What Cultural Norms and Etiquette Does Your Character Follow?

"Ummm... Tendrick?" Edelwinn said. "Can I talk to you?"

The aquiline man with the hawkish nose nodded, following his companion a few steps down the hall. She cleared her throat, glancing around to be sure no one would overhear.

"We're just going out into the town for business," she said. "Routine maintenance. Pick up some supplies. We don't want to make anyone nervous."

"No, of course not," he agreed, nodding. "Precisely why I left my shield and plate in my rooms. I should have no need of it here."

"But what about that?" Edelwinn asked, glancing at her taller companion's hip. The sword called Devil's Bane hung at his side, the gem in its pommel glimmering, and the violence spellworked into the steel almost palpable.

"Edelwinn, I am a sworn sword of the realm, and a son of House Ebon Claw," Tendrick said. He spoke carefully, though not insultingly. "It is customary to wear a blade at all times."

"There's nothing I can say to budge you on this?" Edelwinn said.

He smiled at her. "You could challenge me to a duel, and try to take it from me if you wish. I would honor that defeat."

"Fine, wear your steel if it makes you feel pretty," Edelwinn grumbled, stalking past him. "But I see that thing out of its scabbard someone had better damn well have tried to knife you!"

What do you expect me to do? Carry a stick like a common peasant?

Cultural Norms and Etiquette Add Depth To Characters

This is something I've been thinking about a lot over the past month or so, ever since I started doing the research to write How The Cane Replaced The Sword in Everyday Carry. Because carrying a sword in Europe was, for many years, as much a mark of status and style as it was about having a weapon to defend yourself with should the need arise. And then, practically overnight, it was no longer the fashionable thing to do. Instead of a sword, a walking stick became the new accessory that was part of one's everyday carry... and this was a trend that lasted for centuries!

From the outside looking in, that is a truly unusual quirk to have in a society for that long a period of time. Especially when you consider that over the years there was an entire etiquette built up around the style of stick one might carry, how one had to walk with it, whether it was or was not appropriate to actually lean on it in certain circumstances; it got really intricate.

This got me thinking, what other kinds of cultural norms and etiquette could add flavor to our characters and societies in our games?

I can drink neither the fermentation of grape, or of wheat... it's made of honey, you say?

On the one hand, we could simply pluck bits of our real-world history and apply them to our fantasy settings to create interesting cultural norms. For example, getting back to the history of walking sticks, specific sticks were used as symbols of position and authority in ancient Egypt, so someone carrying such a stick would be immediately recognizable to those around them. On the other hand, dueling culture is often something that's added into our settings, allowing individuals to settle differences in a proscribed (if not exactly peaceful) fashion.

You could also create completely new and unique cultural norms out of whole cloth for your characters and setting if you so desire! While I put out a lot of potential examples in 100 Superstitions For a Fantasy Setting as well as in 100 Fantasy Tattoos (And Their Meanings), others might include:

- The color red is only worn by warriors among the Shar'vastri orcs. The more battles they have fought, and the more blood they have spilled, the more of this color they are allowed to wear. It is rare for a warrior to live long enough to wear a full coat of red, but those who do achieve that right are to be feared.

- Flowers are their own language among the nobles of Citrine. Every bloom has its own unique meaning, but there are some of them which are strictly regulated to members of certain professions, classes, and even houses. Someone wearing the wrong flower, or arranging a bouquet purely for aesthetics, may find themselves sending a message they did not intend.

- The particular somatic and verbal components you use are judged in Farassa as elements of how elegant your magic is. Traditionalists only cast spells in high elven, with the smooth, elegant gestures that are almost like a dance. While replacing it with languages like Ignan may be appropriate for fire-based spells, using the common tongue is seen as gauche and uneducated. Casting spells in the tongue of the Veshradi orcs is outright scandalous, and marks one out as a base caster too crude for the ways of civilized magic.

