We're certainly making new characters. For one thing, there aren't nearly enough planeswalkers in the magic storyline for every player to have one. But more importantly, once you make your own character, you'll actually care more about that planeswalker than any character you didn't create.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
If people are curious, here's a fairly-complete list of sentient races on planes available, and what planes (of the allowable ones) they're present on. The assumption was made that if a creature is not represented on at least one card, it doesn't live there. Most things not near the top of the list would be very unusual characters. -
NOTE: This is NOT a WPL-approved list of player races. The majority of these are likely NOT acceptable. If you're looking at something that's not in the top half or so, you're probably going to be let down.
Most appropriate to least appropriate, very roughly -
Humans - All planes but Lorwyn/Shadowmoor.
Elves - All planes but Kamigawa.
Vedalken - Alara, Ravnica.
Kor - Rare on Dominaria, common on Zendikar.
Dwarf - Once common on Dominaria. Present on Shadowmoor.
Kithkin - Uncommon on Dominaria. Common on L/S.
Merfolk - Dominaria, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Zendikar. Zendikar merfolk, Mercadian merfolk and "core set" Merfolk have legs. (To get technical, Mercadian merfolk can turn their tail fins into legs. Some Dominarian merfolk may also have this ability.)
Rat - Nezumi are common on Kamigawa. Wererats are rare on Dominaria.
Snake - Orochi are common on Kamigawa. "Snake men" are rare on Dominaria.
Nantuko - Found on Dominaria, especially Otaria.
Goblins - All planes. Subtypes include Boggarts, Akki, Hobgoblins, Kyren, Mogg.
Elemental - L/S flamekin and cinders are small, intelligent and humanoid. Other planes' elementals are less appropriate.
Catfolk - Uncommon on Dominaria, common on Alara.
Kitsune - Common on Kamigawa.
Aven - Uncommon on Dominaria and Ravnica, common on Alara. Flight may require point expenditure.
Moonfolk - Common on Kamigawa. Flight may require point expenditure.
Minotaur - Uncommon on Alara, Zenidkar, Dominaria, Ravnica.
Rhox - Uncommon on Alara and "core set". Nonsentient Rhox live on Dominaria.
Loxodon - Uncommon on Ravnica.
Kobolds - Present on Dominaria, but uncommon and may not be very intelligent.
Centaurs - Uncommon on Dominaria, Ravnica.
Viashino - Present on Dominaria, Alara, Ravnica.
Metathran - May or may not still exist on Dominaria.
Hag - Local to Shadowmoor.
Noggle - Local to Shadowmoor.
Orc - Probably fairly uncommon on Dominaria.
Cephalids - Present on Dominaria, probably. Intelligent and inclined towards magic, but likely waterbound.
Spirits - Ravnican spirits are intelligent and accepted as normal members of society, but may not be able to planeswalk. Kamigawan spirits have demonstrated some interplanar ability, but are really weird. Spirits are also present on all other planes.
Shapeshifter - Present on all planes; very uncommon outside of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. Persuasive shapeshifting may require significant point expenditure.
Giants/Cyclops - Present on Dominaria, L/S, Ravnica. Most prominent (and intelligent) on L/S.
Ogres/Orgg - Present everywhere but L/S.
Treefolk - Present on Dominaria, L/S.
Dryad - Dominaria, Ravnica. Ravnican Dryads appear to be fully autonomous.
Ape - Some Dominarian apes are sentient.
Soltari, Dauthi and Thalakos - May still exist on Dominaria, which is technically where they're originally from.
Construct/Golem/Scarecrow - Present everywhere but Kamigawa. At least one known planeswalker.
Trolls - Present on Dominaria, Ravnica, L/S. Dominarian trolls are at least smart enough to make jokes.
Faerie - L/S faeries are normally short-lived. Dominarian, Alaran and Ravnican ones may live longer.
Werecreature - Present on Dominaria, particularly Otaria.
Imps/Devils - Imps fly, devils don't. Intelligent ones live on Dominaria, Ravnica.
Surrakar - Local to Zendikar. Of uncertain intelligence, but appear to be capable of magic.
Thrulls - Of unclear intelligence; present on Dominaria and Ravnica. Had an empire on Sarpadia, so they could be pretty smart.
Harpy - Of unattested intelligence. Dominaria. Flight may require point expenditure
Zombies - Present everywhere but Kamigawa, but their dead nature may make being a planeswalker difficult.
Homarid - Possibly extremely rare. Most common on Sarpadia ("Fallen Empires Continent") on Dominaria.
Homunculus - Of uncertain autonomy. Dominaria, Alara.
Thallids - They're smart enough to rebel and wage war in some sense, but are of unclear intelligence.
Beasts - Rare examples may be intelligent enough to have and use a spark.
Slivers - The queen is very intelligent, but an individual sliver probably is not. Dominaria.
Illusions - Of uncertain autonomy. Mistform Ultimus's flavor text suggests they're capable of independence, but this is still a pretty big stretch.
Spikes - Of totally unclear intelligence, but one did get a class type. Just don't do this. Dominaria.
Possibly too powerful.
Dragons - Present everywhere. Intelligent at least on Ravnica, Dominaria,
Demons - Present everywhere. Some Kamigawan demons are of more limited power.
