| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jelennet |
Posted - 04 Feb 2011 : 21:56:17
As far as I know some people in the Realms are born with a talent for magic and some are not. Is there a spell or a ritual or an artifact that can turn an ordinary person into a wizard or a sorcerer? |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 05 Feb 2011 : 17:18:33
Volo's GTATM also has Innate Talents, Spellfire, etc. Some people got it, some don't. Actually, most don't.
Some individuals have a certain latent potential; it's just something intangible that transcends all the other stats. Perhaps only a handful of people in each village, perhaps it runs in some families [Edit: Ed(?) has said as much, stating that Mystra carefully monitors magical lineages.]. Or perhaps a lot of people have some potential and masters are a bit selective about who they'll teach (choosing the strongest, smartest, youngest, richest, prettiest, etc), or perhaps such people are as rare as Jedi and only a few precious worthies are found in each generation. Of course all PCs (and critical NPCs) are assumed to have the potential to become spellcasters if they like, much like a PC doesn't need to roll some puny chance of possessing psionic wild talent to qualify as a psionicist.
Those individuals who possess the mojo need to be taught how to use it. Enlightened, sophisticated, and educated people (like the populations of Netheril, Halruaa, and nobility of Zakhara) have the capacity to cast a few useful cantrips each day, and can in fact learn or invent a few such cantrips without any proper magical training or spellbooks — of course most people in the Realms live in less enlightened societies and are somewhat suspicious, fearful, or awed by magic.
You might think of Realms magic (and magic users) as you would think of Earth mathematics (and mathematicians) —
Most people were largely ignorant of math in medieval society, and outside of basic counting most had little use for number-math in their daily lives. Today everybody in our society knows at least a little math (aside from those who live in extremely poor or backward regions), and math has many applications in our number-saturated daily lives. A few advanced mathematical thinkers exist in every age, and a rare few of these are mathematical progeny whose genius and achievements are well known.
2E Tome of Magic:
Wizard Sight "... While wizard sight is in effect, a wizard is able to see whether someone is a spellcaster and whether that person is a priest or a wizard (and what type of specialist, if any). He can sense if a nonspellcaster has the potential to learn and cast wizard spells (e.g., whether a fighter will someday gain the ability to cast a spell) ..." |
| Hoondatha |
Posted - 05 Feb 2011 : 01:23:43
Check out Volo's Guide to All Things Magical. There's an elixir in there (fittingly enough called the Great Elixir) that has a 1 in 100 chance of granting its drinker the ability to either become immune to an entire school of magic (if already a wizard) or to become a 1st level wizard (if not). There's even a (disgusting) way of increasing that chance.
Of course, the elixir has an even greater chance of killing maiming, or driving its drinker insane. There's a reason it used to be used as capital punishment in Halruaa. |
| Kentinal |
Posted - 04 Feb 2011 : 22:57:47
In part it depends on version, however there are a few magics that can be used to force teach or grant some magical ability. Either only granted limited ability and some of them short duration. The best answer is to learn the trade or innate abilities that might be within you.
A nether scroll did grant increased skill (level raise), however I do not believe any of the 50 could even be understood by one that did not have read magic spell (One of the first a Wizard trainee learns). |
| Rhewtani |
Posted - 04 Feb 2011 : 22:39:10
I'll need to double check, but I'm pretty sure there is a nether scroll that can give sorcerous talent. My understanding is that wizarding is just hard work, and sorcerer are filthy cheaters. |
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