D&D Astrology with Ryven Cedrylle: Fire Signs

Written by Guest Writer  
October 19, 2009
13 Comments

Seems like every time you look at someone’s profile on a dating site, it wants to tell you three things – an age, a gender and an astrological sign. Age and gender are pretty straightforward, but what about this astrology thing? What can it tell me? What’s the difference between a Leo and an Aries? Is it even worth looking at?

Most people in Western society can tell you their Sun sign, whether they believe it’s meaningful or not. It’s based entirely on the day of the month you were born. People born from the 21st of August to the 21st of September are Virgos. People born from the 21st of November to the 21st of December are Sagittarians. Those dates change a little from year to year, but they’re good estimations. According to the art of astrology, people born during these times, while obviously not the same, share something in common.

Your Sun sign is really a lot like your D&D character’s class. Take the Wizard, for instance. You’ve got four implements to choose from and some of those implements, like the Orb and the Tome, have different variants. Between your choice of implement, powers, skills, feats and gear, rarely are two Wizards going to be identical!

Still, telling someone that you play a Wizard gives them a sense of what your character can do as well as his or her strengths and weaknesses. So it is with your Sun sign. It would be silly to think that any two Librans or any two Scorpios are going to be exactly the same. We are all some mixture of the Signs, with 10 or more planets describing various aspects of our personalities and lives. However, knowing that someone is a Libra or a Scorpio can give you a basic concept of what this person is about and how you might interact with them.

“Well Ryven” you say, “if Sun signs are so much like D&D classes, why don’t you tell me which class is like which sign?” Your wish is my command! Over the course of the next few articles, I’ll be matching up classes with signs so that the next time you open up a dating profile and see a zodiac sign staring you in the face, you can make your Arcana check with a +2 competence bonus and see how that personality base might be showing itself to you in the rest of the profile.

Aries

Aries is blunt, direct, and honest. It values the most direct route to victory and enjoys aggressive competition. People with a very strong Aries lean can be impatient and brash, but uncomplicated and lively. The best thing about Aries is his willingness to get up and do something new on a moment’s notice.

When Aries looks over the D&D classes, he wants to play something simple that gets to make lots of rolls and do a ton of damage. He doesn’t want to deal with the fiddly bits of character optimization, but likes the idea in concept. His eyes move immediately to the archer or dual-wielding Ranger, the Rageblood Barbarian and either the Battlerager or Tempest Fighter.

Aries wants to play on the front lines, getting up in his enemies’ faces and ruining their good time. Aries is your basic “kick down the door and take on whatever’s in the room” sort of character.

Leo

The sign of royalty, inspiration and performance, Leo loves to be in the spotlight. Nothing makes a Leo happier than recognition. That’s not to say that Leo is necessarily self-centered; he knows that an actor without an audience is just a guy talking to himself and a king without a kingdom is just a guy with overly fancy headgear. Thus Leo has a vested interest in making sure that others around him are in good health and spirits. Many Leos have a knack for enlightening and organizing large groups of people. The best things about Leo are his enthusiasm and magnanimous nature.

For pure flavor text, the Bard is probably closest to being Leonine with all its performing, but to feel like a Leo mechanically, try running a Bravura Warlord. The Bravura Warlord starts out by giving an ally yet another extra action on an Action Point, demonstrating its ability to push people well beyond their normal limits. He’s probably also using Brash Assault, which encourages enemies to pay attention to him over other allies. This trend continues on through the levels as the Bravura Presence rider effects tend to pull allies and enemies closer on successful attacks. As an alternative to the Bravura Warlord, the Invoker class in general has a very Leonine feel. Although it lacks a defining Leonine class feature, the Invoker has some very “look at me” powers across multiple levels. The Level 2 Utility Shroud of Awe gives your character a built-in megaphone, where others like Offering of Justice and the gloriously flavorful Demand Obedience let the Invoker tell enemies to “do as I say or face the consequences.” Leo is the character that you simply can’t ignore no matter what.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius is the ruler of long-distance travel, philosophy, politics and higher education. As you can guess, his motto can be primarily summed up as “bigger is better.” Sagittarius loves to bring civilization, law and culture. He is jovial or easygoing; he has a taste for rich or spicy foods. Sagittarius also has interest in commerce and fashion, but is just as happy window shopping as actual shopping. People with a strong Sagittarian lean love to go to malls, concerts and social events for the atmosphere and to be among large groups of people. They can also tend to be lazy and aimless if they don’t keep disciplined. The best thing about Sagittarius is his zest for life.

Sagittarius at the 4th Edition table is looking for one thing – Area of Effect (AoE). There are few things more thrilling than dropping a Burst 10 on the battlefield, whether that’s healing, damage or terrain modification. He also likes to be able to play in both melee and ranged to some extent. He winds up averaging about a square or two behind the Defenders (usually Taurus and Cancer), though in actuality, he’s probably moving back and forth across the front lines. Mid-range classes draw Sagittarius’ attention because they’re most likely to drop big AoEs attacks, or have auras and zones. He will really enjoy the Druid since it caters to his desire to sometimes play melee, sometimes play ranged, and be at least moderately competent anywhere on the field. The Shaman also has a lot of zones and the ability to move them around, but the thought of managing a Spirit Companion might be off-putting. If you see a Shaman mostly ignoring the Companion in favor of zone management, that’s Sagittarius poking through.

He might also consider the Invoker if he has a Leo streak or the Warlock, especially the Infernal and Star Pacts. The Star Pact carries an awful lot of fun debuffing/controlling for being a striker and has access to some zones like the Hunger of Hadar. The Infernal Pact gives temporary HP on a pact boon trigger, has some auras available to it, and is known for being the only warlock pact really suitable for melee work. Finally, the new preview Seeker is an archer – Sagittarius is itself the constellation of an archer – with nothing but bursts and may be another fun choice. Sagittarius is the character for whom ‘close’ is good enough.

About Today’s Guest Writer: Ryven Cedrylle is an astrologer, a gamer, a devoted husband, and a Christian.  Visit him at Christian Astrology.  The next installment of this series, Earth Signs, will be coming soon, so stay tuned!