Angels - Present everywhere but Kamigawa.
Sphinxes - Dominaria, Zendikar, Alara, Ravnica.
Eldrazi - Zendikar. (Native the the Blind Eternities, but only known on Zendikar.)
Archon - Ravnica, Zendikar, Shadowmoor
Djinn/Efreet - Dominaria, Ravnica.
Gorgon - Dominaria, Ravnica.
Lammasu - Ravnica.
Specter - All planes but Kamigawa.
Vampires - Everywhere by Kamigawa. They're dead, but there's precedent. Zendikar vampires, which may not really be "dead" are probably most appropriate. Note that the WPL has explicitly discouraged this race.
The people that play legacy / vintage always amuse me. They want their formats to be represented more. They want more tournaments. But when anyone suggests allowing more people access to the formats by reprinting cards, the same people start screaming about the reprint policy.
Wow Joyd, thanks for that extensive list, though I'm not sure I want to give people some of those ideas at the bottom of the list. I can almost feel the argument headaches already :p.
Dizzle: Actually I believe Joyd skipped Mirrodin because it isn't a plane that is included in this game yet.
First of, I believe that Red is best at getting rid of Artifacts because of the, perhaps not direct connection, but still a connection, between artifacts and forms of Metal, which respectfully melt, given the correct temps. What I want to say is that in a RP situation, the Red Planeswalker should not be forces to walk/run/jump towards the enemy, in order to scream "Hulk smash..." and strike their artifact with a crude mace of some sort. Instead, an implosion of some sort sounds more fitting, melting the Artifact from within its core and perhaps even, with enough experience, burning its wielder as well.
That's actually exactly what I meant to convey. When I used the words "brute force" I meant overwhelming force of mana. Poor phrasing I guess.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
The problem right now doesn't really rest in my hands. I'm waiting on an admin to add the additional subforums I need before I can continue setting up, but he's been busy. Once that happens I predict a week or two to post the many location threads I'll need, then I'll post the character generation thread and we'd finally begin.
I just ask for patience. We will get to start eventually.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
I've been trying to wrap my head around the rules, and I'm a bit confused about why 9+ mana spells and creatures are treated the way they are. It's not clear to me how you learn them in the first place, but beyond that, it's not clear why 9-mana spells are at -6 to hit verses 8-mana spells, and why 9-mana creatures are at -6 to avoid getting hit behind 8-mana creatures. Sure, they're "larger", but 8-mana creatures are larger than 1-mana creatures, and get a +2 to avoid being hit over them. I don't think the current system is bad, or anything, it just seemed like an extra rules complexity that has no obvious rationale.
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EDIT: More questions -
It seems a bit odd to me that a 2-mana uncommon creature is harder to get access to than a 7-mana mythic rare. What's the reasoning behind not making the conjuration brackets all 1-X?
I appreciate the work that went into the creature keyword list, but it seems a little weird that there's effectively a surcharge on creatures with abilities that happen to be keyworded. Consider, for example, Soul Warden and Serra Zealot. While it's debatable which is a better creature, it seems a bit odd that for a beginning character, there's effectively a 1-pt surcharge for using Tundra Wolves as a creature over Serra Zealot.
I'm also curious about the decision to bump up the mana cost of rare and mythic rare creatures by 1. It already requires a larger investment to access them; making them more expensive mostly makes many of them rather unappealing. (Unless I'm misreading the rules, and these cards only are considered to have an increased mana cost for the purposes of learning the spell, and not for the purposes of summoning it, in which case that's something that makes total sense.)
The ability to summon multiple copies of the same creature reliably makes creatures like Muscle Sliver and Oran-Rief Survivalist substantially stronger compared to many creatures than they otherwise would be. Creatures like Ondu Cleric are also potentially very powerful. Just something to keep an eye on.
Wow Joyd, thanks for that extensive list, though I'm not sure I want to give people some of those ideas at the bottom of the list. I can almost feel the argument headaches already :p.
Dizzle: Actually I believe Joyd skipped Mirrodin because it isn't a plane that is included in this game yet.
That's actually exactly what I meant to convey. When I used the words "brute force" I meant overwhelming force of mana. Poor phrasing I guess.
Ah, ya i hadn't realized that mirrodin wasn't in the game. I shoulda realized it by the lack of mention of mirrodin.
Also, I was wondering your opinion on equipment wielding being repeatable, allowing you to have multiple equipment on at the same time. Granted, this IS about Planeswalkers who are more focused on spells than physical fighting most of the time. Then again, these new planeswalkers have a bigger tendency to actually fight than previous old-walkers. Plus, I think it would just be odd for a planeswalker to hold a shield of the righteous and no sword/other weapon.
The people that play legacy / vintage always amuse me. They want their formats to be represented more. They want more tournaments. But when anyone suggests allowing more people access to the formats by reprinting cards, the same people start screaming about the reprint policy.
This is shaping up to be an interesting little Project, however there's one major point I haven't seen any discussion of thus far: Retraining!
