Ideas for new backgrounds for new Calling: Dwimmer-crafter

[Robin Smallburrow]

So I will be introducing in Part 3 of my Magic Rules a new Calling: Dwimmercrafter (which I have already referred to briefly), as after discussions with others including on this forum I think the best way of incorporating 'someone who has the gift of magic' is to introduce a new Calling: Dwimmer-crafter, as it best explains why they are adventuring.

So I have also discussed some possible new Backgrounds for this new Calling - here are my ideas so far:

1. Elf-minstrel ( requisite: any Elven Culture) Have grown up learning all the songs for your culture etc...

2. Dwarven Runekeeper's apprentice - in my view of Middle-earth a dwarven Runekeeper is exactly that - the guy who 'knows all the runes' - so you are his apprentice!

3. Marked - this is a generic (not cultural-specific) one for the 'weirdo who has been marked from birth' type - often an outcast or considered 'odd' by their own culture.

4. Wizard's pupil/School pupil - not sure if I need to split these or not.

The first refers to 'you met So-and-so whilst very young, and he/she recognised your latent ability, so has spent some time with you as a mentor'. Doesnt mean just a Wizard, could also be other important individuals such as Elrond, Galadriel etc.

The second is only appropriate for the Fourth Age, as only in this time are there actual Schools for Magic set up -
your character has spent most of his schooling at X School' learning to control his gift'

Thoughts/feedback/any other ideas for new Backgrounds especially would be appreciated!!

Robin S.

[Robin Smallburrow]

BUMP

Any ideas/thoughts/ feedback please?

Pretty please??

Robin S.

[Rocmistro]

Robin, I read this but I didn't really understand what you are asking, or what you want.

The Calling is Dwimmer-Crafter. I don't understand that as a calling. A calling as I see it is your character's primary motivation. Dwimmer-Crafter seems to answer more of the "What" rather than the "Why".

I'm also confused about the backgrounds, as they seem to borrow from several different cultures and I'm not sure how you're going to package that all into one "thing".

[Glorelendil]

This does illustrate the problem with bringing more magic use into TOR, which takes most of what is usually found in "class" and ties it to race ("culture"). That is, you would have to assume an entire culture of wizards to make it fit. So Robin is trying to use Calling, which is sort of like Class, except that callings don't (officially) have any actual abilities.

One option would be to create a sub-culture, e.g. magic adepts within Mirkwood Elves. Alternately, the culture could be a magic school where pupils start at such an early age that the school becomes their culture. But even so it would be odd for there to be no differences at all between pupils of various races.

So I don't know what to suggest, Robin. It's a tricky one for sure.

[Robin Smallburrow]

Ok I will approach this problem from the beginning so what I'm thinking is clearer

Player x asks me " I would like to play a wizard, please". When I ask said player do they mean a dwarf with Broken Spells, or an Elf with Elven-spells, the player told me that they wanted to play a character whose reason for adventuring was magic- specifically the recovery of ancient & lost magics, and to spend their life studying & practicing magic.

Now Tolkien has said (Unfinished Tales) that the five Istari were the heads of their Order, implying that there are others. A former fan of this forum (theonewhowas) first put forward the idea that being a 'magician' was really a Calling - and IMHO this fits better in explaining magic-using characters - in most cases their 'gift'' is the reason why they have left their culture to become an adventurer.

So then I asked myself, from what circumstances (backgrounds) would magician PC's come? So I came up with the suggested backgrounds above and ran them by my group - they were Ok with them but I also wanted some feedback on them from 'the experts', being the fans on this forum.

So the new Calling is termed Dwimmer-crafter as Tolkien once referred to 'Dweomer-craft' .

I realise that some fans on the forum don't agree with my ideas on magic in Middle-earth and that's fine, but I would still like some constructive feedback on this idea, especially:

Do these backgrounds make sense? Are there other possible backgrounds for "Creating a Magical Hero"?

Robin S.

[Glorelendil]

Oh, maybe I misunderstood how you were making it work. I thought those were Backgrounds of the Dwimmer-craft calling...which confused me because callings don't have backgrounds. But you're adding new Backgrounds to various Cultures, that can only be taken in conjunction with the new Calling. Is that correct?

[Rocmistro]

Robin, I would say the appropriate "Calling" you need is "Scholar." I don't think it really requires a different calling than that. Calling has such little mechanical impact on the game anyway...

The way I would consider handling this, is by opening up more Virtues to the player based on his deeds. So for example, let's say the "magical" virtues could be considered:

-Woeful Foresight
-Broken Spells
-Raven of the Mountain
-Elf Magic
-Night Goer
-Elvish Dreams
-The Speakers

I might grant the player the ability to tap into these by doing something. Either achieving a certain standing score, gifting treasure to the appropriate culture, opening a sanctuary in the apporpriate culture's homeland, paying extra XP, etc.

The other thing I would encourage is "interpreting" the mundane blessings, qualities, etc. as "magical". For example, i plan on having my Barding Swordmaster take the "fell-handed" virtue. But I'm not going to call it that. I plan on calling it a "Rune of Victory" or something like that, and interpreting it as a property of his sword.

If none of that is flashy enough for you or the player, you can invnent your own stuff...I would have it be related to Virtues (spells) or qualities (magic items).

[Robin Smallburrow]

Thanks for the replies guys - any new suggestions would be most welcome!

Yes Elfcrusher, these new backgrounds were tentative ideas for Character X coming from a 'home' culture but choosing the new Calling - as my group generally agreed this was the best way to try and design a 'mage PC' -
as distinct from what Rocimistro is suggesting where the magical property is NOT the character's but an item or Cultural ability the existing 'Magical Virtues' work just fine. But myself and a few others wanted to at least give players the option of playing a magic using character - thus the new Calling, and these suggested new Backgrounds.

The beauty of this idea is that when designing such a character the player still has to choose an original Culture. I disagree with Rocmistro that Scholar would work just fine for such characters - the idea here is that a magic-using character is only interested in magical study, although it is also possible for a player to choose a Culture and another calling, and then change later.

Interestingly Rocmistro, I agree with your point that Calling is not explored enough in TOR - this idea is one of the ways to redress this - perhaps we should start a new thread on how to expand on Calling rules - I know that Rich H has provided some excellent new Calling Virtues. One of the characters in my campaign is already using a new Calling - Emissary, so this is probably another reason why I like the idea of introducing Magician as a Calling.

So, anybody got any ideas for any more Backgrounds??

Robin S.