ryancaveney
04-23-2003, 06:44 PM
On Tue, 22 Apr 2003, Adam Theo wrote:
> I`m thinking of changing the BR world a good bit by making elves
> mostly druids, rangers, and bards when it comes to spell-casting.
> Wizards still exist, but are only those few elves who are very
> studious and spend more time with books than out among nature. The
> Elven favored class will be Bard to represent most elves dabbling in
> lots of things, including magic, song, and dance. Druids will be the
> elite healers and magical defenders, while rangers are the elite
> scouts and martial defenders.
I think this is a really good idea.
> I figured this fit with the elven magic as it is described in the
> books, and with the elven view towards magic and nature, than arcane
> wizards and sorcerers.
Most definitely, yes!
> My only concern is that I still like the thought that elves prefer the
> sorcerer and bardic style of spontaneous casting rather than
> memorizing like a wizard or druid. Any ideas on how to convert the
> druid class to cast spontaneously like a sorcerer?
You could just say they do and leave it at that! I think any resulting
balance worries could be solved simply by changing the animal
transformation ability into just another spell, and perhaps dropping the
hit die from a d8 to a d6. Kenneth`s suggestion of making everyone
channelers is also a fine way to go.
IMC, the line I draw is that casters of true magic (dragons, giants, elves
and blooded members of other species) don`t need to memorize, regardless
of class (whether wizards, sorcerers, priests, bards or whatever), but
casters of lesser magic (unblooded non-elf/dragon/giants) do need to
memorize, again regardless of class. Yes, it could be argued that this
makes elves more powerful in yet another way, but I`m cool with that --
since I`d never run a campaign with both elves and non-elves in the same
party, I`m really not that concerned about balancing them against the
other races. OTOH, since it also means I`ve dropped memorization from
wizards and blooded priests, I`ve made all the other races stronger, too.
The distinction I am inclined to make between wizard and sorcerer is not
spontaneity of casting, but rather degree of specialization -- sorcerers
know many fewer spells, but they are better at them as well as cast them
more often. Either that or scrap sorcerers entirely.
> perhaps take the Sorcerer spell per day and spells known, but allow
> elven druids to change their spells known once a month (at a night of
> a full moon),
I think fewer spells per day but greater variety would be a better fit.
My primary objection to treating the Sidhelien as sorcerers has always
been that I think there should be no limit on what they know how to do.
They might not always be as powerful as the humans, but at least they
ought to be more versatile.
> That way if the elf knows what they are going to be facing in the
> following month, they can change their known spells out,
Requiring prior planning a whole month in advance I think really goes
against the Sidhelien culture. Having them be slow to decide to act is
good, but having them unable swiftly to change their minds is bad.
> The rjurik "druids" will actually just be clerics of a nature god
> (Erik), with some minor changes to enhance that.
This I`ve always supported.
Ryan Caveney
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> I`m thinking of changing the BR world a good bit by making elves
> mostly druids, rangers, and bards when it comes to spell-casting.
> Wizards still exist, but are only those few elves who are very
> studious and spend more time with books than out among nature. The
> Elven favored class will be Bard to represent most elves dabbling in
> lots of things, including magic, song, and dance. Druids will be the
> elite healers and magical defenders, while rangers are the elite
> scouts and martial defenders.
I think this is a really good idea.
> I figured this fit with the elven magic as it is described in the
> books, and with the elven view towards magic and nature, than arcane
> wizards and sorcerers.
Most definitely, yes!
> My only concern is that I still like the thought that elves prefer the
> sorcerer and bardic style of spontaneous casting rather than
> memorizing like a wizard or druid. Any ideas on how to convert the
> druid class to cast spontaneously like a sorcerer?
You could just say they do and leave it at that! I think any resulting
balance worries could be solved simply by changing the animal
transformation ability into just another spell, and perhaps dropping the
hit die from a d8 to a d6. Kenneth`s suggestion of making everyone
channelers is also a fine way to go.
IMC, the line I draw is that casters of true magic (dragons, giants, elves
and blooded members of other species) don`t need to memorize, regardless
of class (whether wizards, sorcerers, priests, bards or whatever), but
casters of lesser magic (unblooded non-elf/dragon/giants) do need to
memorize, again regardless of class. Yes, it could be argued that this
makes elves more powerful in yet another way, but I`m cool with that --
since I`d never run a campaign with both elves and non-elves in the same
party, I`m really not that concerned about balancing them against the
other races. OTOH, since it also means I`ve dropped memorization from
wizards and blooded priests, I`ve made all the other races stronger, too.
The distinction I am inclined to make between wizard and sorcerer is not
spontaneity of casting, but rather degree of specialization -- sorcerers
know many fewer spells, but they are better at them as well as cast them
more often. Either that or scrap sorcerers entirely.
> perhaps take the Sorcerer spell per day and spells known, but allow
> elven druids to change their spells known once a month (at a night of
> a full moon),
I think fewer spells per day but greater variety would be a better fit.
My primary objection to treating the Sidhelien as sorcerers has always
been that I think there should be no limit on what they know how to do.
They might not always be as powerful as the humans, but at least they
ought to be more versatile.
> That way if the elf knows what they are going to be facing in the
> following month, they can change their known spells out,
Requiring prior planning a whole month in advance I think really goes
against the Sidhelien culture. Having them be slow to decide to act is
good, but having them unable swiftly to change their minds is bad.
> The rjurik "druids" will actually just be clerics of a nature god
> (Erik), with some minor changes to enhance that.
This I`ve always supported.
Ryan Caveney
************************************************** **************************
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