If I build a crappy Magic deck, I can take it apart, buy some better cards, and build a new one. Likewise, if I reach, say, level 5 and discover my character really sucks, can I re-invest some ability points into stronger or more synergistic skills? Or do I have to basically commit suicide and start over?
I suppose a planeswalker might conceivably own a single powerful relic - an equipment artifact - but still carry a bunch of mundane gear. A character's Shield of the Righteous might be their only "equipment", but they might have a normal sword, helmet, tunic, etc. that aren't special enough to have a specific mechanical effect (or are factored into the character's "physical combat" ability).
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EDIT:
Random additional question: Was Coldsnap intentionally excluded from the list of legal sets? It's technically a post-Tempest expansion, and it takes place on Dominaria. I ask because Ripple and Recover are mentioned in the rules (as abilities that don't currently do anything, but they're still mentioned).
If I'm not wrong this is still a RP thing, meaning that the prime focus isn't exactly fighting to the death with people and running around with dragons under your command.
Also, I'd say that some walkers might prefer to actually fight using their own power. It's a personal choice I suppose.
True, but even if there isn't an endgame, there would most definitely be opposing forces. I just couldn't see a red mage not fighting somebody. Also, you have to consider how wild a lot of the planes are. There may not be an Evil mastermind, but when traversing the planes, you'll never know when you will encounter a titanic beast or a barbarian who doesn't necessarily see eye to eye with you.
This is shaping up to be an interesting little Project, however there's one major point I haven't seen any discussion of thus far: Retraining!
If I build a crappy Magic deck, I can take it apart, buy some better cards, and build a new one. Likewise, if I reach, say, level 5 and discover my character really sucks, can I re-invest some ability points into stronger or more synergistic skills? Or do I have to basically commit suicide and start over?
While your analogy is fine, I don't think its entirely accurate. I consider a players collection of cards as their spells. A player's deck is their current repertoire of spells.There is a good probability that there will be a way to essentially reset their characters, however, It could be a bad idea. Aside from a little memory magic, I couldn't imagine it being too easy to essentially restart your character.
I suppose a planeswalker might conceivably own a single powerful relic - an equipment artifact - but still carry a bunch of mundane gear. A character's Shield of the Righteous might be their only "equipment", but they might have a normal sword, helmet, tunic, etc. that aren't special enough to have a specific mechanical effect (or are factored into the character's "physical combat" ability).
I'm okay with this explanation, However, Reading through the rules, I can't help but interpret the rules as allowing you to own multiple equipment, but only able to equip one at a time. In one aspect, I can see how the rules could work. I could imagine a more Rogue-ish planeswalker dashing in on a kitesail and then equipping a leonin bola to tie up an antagonist. However, I do see how it could be awkward. For example, Another planeswalker rushing into battle in order to save an ally, but before he can draw his leonin scimitar, he needs to take off his lightning greaves first.
The clear opposition of the way im thinking is that Planeswalkers COULD own rather mundane equipment, but everything about planeswalkers screams grandiose.
For the record, I do think the wording on the equipment ability is fine, however I do think it should be more clear on the amount of equipment you are allowed to own and the rules on them. Like for example, If you have the mastered tier of equipment mastery and are allowed multiple equipment to own, what tiers are the additional equipment allowed to be?
The people that play legacy / vintage always amuse me. They want their formats to be represented more. They want more tournaments. But when anyone suggests allowing more people access to the formats by reprinting cards, the same people start screaming about the reprint policy.
This looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait for it to get started.
I'm even going to go outside of my normal RPG character type (AKA mage who either blows stuff up or raises the dead).
:symu::symb: (human or vampire or possibly shapeshifter) information broker with a penchant for divination and scrying. Since planeswalkers trade in favors and information rather than money, I'm hoping my character becomes a very rich man once he finds out some useful secrets.
EXTREMELY BELATED EDIT:
Do our characters have allies, contacts, etc., when we create them? Because I'm considering a Dimir agent who's spark ignited which caused him to leave the guild, but he still knows several current agents and a few useful secrets.
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
This looks like a lot of fun. I can't wait for it to get started.
I'm even going to go outside of my normal RPG character type (AKA mage who either blows stuff up or raises the dead).
:symu::symb: (human or vampire or possibly shapeshifter) information broker with a penchant for divination and scrying. Since planeswalkers trade in favors and information rather than money, I'm hoping my character becomes a very rich man once he finds out some useful secrets.
EXTREMELY BELATED EDIT:
Do our characters have allies, contacts, etc., when we create them? Because I'm considering a Dimir agent who's spark ignited which caused him to leave the guild, but he still knows several current agents and a few useful secrets.
Great minds think alike.
I was thinking of starting and going into :symu:, mostly to pick up vampire as the character race. I really want to have an 'immortal' character (since what good is information when you're dead?//Also, because I don't know how easy it is to go into and do some kind of permanent change, such as going vampiric. Almost like a lich. :D).
I'm envisioning someone interested in knowledge not for the sake of knowledge, but for applicable knowledge. Such as spells, crafting, maps, etc because, like you said, knowledge is a universal form of currency. <3
Maybe we can do good business comrade, no?