Practically every aspect of a culture comes with its dos and do-nots. Whether it's how you address someone older or younger than yourself, how to dress, how to dance, when (and how) to fight... you can tinker with practically anything! So when you make your next character, take a moment to consider the culture that shaped them. What aspects of it cling to them? What norms have they laid aside? Or, for that matter, what pieces of etiquette have they learned from other cultures, allowing them to move between different worlds and communities with as few ripples as possible?

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That's all for this week's Fluff post!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Vulgar Displays of Power: Tips For Getting The Most Out of Your Magic in Pathfinder

When most of us think of magic in fantasy RPGs, we tend to think of the big, sexy spells. How an evoker can reduce waves of enemies to ash with a well-placed fireball, or how a witch can cast lightning forth from her hand to blast an entire hallway full of enemies with her wroth. And while there is no denying that a hammer is certainly a part of your toolkit as a spellcaster, it's also important to remember that using the right tool for the right job tends to get your better results.

Even if that tool may not be as fun to use, or doesn't come with the same satisfaction as the arcane equivalent of ramming a chainsaw into your enemy's face.

Just remember, every part of the band needs to be there for the song to work.

This week I'm going to discuss magic, spells, and strategy. As with all other aspects of the game, keep in mind that these are just tips for getting the most return for your efforts. You should always play the game your way, but remember to do so with your eyes open, and with full knowledge of your available options, and the overall impact of your choices.

Shall we begin?

Hit Points Are The Least Important Part of Combat

For folks who've been through their share of combats, this statement may sound strange. After all, hit points are the most important thing in combat for most of us, because when the enemy runs out, the combat is over. So ensuring that you hurt the enemy as much as you can, as fast as you can, should be the best use of your resources, right?

Sometimes that's true. But if you're a spellcaster, ask yourself this; what spell do you have that can compete with the barbarian in a full blood frenzy when it comes to raw hit point damage? What spell can you sling that is deadlier than the well-placed stab of the rogue's sneak attack? Can your conjured storm of ice end a life more quickly than the swashbuckler's darting blade?

Most importantly, can you keep pace with those characters when you have a very limited number of spell slots, and their sword arms can go for round after round, battle after battle, without tiring?

Don't even get me started on these holier-than-most tactical nukes.

What you can do as a spellcaster, and what martial characters cannot do (barring some very unusual builds and special combinations) is alter the rules of the fight entirely. Through magic you can twist the very nature of a conflict, stacking the odds in favor of your party's side and putting the enemy at a disadvantage they may not be able to recover from.

That is a deeper use of magic, but it is one that often requires a shift in one's thinking. Moving from the mind of a warrior, whose goal is to advance and slay, to that of a general whose tactical acumen allows their allies to achieve victory through the opportunities they created.

Return on Investment For Your Actions

When it comes to tactics in RPGs, there's been a lot of discourse over the years. From what I've seen the most common general categories for offensive spells are; battlefield control, buffing, debuffing, and dealing damage. While it's true that the first three groups may not have the same visceral satisfaction as the fourth, they often achieve far greater results with significantly fewer resources expended.

Additionally, damage-dealing spells are (unfortunately) among the easiest for an enemy to minimize, or counter entirely.

Foolish adventurers, your powers cannot harm me!

For example, take the following scenario. An enemy is flying above the party, putting her out of melee range. She has spell resistance, making her difficult to hurt directly. If a spellcaster has the option to sling a lightning bolt at the enemy, or to give her close combat ally the ability to fly to charge after her, which is the better option?

Let's look at the lightning bolt. There's no attack roll necessary, but the caster does have to try to get through the enemy's spell resistance. Assuming the caster penetrates it, the target then gets a Reflex save to take half the damage. Even if the enemy doesn't have abilities like Evasion (which would reduce the damage taken to nothing on a successful save), or energy resistance (either naturally or from a prepared spell), that's two obstacles to jump over just to hurt them. At the maximum damage of the spell (10d6), you have a potential of 60 damage, but you are much more likely to get something like 30-40 damage on a halfway decent roll.

Now, let's see what would happen if the spellcaster instead opted to give the fighter or the barbarian wings.

