I recently received some interesting images of a sorceress. She's very tall, and extremely muscular. "Tall" isn't something a person develops, of course, but "extremely muscular and cut" is. So, assuming the practice of magic is a basically intellectual discipline, why and how might a sorceress choose to also become a body builder? Think of Lenda Murray at the more bulked up points in her career.
Tunnels & Trolls magic used to be powered by Strength, same for the Fantasy Trip iirc.
It could be that she just got tired of having sand kicked in her face at the beach. ;)
Physical strength and especially stamina would certainly be an asset for performing long rituals. Also I expect those who are regular adventurers would tend to be in pretty good shape. Treking cross country and through dungeons lugging all your gear on your back is pretty good exercise.
Quote from: DavetheLost;911088It could be that she just got tired of having sand kicked in her face at the beach. ;)
Talk about a Charles Atlas super power!
Mens sana in corpore sano.
Also specialization amongst the educated is something fairly recent. Look at the interests and accomplishments of, say, many of the Founding Father of the USA. Diverse interests, and not all intellectual. The well-rounded person was seen as a worthy goal.
Quote from: Whitewings;911079I recently received some interesting images of a sorceress. She's very tall, and extremely muscular. "Tall" isn't something a person develops, of course, but "extremely muscular and cut" is. So, assuming the practice of magic is a basically intellectual discipline, why and how might a sorceress choose to also become a body builder? Think of Lenda Murray at the more bulked up points in her career.
They were into muscle building before they discovered the majicks.
Maybe she always wanted to be an archer or a swords-woman. Maybe she was a farmer who could out wrestle the other farmhands.
Then one day, her magic lineage/blood flares up and suddenly... Sorceress!
Assuming of course, you're going the D&D interpretation (If not system) of how a Sorcerer works. Sorcerers are innate, wizards have to learn their magics through rote and instruction.
Eh, I play GURPS. I make no such assumption. There isn't any more reason a mage should be a wimp than anyone else.
And, after all, the great majority of PC mages are full-time outdoorsmen.
Quote from: Ravenswing;911192Eh, I play GURPS. I make no such assumption. There isn't any more reason a mage should be a wimp than anyone else.
The amount of study supposedly required in some settings makes that assumption for you. If magic is something you don't need to learn and train, then yeah, there's no reason (which is what D&D does with it's break up of Wizard and Sorcerer as I pointed out above.)
Quote from: Ravenswing;911192And, after all, the great majority of PC mages are full-time outdoorsmen.
I would debate that. Most of the magic using players in my purely anecdotal experience tend to seclude themselves in a lab or library the moment that they don't have to traipse around in their skimpy unfashionable robes around the woods or in dank caves. Very few are the wilderness types.
I decided to add an image of Lenda Murray to this thread, so that we're all on the same page concerning "extremely muscular and defined." The character in the images is white with black hair, but the build's pretty close.(http://strengthadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Lenda_Murray2.jpg)
Perhaps the sorceress drank a potion that bestowed super strength (and muscles)? But perhaps that potion also gives her occasional episodes of madness, a la Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde?
RustyDM
Also assuming D&D, in 3E the half-dragon template tacked on what, a +4 Strength bonus? 4E dragon sorcerers use Strength as their secondary stat. So, if you go that route (or another similarly strong creature, like a giant) it could explain the high Strength.
Otherwise, former warrior could also work.
Quote from: Christopher Brady;911230The amount of study supposedly required in some settings makes that assumption for you ... Most of the magic using players in my purely anecdotal experience tend to seclude themselves in a lab or library the moment that they don't have to traipse around in their skimpy unfashionable robes around the woods or in dank caves. Very few are the wilderness types.
I don't even agree with the word "supposedly" in there; the more accurate term is
allegedly. I really can't recall many systems that specify that wizards are putting in a hundred hours a week studying.
LACKING that much, c'mon. Plenty of people in our culture who otherwise spend all damn day long in office chairs are nonetheless fit and toned, because they jog for a half hour or so every morning, or put in an hour in the gym after work. Having played a mage in a combat fantasy LARP, in which I had to keep up with college kids half my age going up mountainsides and questing in 90 degree heat, keeping fit was
necessary. And given that your average PC really does spent a lot of time traipsing out in the aforementioned woods and dank caves ... how did they get there? Where did they camp? No: I see no reason at all, except through prejudices honed by a generation of players with hands permanently glued to their Doritos bags, to presume that ANY adventurer isn't fit.
Discipline. Magic is about discipline. So is body building.
The Korean Starcraft teams have a fitness regime. It gives them the endurance to play longer and improves their focus.
The yogis and sholin monks claim to have learned magic through the complete control of their bodies.
