Campaign is set a few thousand years after a period known as the 'Godfall War', where the various Pantheons went H.A.M. on each other out of ego and pride, and shattered their worlds. In the aftermath, the surviving Gods either A) sodded off to parts unknown B) were humbled and tried to save what remained on their worlds, creating a network of Demi-Planes to sustain and protect what remains of their old dominions and favoured races or C) went rogue and turned into caricatures of themselves, fractured into pieces or generally went complete waffles and will be responsible for some of the drek that the players will have to face.
In the process, however, a lot of knowledge was lost, and the Gods who remain aren't keen to see super-powered Mortals running amok since the Demi-Plane Network is rather fragile and relies upon a delicate co-dependence between the Six Primary Realms and their associated Secondary Realms (actual discussion on them is beyond the scope of this, but think the Arks from ARK, but each Primary Demi_Plane represents Earth/Solid, Light/Life, Dark/Death, Air/Gas, etc etc, and their Secondary Realms are smaller Demi-Planes that represent blending of the Primary Realm's elemental attribute and that of the other Primary Realms to give some balance and additional biomes to the Primary Demi-Planes.) involving permanent Gate structures and a lot of whoo-haa from the remaining Gods.
I was planning on there being four 'definitions' of Magic to describe the classes.
The Low Arts: This covers Artificers, Eldritch Knights, Paladins, Rangers, etc, any of the half-caster and demi-caster classes and/or the specialisation chosen at 3rd level. Basically the lowest form of Magic, or a weakened, debased form of the ancient knowledge. Common enough that most villages will have an Artificers, or a Ranger, but still something to marvel at. Paladins become the outlier here, being trained in Divine Magic to fight for various noble causes, but their Arts are still simpler and less complex than that of a Cleric, making them something closer to a Witcher in the way the setting sees them, rather than Deus Vult types.
The High Arts: This covers Bards and Wizards, essentially full-casters of an arcane bent, this is magical power devoid of Divine oversight or control, and is quite rare. It is also quite feared and respected because of the power involved and the lengths those who pursue this path to power can go to accumulate knowledge and power to further their own advancement. Think Rastilin, Thulsa Doom and the like. There's no need to be evil, but with all of the lost knowledge and so much antagonism and ambition between the truly powerful and those scratching for arcane secrets, there is a lot of pushing and shoving going on in this bracket for knowledge and influence.
The True Arts: This covers Clerics and Druids, and much like the High Arts, is quite rare in the world, but is loved rather than feared, as the Clerics and Druids are considered conduits of the Gods, and their favour on the mortal races. Also, since a God can quite literally remove a Cleric or Druid's powers (Druids draw from the remaining Nature Gods, rather than the powers of Nature itself because of the Demi-Planes and the whole several shattered worlds held together through spit and binding wire angle of the setting), the various Emperors, Kings and God-Priests are less worried about power-plays against them or the status quo from said casters. Assuming said Gods don't want a change in the status quo ...
The Black Arts: This covers Sorcerers and Warlocks. The former because a Sorcerer rarely chooses to become such, and many Sorcerers unwittingly cause harm and/or chaos growing up and learning to control their abilities, and Warlocks are already a Class built upon (potentially unwise) pacts with Eldritch forces that may or may not be working in tandem with the remaining Divine Powers. Sorcerers are likely to 'fake' being a Wizard or a Bard in public to avoid suspicion, while a Warlock's less varied magic means they're easier to hide their nature, but might take steps to pretend to just be a fighter who has some of the Low Art ... especially since a great deal of their flavour can come from the Eldritch Invocations they have access to as much as their Specialisation choice.
Does this seem like an interesting way for the cultures the Player Characters are likely to come from to make sense of their classes in an organic way? That being apprenticed to the local Ranger to learn how to fight and use simple spells is a great honor, while becoming the apprentice of the nearby Wizard is both terrifying and a way for an unlikely individual to step up several social levels in one go. That a Warlock has to balance upholding their pact with their Patron, avoiding unnecessary attention from the society around them and pursuing their own agendas without violating either of the two other points.