This spell doesn't require any sort of save, and usually there's no need to overcome SR, so the chances of the spell not taking effect are practically zero, barring allies with unusual races or particular magical equipment. So, we've removed the chance of the spell just not working, and the action feeling wasted. Then, on their turn, the ally launches into the air, charging the enemy. Assuming they hit, and they are built to deal damage in melee combat, it's likely they are going to deal at least as much damage as the low end of that lightning bolt when they strike. If they're built for charging, they might deal as much or more as the high end of the spell. However, they are now in the air, and able to harry the enemy. This means the enemy is no longer free to shoot arrows or throw spells from on-high at will, which significantly hampers their ability to harm the party. And if the flying party member is able to take a full attack action on the enemy, their average damage output is likely to be far more than what any individual spell could deal... and they can do this every round until they're either knocked out, or the fly spell fades and they fall back to the ground.

One Small Pebble Can Lead To BIG Ripples

The right spell, used at the right time, can completely change the course of a fight; the key is to alter the rules of engagement in a way that takes away the enemy's capacity to harm the party either partially, or completely.

Never underestimate the effect of a little pencil in the wrong place.

For instance, take the frustrating tactic of an enemy with invisibility. Under normal circumstances the enemy vanishes, and this allows them free rein to move all over the battlefield, while also giving them advantages to strike unsuspecting foes. Something that can be devastating if that enemy also deals sneak attack damage, and members of the party don't have an ability that lets them avoid being caught unawares.

If you cast glitterdust in response, you have stripped away that enemy's cloak of invisibility, and nullified this tactic, along with its advantages. Even better, you have a chance to blind them, which gives your allies a field day when it comes to avoiding that enemy's attacks of opportunity, and getting their own precision damage in on the incapacitated foe. This one spell can take a fight that may have been lethal, and throw a monkey wrench into the enemy's gears, taking away their sucker punch and spitting in their eye to boot.

Even better, it ignores spell resistance.

The examples are as varied as there are enemies you could fight, or situations you could find yourself in. If an enemy depends on a diseased bite, or a poisoned dagger, then delay disease or delay poison is more than worth the spell slot it takes to prep, since these spells offer hours of protection against any and all threats from these avenues. This could be as small as avoiding a temporary penalty from a snake bite, or as game-changing as a drow ambush parties' knockout darts being rendered null and void, causing them to waste actions attempting to use a tactic that simply won't work. If a party is squaring off with a red dragon, then a communal protection from energy spell will prevent dozens to over a hundred of points of damage to party members by the time the beast goes down. If an enemy depends on summoned devils to rush in and maul the party, then all it takes is a simple protection from evil spell to render the summoned creatures' claws and maws completely harmless.

Whether it's sapping an enemy's strength with ray of enfeeblement, or hampering their ability to cast, run, and fight with adhesive spittle, or just making a member of your party immune to an enemy's sneak attack by casting darkness or displacement (depending on if the ambushing gang of ninja can see in the dark or not), these are spells that can affect the entire course of a fight, and which can bring big returns.

Sometimes, Though, You Do Need a Gun

A lot of players might read this and think I'm saying you should never play characters who have damaging spells because that's just a waste of time. Quite the contrary, I recommend spellcasters always have at least a few spells that can actually hurt the enemy. Because, to continue the metaphor, sometimes a hammer is the right tool for the situation.

I said, "I cast fireball."

The thing to remember is that even when deploying a blasting spell, it's important to match them up against targets they're going to have the biggest effect against.

For an example, we all know swarms take extra damage from area of effect spells. So if there's a room full of swarms, that's the time to drop your burning hands and fireball spells. If you're fighting something like a fire giant, who has a weakness against cold spells, that's when frigid touch becomes a risk worth taking, or cone of cold becomes a combat ender.

