drawn from whatever source is
handy. Power can be pulled from extradimensional planes at
random, the energy for priest spells can be snatched as it
travels from a deity to a follower, the cores of stars can
be tapped, or any other source of energy
imaginable. Because of its unpredictable nature of the
energy received wild mages sometimes have trouble
controlling their spells.
Benefit: Wild magic effects sometimes
favor the
caster and/or his compatriots. Repeatedly touching the
vastness of all the energy
in existence often gives wild mages a keen insight into the
nature and structure of reality.
Hindrance: Wild magic effects
sometimes harm the
caster or his compatriots. Repeatedly touching the vastness
of all the energy
in existence often causes wild mages to act in a very
eccentric manner, and even drives some insane.
Other Notes: Wild mages are somewhat
controversial. Their
spellcasting can some times be accidentally dangerous. As
such they rarely find that large cities want them to set up
permanent residence.
Shadow Mage
Energy Source: An extradimensional
plane of negative energy
Benefit: Easy magic readily
available.
Hindrance: Working with negative
energy over time tends to stain
the skin and/or eyes darkest black. This makes them readily
identifiable, which isn't a big problem.
Other Notes: The ability to tap into
the extradimensional plane used
by shadow mages is known to be inherited along the female
line.
Defiler
Energy Source: The life energy of
plants and animals. At low levels
defilers kill plants and micro-organisms to power their
spells. Later the need for ever larger amounts of life
energy to power high level spells drive them to defoliate
huge areas and drain the life from small animals. At the
highest levels they resort to drawing the life energy from
people. [mechanic]
Benefit: Defiler's gain an initiative
advantage just by drawing
the energy they need for their spells [mechanic]. As the stolen
life energy courses through a defiler he feels more alive
than ever before. This euphoric state is craved above even
sex by many defilers. The sight of a ring of plants falling
to ash at the defilers feet before he smites his enemies is
just too damn cool.
Hindrance: Can be separated from their
power source when there is insufficient life in the
area. Defiling is considered
both dangerous and immoral by all civilized societies, and
is illegal everywhere.
Other Notes: Defilers work in small
groups, passing their forbidden
knowledge along to one another in secret. They often employ
illusion or other magics to hide their damage until they
leave the area so that they will not be easily spotted.
Information on specialties
forthcoming
It is basically as outlined in the PHB.
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