Wizard Vows

mhd · 11-01-2011, 06:26 PM

Before we get too much into D&D bashing, I'd like to say that apart from some balancing and archetypal stuff, it's also about "weapons allowed to the common man", at least from a very superficial hobbyist perspective.

And to get a bit back on topic: Germany's most popular RPG enforced this issue in the beginning, too, but were pretty blunt about it: "No weapon that does more than 1d+2 dmg", i.e. no effort to conceal the reasons for this rule.

In later editions, they actually came up with a pretty decent idea: It's not a rule, it's the law. As mages belong to guilds, some internal edicts and regulations make sense. You want to seem like proper acedemics, without unseemly martial allures – and you don't want to frighten the populace any more than you already do. Certainly could easily be applied to the pretty regulated red, white & black system of Dragonlance (if that's still in place, I bowed out after Legends).

In GURPS terms that sounds more like a Code of Honor, for the usual order regulations. Maybe a small Secret if you regularly step over the line, or maybe a Perk if you got a special dispensation to carry a sword.

11-01-2011, 06:26 PM	#9
mhd Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Land of the Beer, Home of the Dirndls	Re: Wizard Vows Before we get too much into D&D bashing, I'd like to say that apart from some balancing and archetypal stuff, it's also about "weapons allowed to the common man", at least from a very superficial hobbyist perspective. And to get a bit back on topic: Germany's most popular RPG enforced this issue in the beginning, too, but were pretty blunt about it: "No weapon that does more than 1d+2 dmg", i.e. no effort to conceal the reasons for this rule. In later editions, they actually came up with a pretty decent idea: It's not a rule, it's the law. As mages belong to guilds, some internal edicts and regulations make sense. You want to seem like proper acedemics, without unseemly martial allures – and you don't want to frighten the populace any more than you already do. Certainly could easily be applied to the pretty regulated red, white & black system of Dragonlance (if that's still in place, I bowed out after Legends). In GURPS terms that sounds more like a Code of Honor, for the usual order regulations. Maybe a small Secret if you regularly step over the line, or maybe a Perk if you got a special dispensation to carry a sword.