After some dawdling and retooling, we’re finally ready to start posting profiles for each class that will appear in dMetric. Over the coming months, I’ll be posting a new class profile every week. Each update will follow the same basic formula: a personal introduction, a general overview of the class, a short blurb about how the class fits into the campaign setting, and a list of core abilities. My goal is to provide a clear idea of what each class is capable of without bogging y’all down with too many numbers and details.
The Sorcerer, Master of the Elements
The first class being featured is, appropriately, one of the first classes conceived for dMetric – the sorcerer. Out of all the classes, the sorcerer has probably seen the least change from its original conception. We knew from the beginning – even before the game was called dMetric – that we wanted an elemental spellcaster. We were keen on having a standard fireball-and-lightning-bolt spell blaster in the same vein as the wizards from our childhood escapisms. If you’ve played any computer or console roleplaying game made between 1985 and now, you’ll now exactly what we’re going for.
Blended into this archetype is a more modern interpretation of the hereditary magic user, popularly seen in Pathfinder and the Harry Potter franchise. This is mainly a product of our campaign setting, but it did allow us to strip out a lot of the spellbook management and metamagic dynamics that may have overcomplicated the archetype.
One-Paragraph Overview
A sorcerer is capable of casting powerful elemental magic from one school of their choice: earth, fire, wind, or water. They are unsurpassed in their ability to cause raw destruction on the battlefield. Sorcerers can communicate with creatures from the elemental planes and can control magical forces through sheer willpower. Although possessing some of the most devastating abilities in the game, they are physically fragile and easily dispatched if cornered.
Lore
Sorcerers are humans who are touched by magic in some way, either through aberrant heritage or extraordinary circumstance. They are the only humans left since the sundering who can cast conventional magic. They are often feared in Ob – even hunted by superstitious people such as the Vaan. Consequently, sorcerers often live on the fringe of society or conceal their true nature.
Core Abilities
Every class possesses a set of iconic abilities that define their role in a group. These capabilities scale directly with level, creating an incentive for a player to stick with an individual class for a few levels rather than dabbling indiscriminately.
The sorcerer’s selection of abilities aptly includes a number of magic-oriented feats, including the pen-and-paper staple detect magic.
Elemental Link
A sorcerer chooses a single element – earth, water, fire, or wind – at first level. He or she may only cast sorcerer spells of this element. A small bonus to damage resistance against this spell school is gained with each level.
Cantrip
The sorcerer may attempt a minor magical feat related to their chosen element. This includes but is not limited to the following: invoking a spark to ignite a campfire, conjuring a shiny pebble, creating a small gust of wind to extinguish a candle, or filling a glass with clean water. The allowed complexity of this cantrip increases with every level.
Detect Magic
The sorcerer may attempt to detect magic on an area, item, person, or creature. Illusions, enchantments, or hidden relics or magical beasts are all revealed by this spell.
Dispel Magic
A sorcerer may attempt to control and disperse enchantments, seals, curses, and illusions. The difficulty class of each such attempts is determined by the game master.
