Reaver Sorcerers

Hi Folks!

Reminder that we have entered the final week of funding for Reaver Sword & Sorcery RPG! We have a long way to go, but we can get there with your help! Please share, share, share!

Since we've discussed spellcasting in a previous post, today I want to discuss Reaver's Sorcerer class and how they differ from those in other games. Even though wizard-types aren't the usual Sword & Sorcery heroic archetype, I decided early to include them as player classes. One reason is simply because I enjoy playing a sorcerer or fanatic priest from time to time, but more importantly because these characters figure prominently in mythology. The question was---how do I make them feel Sword & Sorcery, while still being playable?

The Sorcerer

Sorcerers are scholars and academics, antiquarians and alchemists, seeking worldly power and knowledge through the ultramundane. Like the wizards of other games, Sorcerers are poor in combat, keep a book of spells, and can scribe magical scrolls. In Reaver they are also alchemists and can create alchemical items like Corinthian fire, black lotus powder, and the charnel tincture. Finally, all Sorcerers choose a Tradition (Hermeticism, Mysticism, or Witchery, described below) that dictates their spell list and further characterizes the type of magic they use.

Hemeticists are the most like tradition wizards from classic games with a familiar spell list that focuses on divination, transmutation, summoning, and the elements. Their cantrips create minor magical effects, but require a Feat of Cunning rather than a Sorcery Feat. They are skilled astrologers and can use their mystical alignments ability to improve their Sorcery Die and they have an occult patron which they can contact via a scrying device. They do not worship the patron, but rather bargain with it and exchange one favor for another.

Mystics practice the magical traditions associated with spiritual perfection and self-knowledge, They are psychics and can project their spirit out into the mundane realm with nothing more than concentration and Resolve expenditure. Their elucidated mind allows them to telepathically deliver messages and their remote sense ability allows them to see places they know at any distance. Their spells focus on self-improvement, the mind, the astral world, and divination.

Witches are folk magicians whose spells focus on animals, nature, curses, divination, enchantment, and healing. They can create sympathetic witch bottles that are made to affect a specific individual---either for benefit or harm. Witches take on a patron who assigns the witch a familiar, a minor demon that acts as an intermediary between the witch and its otherworldly master. All communication is via the familiar, who the Witch must care for, and the patron may make demands via the creature. However, the familiar grants the Witch abilities to see through its eyes, communicate at great distances, and importantly helps the Witch resist shadow.

Playing a Sorcerer (or Priest) in Reaver is involved and the player is given a number of choices to make during gameplay, not least of which is how they will manage their Sorcery Die (which controls how many spells they might cast in a day), their Shadow, and their Corruption. They will be faced with circumstances in which a spell might help, but its miscasting could lead to dire results---you may suffer spell effects, Attribute damage, shadow, or harm the people around you. Is it worth the risk?

These kinds of questions, knowing that sorcery is dangerous, yet powerful, make the player weigh the dangers of corruption and ultimate demise against the immediate rewards and assistance that sorcery provides. That feels Sword & Sorcery to me.