The Privilege of Sorcerers
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Seoni, the iconic sorcerer of Pathfinder.
I'll note that one thing that bugs me about the Sorcerer class *is* that, despite how fairly early in D&D 3e's life there was a Dragon article talking about many alternative ways to have innate magic other than being born with it, both D&D itself and Pathfinder after it doubled down on the "magical bloodline" lore and terminology.
My preference is more "wizards have an education, warlocks have a magic sugar daddy, sorcerers have a superhero origin".
sorcerers have a superhero origin
This is Oracle erasure.
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I’d also like to see it come with relevant costs. Much in the same way genius and madness often go hand in hand. Not full on oracle’s curse, more like how some beautiful people struggle being taken seriously or respected for their minds, or how some neurodivergent people just get difficult subjects while struggling with aspects of ordinary life.
But yeah generally I’m in full agreement with you. Show me the half orc who only got a chance in their hometown because they’re a sorcerer and that resulted in complicated emotions. Show me the noble whose family paid good money for their child to be a sorcerer and now they’re off trying to prove themselves. Show me a society in which a sorcerer child is considered an unimaginable blessing even though that bloodline may leave their sibling a hated tiefling and then use it to show a golden child/scapegoat sibling dynamic enforced not necessarily by the parents, but by the whole community.
The Locked Tomb did both. Necromancers are a blessing and privileged. There are roles in society only they’re allowed to fill. But they’re also chronically ill. They’re frail and sickly and look and feel like they’re dying. That actually would give credence to if they were to not like being like that.
Ok now I want to play a noble sorcerer who’s parents paid a massive price for her powers and is now struggling with the guilt and expectations. Harrowhark Nonagesimus meets Lorelai Gilmore
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One of my pet peeves of modern fantasy media is the notion that some people are “special” - and thus implied to be “better” - than other people because of some inherent magical ability. One of the best-known modern examples of this is the Harry Potter franchise, where the protagonists are mostly mages, and even the characters who actually care about the welfare of the latter do so in an extremely patronizing way - i.e. by stopping the “bad mages” rather than working together.
In #dnd and similar #ttrpg, the concept is represent by the “sorcerer” and similar characters who gained their cool powers from some innate birth ability rather than study and hard work.
And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to play such a character, just for once I would like to see an in-setting examination of what it means to have this privilege, instead of the more common:
“Oh no, woe is me, I have been born with special powers and will be hated and persecuted for them. Thus, I must spend most of my time in a secret society with my fellow very special people!”
To be clear, people born with privilege did not ask to be born with privilege, and cannot be blamed for that. However, they should also acknowledge that they have this privilege, and not assume that they are somehow “better” than people without it.
In D&D sorcerers started in Dragonlance after the Chaos War left Krynn without magic. Palin Majere became the first sorcerer, having already been a wizard, when an aspect of Takhisis taught it to him. It wasn’t innate, but it was spontaneous rather than vancian. There were also mystics, which were similar but divine rather than arcane, but when the sorcerer class was picked up for 3e they weren’t included.
The main takeaway from sorcerers though isn’t that they’re somehow “special”, it’s that they don’t have to memorize spells. Their magic is innate because they’re related to a creature type that gets spell-like abilities. Same as plenty of other types of characters who have SLAs, like drow or furbolgs or numerous other creatures.
If anything, the association with wild magic probably works to their detriment socially. Wizards have arcane magic, but at least they know how it works. I’m not really sure where you’re drawing a connection between the social stigma of unpredictable magic and being treated as “better” than anyone. I haven’t seen lore that supports the idea.
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One of my pet peeves of modern fantasy media is the notion that some people are “special” - and thus implied to be “better” - than other people because of some inherent magical ability. One of the best-known modern examples of this is the Harry Potter franchise, where the protagonists are mostly mages, and even the characters who actually care about the welfare of the latter do so in an extremely patronizing way - i.e. by stopping the “bad mages” rather than working together.
In #dnd and similar #ttrpg, the concept is represent by the “sorcerer” and similar characters who gained their cool powers from some innate birth ability rather than study and hard work.
And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to play such a character, just for once I would like to see an in-setting examination of what it means to have this privilege, instead of the more common:
“Oh no, woe is me, I have been born with special powers and will be hated and persecuted for them. Thus, I must spend most of my time in a secret society with my fellow very special people!”
To be clear, people born with privilege did not ask to be born with privilege, and cannot be blamed for that. However, they should also acknowledge that they have this privilege, and not assume that they are somehow “better” than people without it.
Now you’ve inspired me. I should make a character who’s 1 level in sorcerer, the rest in wizard, and the premise is that they set out to prove everyone wrong that they’re not just going to rely on their inborn talents and they’re ready to do the work!
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Ok now I want to play a noble sorcerer who’s parents paid a massive price for her powers and is now struggling with the guilt and expectations. Harrowhark Nonagesimus meets Lorelai Gilmore
I know y’all are talking about like, buying a wish spell, but y’all make it sound like the mom hired a magic gigolo XD
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I know y’all are talking about like, buying a wish spell, but y’all make it sound like the mom hired a magic gigolo XD
I’m thinking pact with a demon, fae, or a dragon. Imagine the family fortune went to a dragon for draconic magic to make you a sorcerer. Or mom gave a sense to a fairy for it. Or just a sold soul. Or yeah magic reproductive material donors
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One of my pet peeves of modern fantasy media is the notion that some people are “special” - and thus implied to be “better” - than other people because of some inherent magical ability. One of the best-known modern examples of this is the Harry Potter franchise, where the protagonists are mostly mages, and even the characters who actually care about the welfare of the latter do so in an extremely patronizing way - i.e. by stopping the “bad mages” rather than working together.
