Talk:Magicia (5e Race)

Name

There's no beating around the bush: "magician" definitely sounds like a class, not a race. As ConcealedLight previously pointed out, the name sounds very strange conceptually if you combine it with any class. "I'm a magician barbarian." Even, "I'm a magician wizard" sounds exceptionally strange.

The currrent description and features of this race just worsens this problem. To me at least, the description comes across as a sect of human sorcerers as much as it does its own race.

Could we rename this race somehow? Maybe something to do with their fey ancestry? "Maginate" or "feytouched" or even just "magicia" (dropping the n)? Almost anything would I think be an improvement over a term that almost every experienced D&D player would instantly assume belongs to a class. - Guy 12:49, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

Bonus Action Cantrips

I've had to explain this a few times, but most cantrips are not remotely balanced to be cast as a bonus action by a player-character. At almost every level this blows up the damage cap expected from player-characters. (Class Damage (5e Guideline) explains more on this topic.)

Consider that a "fighter magician" at 5th level can make two greatsword attacks (each 2d6 + 3) and then cast fire bolt (2d10 damage) with a bonus action. This simple thing alone blows up the expected damage cap at this level. As levels increase it becomes even more broken. Cantrips are designed to use your entire action.

And that's just damage output. It's not including things like blade ward that can give you constant damage resistance, or guidance giving you a d4 to practically every ability check you ever make even when time is of the essence. These are only a few of many examples.

I have no doubt this feature should be removed if the race is not intended to be overpowered. - Guy 12:49, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

What the Hell? That trait wasn't me; someone else must have added it while I wasn't looking. I've removed it, never intended to have it anyway.

Anyway, I've also taken your suggestion and renamed the race. Thanks for the constructive criticism. - Alice-chan 16:06, 25 September 2018 (EST)

Page Title

Though, I will say I'd prefer it if the page title could be changed to reflect the new race name of "Magicia", if even possible. Not sure if it needs an admin for that or what, but I can't seem to figure how to do it. - Alice-chan 16:17, 25 September 2018 (EST)

I've moved the page and made some edits to reduce the power more in line with the first party, the race seems pretty similar to high elf atm but its a bit stronger than even that atm. —ConcealedLight (talk) 14:47, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

For future reference, one doesn't need to be an admin to rename a page. You can use one of the tabs at the top, labeled "move." - Guy 20:57, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

Freestyle Editing Issues

I know that changes are being made to help balance the race, but please, run suggestions by me first before changing anything. I'd rather run into some constructive criticism than someone initially unknown meddling with what I've tried to create. - Alice-chan 16:59, 25 September 2018 (EST)

If you aren't already aware, you can use one of the tabs at the top—the one labeled "history"— to track and review all changes made to this page, including when these edits were made and by whom. It can help you see what exactly someone might've changed. - Guy 20:57, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

I'm aware, but I'd rather not have to babysit the page and watch out for miscellaneous edits that conflict with my vision of the race that aren't made with the intent of fixing balance. For example, the very first time was when some random hooligan added the feature that allowed all cantrips to be cast as bonus actions; that, like I'd said at the time, wasn't my doing. Another example is when ConcealedLight made changes to the Magically-Inclined Being trait, they changed the spellcasting ability to Charisma when I intend for it to be Wisdom. - Alice-chan 23:20, 25 September 2018 (EST)

Well. I can't prevent ConcealedLight from editing the page again, but if you want I can block anonymous IP edits to this page. That seems reasonable considering there's a history of unbalancing edits on this page.

5e Races seem to be particularly prone to unwarranted IP edits. I'd like to protect them all in a similar way, but, well, that would probably be a rather controversial action. - Guy 21:32, 25 September 2018 (MDT)

I'd appreciate it if this page could be made edit-proof to randoms, as I don't want to see a repeat of that incident with the unbalanced trait. I'm not asking for the page to be made completely edit-proof, but if randoms can be kept off it, then those with accounts can be asked to confer with me before making any major edits. - Alice-chan 1:24, 26 September 2018 (EST)

Charisma seems like a perfectly reasonable spellcasting ability given this is an innate magical ability we're talking about and the class draws its spells from the sorcerer spell list which is Charisma anyways. Not sure how Wisdom comes into the play. Similarly how I altered the Ability Score Increases to give a +1 to all spellcasting stats or mental scores since I don't see how a magican is naturally more durable than others and why Charisma is being ignored. Clarification on that would be good. —ConcealedLight (talk) 05:23, 26 September 2018 (MDT)

The increase to Constitution is done because of the mention to chemicals in the society section. It implies that because of how many magicia work with potentially harmful alchemical chemicals like arsenic, lead and mercury, the race has adapted slightly to be a bit more hardy against them. Maybe a bit off to the side, but it's there.

As for using Wisdom for spellcasting, Charisma is a more persuasive and overall interaction-based score, and Wisdom has a more "natural" feel to it, being used by druids and rangers. I know that innate spellcasters like sorcerers use Charisma, and that the spellcasting here is technically innate, but I wanted to elicit a more natural feel from the spellcasting. Not sure if this makes any sense, but that's my thought process on the matter. If it helps matters at all, I'd be willing to change the spell list being drawn from to the wizard spell list. - Alice-chan 12:28, 26 September 2018 (EST)