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The Privilege of Sorcerers (infosec.pub)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by juergen_hubert@ttrpg.network to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

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One of my pet peeves of modern fantasy media is the notion that some people are "special" - and thus implied to be "better" - than other people because of some inherent magical ability. One of the best-known modern examples of this is the Harry Potter franchise, where the protagonists are mostly mages, and even the characters who actually care about the welfare of the latter do so in an extremely patronizing way - i.e. by stopping the "bad mages" rather than working together.

In #dnd and similar #ttrpg, the concept is represent by the "sorcerer" and similar characters who gained their cool powers from some innate birth ability rather than study and hard work.

And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to play such a character, just for once I would like to see an in-setting examination of what it means to have this privilege, instead of the more common:

"Oh no, woe is me, I have been born with special powers and will be hated and persecuted for them. Thus, I must spend most of my time in a secret society with my fellow very special people!"

To be clear, people born with privilege did not ask to be born with privilege, and cannot be blamed for that. However, they should also acknowledge that they have this privilege, and not assume that they are somehow "better" than people without it.

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[–] pteryx@dice.camp 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

While the Eberron setting doesn't directly tie dragonmarks to the Sorcerer class, it does explore hereditary magic as a privilege. In general, if you're not of the bloodlines who are "supposed to" get particular constructive magic and want to go into business using that magic, you need to either sign a contract with the appropriate Dragonmarked House or they'll go Pinkerton on your ass. This cuts the other way, too, where anyone in the House with such powers is pressured to participate.

[–] juergen_hubert@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Eberron is one of my favorite DnDoid settings, precisely because the designers put a lot of thoughts into this stuff.

[–] pteryx@dice.camp 3 points 49 minutes ago (1 children)

Referring back to my "sorcerers have a superhero origin" proposal elsewhere in this discussion... one of the Dragon suggestions for an alternative source of inherent magical power is being the subject of magical or alchemical experimentation.

In Eberron, since it just came out of a massive war that involved advancements in combat magic and artifice, it's easy to imagine that type of origin specifically manifesting as "Captain America, but a sorcerer".

[–] juergen_hubert@ttrpg.network 1 points 43 minutes ago

Keith Baker always encouraged this kind of creative reskinning of classes.

And, of course, the privilege of superbeings has been explored in #ttrpg before, such as in the setting of Aberrant.