Well, here are few words from so far non-sorceress:
Until today I had almost non motivation nor urge to use the sorcery in any way besides one - collecting materials. Rushed to finish the Kurak tome, but I dislike the fact that most of the sorcery is about some ugly, undead, demonic, abomination stuff and repulsive creatures. I would like to try the bat demon flying, but still not motivated enough⊠Maybe one day.
As was stated before in similar thread about nerfing sorcery, we now have âBasic sorceryâ feat. If this could be renamed to âDark magic/sorceryâ, we could have the light and nature spells maybe, one day?
Something, anything that wonât inlcude killing and sacrificing another human beings or sucking their souls out of them, for example. How about some ability to call powers of nature to entangle your opponent in the woods. Or some godly power which allows you to stun the other player, so you can escape.
I would certainly come to more ideas eventually, but not sure how much would other players want the same thing. Just and idea, more people could think out more good options. What do you think about this? Or is it somehow locked in the lore developers intend to stick up to, and there is no way around it, to contribute with anything new?
Witch hunt was always about seeing potential witches as something bad, which they mostly were not (inquisition, for example). So why would not allow us to use another types of sorcery?
Person can chose for example Mitra religion, which is something about righteousness and being the good guy, if I put it simple.
How can actually something like this be in the same mindset of a sorcerer, who has to cut throats of another men in inhuman way, to became magician? Donât take it like that I am some kitty in this matter, the slight gore is not my concern.
Itâs just that missing option to study sorcery another than very dark and shady way.
Well, so far sorcery in the exiled lands specifically is accessible through blood. Mek-Kamoses his sorcerous abilities are currently dampened but through blood some rudimentary sorcery becomes accessible
Perhaps a Mitra non-sacrificial variant could be achieved by having a sorcery station that requires several Mitra priests stationed in order to research and create items. Having them voluntarily perform a non-lethal bloodletting that costs a significant amount of time to perform, and requires for example a Feast of Mitra and Concentrated Aloe Potion for each priest stationed, with each priest giving 1 blood and them requiring the feast and potion to regain their strength.
At a minimum of 2 priests required, with 5 being the maximum i could see it being a thing. Plus itâd be neat to see even without animations iâd bet.
It wouldnât be cheap or easy, but the honorable, just way shouldnât necessarily be quick and easy.
I would urge you to brush up on your lore; this isnât that kind of fantasy.
Sorcery is, on all accounts, evil by nature. No power comes from oneâs self, only knowledge on how to manipulate reality and deals with dark gods and demons. These rituals always have a cost, and that cost is usually soaked in blood.
Even within the books, there are no âgoodâ sorcerers. Just ones who act favorably for their own motives. Common enemies, revenge, or even just payment.
The Mitraen faith is vehemently opposed to all sorcery, given that all sorcery is evil and inhuman. As such, there is no Mitraen sorcery
But is there a nature based faith (similar to Wicca) in the lore?
This is whatâs actually missing moreâŠfaith-based magics. Yes sorcery is bad but I donât believe they have done faith supernatural justice as extremes are there (avatar to pointless) but not the middle ground. You could use essences to fuel it and each faith has unique.
Set? Pain. NPCâs drop in agony and whither. PCâs are blinded in white blinding light and slowed.
Mitra? Turn off player combat for a 15 second interval.
As Jimbo said, this isnât final fantasy, thereâs no black magic and white magic. Its black magic and more black magic. All nasty stuff.
I would also point out that even some of the nicest Mitraen priests in the Exiled Lands are some nasty individuals. Even the ones in the Oasis are trying to bring upon an avatar for their own purposes. If anything, rituals committed at religious altars should ALSO inflict corruption when used. Mitra included.
Not really like Wicca at all, no. âNatureâ based witches still performing dark rituals to dark gods, most of the time to the very same ones.
As for faith based magic, that is technically possible but likely not in the way people will want. If you pray to mitra for something, youâre not going to get some big spiritual event that will shape the world. Youâre gonna get advice on what to do at best, and maybe a dream that sharpens your sword.
Generally speaking, sorcery in Conanâs world is all dark to some degree. Magical power tends to come from pacts with demonic creatures or godlike entities. Mitra is about the only âgoodâ higher power I can think of - and having seen an above post I am reminded that Mitraens abhor all sorcery.
Most sorcery and associated entities are very Lovecraftian in their nature - there really isnât any light-hearted high-fantasy style magic.
Bottom line is pretty much this - if you want sorcerous powers in this world, you must be willing to do dark deeds - and pay whatever price such power requires of you.
The funny thing about the Mitra religion in game is that itâs utter BS. Itâs a blasphemy at best.
Mitra forbids human sacrifice and shuns the use of precious metals in his shrines. And yet, we harvest the fruit of murder that is then offered at the golden icon of âMitraâ.
The religions practiced in the Exiled Lands are shams, blood sorcery with a religious veneer.
There could easily be magic slanted towards nature. Very concordant with the worship of Jhebbal Sag. But it is not light or fluffy. It is Blood makes the green grass grow. Not overtly a thing of eldritch horror. Rather primal terror.
Probably not what you are looking for.
As has been mentioned, the source material is fairly explicit that the overwhelming majority of magic use is horrifying. There are corner case exceptions. And Howard was no fan of witch hunts, note that real practitioners of the dark arts would not be so easily victimized. Thatâs a can of worms on the side.
This one would like to see future growth into the language of beasts and such. Hopefully coupled with buffs for animal companions. But the magic of predation and feeding oneâs foes to the earth is an entirely different thing from the sorcery we have now.
Good points made, i guess my earlier suggestion doesnât quite make sense and fit into the way sorcery has been introduced currently, and what sorcery and worship of Mitra is in the books.
Letâs see if we can put some perspective here. All magic in the Hyborian age is corrupting. Even the faiths. Even the so called âgoodâ faiths. Why? Because they are aliens. Mitra, Set, Jhebbal Sag, etc. are all cosmic entities. Their powers are derived from forces and energies the human form is incapable of containing. It drives people mad and it deforms the body.
Mitra is a little better than his peers by not taking direct action. But in the exiled lands, the exiles are using forces devised by the Giant Kings contorting faith into even worse aspects. The followers of Mitra at the oasis for example are more evil, more corrupt, and far more nefarious than a High Priest of Set in Khem.
Do you really want to politicize a game from the Conan the Barbarian universe, where everything is about barbarian blades and dark magic? There are other games of light and nature magic and vibrant colors that you can play outside of the barbarian theme.