Speaking of Dmir...it's a pity that the psionic vampires on Ravnica died out. It would have been so much fun to play as!! (Szadek, Lord of Secrets, here. The Moroii strike me more as 'unintelligent' minions. Plus, they're very unaesthetic. )
I was thinking of starting and going into :symu:, mostly to pick up vampire as the character race. I really want to have an 'immortal' character (since what good is information when you're dead?//Also, because I don't know how easy it is to go into and do some kind of permanent change, such as going vampiric. Almost like a lich. :D).
I'm envisioning someone interested in knowledge not for the sake of knowledge, but for applicable knowledge. Such as spells, crafting, maps, etc because, like you said, knowledge is a universal form of currency. <3
Maybe we can do good business comrade, no?
Speaking of Dmir...it's a pity that the psionic vampires on Ravnica died out. It would have been so much fun to play as!! (Szadek, Lord of Secrets, here. The Moroii strike me more as 'unintelligent' minions. Plus, they're very unaesthetic. )
I think I'm going to go with :symu:, then go to at level 2. I'm trying to think of some way to justify a psionic vampire in Ravinca, but so far I'm drawing a blank...
Our characters working together as the founders of some type of information-dealing, multi-planar planeswalker guild would be pretty cool. If your character can handle working with a cold, distant, detatched mind-mage, that is.
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
I think I'm going to go with :symu:, then go to at level 2. I'm trying to think of some way to justify a psionic vampire in Ravinca, but so far I'm drawing a blank...
Yeah. The Salvation wiki states pretty clearly that he's the last of his kind (though there are the Moroii, which are still psionic vampires, though their level of intelligence is questionable. Will need KoolKoal to give the verdict on that).
Our characters working together as the founders of some type of information-dealing, multi-planar planeswalker guild would be pretty cool. If your character can handle working with a cold, distant, detatched mind-mage, that is.
Infinite Consortium? Though with a much more specific purpose. Almost like Commodore Guff's hidden library. Tolaria! I'm pretty sure I can work with a character like that. I'm not entirely sure what major personality mine will have. Someone that is sympathetic and understanding, but would only really help when it furthers an agenda. Almost like a softer side of black.
I can't speak for the WPL, but given that it's legal to be from times in planes that occur literally millennia apart (for example, someone from post-apocalyptic Dominaria is several thousand years in the future from someone from the Kami War era on Kamigawa), it might be possible to be a point in a plane's history that isn't current. (Subject to WPL approval). I think that many people, for example, find Ravnica as it exists during the block more compelling than post-guildpact (the magical agreement, not the set) Ravnica (as it exists now), and it's much better known.
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Rules question - how do activated abilities of creatures work? Do they work at all? Do they use your instant action (which makes things like Firebreathing pretty poor)? No action? Does it matter if they're mana abilities?
I was considering a psychic vampire with a backstory like:
"He plansewalked when he was a baby after some traumatic event and doesn't remember and ended up on Ravnica. He didn't know he was a 'Walker, and had a knack for mind-related magic. So the Dimir recruited him and he worked for them for quite a while. Then he met Jace, who was doing his blackmailing thing on Ravnica at the time, who informed him of what he really was. He quit the Dimir, and went out on his own.
His Dimir training taught him that information is power. He wants to travel to different planes, learn their secrets, and use that information to gain more influence and power."
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
Sorry I haven't been responding to this thread, I've gotten busy lately.
I'm just going to answer as many of the questions as I can right now, but I don't have time for a lengthy explanation of my answers.
Equipment rules: Only one (game mechanic relevant) equipment can be used and carried with you at a time. There are no rules on how many you can own.
Vampires are not allowed without some serious convincing. In fact, I don't think I'll ever allow a player to start out as a vampire.
Re-training: I'm not so sure the ability to change an ability you've earned will be necessary, and if it is, it wouldn't be hard to add the rule retroactively. So I'll leave that be for now.
Coldsnap should be allowed, I'll put that back in.
This game is going to try to take place as close to the current timeline as possible. This means that all past sets' stories have already occurred, and changes the face of Ravnica entirely from what people are used to. The good news about this is that we can move right into Scars of Mirrodin's story when the set comes out. And don't worry about Ravnica, it takes more than the fall of the guilds to make that plane at all boring.
Activated abilities are going to work just like they would in regular Magic. However, some probably won't work. I'm really not sure how well that will work in the system, so something might change once we've role played a few fights. But I hope it doesn't need to.
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I'll bet you wish you had a non-unglued/unhinged card that shared your first name.
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
Vampires are not allowed without some serious convincing. In fact, I don't think I'll ever allow a player to start out as a vampire.
I'm just curious as to the reasoning why. Is it because they approach angels and demons in terms of power (which I guess does make sense, though I never really thought of them as being on that level. Is the decision based off flavor, cards, or a combination?)
If it's because they start off as being immortal (in the sense of not aging), then elves would have to be looked at to.
If it's because of the whole 'drinks blood/sunlight', it could add very interesting situations. Such as whether or not to feed at a certain instance (since I don't think most waystations stock on blood like other food), and forcing what would probably be a black aligned planeswalker to either dabble in white (Repentant Vampire) or rely on companions for protection when vulnerable during the day).
