I've read through most of the PHB, but the importance of power (divine, arcane, martial, etc) is not clear to me. Is this just for flavor or will this have some bearing in the game? I see people talking about other upcoming power types. What is the significance of this for game mechanics?
Not criticizing, just trying to understand. Thanks.
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I think it was mostly just to explain where the powers of the classes come from.
I'm sure they could come up with something that basis off of the power, like temporary immunity to powers of a certain type, or, what I was thinking of earlier today was variations of the spellthief class that were specific to powers (martial power thief, arcane power thief, divine power thief) etc, etc, etc.
But mostly I think the power sources were coined to bring cohesion to the origin of powers for the classes.
So far I've seen nothing to differentiate the power sources, but I suspect this will change in the future.
But you are right, there is no in-game difference aside from flavour at the moment that I can see. I'd say this is "We'll make them different now just for flavour, then later on maybe somebody can come up with some feats or skill uses to go along with these."
So maybe the plan is to have opposing powers, like the elements do? I could see divine challenging shadow. Or anti-power spell effects - like anti-arcane circle, or anti-nature circle?
So maybe the plan is to have opposing powers, like the elements do? I could see divine challenging shadow. Or anti-power spell effects - like anti-arcane circle, or anti-nature circle?
Possibly. Note that both Divine characters so far have access to the Channel Divinty class feature. I wouldn't be shocked if they all ended up with it (that is, all Divine classes get Channel Divinity.)
Exactly what seperates Martial and Arcane is harder to say. Almost all Martial powers are tagged with Weapon, so they get Proficiency bonuses, but they also target AC almost exclusively. Arcane is the opposite with lots of Implement tags and a combo of Fort/Ref/Will attacks. Divine seems to split the difference with both Weapon AND Implement powers, and a mix of targeted defenses as well.
How this will carry over into future power sources I dunno.
Cheers! :)
I'm only partway through the PHB, but i could see describing an arcane resistance for certain "mage-killer" creatures, or a "martial resistance" for certain incorporeal creatures. Like any classification system, sometimes uses become apparent after you start using them.
Each power seems to the have the power source as a keyword, which is important because some things only work for certain power types.
For example, the archmage's utility power, shape magic, lets you recall one arcane power that you've used.