Dragonslayers - The Story of the Gallowblades [Medieval Fantasy Roleplay]

[A Man Is No One]

@Cube

So how are we coming on that initial work up? Did I miss the drop?

[Cube]

@ELGainsborough Writing it up this evening/tonight after work! I'll post in here when it's up, no worries.

[Keksalot]

@Cube
so hold on, after all these limitations,
is there any sort of incentive to actually use magic or play a mage character?
from what i have gleaned, mages are pitifully weak, horribly limited, incapable of acting if there's so much as a damn fly buzzing anywhere nearby, shunned by society at large and incapable of anything that justifies all of their limitations or time it takes to study this shit
do you "limit" magic because you don't want gish-type swordmage characters to be a thing or because you specifically don't want magic to be featured in-game but still want the game to have monsters n shit like that because that can only be justified IC by the world being magical?

[Cube]

@Keksalot Hey man, no one's forcing you to take part in this. If you don't like the rules, you don't have to play. Hahaha.

That being said, I don't think I've made wizards "pitifully weak." I just don't let them become stupidly powerful. I think someone being able to shoot a burst of flames from the palms of their hands is pretty powerful in and of itself. I mean, what could possibly be dangerous to a wizard if they have the ability to heal all their wounds, resurrect the dead, shoot things with lightning, and control their foes' minds all in the run of a day? Not much. I want the world this this takes place in to be genuinely dangerous because nature itself is dangerous, not "because magic." The ability to alter the world around you with unknown powers should be a unique and possibly deadly ability, and I don't want just any average Joe to be able to use it. I don't want chef Jordon Hamsay at the local inn to be able to light up his meals with his fingertip, but I do want the great sage who's studied the arcane his whole life to be able to cast and control man-made fire.

Don't get me wrong, I love wizards and magic in fantasy, but I also like there to be a hint of realism to my fantasy settings (I know, I know.)

As I said in other posts, I'm tired of seeing wizards be these insanely powerful people in almost every fantasy universe. It just never made much logical sense to me that some 22-year-old orphan can burn his enemies alive while also deflecting incoming arrows with his sword, just because he's a main character.

This is a low-magic setting, if you need a name for it. Think of Conan the Barbarian, for example. Magic exists, but it's very unhinged, unpredictable, and can't be used regularly. If that's not up your alley, you do you my guy. This probably wouldn't be the roleplay for you, in that case. I totally encourage players who want to use a magical character, but, like I said before, I don't want that character to be able to just cast his way around everything I throw at them. It's a balance thing. In the same breath, if someone is thinking of playing 18-year-old Joe Blow who wield a hammer the size of a tree in one hand, I wouldn't be accepting that, either.

As for your notion that I just want to have monsters for the sake of having monsters, that's not the case, either. I explained that mana exists in the air, and that it can somehow seep out into the world. Unicorns wouldn't necessarily be magical beings, but a breed of wild horse that evolved over time due to some exposure to raw mana. The arachs, which play a major role here, aren't your steretypical dragon. They don't breathe fire, or any typical fantasy trope. They're just really big, dangerous reptiles.

There's just as much incentive to play a wizard here as there is to play a warrior. In fact, I'd argue that there's not as much incentive to play a warrior over a mage in other settings, because of how limitless magic is. Why be a regular thief when ou can just study a book or two and turn yourself invisible? Why be a regular warrior when you can take a week off, and learn to magically buff yourself up, no training required? Those are the things I want to avoid. I want this world to feel like something you can actually live in, and feel how dangerous a medieval world actually is, even with access to magic.

[Keksalot]

@Cube
No, no. I do not actively criticize your game.
I am merely asking how is playing a mage incentivized in this game? As you've assumed, in your vision of classic high fantasy, there is no reason for a warrior to be a warrior because he can, allegedly, simply study some magic and buff himself up.
In this game, what are the reasons for a wizard to take up the path of a wizard instead of learning how to comfortably wear heavy plate and carve his enemies up with a sword? All that a great sage can do after studying his entire life is casting and controlling man-made fire - seems incredibly lackluster and utterly useless when one can dedicate his life to becoming a renowned lord and having an army and onagers that hurl urns of greek fire at the enemy at your command, to use your own analogy.

I've no qualms with "low magic" settings such as Conan's universe, but I would like to note, that in these settings, magic is not, ah, "low-powered" or "not-almighty". Magic in the world of Conan is extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, but just as extremely rewarding for those who dedicate themselves to it. On a personal level, all that a sorcerer can do is indeed, mere cantrips - quickly and impressively fulfilling tasks which any able-bodied man could've managed without much trouble or performing parlor tricks, in addition to perhaps having several previously prepared charms at his disposal, such as a sorcerous tattoo that turns into a horrible snake or a necklace of fingerbones that grow into skeletal warriors that protect him when thrown onto the ground or rubies filled with liquid fire in his rings that explode like horrible bombs when thrown, but the true POWER of sorcery in "sword and sorcery" genre comes from horrible and dreadful ritual magicks which take months or years to engineer and produce world-shaking effects. A sorcerer can turn himself immortal, after a fashion, create an army of demon-blooded soldiers wholly subservient to his will, rain meteoric fire onto an entire continent or project his soul into the body of a king, and usurp the country.