Everything scares me... kitties scare me... squirrels scare me... corpses....corpses bring forth a pletora of confusing feeling which i prefer not to dwell on...:p
Hm... I just realized how utterly useless my character will be in combat. The only thing he'll be able to do are cast illusions.
Then again, not everything has to be combat-oriented I suppose.
Maybe if my first character dies I'll make a Leonin Naya-walker.
Well, on the bright side, it makes grouping together a little more necessary. I was originally going to go into :symu:. Now, I'm thinking going the longer route for into into :symu:. Giving myself away a little, but I'm going to focus on mental disruption/creature removal, then defensive and healing.
One cannot discover every spell and truth if they lack the means to keep themselves alive.
So, I figure it wouldn't hurt to spoil my character an idea a bit by asking a few questions in order to solidify the story.
As many of us know, It has been quite a while since Otaria has been in the spotlight. What is the current state of the Island-Continent? The main thing im concerned about is whether or not there is an arena still? If i remember correctly, I think the collaseum was destroyed, but its been forever since i picked up a magic novel and the wiki doesnt provide much info since otaria hasnt been important in forever.
Also, according to the wiki, the cabal is no more. Is there a black-alligned faction that will be taking over in the cabal's place? To a lesser extent, how about red-aligned humans. The wiki says that barbarians living in the pardic mountains have become extinct.
My Idea for my character is that he was a soldier living on the daru planes before a group of raiders attacked his tribe. Because he ran instead of fighting, he survived, but at the cost of his pride as a Daru Soldier. Before his spark ignites/ignited, he became a Gladiator in order to regain his honor and to find out who attacked his tribe.
The people that play legacy / vintage always amuse me. They want their formats to be represented more. They want more tournaments. But when anyone suggests allowing more people access to the formats by reprinting cards, the same people start screaming about the reprint policy.
In case anyone was curious: Most appropriate races by plane. This is meant as a general guide and to help inspire character ideas; it does not represent the word of WPL. This does not represent a complete list of acceptable races from each plane, just a list of the most common and planeswalky races.
Dominaria: Human, Elf, Goblin (Pit, Mogg, Generic Dominarian), Catfolk. Aven can fly; most merfolk (Rootwater, Vodalian) can't walk, though some may be able to change their tails to legs (as the Mercadian Sapprazan can). Dwarves, Nantuko, Kithkin are of unknown extent.
Kamigawa: Human, Snakefolk (Orochi), Kitsune, Goblin (Akki), Rat (Nezumi). Spirits are of fairly alien outlook; Moonfolk can fly.
Ravnica: Human, Elf, Goblin, Dryad, Loxodon, Vedalken. Spirits are common and sentient, but are dead.
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor: This one is weird, because it's not clear what the status of most of the races is after the two planes merge. Either way, Elves and Kithkin are probably appropriate. Goblins (Boggarts, Hobgoblins) may be appropriate as well. If Flamekin exist on Lorwyn-Shadowmoor or characters can come from just the pre-merge Lorwyn phase, they're appropriate. Lorwyn-Shadowmoor is a bit weird, because most races are oversized, feral, waterbound or short-lived.
Alara - Human, Vedalken, Elf, Cat (Nacatl). Aven fly.
Zendikar - Kor, Merfolk, Elf, Human, Goblin, Ogre. Vampires appear to be a normal race on Zendikar, but may be disallowed.
The people that play legacy / vintage always amuse me. They want their formats to be represented more. They want more tournaments. But when anyone suggests allowing more people access to the formats by reprinting cards, the same people start screaming about the reprint policy.
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NOTE: This is NOT a WPL-approved list of player races. The majority of these are likely NOT acceptable. If you're looking at something that's not in the top half or so, you're probably going to be let down.
Most appropriate to least appropriate, very roughly -
Humans - All planes but Lorwyn/Shadowmoor.
Elves - All planes but Kamigawa.
Vedalken - Alara, Ravnica.
Kor - Rare on Dominaria, common on Zendikar.
Dwarf - Once common on Dominaria. Present on Shadowmoor.
Kithkin - Uncommon on Dominaria. Common on L/S.
Merfolk - Dominaria, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Zendikar. Zendikar merfolk, Mercadian merfolk and "core set" Merfolk have legs. (To get technical, Mercadian merfolk can turn their tail fins into legs. Some Dominarian merfolk may also have this ability.)
Rat - Nezumi are common on Kamigawa. Wererats are rare on Dominaria.
Snake - Orochi are common on Kamigawa. "Snake men" are rare on Dominaria.
Nantuko - Found on Dominaria, especially Otaria.
Goblins - All planes. Subtypes include Boggarts, Akki, Hobgoblins, Kyren, Mogg.
Elemental - L/S flamekin and cinders are small, intelligent and humanoid. Other planes' elementals are less appropriate.
Catfolk - Uncommon on Dominaria, common on Alara.
Kitsune - Common on Kamigawa.
Aven - Uncommon on Dominaria and Ravnica, common on Alara. Flight may require point expenditure.
Moonfolk - Common on Kamigawa. Flight may require point expenditure.
Minotaur - Uncommon on Alara, Zenidkar, Dominaria, Ravnica.
Rhox - Uncommon on Alara and "core set". Nonsentient Rhox live on Dominaria.