It goes deeper than just matching the template or element that hurts the most, though those are important considerations. You also need to ask which saves the enemy sucks at, and to match your spells accordingly. As an example, trying to use fire breath on an ambushing party of rogues, monks, or even a mid-level familiar likely isn't going to go well, as they tend to have high Reflex saves, and Evasion, which means the spell is likely to do nothing meaningful. But hitting those same targets with something that calls for a Will save, or a Fortitude save (such as phantasmal killer or stinking cloud respectively) could end up with a completely different result!

These things are important to remember for all spellcasters, but they become doubly important if you are opting to focus on blasting magic as your main schtick. Because if you need to crack off one spell every turn, you're going to burn through your daily allotment at a double-quick pace, which might leave you gasping by the time you get to the end of a dungeon and are down to ray of frost and some odds and ends from your feats and bloodline powers.

You Can't Un-Pull Your Trigger

The key thing to remember with spells, all spells, is that they are basically bullets in a gun. You've only got a limited amount of them per day, and once they're gone they're not coming back until you can have a lie down and a Gatorade. So any time you're going to cast a spell, ask yourself if it's necessary. Does this threat level require you to draw power from the aether and smite the foe before you? Or are you just going to take a quick breather while Slanagor the Slayer and Madrong the Bloodthirsty mop up?

Don't worry. We've got this.

Understanding your threat level, and conserving your energy, is key to strategic application of magic. For example, if you are all fighting a mindless undead with a plague aura, then destroying it before anyone can fail their saves against its disease is an imperative. However, if said undead is flanked and hemmed in by the paladin and the monk, both of whom have high armor classes and who are immune to its disease, then it doesn't actually pose that much of a threat to the party. So in this circumstance, there's no need to call down the wrath of the heavens to destroy it.

You still can, of course, but as the title suggests, doing so turns into a vulgar display of power. Because it might look cool, and feel satisfying, but if you're going to pull the trigger on a shotgun blast when you've only got a few rounds in the chamber, it's important to make sure the enemy is worth that firepower. Because if they're not, there might be a corrupt champion minotaur around the corner that would make a far meatier target.

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

Bucklers Are A Lot More Useful Than Most Folks Give Them Credit For (in Pathfinder)

Bucklers are one of those items that tend to get overlooked in Pathfinder. After all, if you're a character who's going to use a shield at all, chances are you're going to go for something a bit heftier, like a heavy steel shield, or even a tower shield. However, those who read the fine print on a buckler may be surprised at just how useful these items can be... especially if you put a little bit of magic or class features into them.

Don't let its size fool you... this can be a life saver.

Also, if you're looking for more fun uses for an often-ignored piece of equipment, check out my other post In Defense of The Humble Sling (in Pathfinder).

What A Buckler Is (And What It Does)

While there are a lot of arguments about what a buckler is or isn't among historical combat enthusiasts, in terms of Pathfinder a buckler is just a small, metal shield that straps to the user's forearm. It leaves the hand free to hold items, and it provides a +1 shield bonus to the user's armor class. That's half of what you get from a larger wooden or steel shield, but as many players will tell you, a +1 is a +1, and it can make a difference. There is an armor check penalty of -1 for using it, though, and a 5% arcane spell failure chance, if you're an arcane caster. A buckler cannot be used to shield bash with, unless one has the proper feats or class features that specifically give you this ability.

The numbers check out.

There are other advantages to bucklers if you read the fine print, though. For example, though you incur a -1 penalty for using your shield arm to wield a two-handed weapon, or to make an attack with your off-hand using two-weapon fighting (in addition to losing the shield's AC bonus for that round) this is not the case if you're using a bow or a crossbow. So if you're an archer who wants a little added insurance, you can strap on a buckler and just add a little boost to your AC.

The other useful thing about a buckler is that you can use your free hand to cast spells with somatic components. Doing so means you lose the shield's benefit to your AC for the round, but you take no other penalty for this action.

What's The Big Deal About a +1 Bonus?

As with so many other things in Pathfinder, that buckler's bonus to your AC is only a +1 if you do absolutely nothing else to boost it up. And that's not nothing, but it's hardly a big, impressive number. But with all of the options you have to include this handy device in your character's makeup, there are a variety of options you could pursue.

