>>most human magic is powered by human POW, the POW that
>>you are born with, and this Pow is not Fire Pow, Air Pow, or
>>anything, but Human POW.
>
>I'd call it Man POW, Trolls would start with Man POW and Darkness POW,
>Elves with Man POW and Plant POW, etc.
>
Which is exactly what I was arguing against - Trolls have Troll POW, which is just like Human POW. Of course, there are some differences - you can't sacrifice Human POW for Kygor Litor magics usually, for example, but generally trolls, like humans, have a soul that consists of one part, not two.
Bruce the virtual ethnographer
>As per stats and runes I like Nick Brooke's correspondences. A while ago
>I was
>playing the possibility of an Ars Magica style sorcery system using runic
>corrspondences and a linguistic metaphoe. E.g. Form runes would be nouns,
>others would be verbs.
This in part depends on what Greg thinks about runic sorcery that week. I think such a system is workable.
Stphen Martin
>>I also wouldn't restrict it to Elemental, or even runic, categories.
>
>I tentatively agree, though I would suggest that runic categories would
>be the most common, and elemental categories would be the most common of
>those.
>
I'm thinking more in terms of descriptions, not categories. I certainly think that POW can be in more than one runic category at once (though being in more than one elemental category or more than one power is damned unusual), depending on its description. Classified Runically, the most common sort of POW is probably Man, of course.
Rigid categories do make it easier, of course, but I also think we lose a lot by them as well.
>Actually, I have objected from the start to the use of cult spirits for
>Spellteaching -- I much preferred the RQ2 procedure, where the priest had
>a spell, and spent the time in meditation with the student, who came away
>knowing the spell. I think Spell Spirits work great for shamanic Spirit
>Magic, but don't like their use for cult-derived Blessings (as I call
>them).
>
But the rules question reflects a deep difference in Gloranthan realities. I think the lesser magic that cults teach their initiates is the same as the magic taught by shamans, and is taught by cult spirits. You think it is taught by priests (or I guess by commonium with the god, or something like that), and is quite different to spirit magic. Not just a question of Spellteaching or not, but a big distinction. I have no ideas how the hell we determine who is correct in any decisive way, other than by appealing to divination.
>I think the difference between human magic and divine magic is very clear
>cut, though the tradition in which it is learned (shamanic, divine cult,
>sorcerous) will by default affect the exact mechanics which the human
>uses.
While I am more inclined to the view that divine cults evolved directly from spirit cults, and do indeed teach just the same magic. I admit I'm uncomfortable with the idea that low sorcery, which can be learnt from books, is also the same thing.
Cheers
David
Powered by hypermail