So, I’ve been thinking about how to go about converting the various classes from Pathfinder to DW. I’ve already done the Cavalier and Summoner, and I’ve been wondering about the Sorcerer and Oracle. I want to find a balance between the Wizard and the Mage. So here’s what I have so far:
You’re able to write up a limited number of spells based on your bloodline or divine mystery, such as breathing fire for a draconic bloodline or a blinding light from the heavens mystery. Basically, you write an effect and choose a range. Also, to replace losing the spell, they have a Hold called Fury or Divinity that represents their battle of wills to keep their heritage or blessing in check.
What do you guys think?
Sub, I’ll answer later!
/sub
To clarify, you take a penalty to your CHA on everything except casting equal to your Fury/Divinity, and if your Fury/Divinity exceeds your CHA, your spells automatically spiral out of control.
Interesting stuff. I’m not connected to Pathfinder at all so I can’t be of any use here, but I do like conversions.
Good luck on your quest!
Thanks Matt Smith. Basically the Sorcerer and Oracle are the spontaneous caster variants of the Wizard and Cleric, but (from a character’s perspective) their area of focus is not of their choosing.
Can you say more about the core idea/archetype/identity of the class and why you can’t do them with existing classes.
So the Wizard gets their power from studying arcane tomes and such. The Cleric gets power from devotion to a deity.
The Sorcerer has magic in their blood, constantly boiling under the surface. They have to fight it to keep it under control, or let it flow, regardless of the consequences.
The Oracle has had their power bestowed upon them by a deity, whether they want it or not. They may not even know who their deity is, if there are multiple deities with similar portfolios.
Sorcerer, Mage with compendium classes that activate extra abilities of your bloodline.
Hmm, I was thinking that the Mage would work, but then I had heard stories of how disruptive it could be in play. Though it probably would be easiest to do it that way.
Define disruptive please. I am not to big of a fan of the Mage because of the damage output but I’d like explanation.
I’ve heard they up the ante ridiculously. They can do most things, provided they describe it the right way. Consider the following:
GM: There are 2 ogres in front of you, axes raised.
Fighter: I charge!!!
Mage: Hold up a sec, let me:
– rip the flesh from their bones (The Abyss)
– freeze them in time (The Clock)
– forsee that they won’t attack us (The Stars)
Just to give a couple of examples. I get that they may fail, and if they do, the GM will be allowed to lay down the craziest hard move available, but until they do, it can get really crazy, really quick. My two cents.
Rip flesh from their bones sounds like black magic to me, (weave a spell to inflict harm). The other two aren’t as big a problem. Don’t know if the scry spell even works because you could only see the future, not decide it.
And don’t you always have problems, with the spell, even on a 10+?
Oh, yeah it does sound more like black magic. And yeah, it does cause problems. I don’t know how I missed that. But even that seems off to me. Isn’t a 10+ supposed to be a total success?
Depends on the power of the move. Just look at elemental mastery. Same power level.
Fair enough. I’ll see if doing a variant or two fixes what I wanted to cover, concept-wise.
The Human racial move also doesn’t work because why couldn’t someone offer a spellcsting as parley?
I think the key word there is always.
You can always offer a casted spell as leverage. Why couldn’t you?
I’m saying that the leverage would always work if you’re a human Mage. Even if you were an elf Mage, it wouldn’t always be accepted as leverage.
But that is just stupid to me. Taking to an extreme level you could say “Hey king. i will cast light for you if you give me the kingdom”
That makes no sense in the fiction. If you can cast a spell for that person then they will see it as leverage.
Johnstone Metzger made a great point why these kind of moves are harmful to the game over on story-games.
A “always work” tool is extremly powerful because you can use it for every situation. You never have to worry about leverage again. ever!
I leads to repetitive play.
You can always just cast a spell. Doesn’t even have to be a meaningful one by strict interpretation.
Yeah, I see what you’re saying.
Getting leverage shouldn’t be that hard. Most times you have something others want and casting a spell is often an option. With giving this option to the human you are either kind of deniyng it to the elf (by proxy) or cheapen the human move because elfs can do it to in 88% of chances.
Yeah, if I get around to mucking around with it for the sorcerer and oracle, I’m gonna change it.
you could look at the priest too when you are thinking about the oracle. In the end they could just be Wizards and Clerics with different fluff. Maybe they don’t have to commune/study but get their spells just by a good nights rest. Really, the main difference of sorcerers and wizards is the way they cast spells. There is some bloodline vs. metamagic thing going on but this can be done with additional class moves easily. Maybe make a Chaotic Outburst move for sorcerers to replace ritual. Base it on Elemental Mastery/Animal Summoning.
Don’t know to much about the oracle and how iconic/needed it is in comparison to a cleric. Maybe give them a moral code they need to follow instead of a god with petition. Same thing, different flavour.
Hmm, yeah. I’m going to need to give these some thought. Thanks for all the input!
i think the MAgical Outblast vs. Ritual is quite a good idea and an easy hack. Tie their casting to CHA and give them 2-3 advanced moves to do stuff with cha instead of the wizard stuff with int and bob is your uncle.
Yeah, that would actually work wonderfully.