By the way, the description of said aurak's alternate form ability has left me somewhat confused: it states that an aurak can only assume the form of a Medium or Small animal, but then speaks about assuming a humanoid form. Does aurak assume a humanoid or an animal form, or can it assume both?
Cheers.
Does this also include natural sorcerers, like dragons, who usually have sorcerer levels as given? For example, could an aurak experience an epiphany and change his 7 effective sorcerer levels into 7 effective wizard levels?
Theoretically, yes. I doubt very much that a true dragon would, however! An aurak or bozak might, depending on the individual, but one thing to be aware of is that "natural" sorcerers are innately attuned to the magic of the world, and unlike mortal (i.e. human, elven, etc) sorcerers, they don't need Chaos' energies present in the world to use it. This is why dragons can cast spells before the Chaos war, and sorcerers and mystics can't.
By the way, the description of said aurak's alternate form ability has left me somewhat confused: it states that an aurak can only assume the form of a Medium or Small animal, but then speaks about assuming a humanoid form. Does aurak assume a humanoid or an animal form, or can it assume both?.
Auraks can only animal forms with their alternate form. They use disguise self to assume humanoid forms.
Cheers,
Cam
Anyways, I ended up having them do an "epiphany" and do wizard levels instead of sorceror levels. To me, it just would be way too much of a nerfing to make them keep all their "inborn" sorcerer levels. The draconians were given way too many "virtual" levels to show their "natural tendencies" to certain classes.
Also I didnt like the fact of a WoHS using ambient magic, even if it is inborn. I guess if a dragon wanted to use wizardry magic instead of sorcery, I'd have them do an "epiphany" of sorts also *shrug*. To me its all the same.
I bought Dragonlance Campaign Setting just a couple of days ago, and as such, I've been out of touch with the rulings for that setting for a long time (I've never played any other Dragonlance RPG besides SAGA, in any case). I noticed that the sorcerers and mystics of Dragonlance are offered a chance to change their sorcerer/mystic levels into wizard/cleric levels by the decree of the gods. Does this also include natural sorcerers, like dragons, who usually have sorcerer levels as given? For example, could an aurak experience an epiphany and change his 7 effective sorcerer levels into 7 effective wizard levels?
I wouldn't allow it.
Creatures with innate spellcasting ability (such dragons that cast as sorcerers, ghaele eladrins that cast as clerics, nymphs that cast as druids, etc) aren't actually members of the spellcasting class whose spells they mimic, so they can have no epiphany with regards to changing ambient magic for focused, or vice-versa.
Their spellcasting powers are reflective of their innate and highly magical nature; it's as much a part of them, and as unchangeable as a human's ability to and need for breath, sleep, food, etc.
Ultimately the decision is up to you, but just realize you are changing a foundation on which the beliefs and workings of the campaign world revolve, and prepare to address any ramifications of which that may arise.
Also, though the idea of a draconian occupying a seat on the Conclave isn't impossible, remember that the attitude of most draconians towards any god is tainted by their malevolence towards the late Takhisis. They have a very justified distrust of any deity and prefer to rely on the gifts they were born with. The idea of a Red Robed Aurak is a decent one, I really like it, but I would never place him on the Conclave, at least not so soon after the Orders have been reestablished, after all, there are many mages that were apprentices before the Second Cataclysm and still retained their legacy. The Black Robe idea doesn't strike me though, any draconian that still held onto evil values would either stick with his sorcerous powers or devote himself to another evil deity as a cleric, Bozaks especially. The idea of Dalamar deiging to have a draconian wearing the Robes rubs me the wrong way.
The draconians have existed since their creation basically as one type of culture. I like to think that now, 100+ years after their creation they have moved on to freewill and basically can choose any path they want to. I personally would find it weird that *no* draconians would take up wizardry. I like to see my draconians in my world taking an active appraoch to assimilating into the everyday culture, like all the other races. My PC's are starting to see draconian adventures, draconian businesses, etc... they may not be as prolific as say elven and dwarven cultures, but my PC's will see an occasional draconian thing.