All right, let's see just how potent we can get this brew...

The most obvious benefits are going to be for specific classes that can spontaneously boost their shields with class features, like the Skirnir magus archetype in Ultimate Combat, or the Holy Vindicator prestige class in the Advanced Player's Guide. Both of these classes can spontaneously boost their shields (with the Skirnir actually getting to add bonus magic abilities), and given that they tend to have access to both spellcasting and melee capabilities, a buckler could go a long way in their hands.

However, you don't need the power to spontaneously boost a buckler's abilities to get some solid use out of it. Any enchanted buckler is going to provide an enhancement bonus to its total value, and you can often stack on useful abilities you might have trouble getting in other ways. Arrow Deflection, for example, is an ideal way to make sure that enemy archers have to work a little harder to really hurt you. Mirrored bucklers might be a combination signal mirror and medusa repellent, and a channeling buckler improves the amount of a channel for any wearer, while protecting them from their opposite energy type.

List goes on... point is, a lot of shield special abilities are very useful, and putting them onto a smaller, more versatile shield doesn't diminish that capability. And when you add in the special materials a buckler can be made from (mithril, darkwood, adamantine, etc.), as well as the feats and archetypes surrounding the buckler's use (like the buckler duelist in Inner Sea Primer, the thunderstriker in Ultimate Combat, or the falcata swashbuckler in Weapon Master's Handbook) it grows more and more useful.

With all of that said, the most realistic bonus you could get from your buckler is still fairly low. An enhancement bonus of +2 or +3 is expensive in and of itself, and even augmented with a +1 from a feat like Shield Specialization, you're only going to have a slightly better bonus than if you were using a tower shield. You could pour on the bonuses from specialized classes and feats to add utility, but a buckler isn't going to make or break your build.

But it can provide a surprising amount of protection, often with no additional armor check penalty. That could be just the thing for those who've taken a level dip, and find themselves with a shield proficiency that really isn't something they feel they can get the most out of. Or for those whose main weapon fires arrows or bolts.

Just something worth thinking about!

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

The Self-Taught Wizard

The man was a road map of the lost places of the world, and the esoteric traditions of a dozen different nations. The Guardian Eyes of Nafresh were tattooed across the backs of his hands, and Porshari enchanter's beads encircled his left wrist. The delicate, intricate lines of a demon warder of the Korgar wastes ran along his forearms. The sacred sun of Vishtopol stood out blue and bright in the center of his chest, revealed by his loose robe.

"All my teachers are long dead," he said, without looking up from the grimoire he was perusing. "But they await any with the courage to open their long-dead pages, and the wit to learn the lessons they laid down."

He closed the book, glancing at the burn scars along his fingertips. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, frowning at the lack of feeling in them. "Of course, sometimes it's more error than trial. Always start small... that's my advice."

And make absolutely sure you get your designs right.

Mastering The Magic of The Mind

When most of us think of wizards, we tend to think of them as projects of magical academies or universities. In some cases they may have been taught as an apprentice by a master. However, a wizard doesn't require an outside force in order to access the secrets of magic. They don't have to be born with the proper bloodline, or exposed to some bizarre event to unlock their true potential; they just have to be intelligent enough to understand the rituals and theory behind arcane magic.

That is, by no means, an easy task. However, anyone gifted with a naturally high Intelligence score who's willing to study, plan, and who can grasp the higher calling may find that magic's mystery unspools before them, waiting only for their mind to grasp it.

That's a major reason I included it in my 10 Backgrounds For Your Spellcasters list when it came out a little bit ago.

I highly recommend checking it out, if you haven't yet.

 

What makes self-taught wizards so unique, as a concept, is that they can bring together disparate traditions and styles, or even invent their own ways of performing existing magic. One of the easiest ways to think about these wizards is to compare them to self-taught musicians or artists. Some of them learn through imitation, grasping the basics of the art through trial and error, and then adding their own flares and signature styles in. Others may simply mimic a traditional art form, following in the same steps of discovery as the old masters along a similar path of enlightenment.

