The Wiz-Biz of it All
I'm trying to encapsulate what makes Birch, Birch; and in doing so I've decided to give little overviews of the classes I feel that I want to be a part of the game and how they fit into this world and system that I'm piecing together. First up, the Wizard.
Wizards
- More mentor/mentee like Jedi/Sith rather than a classroom of students.
- Distinct visual (and mechanical) cues. A wizard is clearly a wizard and not a different arcane caster.
- Preparing spells from a huge spellbook of known spells, not any sort of spontaneity in their lives, generally.
- Bitchin hats, cool ass robes; staves, wands, ORBS and crystals.
Magic is everywhere in the world; Birch is inherently magical due to nature of the setting itself, but harnessing magical power is way less common. I envisioned magic being almost taught in a format like the Jedi or Sith from Star Wars. Not like monks or whatever their whole deal is, but through a series of mentors/teachers and students. Even in the movies you can draw a direct line through a lot of key characters; Yoda to Dooku, Dooku to Qui-Gon Jinn to Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke (and that's even simplifying it to just movies). Wizards in Birch come from a long path of teachers and students that they can trace back to some degree as a means of credentials.
Another thing I had envisioned for Wizards, the pinnacle of magical learning, is that they have a series of tattoos on their non-dominant arm as a way of signifying how strong they are. Large black bands represent the level of magic known, so a Wizard with four black bands on their forearm means they can cast 4th level spells (with smaller tattoos in between for flair or to make important moments). Wizards need to standout mechanically and in game from other spellcasters.
In game Wizards are "inflexible casters" in as such that normally they have a number of prepared spells that they can use each day and if they want to change any of them it will take some time to do so. They can also learn new spells from other wizards, finding errant spellbooks (if they can crack the arcane codes used to write down spells) and from ancient tomes out in the ruins of the world. Wizards live and die by their spells and knowing more spells gives them more answers to problems.
Aesthetically it's: absolutely bitchin hats, fucking dripped out robes, hand carved wands, deftly crafted staves, finely constructed orbs, and the key to a lot of things in Birch, goddamn crystals. Where's the hats?!
While Wizards can be found easily within the Winterhaven libraries and archives; those daring enough to take their research out into the "field" are are willing to leave their cozy reading nooks behind for the crumbling artifice of the wilds can be usually found in the various drinking establishments for adventurers across the city, unfortunately.
- Sir Varis Amblecrown, Adventurer
(Whose done with Wizards bullshit).