Okay, we've come to the point in this little series where I'm going to have to discuss the magic system. This is something of a problem, because the main problem I have with D&D, the primary source of all my rage and aggravation, the one irredeemable suppurating turdbag that forever sets me at odds with the game and ultimately prevent me from overlooking any of it other flaws however minor, is the magic system.
It's a curious phenomena, which applies to pretty much everything, be it games systems, stories, tv shows or whatever. Any particular item can be riddled with flaws of varying degrees of obviousness that we, as fans, players or whatever, can simply ignore. But there comes a point where one thing will just sit wrong with us, for whatever reason. And once we hit that particular barrier, all the other issues (which we can and have ignored in similar situations) suddenly become magnified and we can no longer overlook them. I'm sure there's a fancy term for it somewhere. In terms of stories it might be termed the point at which our suspension of disbelief finally snaps. The thing that calls our attention to the items shortcomings with full force, an error so glaring that our full analytic focus MUST be brought to bare, thus exposing those other minor issues to it's full fury. The stimulus for this action is different for different people of course, depending on taste and temperament, but I guess what I'm basically trying to say is that the magic system of D&D sucks SO HARD it made me write a multi part series of posts slating the whole game.
Which is, I suppose, some sort of achievement.
So, what's the problem exactly?
Oh dear oh dear, where do we begin? It fails so utterly at nearly every level it can be hard to establish a good starting place. Well, why not start with the spell lists themselves, and move from there onto the really big stuff?
The magic in D&D is broadly divided into 2 types, Arcane and Divine. Whilst there is a fair degree of overlap between the two, there are still a large amount of spells that can only be accessed by the appropriate type, or more specifically by one it's myriad number of tediously unnecessary subclasses. Other than the fact that they're spelled differently, Arcane and Divine spells are mechanically identical in their execution. The basic rational behind this rather arbitrary dividing up of the available spells is, as far as I have been able to determine, based around the principle of "Because fuck you, that's why". So if you for example want to play a Necromancer (which you may have noticed is something that I personally like to do a lot) you better learn to deal with the fact that you will only ever have half a spell list.
Although of course, as a necromancer that's only the start of your problems. Because of course, as a wizard trained specifically in the necromantic arts, you will never actually be as good at dealing with the undead as a cleric of Deirdre, Goddess Of Lawn Gnomes.
It is a given that all Clerics in D&D can heal and turn undead. Which you might suppose is fair enough until you stop for a moment to wonder what it is that they're actually Clerics OF. After all, does it REALLY make much sense for the God Of Murder to give his priesthood access to Cure Light Wounds? Turn Undead is fine I suppose for a Cleric of the God Of Pissing Off Necromancers, but are ALL the gods really that... focused? Surely a Cleric of the God Of Fire should have abilities with a somewhat more incendiary theme?
Of course, that's just what the Clerics get in addition to their spell lists. The spell list itself is another issue. The problem I have here is that the divine spells work in EXACTLY the same way as the arcane ones. The way they are prepared, stored and used is functionally identical. The question here of course is why? After all, a Cleric isn't using arcane knowledge, magical aptitude or sheer force of will to manipulate the world around him. He's asking god to do it for him. Yet the mechanics don't reflect this is the slightest. If you're going to divide up the magic in this way then the two different types should feel different and distinct, both in terms of flavour, mechanics, functionality and effect. You are, after all, vying for the attention of a supremely powerful entity. An act of truly DIVINE magic should be a rare and wondrous thing, extremely difficult to achieve and awesome in scope. A character should have to strictly follow the tennents of his religion, and act in such a way as to garner the attention of his deity. They do, after all, have the totality of all creation to keep them occupied. Gaining and maintaining divine favour should be a challenge in itself, but one that has a worthwhile reward, be it increasing the fortunes of the adherents as the eye of god slowly comes to focus upon them, or simply some earth moving act of divine wrath in the final chapter.
Which is not to say of course that it's only the attentions of ones own particular patron that you might attract in the course of fulfilling ones sacred duties. After all, even the dark gods of the abyss might sit up and take notice should you interfere with plans enough...
So, thus far we've established that there really ought to be more to distinguish the divine from the arcane than a simple annotation on a spell description. But what of the arcane magic itself? Surely we can find more to nitpick there?
Well, obviously the answer is yes. And we're going to start with an issue of class.
Now, I know I've already had a crack at
Now, there are of course arguments to made for settings where everyone has a magical talent. Or they COULD have, but the truth is being repressed by whatever dark force happens to be the enemy today. Indeed, there is some good story mileage in putting the argument that the Divine and Arcane spell lists aren't actually separate at all, that's just what the authorities SAY. But these are largely questions of setting, not mechanics. And mechanically Sorcerers simply don't work, because they're just the same as Wizards. They don't so much have a raw unfocussed talent for wild magic as a shorter spell list. And, since they draw from the same pool of spells as the actual wizards, there really is no sense of separation or significant difference between the two. Aside from maybe there's slightly less paperwork involved, but that's hardly representative of in game world building.
Now, I suppose at this point many people might feel like making the point that magic is, well, magical. And thus can do pretty much whatever the fuck it likes. And this SHOULD be true. But that's not the FEEL you get in game. Rather than having this weird melting pot of strangeness where nobody quite knows what's going on or how it works, we instead have everything nicely measured out and contained in it's various little categories. All separate and defined and clinical.
So how should it work? Well, as I say, ditch the pointless separation of Sorcerer and Wizard (and any other word that could potentially mean spellcaster). Then just let players choose magical aptitude and magical training as elements of character creation. Your basic untrained Sorcerer type for example might be able to cast some form of fireball. But if he receives wizardly training he can then learn to to it better, and also a few applications of the pyromantic arts that maybe he hadn't thought of himself, adding new applications and techniques to his repertoire.
Think of it like this: A Sorcerer is like someone who can play the piano. A Wizard is someone who can do that AND read the sheet music.
There is more to be said, but I feel I've run out of space here. So you'll just have to wait until next time for the rest.
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