And some self-taught wizards will take the disparate elements of arcane traditions and styles, mixing them together into a blend that traditionalists decry as sacrilege, but which gets results. Since self-taught wizards often lack an indoctrination to unlearn, and tend not to be picky about what established schools they draw their power from.

A self-taught wizard might be something akin to a chaos magician, blending elements that seem contradictory. They might invoke the names of divine or infernal powers from one nation, combining them with the rhythmic chanting of a totally separate country, and then mix it with a dead language that pre-dates both of the other elements. Alternatively, a self-taught wizard might keep all of the different traditions in their own neat little boxes, switching from one to another as the situation requires. Just like how a concert pianist might also be a talented violinist who happens to enjoy freestyle rap battles, there's nothing that confines a self-taught wizard's skills or style except the limits of their minds, and the agility of their creativity.

For folks who are looking for more character concepts and advice, you might find 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards a good place to start! It's in my 5 Tips archive, along with dozens of other pieces of advice for classes, races, and other character and story aspects to help get you thinking outside the box.

Also, if you want to find some magic books to peruse for interesting tidbits to add to your self-taught caster's repertoire, then A Baker's Dozen of Enchanted Volumes might be right up your alley!

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That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Psychic Magic (in Pathfinder)

There's this weird disconnect that a lot of RPG players and storytellers have where certain things just, "aren't fantasy," as far as they're concerned. And though I've addressed some of this in posts like The Non-Problem of Making Monks Fit Your Settings, as well as Remember, Fantasy Can Be Anything You Want, I tend to focus more on culture and technology that people can get really hung up on. But there is another aspect of games that gets some squirrely looks around the table... psychics.

Despite it being the easiest explanation of "second sight" there is.

If you noticed the backlash a lot of folks had against psychic magic when it first came out in Paizo's Occult Adventures book, then you've seen this phenomenon first-hand. And it's a shame, too, because from a mechanical perspective psychic magic opens up entire new vistas of potential in regards to your character's abilities.

How Does Psychic Magic Work?

So, let's begin at the beginning... what is psychic magic, and how does it work in Pathfinder?

For starters, psychic spells work the same way as traditional ones do, with a single exception. Psychic spells do not have a verbal or somatic component; they instead have thought and emotional components. So you must be able to focus your mind, and to project the proper emotion (the latter is impossible if you're under a non-harmless effect that controls your emotional state, making fear effects very potent against psychic casters).

The advantage here is that a psychic caster can wear full-plate armor and carry a sword and shield, if they so desire. It won't affect their spell casting one iota. They can even cast spells while completely immobilized if they're conscious and able to focus.

And that can put you in a world of hurt, my monsters.

You also gain the ability to undercast some spells, using a less-powerful version of a given spell along with a smaller spell slot. This is particularly useful for players who don't want to figure out how many different levels of the same spell they want to have on their sheet, such as with the summon monster list that goes up every level. And, of course, you can cast while polymorphed into a different shape, which is typically something that's considered impossible. But a psychic squirrel is still a psychic!

The other thing is that psychic spells can replace expensive material components traditionally used with an item of equal expense that also has personal value, and which is relative to the situation. As an example, casting raise dead as a psychic spell to resurrect a dead spouse can ignore the diamond dust if the caster uses their wedding ring, and that ring is of equal or greater value than the original material component.

So, that's also fun if you want to play around with those expensive material components, and make your spells more personalized to you.

Before we go on, the major downsides of psychic magic should be mentioned; it's really easy to interrupt. If you cast a spell, and you would need to make a concentration check, then you add +10 to the DC. Unless, that is, you take your move action to center yourself, and focus your mind and emotions before you cast. Not a deal breaker, but a pretty big issue if you want to cast on the move. You also can't use activation items that require arcane or divine casting, even if you have the spell as a psychic caster, and thus you'll need to invest in Use Magic Device like anyone else.