Loxodon - Uncommon on Ravnica.
Kobolds - Present on Dominaria, but uncommon and may not be very intelligent.
Centaurs - Uncommon on Dominaria, Ravnica.
Viashino - Present on Dominaria, Alara, Ravnica.
Metathran - May or may not still exist on Dominaria.
Hag - Local to Shadowmoor.
Noggle - Local to Shadowmoor.
Orc - Probably fairly uncommon on Dominaria.
Cephalids - Present on Dominaria, probably. Intelligent and inclined towards magic, but likely waterbound.
Spirits - Ravnican spirits are intelligent and accepted as normal members of society, but may not be able to planeswalk. Kamigawan spirits have demonstrated some interplanar ability, but are really weird. Spirits are also present on all other planes.
Shapeshifter - Present on all planes; very uncommon outside of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. Persuasive shapeshifting may require significant point expenditure.
Giants/Cyclops - Present on Dominaria, L/S, Ravnica. Most prominent (and intelligent) on L/S.
Ogres/Orgg - Present everywhere but L/S.
Treefolk - Present on Dominaria, L/S.
Dryad - Dominaria, Ravnica. Ravnican Dryads appear to be fully autonomous.
Ape - Some Dominarian apes are sentient.
Soltari, Dauthi and Thalakos - May still exist on Dominaria, which is technically where they're originally from.
Construct/Golem/Scarecrow - Present everywhere but Kamigawa. At least one known planeswalker.
Trolls - Present on Dominaria, Ravnica, L/S. Dominarian trolls are at least smart enough to make jokes.
Faerie - L/S faeries are normally short-lived. Dominarian, Alaran and Ravnican ones may live longer.
Werecreature - Present on Dominaria, particularly Otaria.
Imps/Devils - Imps fly, devils don't. Intelligent ones live on Dominaria, Ravnica.
Surrakar - Local to Zendikar. Of uncertain intelligence, but appear to be capable of magic.
Thrulls - Of unclear intelligence; present on Dominaria and Ravnica. Had an empire on Sarpadia, so they could be pretty smart.
Harpy - Of unattested intelligence. Dominaria. Flight may require point expenditure
Zombies - Present everywhere but Kamigawa, but their dead nature may make being a planeswalker difficult.
Homarid - Possibly extremely rare. Most common on Sarpadia ("Fallen Empires Continent") on Dominaria.
Homunculus - Of uncertain autonomy. Dominaria, Alara.
Thallids - They're smart enough to rebel and wage war in some sense, but are of unclear intelligence.
Beasts - Rare examples may be intelligent enough to have and use a spark.
Slivers - The queen is very intelligent, but an individual sliver probably is not. Dominaria.
Illusions - Of uncertain autonomy. Mistform Ultimus's flavor text suggests they're capable of independence, but this is still a pretty big stretch.
Spikes - Of totally unclear intelligence, but one did get a class type. Just don't do this. Dominaria.
Possibly too powerful.
Dragons - Present everywhere. Intelligent at least on Ravnica, Dominaria,
Demons - Present everywhere. Some Kamigawan demons are of more limited power.
Angels - Present everywhere but Kamigawa.
Sphinxes - Dominaria, Zendikar, Alara, Ravnica.
Eldrazi - Zendikar. (Native the the Blind Eternities, but only known on Zendikar.)
Archon - Ravnica, Zendikar, Shadowmoor
Djinn/Efreet - Dominaria, Ravnica.
Gorgon - Dominaria, Ravnica.
Lammasu - Ravnica.
Specter - All planes but Kamigawa.
Vampires - Everywhere by Kamigawa. They're dead, but there's precedent. Zendikar vampires, which may not really be "dead" are probably most appropriate. Note that the WPL has explicitly discouraged this race.
Because the list is so big, its understandable that there are a few races on planes that you missed.
vedalken: They do show up on mirrodin.
Loxodon: Also show up on mirrodin.
Sphinx: they do show up on ravnica
Dizzle: Actually I believe Joyd skipped Mirrodin because it isn't a plane that is included in this game yet.
That's actually exactly what I meant to convey. When I used the words "brute force" I meant overwhelming force of mana. Poor phrasing I guess.
I just ask for patience. We will get to start eventually.
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EDIT: More questions -
It seems a bit odd to me that a 2-mana uncommon creature is harder to get access to than a 7-mana mythic rare. What's the reasoning behind not making the conjuration brackets all 1-X?
I appreciate the work that went into the creature keyword list, but it seems a little weird that there's effectively a surcharge on creatures with abilities that happen to be keyworded. Consider, for example, Soul Warden and Serra Zealot. While it's debatable which is a better creature, it seems a bit odd that for a beginning character, there's effectively a 1-pt surcharge for using Tundra Wolves as a creature over Serra Zealot.
I'm also curious about the decision to bump up the mana cost of rare and mythic rare creatures by 1. It already requires a larger investment to access them; making them more expensive mostly makes many of them rather unappealing. (Unless I'm misreading the rules, and these cards only are considered to have an increased mana cost for the purposes of learning the spell, and not for the purposes of summoning it, in which case that's something that makes total sense.)