Now onto the Conclave thing. At the end of The Conclave, there were 18 wizards left... in the world. Now, when I made up my Conclave and who sat n it, I said roughly about 15 of those 18 were put permanently on the new Conclave. That leaves 6 seats vacant. I wanted to see more of a diverse culture to the new Conclave also. So I figured I would add a draconian, an aurak, to it now.. who has chosen to go through an epiphany and give up sorceror levels for wizard levels. This made him up there in wizard spells, so with a few more wizard levels added on, he certainly was good enough to sit on the Conclave. Added a Bozak for the black robes(not on the conclave) so that it wouldnt turn into a "every draconian has accepted the Light) or whatever scenario.
heh I dont know how you run your campaigns, but in mine, the WoHS are just trying to start up again. There are roughly 70 current wizards in the world. 21 members in the Conclave, with each having 1-2 apprentices. That makes about 52 right there or so. And there are a few adventures and others that are out in the world doing things. As I explained to my Black Robe PC who is 11th level, you are unique because most wizards in my Dragonlance campaign are eaither up there around 17th level, or down there around 1-6th level. This is why his party keeps getting contacted to do things for the WoHS.. they dont really have a lot of options. So personally, I have no problem with dalamar accepting a willing student who really wanted to learn wizardry. Sorcerers outnumber wizards by so much its not even funny. You dont think each of the robes would be out recruiting as much as possible? *shrug* everyone's campaign is different.
Personally I dont see anything "profound" about changing out the levels. Anytime someone changes something from the original Dragonlance rules, it can make an impact.. but its not really that hard to deal with. Everyone has things they feel are just fine to change and other things they woulnd tchange because they think it takes away from the Dragonlance flavour. An epiphany so that a draconian wizard doesnt suck so much, doesnt bother me in the least. The Bozak and Aurak, along with most of the noble draconians, were given so many dang "virtual levels" in classes, that its hard for them to really be in certain classes. Its possible to play an Aurak wizard without an epiphany, but it would sorely hamper them compared to a wizard of the same level. Some people may see this as just fine, and the cost is there to curtail abuse or something..I dunno. But to me, I'd rather make as many options viable as possible, and let my PC's then choose what they would like to do. I guess I just don't see how it alters so much
Oh yeah by the way True_Blue, check out my sig.
So, the point I am trying to make, I guess, is that perhaps dragons don't always have to be sorcerers, but choose to be because of the versatility and because they were just around before High Sorcery and the Holy Orders and didn't feel like switching. I know this goes against the whole greater connectedness fact, but maybe the spellcasting doesn't come from their blood, but an innate ability to control the powers of Krynn, whether focused or ambient. This is how their descendents (sorta), the draconians, can have divine spellcasters, and even ones that use focused spellcasting. So, it would be plausible for a dragon or draconian to undergo an epiphany, but most choose not to.
You know, I kinda just thought of something. Why are lightning draconians able to be focused casters innately, yet no other draconians are able to be.
Blame Jamie.
Actually, dragon magic isn't as simply qualified in the same terms as the basic four that mortal magic is usually qualified as. Some dragons, notably the metallics and more powerful chromatics, can know spells from certain clerical domains or the cleric spell list and cast them as sorcerer spells. What this essentially means is that for dragons, all ambient magic is more or less the same to them, untouched by Chaos, drawn as part of their innate connection with the world and the gods who created it. For game purposes we just use sorcerer levels to explain it - in Dragonlance, with the addition of the mystic class (which is not part of core D&D, and thus not in the Monster Manual) many dragons may in fact be mystics. It makes little difference, however, because they don't have to worry about the other features of those classes.
Draconians, as creatures created from dragons, are similarly positioned. A bozak can cast spells as a legacy of his bronze dragon "parent", which in turn is because of the dragon's nature. Bozaks cast as sorcerers in any age. It just so happens that in the time before the Chaos War, everybody assumed they were casting spells like wizards (ditto for dragons in general). And for their part, they were told it was a gift from Takhisis, which as we know is false.
Cheers,
Cam