Adding flavor to magic in Shades of Darkness

Almost getting into the bigger companions now!

Here, I'm reviewing magic in Shades of Darkness (SoD) setting. This won't be just one blog post, as it's a bit too big a topic to handle at once. The magic companion books have so much material it simply cannot fit.

Magic and its users in Shades of Darkness

Many kinds of magic and spell users exist in Scarthen World.

There are clear Channeling users:

• Sula'fay cult and its followers host the usual spell users: Clerics, Paladins, even Healers.
• Followers of the druidic ways have Druids (variant Animists) and Rangers.
• Shamans of various tribes are typically Animists of some kind or sometimes Sorcerers (or Demonologists).

There are some clear Mentalism users:

• Ravanna, of which some may become Mentalists. Mentalism Companion opens potential options to explore though. Ravanna can also become Magents and Bards.
• Similarly, Speakers of the Ulpir may be either Mentalists or sometimes Magents.

There are even some Arcane users:

• Dragons and their special magic.
• Ulpir hunters and their hunting magic.

Curiously, Essence is the realm that's least developed and most mysterious of the bunch. Much of this is because of the way Chamur the Vault is an underdeveloped religion.

According to the profession list, Chamurians can do any number of odd classes, from a variety of different realms:

• Only Chamurians can become Mystics (Essence and Mentalism).
• Magicians and Illusionists are generally limited to Chamurians, the Ulpir, and servants of the Ulpir.
• They can be Animists (typically Channeling), Rangers (typically Channeling), Lay Healers (typically Mentalism) or Bards (typically Mentalism).

In my opinion, this hodgepodge of realms has to be solved, as to me it does not make sense that Chamurians draw their power from all sorts of places. The best fit comes from Chamurians being the only ones having Mystics. So I think they are not really Channeling users at all. Then, a host of variant professions would be constructed to fit in Chamurian Animists, Chamurian Rangers, Chamurian Lay Healers and Chamurian Bards.

There is also a mixture of other spell users in Scarthen World.

• Ulpirs have basically unlimited powers in Essence, Mentalism, and even some Arcane magic. They seem to only lack Channeling spells. Fittingly, in my opinion. They use their Life Points to power their spells, after all.
• Servants of the Ulpir (not of Ravanna) have different magic available to them than other groups. Particularly, they can be Magicians or Illusionists. An ally of Ulpir might be a Sorcerer/Demonologist, though Ulpir would feel distrustful of them considering that they might ruin their food.
• Speakers of the Ulpir have the same capabilities as Ravanna but a different focus.
• Master Bards teach their special craft to those having the capability and willing to learn. It is conceivable that Chamurian and Ravanna Bards are of the same bardic school as these Master Bards.
• Demons, particularly Demon Princes, may know any sort of magic.
• Other, what? Do the other religions (like Christianity, Buddhism, etc.) possess any sort of magic? Should there be different shamans for different tribes, i.e. like spheres of magic for shamans?

Implications for future development
 

•  Chamurians need variant professions for their Channeling users. Lay Healer could see a re-design as Essence profession, to keep Pure Mentalism as Ravanna exclusive (well, I guess except for Bards).
• Essence schools of magic (Essence Companion) and what kind of magic are available? Are Chamurian and Ulpir servant magic somehow different?
• Similarly, Mentalism schools of magic could exist separately for Ravanna and Ulpir speakers.
• Sula'fay church has several branches. It would be interesting to personalize their Priests.
• Similarly, it would be interesting to personalize Animists for shamans and Chamurian (like mentioned above). Druidic Animists (or just Druids) seem sufficiently personalized for Scarthen World already, as their new spell lists (in SoD) make them nicely individual as a profession.
• Chamur the Vault needs more love, i.e. development. Maybe type up a history for them or something. I've got some silly ideas to flesh up the world history.

It's looking exciting so far!