The ability to summon multiple copies of the same creature reliably makes creatures like Muscle Sliver and Oran-Rief Survivalist substantially stronger compared to many creatures than they otherwise would be. Creatures like Ondu Cleric are also potentially very powerful. Just something to keep an eye on.
Ah, ya i hadn't realized that mirrodin wasn't in the game. I shoulda realized it by the lack of mention of mirrodin.
Also, I was wondering your opinion on equipment wielding being repeatable, allowing you to have multiple equipment on at the same time. Granted, this IS about Planeswalkers who are more focused on spells than physical fighting most of the time. Then again, these new planeswalkers have a bigger tendency to actually fight than previous old-walkers. Plus, I think it would just be odd for a planeswalker to hold a shield of the righteous and no sword/other weapon.
If I build a crappy Magic deck, I can take it apart, buy some better cards, and build a new one. Likewise, if I reach, say, level 5 and discover my character really sucks, can I re-invest some ability points into stronger or more synergistic skills? Or do I have to basically commit suicide and start over?
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Sig banner thanks to DarkNightCavalier of Heroes of the Plane Studios!
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EDIT:
Random additional question: Was Coldsnap intentionally excluded from the list of legal sets? It's technically a post-Tempest expansion, and it takes place on Dominaria. I ask because Ripple and Recover are mentioned in the rules (as abilities that don't currently do anything, but they're still mentioned).
True, but even if there isn't an endgame, there would most definitely be opposing forces. I just couldn't see a red mage not fighting somebody. Also, you have to consider how wild a lot of the planes are. There may not be an Evil mastermind, but when traversing the planes, you'll never know when you will encounter a titanic beast or a barbarian who doesn't necessarily see eye to eye with you.
While your analogy is fine, I don't think its entirely accurate. I consider a players collection of cards as their spells. A player's deck is their current repertoire of spells.There is a good probability that there will be a way to essentially reset their characters, however, It could be a bad idea. Aside from a little memory magic, I couldn't imagine it being too easy to essentially restart your character.
I'm okay with this explanation, However, Reading through the rules, I can't help but interpret the rules as allowing you to own multiple equipment, but only able to equip one at a time. In one aspect, I can see how the rules could work. I could imagine a more Rogue-ish planeswalker dashing in on a kitesail and then equipping a leonin bola to tie up an antagonist. However, I do see how it could be awkward. For example, Another planeswalker rushing into battle in order to save an ally, but before he can draw his leonin scimitar, he needs to take off his lightning greaves first.
The clear opposition of the way im thinking is that Planeswalkers COULD own rather mundane equipment, but everything about planeswalkers screams grandiose.
For the record, I do think the wording on the equipment ability is fine, however I do think it should be more clear on the amount of equipment you are allowed to own and the rules on them. Like for example, If you have the mastered tier of equipment mastery and are allowed multiple equipment to own, what tiers are the additional equipment allowed to be?
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
I'm even going to go outside of my normal RPG character type (AKA mage who either blows stuff up or raises the dead).
:symu::symb: (human or vampire or possibly shapeshifter) information broker with a penchant for divination and scrying. Since planeswalkers trade in favors and information rather than money, I'm hoping my character becomes a very rich man once he finds out some useful secrets.
EXTREMELY BELATED EDIT:
Do our characters have allies, contacts, etc., when we create them? Because I'm considering a Dimir agent who's spark ignited which caused him to leave the guild, but he still knows several current agents and a few useful secrets.
{Magic: The RPG}
Great minds think alike.
I was thinking of starting and going into :symu:, mostly to pick up vampire as the character race. I really want to have an 'immortal' character (since what good is information when you're dead?//Also, because I don't know how easy it is to go into and do some kind of permanent change, such as going vampiric. Almost like a lich. :D).
I'm envisioning someone interested in knowledge not for the sake of knowledge, but for applicable knowledge. Such as spells, crafting, maps, etc because, like you said, knowledge is a universal form of currency. <3
Maybe we can do good business comrade, no?
Speaking of Dmir...it's a pity that the psionic vampires on Ravnica died out. It would have been so much fun to play as!! (Szadek, Lord of Secrets, here. The Moroii strike me more as 'unintelligent' minions. Plus, they're very unaesthetic. )
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
I think I'm going to go with :symu:, then go to at level 2. I'm trying to think of some way to justify a psionic vampire in Ravinca, but so far I'm drawing a blank...
Our characters working together as the founders of some type of information-dealing, multi-planar planeswalker guild would be pretty cool. If your character can handle working with a cold, distant, detatched mind-mage, that is.
{Magic: The RPG}
Yeah. The Salvation wiki states pretty clearly that he's the last of his kind (though there are the Moroii, which are still psionic vampires, though their level of intelligence is questionable. Will need KoolKoal to give the verdict on that).
Infinite Consortium? Though with a much more specific purpose. Almost like Commodore Guff's hidden library. Tolaria! I'm pretty sure I can work with a character like that. I'm not entirely sure what major personality mine will have. Someone that is sympathetic and understanding, but would only really help when it furthers an agenda. Almost like a softer side of black.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
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Rules question - how do activated abilities of creatures work? Do they work at all? Do they use your instant action (which makes things like Firebreathing pretty poor)? No action? Does it matter if they're mana abilities?
