Honestly I just asked out of curiosity. I only found one published magical girl sub class so it peaked my curiosity. I just wanted to know how other people would go about it.
Warlock, but change the fluff.
Change the details describing what happens, but leave the effects the same.
The other option is Barbarian, which has Rage to facilitate the transformation, but very few of the subclasses really fit the theme. At the very least it lets you not need armor, so your character can wear whatever she wants. You would need a very specific idea for your magical girl to make this work.
Path of the Storm Herald (particularly Tundra) could work very well
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
That is because anime tends to use a lot of stuff from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War
Doubtful many Japanese put much stock in what a Chinese general has to say.
They have their own military philosophers.
And frankly, the Art of War is about war, not individual battles.
Your interpretation of Sun Tzu is narrow.
Life is an individual war everyone loses eventually, but each day is a battle that can be won.
You just have to look at the wisdom he offers with the right perspective…
Considering that Sun Tzu was also really big on not fighting pointless battles (in fact, needlessly getting people killed is like the Cardinal Sin of a General in Sun Tzu's eyes and that every war should be decided before you ever arrive at the battlefield), I feel this interpretation lends itself to a troubling narrative vis-a-vis suicide. Therefore, if life is a war which we will one day lose, Sun Tzu's wisdom would have been "do not be born."
For me, the biggest thing about magical girls that comes to mind is their transformation mid battle. Bladesong, Way of the Astral Self, Tasha's Otherworldy Guise, and other mechanics that change stats and/or appearance would be things that I would look to for inspiration. In terms of activation frequency, I think Tasha's Otherworldly Guise feels about right, since it is not something you want to spam for every fight.
There are certain anime conventions that don't map well to D&D -- in particular, D&D heavily encourages using your big moves early, whereas anime fights start off with basic moves and escalate as the combat goes on.
That is because anime tends to use a lot of stuff from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" such as wanting to better understand your opponent before you go big. In D&D even though it's meta gaming players already have a really good understanding of an enemies capabilities so they tend to skip that part.
This is a gross mischaracterization and oversimplification of the Art of War. Prolonging violence is NOT the way to go about resolving conflict. My Little Pony is a show that better exemplifies the virtues of the Art of War, as violence is generally used as a last resort, and conflict resolution is best achieved through nonviolent means and are generally resolved quickly within an episode rather than over long arcs.
Shounen anime is geared towards teenage males, as that is what the genre is literally named after. Growing up, teenage drama, and overcoming obstacles with the power of friendship is what the genre is about. Saying that shounen anime is a reflection of Japanese miltiary philosophy is as utterly absurd, naive, and ridiculous as saying the MCU and DCEU are a reflection of American military philosophy. Arslan Senki, Code Geass, and Overlord would be examples of anime that are a better reference point for conventional Japanese public's take on military strategy. Similarly, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek would be better reference points than super hero movies for conventional American public's take on military strategy.
That is because anime tends to use a lot of stuff from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War
Doubtful many Japanese put much stock in what a Chinese general has to say.
They have their own military philosophers.
Strategy and tactics have no national nor cultural restrictions. You take every advantage you can find, no matter where that advantage originates. As far as I know, Imperial Japan during WWII have certainly studied, drawn inspiration from, and placed importance on the Art of War, and they have also certainly at least read and considered Clausewitz's On War too, and neither works are of Japanese origin. America is no different either and we read everything from everywhere, and our own "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783" was widely read internationally, and many foreign navies took note of it.
Warlock works well, hexblade even more so than most with pact of the blade. how many of them have a weapon they can materialize? pact of the blade does that. How many of them fire energy blasts? eldritch blast does that.
Than invocations can be taken to get other abilities, some others might work better with a wizard setup (who says mage armor can't be a transformation of sorts?) for the larger access to spells
For me, the biggest thing about magical girls that comes to mind is their transformation mid battle. Bladesong, Way of the Astral Self, Tasha's Otherworldy Guise, and other mechanics that change stats and/or appearance would be things that I would look to for inspiration. In terms of activation frequency, I think Tasha's Otherworldly Guise feels about right, since it is not something you want to spam for every fight.
There are certain anime conventions that don't map well to D&D -- in particular, D&D heavily encourages using your big moves early, whereas anime fights start off with basic moves and escalate as the combat goes on.
That is because anime tends to use a lot of stuff from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" such as wanting to better understand your opponent before you go big. In D&D even though it's meta gaming players already have a really good understanding of an enemies capabilities so they tend to skip that part.
