> The problem here is that some feats, such as Swordhelp (but we all
> know it's Bladesharp realy) seem to me to be just augments to
> ordinary abilities, in this case Close Combat. I like your take
> on this though, it makes a lot of sense.
>
Remember that you can augment multiple times with different feats though - a Devotee with 4 "augment type" feats could potentially augment with each of them, plus with the affinity, wheras an initate can only augment with the affinity
> Perhaps a feat such as swordhelp can be used to magic-up a sword
> for the day, and then the Combat affinity can be used again as
> an augment during a specific combat? That would make a degree of
> sense. Once the Swordhelp has been used on the sword it becomes
> a magic item like any other, that still adds to the wielder's
> ability in addition to ad-hoc augments.
That certainly sounds reasonable, although you might want to consider the "duration" penalties in this case...
>
In answer to your other questions, the rules were unclear on this
aspect, since they seemed to imply that all magic was done through
feats, either known or improvised, which subsequent discussion
suggests is definitely not the case.
Both Initiates and Devotees can improvise further feats, although only Devotees can subsequently "cement" them, in order to perform them without a penalty in future. It is up to the GM to assign a penalty for any "unlisted" feats - ISTR that opinion is divided as to whether these should be the same for devotees and initiates, or whether devotees should get a bonus here for their closer ties to the diety
Why do Initiates take a penalty rather than give a Devotee a bonus? - Good question - You could give Devotees a +3 bonus to perform any "known" feat without upsetting play balance too much, although I think you should remember the key is "improvise" here - If a player wanted to try and suture a wound using "tidy embroidery" due to a lack of "first aid" type skills you would generally assign some sort of improvisation penalty, and this is what you are doing when an initiate takes a penalty to his "sunset leap".
Powered by hypermail