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Monday, September 24, 2012

Epic Destiny: Planeswalker

I just created the most unholy abomination, and for that, I am truly sorry.

So, many moons ago, I got my first booster pack of Magic: the Gathering in 1995 because I thought it looked neat.  (In a rather telling anecdote, I was not entirely aware of the nature of the game and thought the cards to be something resembling Tarot cardsWheel of Fortune was even among the first cards I obtained, further cementing the connection in my mind.)

I was never terribly good, and rarely had the opportunity to play, but I knew enough of the setting to think it was rather neat.  (We'll pretend I didn't read any of the comic books or novels and move on.)  Nigh-godlike planeswalkers go plane-hopping through various alien environments, making power plays — it's a lot like Planescape if the main characters were all arrogant, near-omnipotent dicks.

Well, that having been said, among my many casual assumptions lies the one that the multiverse of Domina and the multiverse of D&D are the same place.  Or could be the same place.

As such, why aren't there Planeswalkers in D&D?

In general, the reason why every D&D setting isn't a magic-ravaged wasteland is because they're all too backwater for Planeswalkers to care.  Important stuff is happening elsewhere in the multiverse, and they've got better things to do than slum in worlds of dying magic when they could go into magic-rich worlds and bask in the Mana.  However, that doesn't mean that the occasional Planeswalker doesn't wander through from time to time.

More importantly, it doesn't preclude arcane adventuring types from awakening their Sparks and someday ascending into the ranks of the arcane elite.

As such, I've prepared a D&D 4e Epic Destiny path for Planeswalkers.  Let's hope that this doesn't unleash a Vancian spell card system and D&D/Vanguard crossovers aplenty from Wizards.

Unless you're into that, of course, in which case, maybe that's what you want.

Download the document here.

2 comments:

  1. Cool! Almost makes me want to play 4E again. Actually makes me more determined to find a way to use my thousands of Magic cards in conjunction with D&D. Somehow... There must be a way!

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    Replies
    1. When I was contemplating Magic in play, it made more sense in pre-3e systems. Toughness is hit dice, power is effective fighter level. Damage on instants and such equates to dice of damage.

      In 4e, it's harder because scaling works differently. I'm sure there's a good way to do it, but it didn't occur to me while I was writing this.

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