Re: number of affinities

From: Jeff <jeff.kyer_at_...>
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 16:12:10 -0000

>
> > Hi folk,s just wondering what people think a good aggregate number
of
> > affinities for cults would be. They seems to hover around 3, does
> > anyone feel that this is a Good Thing, say for balance, or
> > irrelevant, or what? Is 5 too many to do regularly?
>
> I'd tend to suspect that 5 was an indication that there's really
> more than one sub-cult going on here.

I agree. Its a sign that there's probably room for subculting or someone's not focused on just _what_ that deity does. Minor deities and godlings will often have 2 or even 1 affinity. This is particularly true if they're not really native to the area (such as Doburdun worship in Dragon Pass). Despite his worship in Peloria, most of the worshippers here in DP would only get one affinity - Storm)

Three affinities or Two core affnities with 2-5 subcults providing additional affinties and flexiblity is a more normal theistic structuring for a powerful or well-beloved deity.

Something small, like Geo, while well loved, might not even get an afflity - only a few feats.

There's currently very, very few cases of 4 affinities provided in the official writeups without resorting to subculting (I can't think of any offhand). When thinking about it, it seems that there's really very little way for a theist to get a good ability in more than 3-4 affinities anyways so giving 5 at the keyword level at start (eg 17) is a bit stinky.

As was mentioned in the 'how to tell stories' thread, things happen in threes.

Jeff