Discipline.
If she has learned to separate (but compatible) rigurous disciplines magic and body building she is going to be one driven individual.
Didn't she win her 8th Ms. Olympia at 40something? That's one badass bitch.
Anyway,
1. Superhuman ancestry
2. Not a type of wizard requiring nothing but studying (of course PC wizards are adventurers.)
3. As others have said, strong mind, strong body. Mystic martial artist or ascetic.
4. Ex-Fighter, multiclass, dual class, whatever.
5. Just a high Str and/or Con score, don't make it more complicated then it needs to be.
Quote from: Whitewings;911079I recently received some interesting images of a sorceress. She's very tall, and extremely muscular. "Tall" isn't something a person develops, of course, but "extremely muscular and cut" is. So, assuming the practice of magic is a basically intellectual discipline, why and how might a sorceress choose to also become a body builder? Think of Lenda Murray at the more bulked up points in her career.
If the magic itself has physical components, like postures, or some type of yoga, that might explain it. Or it could be linked to something like needing to be a pure vessel for the magic. I just googled Lenda Murray, so this sounds like it is a whole other level of fitness than pure or yoga, so maybe even a requirement in the muscle tissue itself (whether it is because the magical energies are taxing on the body and having a lot of bulk gives you some cushion or because the magic works better by coursing through strong muscle tissue).
If the mechanics and explanations for magic are already set in stone by the system, and really can't be a factor; it could be something relatively simple like she used to rely on her mind, and when magic wasn't enough, nearly got killed in a battle so now she spends whatever time she doesn't devote to magic, devoting to building her body. Or she could come from a culture where being intelligent and physically strong are equally respected, and not considered mutually exclusive.
Quote from: Ravenswing;911306I don't even agree with the word "supposedly" in there; the more accurate term is allegedly. I really can't recall many systems that specify that wizards are putting in a hundred hours a week studying.
And yet we have very few images or stories of where the Wizard character is either not an old man with a beard, or an apprentice if they are younger. And by younger I mean the character is in their teens.
Oddly, there's very few stories showing wizardly types in mid-twenties to 40s.
HOWEVER, if you've actually read any of the fantasy novels/stories by TSR or Wizards of The Coast, you'd know that most Wizards are taught via intensive scholarly study, which precludes a lot of the physical activity an athlete would have to do. And this shows up in a lot of the older novels.
Accurate to real life? No. But setting consistent in Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms (among others.)
Quote from: Ravenswing;911306LACKING that much, c'mon. Plenty of people in our culture who otherwise spend all damn day long in office chairs are nonetheless fit and toned, because they jog for a half hour or so every morning, or put in an hour in the gym after work. Having played a mage in a combat fantasy LARP, in which I had to keep up with college kids half my age going up mountainsides and questing in 90 degree heat, keeping fit was necessary. And given that your average PC really does spent a lot of time traipsing out in the aforementioned woods and dank caves ... how did they get there? Where did they camp? No: I see no reason at all, except through prejudices honed by a generation of players with hands permanently glued to their Doritos bags, to presume that ANY adventurer isn't fit.
There's fit and then there's that woman up above. She looks like she can drag a car. Trying to get away from her. She'd win in a tug of war against a house.
Again, the background the OP wants is dependent on what the setting they are using says about magic. And the system they plan on using.
For example, an average person in D&D 5e can dead lift, that is lift an object a few inches off the ground and hold it there for a few seconds, 270lbs. That's the AVERAGE peasant with a 9 (Out of 3-18) Strength. I don't know of any reasonably fit, grown adult in their 20-30's in a desk job being able to dead lift twice their own weight. Or be able to force march in a forest with up to 135lbs. on their backs and bodies per day.
And that's the average peasant, the average Adventurer, like say a Rogue or Fighter would have HIGHER. So if we're going with a Melee Fighter (as opposed to a Ranged one), we're looking at a base 15 to their Strength, based on the mechanics presented in the system, and that's before any sort of racial adjustment. So the big buff fighter would be able to dead lift 450lbs. Force marches can be done with 225lbs. on their backs.
That's kinda superhuman, right?
But, and this is a major 'but', in GURPS that ratio may be completely different. Heck, it's different in various editions of D&D! And don't get me started on Palladium Books, or Savage Worlds or Mongoose Runequest or Dragon Warrior!
So again, I need to reiterate, what does the setting that OP wants to play in say about how one gets to use magic. Is it a talent one is born with? Can anyone learn it, but requires intensive study? Can anyone learn it, but isn't that hard? Is a requirement of a bloodline? These things I would need to know before I can suggest anything.
Well, there's no real rules system suggested by the images, or setting beyond general "Western fantasy."