Some Nasty Toys To Play With

Is psychic magic really all that? Well, that depends on what you want to do with it. As a third form of magic, psychic casting offers a lot of options for players who've wanted to do something different, and who might like the idea of an elven mind lord who can bend the wills of those around him, or of a half-orc with a strange ability to unlock and unleash her own ability to mutate into a more potent form through nothing more than mental will.

But since this is Crunch week, let me give you some suggestions for how I'd play with some of these components.

Not game breaking, but still fun.

- The Paladin/Psychic Bloodline Sorcerer: You get sorcerer spells, and still cast with Charisma, but you cast as if you used psychic magic with thought and emotion components. That's fun all by itself, but if you drop 3 levels of paladin to get the most out of your Smite, Saves, and immunity to fear effects, you have properly armored yourself against a slew of potential interrupts. That, and you get the ability to stomp around in full-plate with a shield and not worry about your spells, if that's your jam.

- The Psychic/Fighter: Using the potent abilities gained from being a psychic, combined with the ability to arm and armor themselves like a traditional warrior, even a single level dip into fighter is enough to add some serious wooge (and a bonus feat, naturally) to a psychic character. Even if your attacks are still going to be largely spell-based, the ability to up your armor class (and wear cool magic armor with additional protections), is not something I can overstate.

- The Mesmerist Debuffer: Whether you pair up with a witch, a transmuter, or some other kind of debuffer, mesmerists are hell on wheels in games where your enemies aren't immune to mind effects. Even a single-level dip into mesmerist lets you hit an enemy's Will saves with a -2  as a swift action under most circumstances. Combine that with hexes, or with the right spells, and suddenly that arch wizard or dread dragon is going to be sitting there cross-eyed and drooling. Fun as paired characters, if you can get a cohort or build with another player, but equally valid as a dip into the psychic pool.

These are just a few of the easy ways you can make psychic magic (or at least psychic abilities) part of your next character. And I haven't even started on the psychic skill unlocks, or the weird magic items, or how you could do fun stuff with a single-class occult caster.

But if folks want to hear some of my thoughts on that, let me know in the comments down below!

For now, that's all for this Crunch update. If you'd like to see more by me, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, as well as my contributions over at Dungeon Keeper Radio! And if you'd like to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then all you have to do is stop by My Amazon Author Page.

To stay on top of all my latest updates, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And if you want to support me, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or going to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron! Every little bit helps, that I can promise you.

The Sudden Wizard

A lot of dungeon masters, in my experience, tend to get weirded out by players who want to multiclass with wizard, but who don't want to start with that class. Because if you take your first level as a wizard, and then become a fighter, or a rogue, or whatever, that's fine... but try to do it the other way around, and you suddenly find that there's a whole lot of red tape in your way.

Why? Well, because magic is hard to learn, or so the logic goes. Harder to learn than picking locks and being a convincing liar? Harder to learn than mastering the basics of half a dozen weapons, different fighting forms, and reading an opponent's body language? Probably not, but for some reason if you want to suddenly take levels of wizard you often get the third degree about who's been teaching you, where you found time to study, and where you acquired your spellbook (and you often find that answers like, "We've found a dozen scrolls so far, and I've been raiding abandoned mage sanctuaries for years. You don't think I couldn't learn a ritual or two with an Int of 17?" don't go over as well as you'd like).

I'll hit that book just as hard as I hit everything else.

I had several spirited discussions on this very topic after DMs, Stop Putting Up Barriers To Multiclassing went live. However, in the course of those discussions I came up with a character concept I wanted to share that I figured some folks out there might get a kick out of.

As the title suggests, I call it The Sudden Wizard.

What The Hell Is A Sudden Wizard?

When it comes to magic, a lot of DMs and players alike consider it to be the fantasy equivalent of higher math or astrophysics. Your Intelligence score is what determines how much of it you can understand, and it ties directly into how many spells you can hold in your head, and how powerful they are once you unleash your intellect.

However, while a lot of people have to spend years in college, or educating themselves with library books, there are some people who just suddenly get these topics. People whose minds were opened up, often by something traumatic, and now they can understand things that would have been anathema to them before.

