As wide and varied as the Sources of a Sorcerer's power are currently, there's still plenty of other sources that are yet to be tapped into. World mythology can actually help with finding new sources for character in-game, and also offer up quite a few story possibilities. For example, Trolls originate from Scandinavian lore and mythology but the versions that are seen most often in D&D source materials have their roots in how Tolkein wrote them and what the Fantasy genre did with them. But there are a few things that got lost along the way, Trolls weren't always hulking giants, some versions spoke of them being the size of humans or even as small as an ordinary mushroom, there's a lot a DM can do with troll variants, I'll see about trying start a discussion about that in the appropriate forum later, but Swedish lore speaks of people known as Trollbloods (I can't recall their name for it but the name roughly translates to Trollblood), Trollbloods are described as people with powerful innate magical abilities, sounds like a D&D sorcerer to me. The idea that somewhere in your ancestry someone was the result of a troll in disguise and a mortal has a lot of story and backstory potential, there's a ton the player and DM can do with that, and maybe the breadth of spells open a sorcerer with Trollblood as their source could be unusual and noticeably divergent from the typical sorcerer spell list.
I like this idea. I love the mythology of places, especially Northern Europe. That trollblood sounds cool. However, dnd's trolls aren't like that, so would need to be named differently.
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'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
They could potentially justify the Trollblood by adding in some official variants to trolls. The newer variants could be closer to their Scandanavian roots. Things like Mountain Trolls could be even more lumbering and just as dumb but also have greater size and strength with less regeneration but more resistances as a tradeoff. We could also get smaller, less intellectually challenged trolls that are actually pretty good at magic, possibly one of the variants could even show up as a playable race at some point.
Think of it this way, with more troll variants you can set up for one of the more tricksy trolls, the kind that can change their form and use various kinds of magic freely, as a DM and the players don't think it could possibly be a troll because of how the Fantasy setting has conditioned people into thinking something like that couldn't possibly be a troll. This could also set up for a reveal to players that some magic users might actually have troll blood in their ancestry.
Honestly, I think it's a shame that as diverse as trolls are in real-world lore, mythology, and tales has basically relegated as this one semi-iconic monster in the Fantasy setting that is known for being dumb, lumbering, and having a regenerative ability that can only be stopped or stymied by fire and/or acid and nothing else. By adding in more troll variants, like what they did with ogres, they able to expand the breadth of play in potential world lore, exploration, and even open up potential opportunities for players in other ways as well. And with all that, the Trollblood sorcerer would have a foundation to stand on and not come out of nowhere with some handwaving nonsense justification because someone decided to be lazy.
I like playing where sorcerous origins don't have to be ancestry based, but can be the result of experimentation, random happenstance, or a pact with a powerful being (not in the Patron sense, but more like either as a reward or a gift). That way you can create your origin like a superhero origin story and still have your ancestry-based ones and your got-struck-by-magic-lightning-during-shipsreck-and-now-has-storm-powers origins.
This sounds awesome! I love reflavoring existing subclasses with character specific backstory. If dragonblood can give you innate magic, why not trolls? And any of the more powerful creatures in the world that have magic or spellcasting, if your ancestors were affected by them in some way could pass along that trait.
...now I want to come up with a Flumph related backstory just for fun...
As wide and varied as the Sources of a Sorcerer's power are currently, there's still plenty of other sources that are yet to be tapped into. World mythology can actually help with finding new sources for character in-game, and also offer up quite a few story possibilities. For example, Trolls originate from Scandinavian lore and mythology but the versions that are seen most often in D&D source materials have their roots in how Tolkein wrote them and what the Fantasy genre did with them. But there are a few things that got lost along the way, Trolls weren't always hulking giants, some versions spoke of them being the size of humans or even as small as an ordinary mushroom, there's a lot a DM can do with troll variants, I'll see about trying start a discussion about that in the appropriate forum later, but Swedish lore speaks of people known as Trollbloods (I can't recall their name for it but the name roughly translates to Trollblood), Trollbloods are described as people with powerful innate magical abilities, sounds like a D&D sorcerer to me. The idea that somewhere in your ancestry someone was the result of a troll in disguise and a mortal has a lot of story and backstory potential, there's a ton the player and DM can do with that, and maybe the breadth of spells open a sorcerer with Trollblood as their source could be unusual and noticeably divergent from the typical sorcerer spell list.
Tolkien wrote a very accurate portrayal of trolls from later Scandinavian folklore where trolls were brutes who turned to stone in the sunlight. The etymology earlier goes back to fiend or demon and would have been more related to faerie references that you are bringing up, which are more like the trolls from Disney's Frozen. Elsa fits right into part of those myths if a person wants a basis from which to work, or stick with a fey theme. That style of myth is suited to a fey blooded sorcerer.
The trolls in Tolkien's stories were only true to one kind of troll in Scandinavian lore and mythology. Scandinavian lore and mythology also tell of trolls that more closely resemble humans in size with the ability to change their form and use magics, only being limited in that their tails can't be disguised when they change their form. And it is these trolls that could hide among the human populations and even have children with humans. As said above, Swedish lore and mythology speak of individuals called Trollbloods who are born with powerful magical abilities. Now, I haven't found anything regarding turning to stone among these smaller and more magically capable trolls, but what I have found is their abilities and magics were noticeably weakened by sunlight.
