I think in the heart of flavoring magical characters is the source of their magics. In the world’s greatest roleplaying game, this might be extraordinarily evident; in 5e, there are different full casting classes and they all get their magic in different ways. Bardic magic is artistically inspired; clerical magic is divine; druid’s channel primal forces; sorcerers channel innate magic from self and bloodline; warlocks are bestowed magic at a price; and wizards are scholars of the occult and the arcane.
There is already tons of flavor to be had with just these slight distinctions, but if you’re like me and love going back to the same tropes and classes, you may ask yourself what makes Character B not just Character A’? How can we keep reinventing the things we know and love, especially for spellcasters? For my money, theming a character around a specific thing can make some of the most novel and interesting characters.
One of the inherent prattfalls I think players have when trying to create a bit more imaginative or original character to dd some zest and flavor is getting caught up in the distinctions that the casters have. Every wizard has a spellbook–needs a spellbook; it’s part of what makes a wizard a wizard. Sorcerers pull from natural talent and innate magic from their bloodline. I think a lot of people stop here for flavor, and that’s fine! However, I think that there is a lot more room to be more creative. Let’s look into those two examples further.
The wizard studies his spellbook and other arcane sources regularly, but what does he study? What makes his spellbook different from hers? Schools of magic sure if we want to use something that is already in the game, but that’s part of the class as soon as you hit level 2. Let’s up the restrictions: what is the difference between one evoker’s spellbook and another’s from totally different part of the world or plane of existence? They can cast the same spells–hell, any two wizards of the same level can cast the same spell, so what makes these characters distinct from a flavor and aesthetic perspective? What do they study or draw their knowledge from?
Just off the dome, I’ll think of two: elements and numbers.
Evoker A studies elements. Evoker B studies numbers.
Our elementalist friend (Evoker A) could take a liking to alchemy in a lab. This might be where their training or schooling took place. Perhaps also they have an intense wanderlust, wanting to visit the depths or middle of oceans, peaks of volcanoes, cavernous canyons, and touch the clouds. Or perhaps there traveling ambitions are to the elemental planes! They are very particular about how others talk about elements and support the theory that as opposed to the 4 elements (air, earth, fire, water) there are actually 5 with the addition of aether or void.
Earlier, I had said that any wizard can cast the same spells as another wizard of the same level, so that begs the question: How would this elementalist’s spells look? For the purposes of his evoker subclass, is his fire blue? Does he transmute the air in a 20-foot-radius sphere to fire? Would their Hold Person spell shoot rocks from the earth, or would encasing them with the voidal properties of aether cause them to not understand how to move?As you can see, I don’t think that an elementalist needs every fire or ice spell in the game, but with a small bit of wonder and creativity, any spell can be an elementalist spell.
Now let’s pivot Evoker B, our numbers nerd. Perhaps she focuses on numerology, the mystic significance of numbers, and looks for patterns and constants in the world. In real life, constants like pi, the relationship between the circumference of a circle and the diameter, were estimated around 250 BC, as were several other geometrical formulas. God, would it not be great if these spells have shapes to them?
Looks like we’re in luck!
Maybe the evoker has favorite shapes that dictates which spell she takes. Maybe as opposed to focusing on runes she memorizes numbers, sequences, formulas, etc. for her spellcraft.
We now are reaching some parody. What does her fireball look like? Does she heat the air up to a certain temperature causing scalding burns and for things to combust? Does she shoot three different beams from a staff that converge and cause a chemical explosion? Her Hold Person spell could trap someone in magical, triangles or hexagons–some of the strongest shapes!
Theming a character, usually with something mundane and making it fantastical and expanding on it can be a fun creative exercise and make really fun and interesting characters that keeps the classes we love fresh.
