Editing Deadlands (section)

== Magic an' Monsters ==
As ''the'' [[cattlepunk]]/[[screampunk]] game of its time, Deadlands exploited its nature to provide distinctly fantastical archetypes alongside the expected cowboys, banditos, soiled doves, and so forth. Most of these were different flavors of souls blessed with magical abilities, others, were heroes of a more monstrous nature.

In the corebook, players are presented with:
*Huckster: A ramblin', gamblin' man with more than an ace up his sleeve. Illuminated into the arts of dealing with devils via the magical codes hidden in Hoyle's Book of Games, Hucksters are essentially the [[wizard]]s of Deadlands, focused on magical offense and utility.
*Blessed: A Christian holy man (or woman) whose sheer faith is strong enough that some divine power has answered, giving them miraculous abilities. These guys are essentially the [[cleric]] of Deadlands, but they're not alone in that title.
*Mad Scientist: With demons secretly whispering advanced scientific formula to them as they sleep, these [[artificer]]s may be somewhat lacking in the [[sanity]] department, and their gadgetry may not always work in a pinch, but their gizmos are a lot more acceptable and accessible than most forms of magic.
*Shaman: The Injun equivalent to the Blessed, albeit perhaps with a more [[druid]]ic flavor to its spells.
*[[Harrowed]]: Dead hombres who find that death just didn't stick, these walking dead folks are essentially the Deadlands equivalent to [[Revenant]]s, always struggling with a literal demon inside.

Other sourcebooks added their own additions to the list...
*Voodooist: The Voodoun equivalent of a Blessed or a Shaman, gaining magic through offering prayers to the benevolent loa.
*Anahuac: A mestizo religion mostly seen in California, this strange ritualistic magic is basically Aztec shamanism under an all-too-thin veneer of Catholic Christianity.
*Hexslinger: What do you get when a huckster decides he wants to use magic to bump up his shootin' skills? You get these guys, the [[warlock]] to the Huckster's wizard.
*Blood Mage: A member of a family with decidedly less than wholesome ancestry - the canon example is being a distant relation of the notorious Whateleys - who has the power to tap into arcane magic inherent in her own blood, for decidedly unsettling "dark gray" magic.
*Metal Mage: This one's a bit of a cheat; it's just a guy who took both the Huckster ''and'' the Mad Scientist arcane backgrounds, striving to combine magic and technology for greater efficiency in both.
*Enlightened: Any jerk can learn a bit of kung fu. These are the guys who take it up to levels you normally see in a [[wuxia]] movie, because hey, what's not to love about martial artists vs. cowboys?
*Scrapper: Mostly coming from Salt Lake City, these are bruisers so determined to take it up a notch that they actually went and got crude cybernetic implants and replacement limbs.
*[[Vampire]]: Well, what's a horror western game without the possibility of a repentant bloodsucking bandito?
*[[Werewolf]]: Or a savage man-beast to master the wilderness for you?

For more details on things other than the [[Harrowed]], [[Vampire]] and [[Werewolf]], check out the [[Arcane Background]] page.