"He plansewalked when he was a baby after some traumatic event and doesn't remember and ended up on Ravnica. He didn't know he was a 'Walker, and had a knack for mind-related magic. So the Dimir recruited him and he worked for them for quite a while. Then he met Jace, who was doing his blackmailing thing on Ravnica at the time, who informed him of what he really was. He quit the Dimir, and went out on his own.
His Dimir training taught him that information is power. He wants to travel to different planes, learn their secrets, and use that information to gain more influence and power."
Except Jace's history is too similar.
{Magic: The RPG}
I'm just going to answer as many of the questions as I can right now, but I don't have time for a lengthy explanation of my answers.
Equipment rules: Only one (game mechanic relevant) equipment can be used and carried with you at a time. There are no rules on how many you can own.
Vampires are not allowed without some serious convincing. In fact, I don't think I'll ever allow a player to start out as a vampire.
Re-training: I'm not so sure the ability to change an ability you've earned will be necessary, and if it is, it wouldn't be hard to add the rule retroactively. So I'll leave that be for now.
Coldsnap should be allowed, I'll put that back in.
This game is going to try to take place as close to the current timeline as possible. This means that all past sets' stories have already occurred, and changes the face of Ravnica entirely from what people are used to. The good news about this is that we can move right into Scars of Mirrodin's story when the set comes out. And don't worry about Ravnica, it takes more than the fall of the guilds to make that plane at all boring.
Activated abilities are going to work just like they would in regular Magic. However, some probably won't work. I'm really not sure how well that will work in the system, so something might change once we've role played a few fights. But I hope it doesn't need to.
Ah. This actually makes things quite a bit easier on my backstory-creating muscles. I think I've got it mostly figured out now.
{Magic: The RPG}
I'm just curious as to the reasoning why. Is it because they approach angels and demons in terms of power (which I guess does make sense, though I never really thought of them as being on that level. Is the decision based off flavor, cards, or a combination?)
If it's because they start off as being immortal (in the sense of not aging), then elves would have to be looked at to.
If it's because of the whole 'drinks blood/sunlight', it could add very interesting situations. Such as whether or not to feed at a certain instance (since I don't think most waystations stock on blood like other food), and forcing what would probably be a black aligned planeswalker to either dabble in white (Repentant Vampire) or rely on companions for protection when vulnerable during the day).
Either way, time to make a backup plan.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
Then again, not everything has to be combat-oriented I suppose.
Maybe if my first character dies I'll make a Leonin Naya-walker.
{Magic: The RPG}
Well, on the bright side, it makes grouping together a little more necessary. I was originally going to go into :symu:. Now, I'm thinking going the longer route for into into :symu:. Giving myself away a little, but I'm going to focus on mental disruption/creature removal, then defensive and healing.
One cannot discover every spell and truth if they lack the means to keep themselves alive.
(Siggy adapted, DarkHunter1357 (deviantART))
As many of us know, It has been quite a while since Otaria has been in the spotlight. What is the current state of the Island-Continent? The main thing im concerned about is whether or not there is an arena still? If i remember correctly, I think the collaseum was destroyed, but its been forever since i picked up a magic novel and the wiki doesnt provide much info since otaria hasnt been important in forever.
Also, according to the wiki, the cabal is no more. Is there a black-alligned faction that will be taking over in the cabal's place? To a lesser extent, how about red-aligned humans. The wiki says that barbarians living in the pardic mountains have become extinct.
My Idea for my character is that he was a soldier living on the daru planes before a group of raiders attacked his tribe. Because he ran instead of fighting, he survived, but at the cost of his pride as a Daru Soldier. Before his spark ignites/ignited, he became a Gladiator in order to regain his honor and to find out who attacked his tribe.
Dominaria: Human, Elf, Goblin (Pit, Mogg, Generic Dominarian), Catfolk. Aven can fly; most merfolk (Rootwater, Vodalian) can't walk, though some may be able to change their tails to legs (as the Mercadian Sapprazan can). Dwarves, Nantuko, Kithkin are of unknown extent.
Mercadia: Human, Goblin (Kyren), Merfolk (Saprazzan), Elf.
Kamigawa: Human, Snakefolk (Orochi), Kitsune, Goblin (Akki), Rat (Nezumi). Spirits are of fairly alien outlook; Moonfolk can fly.
Ravnica: Human, Elf, Goblin, Dryad, Loxodon, Vedalken. Spirits are common and sentient, but are dead.
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor: This one is weird, because it's not clear what the status of most of the races is after the two planes merge. Either way, Elves and Kithkin are probably appropriate. Goblins (Boggarts, Hobgoblins) may be appropriate as well. If Flamekin exist on Lorwyn-Shadowmoor or characters can come from just the pre-merge Lorwyn phase, they're appropriate. Lorwyn-Shadowmoor is a bit weird, because most races are oversized, feral, waterbound or short-lived.
Alara - Human, Vedalken, Elf, Cat (Nacatl). Aven fly.
Zendikar - Kor, Merfolk, Elf, Human, Goblin, Ogre. Vampires appear to be a normal race on Zendikar, but may be disallowed.