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TL:DR mode is go.
Campaign is set a few thousand years after a period known as the 'Godfall War', where the various Pantheons went H.A.M. on each other out of ego and pride, and shattered their worlds. In the aftermath, the surviving Gods either A) sodded off to parts unknown B) were humbled and tried to save what remained on their worlds, creating a network of Demi-Planes to sustain and protect what remains of their old dominions and favoured races or C) went rogue and turned into caricatures of themselves, fractured into pieces or generally went complete waffles and will be responsible for some of the drek that the players will have to face.
In the process, however, a lot of knowledge was lost, and the Gods who remain aren't keen to see super-powered Mortals running amok since the Demi-Plane Network is rather fragile and relies upon a delicate co-dependence between the Six Primary Realms and their associated Secondary Realms (actual discussion on them is beyond the scope of this, but think the Arks from ARK, but each Primary Demi_Plane represents Earth/Solid, Light/Life, Dark/Death, Air/Gas, etc etc, and their Secondary Realms are smaller Demi-Planes that represent blending of the Primary Realm's elemental attribute and that of the other Primary Realms to give some balance and additional biomes to the Primary Demi-Planes.) involving permanent Gate structures and a lot of whoo-haa from the remaining Gods.
I was planning on there being four 'definitions' of Magic to describe the classes.
The Low Arts: This covers Artificers, Eldritch Knights, Paladins, Rangers, etc, any of the half-caster and demi-caster classes and/or the specialisation chosen at 3rd level. Basically the lowest form of Magic, or a weakened, debased form of the ancient knowledge. Common enough that most villages will have an Artificers, or a Ranger, but still something to marvel at. Paladins become the outlier here, being trained in Divine Magic to fight for various noble causes, but their Arts are still simpler and less complex than that of a Cleric, making them something closer to a Witcher in the way the setting sees them, rather than Deus Vult types.
The High Arts: This covers Bards and Wizards, essentially full-casters of an arcane bent, this is magical power devoid of Divine oversight or control, and is quite rare. It is also quite feared and respected because of the power involved and the lengths those who pursue this path to power can go to accumulate knowledge and power to further their own advancement. Think Rastilin, Thulsa Doom and the like. There's no need to be evil, but with all of the lost knowledge and so much antagonism and ambition between the truly powerful and those scratching for arcane secrets, there is a lot of pushing and shoving going on in this bracket for knowledge and influence.
The True Arts: This covers Clerics and Druids, and much like the High Arts, is quite rare in the world, but is loved rather than feared, as the Clerics and Druids are considered conduits of the Gods, and their favour on the mortal races. Also, since a God can quite literally remove a Cleric or Druid's powers (Druids draw from the remaining Nature Gods, rather than the powers of Nature itself because of the Demi-Planes and the whole several shattered worlds held together through spit and binding wire angle of the setting), the various Emperors, Kings and God-Priests are less worried about power-plays against them or the status quo from said casters. Assuming said Gods don't want a change in the status quo ...
The Black Arts: This covers Sorcerers and Warlocks. The former because a Sorcerer rarely chooses to become such, and many Sorcerers unwittingly cause harm and/or chaos growing up and learning to control their abilities, and Warlocks are already a Class built upon (potentially unwise) pacts with Eldritch forces that may or may not be working in tandem with the remaining Divine Powers. Sorcerers are likely to 'fake' being a Wizard or a Bard in public to avoid suspicion, while a Warlock's less varied magic means they're easier to hide their nature, but might take steps to pretend to just be a fighter who has some of the Low Art ... especially since a great deal of their flavour can come from the Eldritch Invocations they have access to as much as their Specialisation choice.
Does this seem like an interesting way for the cultures the Player Characters are likely to come from to make sense of their classes in an organic way? That being apprenticed to the local Ranger to learn how to fight and use simple spells is a great honor, while becoming the apprentice of the nearby Wizard is both terrifying and a way for an unlikely individual to step up several social levels in one go. That a Warlock has to balance upholding their pact with their Patron, avoiding unnecessary attention from the society around them and pursuing their own agendas without violating either of the two other points.