[3.5 thread] Magic has never interested me...

[SilverSheriff]

...even as a child I prefered the Knight and the Archers.
My least favorite character was Merlin and my most Favorite was Arthur.
I'd rather play a Fighter than a Sorceror and I'd rather play a scout (Complete Adventurer sourcebook) than a Ranger (Player's Handbook).

I know that Magic is a powerful force to reckon with, but magic is just not my cup of Tea. I was worried yesterday that I'd accidently pick the (Pre-generated)Wizard or Cleric character over the Rogue or Barbarian...

Its probably my dislike of Magic that has stopped me from learning the rules to play a Magic character.

I'm probably going to play a Magic character just so I can learn magic in my next game, can you guys make some suggestions on how and what to play?

Thanks in advance.

[Temp.]

That really depends on what you want to do in the game.

How do you envision your character? What do you want to be able to do?

Before you clarify that sort of thing, any suggestions are pointless.

[Aquillion]

Do you mean thematically or mechanically? Not every magic-using character has to be withered old Merlin. You might like the flavor of a Duskblade or a Beguiler or something along those lines instead -- someone who uses magic as a set of clever tricks up their sleeve, or as an extra edge in swordplay.

Or you could play something like a Warlock who is (basically) more like a traditional superhero than a spellcaster -- more Cyclops or Superman than Doctor Strange, with a handful of special powers they use repeatedly.

What do you want the source of your magic to be? Long careful study, an innate ability you inherited, a contract with the Devil, a few tricks you picked up as you went, powers granted by your deity, or what?

Also, what do you want to do with magic? Do you want to be an illusionist? Do you want to go around throwing fireballs, thunderbolts, and orbs of destruction? Do you want to be the diviner who knows everything and foils your enemy's* plans? Do you want to summon minions, cast spells to boost your teammates, kill enemies with a single spell, reshape the battlefield, or what? Do you want to be good at absolutely everything?

The core full casters in third edition are so powerful and versatile that you can practically use them for whatever you want (but you don't have to be good at everything -- it's quite possible to build a decent specialized caster, too.) So it's basically a matter of knowing what you envision yourself doing.

If you're playing 4th edition, your options are more limited, but on the other hand you don't really have any separate rules to learn (except maybe rituals, which are easy.)

Of course, if you're playing some other system, you'll have to tell us the system... magic differs greatly from system to system.

* The DM, usually.

[Tempest Fennac]

If you really don't like magic, a Duskblade or Bard could probably be a good choice due to them being able to do things other then just cast spells. If you wantd more of an emphasis on magic, Battle Sorcerer could be a good choice (with the right build, they can be good in combat). Also, what's your view on the Magicless Ranger variant?

[Worira]

Well, at the beginning of your turn, you draw a card, and can choose to play a land if you have one in your hand. Lands are used to provide ma- wait, what? Why do you keep capitalizing Magic?

[SilverSheriff]

If you really don't like magic, a Duskblade or Bard could probably be a good choice due to them being able to do things other then just cast spells. If you wantd more of an emphasis on magic, Battle Sorcerer could be a good choice (with the right build, they can be good in combat). Also, what's your view on the Magicless Ranger variant?

I don't have the Rules for Magicless Ranger Variant.

Well, at the beginning of your turn, you draw a card, and can choose to play a land if you have one in your hand. Lands are used to provide ma- wait, what? Why do you keep capitalizing Magic?

Dunno...




Just to be clear with everyone I want to play a major magic user so I can learn the rules on the subject, if I can learn to play a magic user than I've got nothing left to learn in D'n'D.

[Tempest Fennac]

They can be found on page 91 of http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules...asses-Base.pdf . Battle sorcerers are also detailed on this page, and this thread, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81398 , contains some advice for building Battle Sorcerers. Warlocks are quite a good idea as well. In regards tolearning the magic rules in general, Wizard is probably a good choice due to how versatile they are (healing is pretty much the only thing that they can't do.)

[Temp.]

You still haven't specified which system you're using. If you want to learn "the rules of the subject" that's kind of important.

If you want a very basic 3.5 casting class, play a Beguiler (PHB2). They're about as simple as it gets.

Other classes have to choose their spells known or spells prepared. Beguilers cast whatever they want on their spell lists at the spur of the moment.


Edit:
Or a Warmage (CArc), I guess. They use the same mechanic, but their spell list is almost entirely made up of direct damage spells.

[Townopolis]

I'd recommend learning magic in the following order: beguiler -> cleric -> bard, favored sou,l or sorcerer -> wizard. Reasoning is thus: beguilers have a set spell list and can cast everything spontaneously. Clerics have a set spell list bu must prepare them in advance, still, they can sacrifice any prepared spell for a cure in a pinch. bards, favored souls, and sorcerers both have to pick a spell list, but can cast spontaneously. Wizard has to pick a spell list, has to prepare, and cannot sacrifice spells.

I'm not very familiar with warmages, but if their magic works the same as a beguiler's, you may want to play a warmage first, since evocation/conjuration style tends to be simpler to use than illusion/enchantment styles.

This list is a fairly slow way to learn, class by class. If you're a quick study you can easily skip over as much as you want. Learning on wizard will teach you almost everything you can know about magic. Only thing left to learn is how to build a bard/favored soul/sorcerer spell list.

[Solo]

If only there were well written guides to playing casters for this man to pursue!

[Tempest Fennac]

Warmages are detailed on the Crystal Keep page I mentioned earlier. The problem with that class is that it only covers blasting (there is an Ultimate class called the Magus which is similar, but it has more spell variety which could be adapted to a normal 3.5 game: http://www.liquidmateria.info/wiki/Ultimate_Magus .)