Like, consider Thulsa Doom. Dude was immortal but when he was pierced with steel, it caged him and prevented him from acting up. Dropping that, in person he could hypnotize with his gaze and change faces and voices. But when at his citadel and not interrupted, he could weave world-wreaking magicks, given time and rare and mythical ritual components. Not to mention that he was actually a capable swordfighter.

Thoth-Amon, a physically mighty giant and likewise a sorcerer, had similar abilities. In person, at a moment's notice, he could produce mere parlor tricks, but with preparation and given sufficient time, he could turn a man into a slave of his god with a whisper and a handful of dust, not to speak of incredible rituals that he could, again, commit if given time. The only limitation of the ritual magic was the fact that if it was somehow wrong, un-precise or rushed it would kill you in a horrible fashion and that it required terrible sacrifices, anywhere from the blood of a thousand virgins to giving up your own eye, arm and leg.

[Keksalot]

But one way or another, irregardless of my ramblings, that's your setting, what you say goes.
Imma just wanna know provisionally.
Can i make a divination and scrying and haruspice-oriented wizard, and if so, is it possible for a wizard of the caliber that you'd allow as a PC to use a crystal ball or a similar implement to scry and see over great, continent-sized distances or, say, project his mind into a bird in order to quickly cover large swathes of land and spy on the developments happening in faraway places?

[Cube]

@Keksalot Apologies for the delay. I'll be writing an OOC tonight, so I'm sure any further magic-related questions will be answered there. I'll go as in-depth as I can into the magic system then.

As for a divination-based mage - I don't have any issues with divination magic at its base. Not sure I like the idea of continent-wide scrying, but a shorter distance would be fine. Perhaps a couple hundred kilometres. Same goes for the bird idea - at its base, it's a cool idea, but it would have to be limited by time and distance. Remember, magic is largely unexplored and hardly as refined as it is in other medieval fantasy settings such as The Forgotten Realms, Tamriel, or Thedas. It could be considered very primitive when compared to those.

That being said, I'm always open to ideas. If you're interested in the RP, feel free to shoot me a list of what you'd like to see your character do, magic-wise, and we can figure out a happy balance. That goes for anyone with any character, really. Haha.

Since the OOC will be up tonight, I'll tag those that have shown interest, just to give them a notification. Muahaha. @ELGainsborough@Thantos@vietmyke@Oni_@Kronshi

[A Man Is No One]

@Cube

So did this occ drop yet? I've been out of the loop with my move and all.

[Bishop]

Would it be possible to use magic to mutate animals, shape them to your liking? Easily tame them to their very DNA so they are fiercely loyal to you, change their bone to steel, add some spikes, an extra head etc by using a mix of magic and science?

Also what about dimensional/teleportation/portal magic items or simple magic? Can you have, say, a has the same capacity as a full attic inside it? Can you have fist sized rocks that can serve as small sized prison cells where you can put and keep living beings in?

[Cube]

@ELGainsborough I know I sound like a broken record here, but it will be up tonight (aka a few hours). I wasn't satisfied with what I had written before, and ended up re-writing the entire thing. I feel like it's much more in depth now, so hopefully it'll be able to answer as many questions as possible when people decide whether or not they want to join. Plus, it has some more races, so that's fun I think.

@Bishop I'm fairly certain those won't be options, for the most part. Teleportation, or any sort of instant travel, is not something I plan to incorporate. In my experience, it opens up way too many loopholes in stories, and I'd rather it just stayed out of the picture entirely.

As for the animals, I will be including a magic school that includes altering the minds of creatures. Though, like any magic, it won't be permanent. It would last a couple hours at most. I also don't plan to include much physical alteration, such as turning invisible, or, as you suggested, adding spikes. I've been considering shapeshifting as a school, but that would ultimately lean more toward characters who want to use the shape of a pre-existing creature, for whatever purpose, like moving faster or something. It would also require vast knowledge of how that creature works, so the person can't just morph all willy-nilly.

That being said, however, if you want to play some sort of hunter, or ranger, or outdoorsy type, I have no qualms with that person having an animal buddy, similar to Drizzt Do'Urden or Minsc from the Forgotten Realms universe.

[A Man Is No One]

@Cube

It's no problem here. I was just in the process of moving over the weekend and now in the process off unpacking. I won't have internet access until a bit later in the morning anyway. Just trying to stay current to avoid missing anything.

[Dolerman]

keeping an eye on this, looks cool

[Cube]

Aaaaand finally, the OOC is up! Apologies for the wait, but I really didn't want to post it until I was satisfied. I'll tag everyone that showed some interest in this thread, just to be a pain in the arse and give you all a notification. Hahahah. Hope to see some of you in the game!

roleplayerguild.com/topics/167601-dra…

@Thantos@Keksalot@Kronshi@vietmyke@ELGainsborough@Oni_@Dynamo Frokane