And that is how a sudden wizard is made.

One, solid cranial re-calibration, and boom, there it is!

 

This could take a huge number of forms, but you could draw some initial inspiration from some of the stories in 6 People Who Gained Amazing Skills From Brain Injuries. One guy who described himself as pretty average got the beat down of his life, and when he recovered found that he both saw and understood fractals. Other than recognizing the word, most of us don't even know what they are, so imagine being hit so hard that sort of knowledge spontaneously unlocks in your brain. Another person got struck by lightning, and suddenly became a phenomenal piano player (since we all know how closely math and music are tied together, to keep with the metaphor). Everything from diseases to strokes seems like it might have the potential to trigger heretofore unknown abilities lying dormant in the mind.

And that's just in the real world.

What sorts of things could spark spontaneous magical understanding in a character? There's getting whammied with a critical hit from shocking grasp, of course, or just getting clobbered in the head by an ogre's club, but there are so many additional possibilities. Did a vampire's domination touch a part of your mind that understands enchantment? Or necromancy? Did exposure to a hag's curse give you the ability to understand the weaving of fate's strands? Did your very presence at the death of a dragon, or the slaying of a potent mage, cause some kind of magical radiation to inundate your brain, giving you that key inspiration to look at a spellbook, or a scroll, and see more than just symbols on a piece of parchment?

These are just a handful of the possibilities.

On the one hand, it might be tough to find an appropriate moment to start your multiclassing if you're waiting for a critical hit from a certain type of spell to lay you out. On the other hand, if you slog through wave after wave of the undead for a whole arc, or you fail several saves against mind-affecting effects, or you always seem to be the one getting buffeted by wild magic, well, that could have all kinds of unexpected effects on your brain. Some bad... but maybe some good, too.

If you enjoyed this take, be sure to check out 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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Where Dr. Strange's Somatic Components REALLY Came From

If you've seen Doctor Strange (and really, who hasn't at this point?) chances are good you walked out of the theater with a serious Jones to play a spellcaster. Part of that was the great performances of the cast, and part of it was probably because of all the work that had been put in to really sell the spells. Not just the great SFX efforts that went into the production, but the choreography that went into making the spells actually look like something the casters were putting real effort into.

You know what I'm talking about.

If the hand motions used by the Sorcerer Supreme and his fellow magic users look familiar, they should. The movements are called tutting, of finger tutting, and the style is closely associated with street dance. Even if you're not part of that scene, though, you've seen tutting in the Samsung commercial "Unleash Your Fingers". You also saw the choreographer for Doctor Strange if you've seen that particular viral ad. His name is Julian Daniels, but his performing handle is Jay Funk, and you can see more awesome examples of his work on his YouTube page.

He was also the man in the opening scene of the film who forms the magic whip, according to director Scott Derrickson.

Sell The Magic, You Sell The Story

One of the things Derrickson said about Dr. Strange was that he didn't want the magic to feel like anything audiences had seen on-screen before. You know, the usual flick of the wrist, a single word, and then you get a result. The magic in Doctor Strange had to feel old, the techniques and devices steeped in tradition and ancient knowledge. They also had to feel like something that could have existed in secret in the modern world Marvel has been building. And though it's a relatively small detail, these gestures are something that really makes the adherents stand out.

In a good way.

As I brought up previously in What Do Your Verbal and Somatic Components Look Like?, the more effort you put in to stand out, and be unique, the more it feels like you aren't just casting out-of-the-book spells. Just like every swordsman has a unique style, and every brawler has her own approach, your spell components are what reflect your character's unique magical tradition. Because while the effects of the spells may be universal, what you do to create them can make your character really stand out.

And, of course, if you want some simple performance art that you can do without disrupting the table, finger tutting is always an option.

That's all for this week's installment of Moon Pope Monday. If you'd like to support Improved Initiative so I can keep content just like this coming right to your screen, then drop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. As little as $1 a month can make a big difference, and you get some sweet swag if you put at least that much bread in my jar. Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter yet, well, why not start now?