Wizards and Paladins... Two classes, along with many others in this big world, full of RPGs, fantasy stories, etc. But what is it that makes a spellcaster able to call himself a wizard? What is it that makes a swordfighter able to call himself a paladin? I\'ll try and answer that question with my ideas, thoughts and experience, mixed with a bit of imagination.
[Note - These ideas are also ideas for PlaneShift] Imagine the middle-age life. A peasant and his family sending out their younges son in search for a better life. That is usually where many middle-age games start. Maybe not with the peasant family and you might not happen to be a son, but you just start as a nobody, and with nothing. Here, it would be stupid to say that you are either a wizard or paladin, nor anything else. Those are titles you have to earn. So, what is the most obvious thing to do? Well, if it is just a game, you would of course set out to kill some monsters, find items to sell and make some coins, but how?
Most people know how to swing a sword. It\'s not really that difficult. Just grab it, and go crazy, hitting the monster as hard as possbile. That\'s where your walk down the warriors road start. You kill and you grow stronger. However, one day you meet 1) a tall man dressed in a shiny white robe or 2) a tall knight wearing a golden armor or 3) a completely diffrent person. This is where the first breakpoint is.
Model #1
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Spellcaster
. . . . . . . . . . . /
Peasant --------- Paladin
. . . . . . . . . . . \\
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Other Class
[The point with the story so far is - You don\'t start out either as a paladin, wizard or something else. You earn the title.]Choosing to follow one of these men/women (depending on whoever you meet), you become an apprentice, doing jobs for them, and in return, they share their experience. The paladin might need you on a quest, therefor he has to train you in the art of healing and fighting as it is what paladins do. Already now, your path has changed and you\'re moving towards becoming a paladin, or maybe the wizard lets you read his magic books, so you gain knowledge in the magic arts, that you practice and master.
However, if we look at a book which I suppose everyone has read (if they haven\'t, they should do it), it is possible for me to say that becoming a warrior is definately easier than becoming a spellcaster. In the book Lord of the Rings, we meet a total of three wizards, but how many warriors? Many... I\'m saying this as it would be more realistic, even for fantasy games/stories to keep wizards and spellcasters at a limited amount, so meeting one is like meeting a celebrity of some kind, just as it is seen in the LotR movie (I love the idea about Gandalf being a special person just because he\'s a wizard).
Now that you are still young and learning, it is up to the master to decide whether or not you are ready to go out in the world to make a name of yourself, do quests on your own, etc. So let\'s just pretend that we\'re following a newly trained paladin who has just parted with his master, in search for glory. The paladin still has much to learn so he decides to do some quests for the local townspeople, in order to earn the peoples trust, and to get some fame, or maybe the young paladin goes to the King\'s castle and joins the royal army and becomes a knight.
[A new breakpoint - The paladin/wizard departs with the trainer in order to search for the better life I was talking about in the beginning]Model #2
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Other
. . . . . . . . . . . /
Paladin ------------- Knight
. . . . . . . . . . . \\
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Paladin
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Wizard
. . . . . . . . . . . /
Wizard ------------- Healer/Priest
. . . . . . . . . . . \\
. . . . . . . . . . . . ---- Other
Now, by looking at the two models, it is easy to get an idea of how I think it should all be. Not just some \"Create Character\" - I w4ntz t0 b w1ZzaRd - \"Class Wizzard\" and then you know already enough to start spelling monsters. However, as I stated somewhere earlier, the amount of wizards is to be kept a big deal smaller than the amount of other types, which is done as I explained, by the use of restricted training. Old people train a few new people, and the amount grows slowly as the amount of new people to the game grows, or it could in some way be done like with Star Wars Galaxies. If there\'s a game which has a class that\'s hard to become, it would be SWG. Getting to be a Jedi isn\'t really easy. Only very few have what it takes, and I\'m not talking skill-wise or stats-wise, it\'s something when you create your character, you have a 0.1% chance of having The Force, but first you gotta realise that you have The Force, and then you gotta find another Jedi who actually wants to train you and stuff... Anywho I\'m running off track here...
Now - Of course the wizard can tend to use a sword as well as his magics, therefor transforming him into a Battlemage, he could go by the ways of religion and be a Healer/Priest, he could just stay a Wizard, or he could turn into something completely diffrent, which would be very dumb because learning all those spells would\'ve been a waste then... Of course, the wizard could also decide to join the royal army and become a royal wizard, however that isn\'t usual as real wizards tend to be travellers and not puppets who obey orders from a silly general ( pff
).
Anywho, I might add some more at some other time, but it\'s getting late now, and I have to get up early tomorrow. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed reading the lot, but if it was just one big mess then tell me... I sometimes have trouble getting the ideas on my mind written down...
Well, that\'s all for now, so take care everyone.
[To make a long post short - Nothing should be picked at character creation except appearances, race, name and all that yidder. Everyone should start out as equals and develop their character along the way instead of when it is created.]