In #dnd and similar #ttrpg, the concept is represent by the “sorcerer” and similar characters who gained their cool powers from some innate birth ability rather than study and hard work.
And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to play such a character, just for once I would like to see an in-setting examination of what it means to have this privilege, instead of the more common:
“Oh no, woe is me, I have been born with special powers and will be hated and persecuted for them. Thus, I must spend most of my time in a secret society with my fellow very special people!”
To be clear, people born with privilege did not ask to be born with privilege, and cannot be blamed for that. However, they should also acknowledge that they have this privilege, and not assume that they are somehow “better” than people without it.
Sounds like a GM problem. It’s been pretty clear to me when I read Eberron back then (never been much of a DnD head) that sorcerers were “talented children” assholes, as opposed to the raging wizard nerds who had studied to get there.
Not using this dynamic is completely on your GM and player group in general. And it’s a damn shame!
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I’m glad 2e gave her more realistic clothing while honoring her original “aesthetic”
And here I am, looking for Pockets in her dress.
“The privilege of sorcerers”
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Ok now I want to play a noble sorcerer who’s parents paid a massive price for her powers and is now struggling with the guilt and expectations. Harrowhark Nonagesimus meets Lorelai Gilmore
Let it go
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Let it go
Yes but imagine she’s slumming it with a bunch of adventurers because she can’t deal with her parents at the moment
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One of my pet peeves of modern fantasy media is the notion that some people are “special” - and thus implied to be “better” - than other people because of some inherent magical ability. One of the best-known modern examples of this is the Harry Potter franchise, where the protagonists are mostly mages, and even the characters who actually care about the welfare of the latter do so in an extremely patronizing way - i.e. by stopping the “bad mages” rather than working together.
In #dnd and similar #ttrpg, the concept is represent by the “sorcerer” and similar characters who gained their cool powers from some innate birth ability rather than study and hard work.
And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to play such a character, just for once I would like to see an in-setting examination of what it means to have this privilege, instead of the more common:
“Oh no, woe is me, I have been born with special powers and will be hated and persecuted for them. Thus, I must spend most of my time in a secret society with my fellow very special people!”
To be clear, people born with privilege did not ask to be born with privilege, and cannot be blamed for that. However, they should also acknowledge that they have this privilege, and not assume that they are somehow “better” than people without it.
@juergen_hubert It’s tricky to build a setting that actually examines this sort of privilege not just because we know how people born to privilege behave in the real world (forming an aristocratic class and - if pressed - coming up some sort of narrative like noblesse oblige or divine Right of Kings), but also because well before 3rd edition’s take on sorcerers was a thing, many medieval fantasy worlds had people born to unearned magical power an privilege: gods.
A setting with divinities who are actively using their power to better the world can easily make the inborn power of a typical PC or point of view character feel irrelevant. OTOH those which feature apparently-inactive deities probably inspire many born to power to worry about themselves first, and others second (or never)
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@juergen_hubert It’s tricky to build a setting that actually examines this sort of privilege not just because we know how people born to privilege behave in the real world (forming an aristocratic class and - if pressed - coming up some sort of narrative like noblesse oblige or divine Right of Kings), but also because well before 3rd edition’s take on sorcerers was a thing, many medieval fantasy worlds had people born to unearned magical power an privilege: gods.
A setting with divinities who are actively using their power to better the world can easily make the inborn power of a typical PC or point of view character feel irrelevant. OTOH those which feature apparently-inactive deities probably inspire many born to power to worry about themselves first, and others second (or never)
@juergen_hubert I think this type of setting gets even harder to build when we base the discussion on D&D sorcerers. For all they may be born to a certain amount of power compared to an ordinary person, they have to put themselves through real effort and danger to progress from there - they really don’t get that much for free (c.f. characters in Zelazny’s Amber).
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@juergen_hubert I think this type of setting gets even harder to build when we base the discussion on D&D sorcerers. For all they may be born to a certain amount of power compared to an ordinary person, they have to put themselves through real effort and danger to progress from there - they really don’t get that much for free (c.f. characters in Zelazny’s Amber).
Really, despite his mentioning sorcerers by name and illustration, a lot of the phrasing of the OP reminds me more of hidden-world urban fantasy instead of anything in D&D. He mentions Harry Potter, but World of Darkness strikes me as the more appropriate TTRPG comparison.
I've largely lost my taste for those things, because they tend to feel like they're glorifying secrecy and power imbalance. "Isn't it *awesome* to think you might be manipulated from the shadows by powerful people?!"
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Eberron is one of my favorite DnDoid settings, precisely because the designers put a lot of thoughts into this stuff.
Referring back to my "sorcerers have a superhero origin" proposal elsewhere in this discussion... one of the Dragon suggestions for an alternative source of inherent magical power is being the subject of magical or alchemical experimentation.
In Eberron, since it just came out of a massive war that involved advancements in combat magic and artifice, it's easy to imagine that type of origin specifically manifesting as "Captain America, but a sorcerer".