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As wide and varied as the Sources of a Sorcerer's power are currently, there's still plenty of other sources that are yet to be tapped into. World mythology can actually help with finding new sources for character in-game, and also offer up quite a few story possibilities. For example, Trolls originate from Scandinavian lore and mythology but the versions that are seen most often in D&D source materials have their roots in how Tolkein wrote them and what the Fantasy genre did with them. But there are a few things that got lost along the way, Trolls weren't always hulking giants, some versions spoke of them being the size of humans or even as small as an ordinary mushroom, there's a lot a DM can do with troll variants, I'll see about trying start a discussion about that in the appropriate forum later, but Swedish lore speaks of people known as Trollbloods (I can't recall their name for it but the name roughly translates to Trollblood), Trollbloods are described as people with powerful innate magical abilities, sounds like a D&D sorcerer to me. The idea that somewhere in your ancestry someone was the result of a troll in disguise and a mortal has a lot of story and backstory potential, there's a ton the player and DM can do with that, and maybe the breadth of spells open a sorcerer with Trollblood as their source could be unusual and noticeably divergent from the typical sorcerer spell list.
I like this idea. I love the mythology of places, especially Northern Europe. That trollblood sounds cool. However, dnd's trolls aren't like that, so would need to be named differently.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
They could potentially justify the Trollblood by adding in some official variants to trolls. The newer variants could be closer to their Scandanavian roots. Things like Mountain Trolls could be even more lumbering and just as dumb but also have greater size and strength with less regeneration but more resistances as a tradeoff. We could also get smaller, less intellectually challenged trolls that are actually pretty good at magic, possibly one of the variants could even show up as a playable race at some point.
Think of it this way, with more troll variants you can set up for one of the more tricksy trolls, the kind that can change their form and use various kinds of magic freely, as a DM and the players don't think it could possibly be a troll because of how the Fantasy setting has conditioned people into thinking something like that couldn't possibly be a troll. This could also set up for a reveal to players that some magic users might actually have troll blood in their ancestry.
Honestly, I think it's a shame that as diverse as trolls are in real-world lore, mythology, and tales has basically relegated as this one semi-iconic monster in the Fantasy setting that is known for being dumb, lumbering, and having a regenerative ability that can only be stopped or stymied by fire and/or acid and nothing else. By adding in more troll variants, like what they did with ogres, they able to expand the breadth of play in potential world lore, exploration, and even open up potential opportunities for players in other ways as well. And with all that, the Trollblood sorcerer would have a foundation to stand on and not come out of nowhere with some handwaving nonsense justification because someone decided to be lazy.
You could have feyblood sorcerers. Maybe goblin fits the idea of a small troll. However, I agree with you. Variants of stuff is cool.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Unpopular opinion: Wild Magic sorcerers are fey sorcerers.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
Maybe. But I think a feyblood would be a lot more nature based and about charm. That would make sense.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
I'd enjoy a sorcerer themed around charm effects.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
You can flavor any of the classes as being from a different origin.
I would like to see more sorcerer subclasses, though. Especially with those new Dunamancy spells.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I like playing where sorcerous origins don't have to be ancestry based, but can be the result of experimentation, random happenstance, or a pact with a powerful being (not in the Patron sense, but more like either as a reward or a gift). That way you can create your origin like a superhero origin story and still have your ancestry-based ones and your got-struck-by-magic-lightning-during-shipsreck-and-now-has-storm-powers origins.
This sounds awesome! I love reflavoring existing subclasses with character specific backstory. If dragonblood can give you innate magic, why not trolls? And any of the more powerful creatures in the world that have magic or spellcasting, if your ancestors were affected by them in some way could pass along that trait.
...now I want to come up with a Flumph related backstory just for fun...
Find me on Twitter: @OboeLauren
Flumph ancestry seems great, but I think that might fit underneath Aberrant Mind Sorcerer.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
You can reflavor Aberrant Mind, and add an ability that says that you drop to 0 hit points if you're ever turned upside down. Nailed it.
Partway through the quest for absolute truth.
Tolkien wrote a very accurate portrayal of trolls from later Scandinavian folklore where trolls were brutes who turned to stone in the sunlight. The etymology earlier goes back to fiend or demon and would have been more related to faerie references that you are bringing up, which are more like the trolls from Disney's Frozen. Elsa fits right into part of those myths if a person wants a basis from which to work, or stick with a fey theme. That style of myth is suited to a fey blooded sorcerer.
The trolls in Tolkien's stories were only true to one kind of troll in Scandinavian lore and mythology. Scandinavian lore and mythology also tell of trolls that more closely resemble humans in size with the ability to change their form and use magics, only being limited in that their tails can't be disguised when they change their form. And it is these trolls that could hide among the human populations and even have children with humans. As said above, Swedish lore and mythology speak of individuals called Trollbloods who are born with powerful magical abilities. Now, I haven't found anything regarding turning to stone among these smaller and more magically capable trolls, but what I have found is their abilities and magics were noticeably weakened by sunlight.