This is a gross mischaracterization and oversimplification of the Art of War. Prolonging violence is NOT the way to go about resolving conflict. My Little Pony is a show that better exemplifies the virtues of the Art of War, as violence is generally used as a last resort, and conflict resolution is best achieved through nonviolent means and are generally resolved quickly within an episode rather than over long arcs.
Shounen anime is geared towards teenage males, as that is what the genre is literally named after. Growing up, teenage drama, and overcoming obstacles with the power of friendship is what the genre is about. Saying that shounen anime is a reflection of Japanese miltiary philosophy is as utterly absurd, naive, and ridiculous as saying the MCU and DCEU are a reflection of American military philosophy. Arslan Senki, Code Geass, and Overlord would be examples of anime that are a better reference point for conventional Japanese public's take on military strategy. Similarly, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek would be better reference points than super hero movies for conventional American public's take on military strategy.
That is because anime tends to use a lot of stuff from Sun Tzu's "The Art of War
Doubtful many Japanese put much stock in what a Chinese general has to say.
They have their own military philosophers.
Strategy and tactics have no national nor cultural restrictions. You take every advantage you can find, no matter where that advantage originates. As far as I know, Imperial Japan during WWII have certainly studied, drawn inspiration from, and placed importance on the Art of War, and they have also certainly at least read and considered Clausewitz's On War too, and neither works are of Japanese origin. America is no different either and we read everything from everywhere, and our own "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783" was widely read internationally, and many foreign navies took note of it.
There are distinct advantages in all parties reading the same material.
I play a character that my group jokes about being a magical girl all the time, and it was unintentional. I was a bit surprised when a fellow player started calling her that but then realized she was right on the mark with the description so decided to embrace it. The character is a Protector Aasimar Cleric who worships Pelor and as such has a sun theme about her. She's Life domain, though if I'd been consciously going for magical girl chic from the start I could have went with Light instead.
The "magical girl" aspect comes mainly from her having a definite theme, being a sun priestess, which influences her appearance and the descriptive flavor for her abilities and spells. Appearance-wise she has pale skin and bright, sunbeam yellow hair, eyes, and lips, and her eyes actually sparkle as a further indicator of her celestial heritage. When she casts spells like spiritual weapon and spirit guardians the effects get visually described as looking like they're made of sunlight and generally angelic in form. Her Radiant Soul transformation (1/day racial ability of a Protector Aasimar) produces angelic wings that appear to be made of sunlight and manifests in a sparkly flash of light. Her guiding bolt spells are sparkly beams of weaponized sunshine. Her healing spells are accompanied by puffs of glittery golden sparkles that settle over the subject's wounds. When casting spells in battle she tends to shout (as verbal components) sun themed proclamations invoking "Pelor's blessed radiance," "the holy light of the Sunfather," and such.
Again, I literally did this unintentionally as far as the "magical girl" part goes. I set out to come up with an antithesis to the angsty-edgelord-with-a-dark-past stereotype and decided on "cute bubbly church girl." From there she naturally evolved until it was pointed out to me that I'm basically playing a sun themed OC from a medieval Sailor Moon fanfic. I decided to just go with it and lean fully in on the idea; she's easily one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever played being a little bit silly but still fully fitting to the game. It might also be worth noting that the mood of the game can get fairly dark at times, which presents roleplaying challenges around trying to keep her attitude positive, optimistic, and generally "sunny" with all the gloom and violence she's constantly caught up in (she's came pretty close to a full nervous breakdown a time or two).
I know that the inherent flavor is a bit weird with magical girl stuff, but undead patron warlock works pretty well with the whole "transformation" bit, because you have form of dread. It's even a bonus action, so if you're suddenly caught in a fighting situation (as is usually common with magical girls), you can transform and get right into the action.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Warlock, but change the fluff.
Change the details describing what happens, but leave the effects the same.
Doubtful many Japanese put much stock in what a Chinese general has to say.
They have their own military philosophers.
Your interpretation of Sun Tzu is narrow.
Life is an individual war everyone loses eventually, but each day is a battle that can be won.
You just have to look at the wisdom he offers with the right perspective…
Path of the Storm Herald (particularly Tundra) could work very well
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Considering that Sun Tzu was also really big on not fighting pointless battles (in fact, needlessly getting people killed is like the Cardinal Sin of a General in Sun Tzu's eyes and that every war should be decided before you ever arrive at the battlefield), I feel this interpretation lends itself to a troubling narrative vis-a-vis suicide. Therefore, if life is a war which we will one day lose, Sun Tzu's wisdom would have been "do not be born."
