Playing with Class-Part 3

Hail and well met adventurer! Welcome back to our class sneak peek series. In case you missed the first two sections, you can check out part one here, and part two here. In this series I will present the classes as I see them, which obviously is not the only way to interpret them. But, I shall do my best to explain them quickly and easily for new and veteran players. The classes I will go over are the core classes out of the 5th edition dungeons and dragons player’s handbook.

I will not be discussing their archetypes, that could come later, lets finish our look at the final classes.

The last three classes we will be looking at are; the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Each of these magic using classes has their own special way of manipulating the magic in the world around them. Each one is unique from the other, offering different and enjoyable ways to cast spells in and out of combat.

Sorcerer

The sorcerer is born with magic in their blood, it is part of them, and they use this unique connection to the arcane allowing them to manipulate the world around them through magical means. Sorcerer’s power can emerge at different points in their lives, it can manifest at birth, during their youth, or they could experience a strong emotional event triggering their hidden magical origins to spring forth in a burst of magical flame or an explosion of arcane energy. Sorcerer’s magical abilities are derived from a blood connection to some greater entity. They could be a decedent of a greater demon or something more celestial and divine. Their powers could also arise from a unknown source and it could be a completely random event causing your character to become infused with magic resulting in raw, wild, fluctuating energies every time they cast a spell creating random magical effects. Whatever the origins of the sorcerer’s magic, it infuses every aspect of their being allowing them to use magic in beautiful and deadly ways!

Warlock

Looking for that creepy magic user hiding in a cave or ancient temple with odd glyphs inscribed all over the walls, ceiling and floors? Do you wish to have a character with a mysterious lair with oddities dangling through their abode? Are you looking for a character with a strange connection to something unseen and possibly beyond the realm of comprehension? Then a warlock is for you! Warlocks bring the horrifying and mysterious to the magic users of dungeons and dragons. They are the ones who strike a deal with a greater power in order to gain their magical abilities. These greater powers are referred to as patrons. You patron could be good or evil, the choice is up to you and your DM. Warlocks make pacts with their patrons, exchanging the ability to cast spells and acquire power for loyalty or an unpaid favor, how detail or vague you wish to be with the details of your pack is between you and your dungeon master. Warlocks travel the planes seeking knowledge, their drive for power is unrelenting as well as the deal they made with their patron. If a warlock was to turn their back on this contract, it could result in a catastrophic way. Warlocks seeking power and acquire it, naturally become more powerful, which in turn empowers their patron. New acquisition of power might also require new favors or pacts to be agreed upon. How you decided to play your warlock, creepy or lighthearted, the first rule of playing is to have fun!

Wizard

Are you in search of an arcane tome or lost artifact which holds hidden magical secrets? Do you enjoy knowing the intricate details of how magic operates in the world around your character? Then a wizard is the perfect class. Wizard spends their lives in pursuit of studying the arcane in order to know how it works. The thirst for knowledge propels wizards out of the mundane library into the world of an adventure and mystery pushing them further away from their origins and deeper into the world around them. This yearning for greater knowledge and power can sometimes corrupt them into a completely different person, leaving them with only the desire for more and more power. However, not all wizards are corrupted by the acquisition of knowledge and power; there are some in the realms who use their knowledge for good.

The realms of fantasy are filled with mystery, danger, and intrigue which require multiple different skill sets in order to survive as an adventurer. The classes in the player’s handbook are created in such a way that each character compliments another allowing for the skill sets of each adventurer to aid in their success, or at least a decent chance of survival. A party with a varied group of adventurers creates a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone, it showcases the different classes during the game. This way, when one adventurer mysterious vanishes or dies in a heroic battle, they can try a class they have already seen, or pick a completely unknown class and take a journey down the goblin hole and see what lies at the other end!

An adventuring party does not always need to be filled with different classes. There could be a multiple characters with the same class with different specializations which are known as archetypes. An archetype is a class specialization which offers the player a different way to play their character from another, this makes the character almost completely different from the other. For example, you could have two clerics in one party; one could be a cleric that focuses more on combat and survivability in dangerous physical encounters, while the other could focus more specifically on healing and the preservation of life. Each one will have access to the same spell list, but their archetype will offer different abilities making them feel and play completely unique.