While I love how the Academy Sorcerer deals with the Realms of Sorcery, I wanted to present an alternate take that could be used with the Academy Sorcerer, based on the idea of Bloodline Feats. We'll just call these Sorcerer Feats for now.
The idea here is to create feats that sorcerers (and bards?) could take that would give them a bonus spell per spell level that they may learn. Note that they still cast the same amount of spells. In a way, it would be like how a mystic gains spells through his domain (save that you wouldn't get a domain power).
You would, of course, have to provide some sort of limit to this. My thought is to either only allow this once at 1st level, or to allow this multiple times, but with a limit (i.e. a number of times equal to Int modifier).
Anyway, this is an idea that has precedent in Dragon, could accent the Academy Sorcerer prestige class, and could give a bit of that SAGA magic feel to sorcerers, whether they study at the Academy of Sorcery or not.
Thoughts?
The "only at 1st level" limit doesn't quite make sense, since you're talking about something which in the past has been something of a developed or learned trait, not something innate. What might work is to have the feat grant the sorcerer an additional number of bonus spells based on Charisma, much as Charisma presently increases the number of spells cast per day (see Player's Handbook, p8). These spells must all be spells that fall within the sorcery realm's type (spells with the fire descriptor for pyromancy, etc).
So, a 6th-level sorcerer with 16 Charisma would normally cast 6 0-level, 7 1st-level (6 plus 1 for high Cha), 6 2nd-level (5 plus 1 for high Cha), and 4 3rd-level spells (3 plus 1 for high Cha). They would know 7 0-level spells, 4 1st-level spells, 2 2nd-level spells and 1 3rd-level spell. With one of these sorcery feats, the sorcerer would gain an additional 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spell of a given type. Once the sorcerer reached 8th level, the point at which a sorcerer can start to cast 4th-level spells, he wouldn't get a bonus 4th-level spell known unless his Charisma had increased to 18.
Cheers,
Cam
Originally posted by Old Sage
Which issues of Dragon are you talking about?.
Dragon #311. It's an article called "Arcane Ancestry: Bloodline Feats for the Sorcerer".
Now to address some of Cam's comments...
There are existing feats which provide a more limited bonus, such as the Extra Spell feat from Tome & Blood which is exacly what it says - you get a single bonus spell known. Compare this to getting a free spell at every level you know, and you see the potential problem.
Sounds like you're saying the article in Dragon is both imbalanced and overpowered. lol
To be fair, we can also compare this to some of the feats in d20 Modern, which give you an innate ability to cast 0-level spells, or manifest 0-level psionic powers. You get no more than 3 spells/powers (depending on the particular feat), and they're all 0-level.
The "only at 1st level" limit doesn't quite make sense, since you're talking about something which in the past has been something of a developed or learned trait, not something innate.
Just a thought to help balance everything out. I would say, though, that some sorcerers see magic as more innate.
Ah, well. Whatever. It was just a thought.
Originally posted by Dragonhelm
Sounds like you're saying the article in Dragon is both imbalanced and overpowered. lol
Yes, that's often the case!
Just a thought to help balance everything out. I would say, though, that some sorcerers see magic as more innate.
Not so much in Dragonlance, where it's something that needs to be explored, practiced, studied, unlocked, and relies on pulling power from outside sources. I think the number of wizards in DL who believe their magic comes from within is about the same - there's all that talk of the magic being in a wizard's blood, etc etc.
Cheers,
Cam
Dragon #311. It's an article called "Arcane Ancestry: Bloodline Feats for the Sorcerer".
Confound it...
, it had to be the one issue of Dragon that I actually missed this year...Anyway, is there any possibility of getting some details on what this article was talking about, and the basics of how these 'Bloodlines' feats work?.
Originally posted by Old Sage
Dragonhelm said -
Confound it...
Don't you just hate when that happens?
Anyway, is there any possibility of getting some details on what this article was talking about, and the basics of how these 'Bloodlines' feats work?.
Here's a quote from the article, which helps to set the stage...
"A sorcerer's bloodline represents the ancestry from which he draws his arcane power."
The idea is to expand upon a concept in the PHB (that sorcerers gain magic through having dragon blood in their veins). This article goes beyond that, saying you can have any number of types of ancestors, and that this allows for the sorcerer to have an extra spell known per level.
You can have bloodlines like Air Bloodline (ancestor was a creature of elemental air), Celestial Bloodline (ancestor was a good outsider), Draconic Bloodline (dragon), Fey Bloodline, and so on and so forth.
It's a neat way to add a bit of flavor to a character, and provide some role-playing opportunities as the character comes to terms with his heritage.
Note: After looking at the article, it says that one can only choose one base bloodline feat (there are feats which expand upon the base ones).
My thought was that a similar concept could be used for DL, where the sorcerer takes on a Sorcerer Feat (for lack of better terms), allowing them affinity with one of the Realms of Sorcery. So, for example, a sorcerer could take a Pyromancer feat, and gain an extra fire-based spell known per level.
Now I actually have something to work with.