So, I have the schools of magic separated into Arcane and Divine schools. Under the Divine heading, currently, I have Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, and Necromancy. Arcane has Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, and Transmutation.
Last night, I decided it made more sense to have Necromancy draw from Constitution for mana instead of Faith. I also began asking the question, again, of whether it should be an Arcane school instead. There are arguments both ways, since it was established pretty soundly that in order to be a "true" Necromancer, you'd have to take both Cleric and Wizard in 3rd Edition. Evil Clerics could Rebuke and Command undead, and got some undead creation and manipulation, including the Cause X Wounds spells, which heal their created and controlled minions. Wizards, despite being able to specialize in Necromancy and having access to various negative energy spells such as Vampiric Touch, didn't have much that would allow them to build and control an undead army. Since I've put everything together into the different schools, though, a Necromancer in my game would have (what I think) all the abilities a Necromancer should have access to.
But that still doesn't tell me whether it should be Arcane or Divine in origin.
If I were to make it Arcane, that would mean I had 3 Divine and 5 Arcane schools, instead of 4 of each. I don't know if that would truly be an issue, for balance or other reasons. I had moved Abjuration to Divine only somewhat recently, in order to make the number even, since it made sense that the school dealing with shielding and protection would be more Divine-based (although I guess that depends both on your view of the gods and the views of your god). I could move it back, since the two groups would be asymmetrical anyway, which would give Mage Armor back to Arcane casters, or I could move another Arcane group to Divine instead.
The Arcane schools that I could most easily see becoming Divine (aside from Necromancy) are Enchantment and Transmutation. Enchantment holds most of the iconic benediction spells, such as Bless, but then every school has spells that were originally divine, including Evocation (Flame Strike). Transmutation, though it does have some very iconic Arcane/Wizard spells, is primarily based around enhancement spells at low levels.
Or, I could scrap this whole Divine/Arcane debate entirely. Several campaign settings have already decided that ALL magic comes from the gods, in one way or another. I could simply state that there is no appreciable difference between them.
Any input on this would be appreciated.
2 comments:
I prefer the categories you currently have.
Random speculation...
I see nothing wrong with your division of spells into these classes. I wanted to get that right out of the way.
On the other hand, I'm not going to be the one to tell a god that they cannot give their clerics any spell they want.
Nor am I going to tell a master sorcerer about his limitations.
So, no help, right? Except this: these classifications describe what is normal. Of course there can be exceptions - good luck finding one.
Another issue is the necromancy drawing upon constitution. This could be seen as an inconsistency, but I don't. The sorts of gods who approve of necromancy are exactly the kind who would demand a more meaningful sacrifice for said gifts.
There's also an issue, that Robin and I have tried to address, of overreaching. The amount of magical energy that a spellcaster can control is a maximum limit. What happens when you try to exceed that maximum? Nothing? Death for the mage? Spot judgement for the cleric? Coma for nine montrhs, for Merlin?
The rules you establish are guidelines - even for yourself. You are designing a role-play system, not a computer game.
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