For me, the biggest thing about magical girls that comes to mind is their transformation mid battle. Bladesong, Way of the Astral Self, Tasha's Otherworldy Guise, and other mechanics that change stats and/or appearance would be things that I would look to for inspiration. In terms of activation frequency, I think Tasha's Otherworldly Guise feels about right, since it is not something you want to spam for every fight.
This is a gross mischaracterization and oversimplification of the Art of War. Prolonging violence is NOT the way to go about resolving conflict. My Little Pony is a show that better exemplifies the virtues of the Art of War, as violence is generally used as a last resort, and conflict resolution is best achieved through nonviolent means and are generally resolved quickly within an episode rather than over long arcs.
Shounen anime is geared towards teenage males, as that is what the genre is literally named after. Growing up, teenage drama, and overcoming obstacles with the power of friendship is what the genre is about. Saying that shounen anime is a reflection of Japanese miltiary philosophy is as utterly absurd, naive, and ridiculous as saying the MCU and DCEU are a reflection of American military philosophy. Arslan Senki, Code Geass, and Overlord would be examples of anime that are a better reference point for conventional Japanese public's take on military strategy. Similarly, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek would be better reference points than super hero movies for conventional American public's take on military strategy.
Strategy and tactics have no national nor cultural restrictions. You take every advantage you can find, no matter where that advantage originates. As far as I know, Imperial Japan during WWII have certainly studied, drawn inspiration from, and placed importance on the Art of War, and they have also certainly at least read and considered Clausewitz's On War too, and neither works are of Japanese origin. America is no different either and we read everything from everywhere, and our own "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783" was widely read internationally, and many foreign navies took note of it.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I've considered trying to build a dramatic escalation model for D&D combat, but you have to rework a lot of things.
Warlock works well, hexblade even more so than most with pact of the blade. how many of them have a weapon they can materialize? pact of the blade does that. How many of them fire energy blasts? eldritch blast does that.
Than invocations can be taken to get other abilities, some others might work better with a wizard setup (who says mage armor can't be a transformation of sorts?) for the larger access to spells
There are distinct advantages in all parties reading the same material.
I play a character that my group jokes about being a magical girl all the time, and it was unintentional. I was a bit surprised when a fellow player started calling her that but then realized she was right on the mark with the description so decided to embrace it. The character is a Protector Aasimar Cleric who worships Pelor and as such has a sun theme about her. She's Life domain, though if I'd been consciously going for magical girl chic from the start I could have went with Light instead.
The "magical girl" aspect comes mainly from her having a definite theme, being a sun priestess, which influences her appearance and the descriptive flavor for her abilities and spells. Appearance-wise she has pale skin and bright, sunbeam yellow hair, eyes, and lips, and her eyes actually sparkle as a further indicator of her celestial heritage. When she casts spells like spiritual weapon and spirit guardians the effects get visually described as looking like they're made of sunlight and generally angelic in form. Her Radiant Soul transformation (1/day racial ability of a Protector Aasimar) produces angelic wings that appear to be made of sunlight and manifests in a sparkly flash of light. Her guiding bolt spells are sparkly beams of weaponized sunshine. Her healing spells are accompanied by puffs of glittery golden sparkles that settle over the subject's wounds. When casting spells in battle she tends to shout (as verbal components) sun themed proclamations invoking "Pelor's blessed radiance," "the holy light of the Sunfather," and such.
Again, I literally did this unintentionally as far as the "magical girl" part goes. I set out to come up with an antithesis to the angsty-edgelord-with-a-dark-past stereotype and decided on "cute bubbly church girl." From there she naturally evolved until it was pointed out to me that I'm basically playing a sun themed OC from a medieval Sailor Moon fanfic. I decided to just go with it and lean fully in on the idea; she's easily one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever played being a little bit silly but still fully fitting to the game. It might also be worth noting that the mood of the game can get fairly dark at times, which presents roleplaying challenges around trying to keep her attitude positive, optimistic, and generally "sunny" with all the gloom and violence she's constantly caught up in (she's came pretty close to a full nervous breakdown a time or two).
I know that the inherent flavor is a bit weird with magical girl stuff, but undead patron warlock works pretty well with the whole "transformation" bit, because you have form of dread. It's even a bonus action, so if you're suddenly caught in a fighting situation (as is usually common with magical girls), you can transform and get right into the action.