>From: "Bryan" <bethexton_at_...>
>
>I think you might be reading a bit more into this than intended. As
>you noted, the basic magical keywork that you get for free doesn't
>generally give you very much.
More importantly, when you take a higher level, you don't loose the lower level. Practitioners still get their tradition spirits from also being a spiritist in a technical fashion (don't get me started on the complexity of Spiritist members of practices). An Adept may well still be welcome at the liturgy if not apostate (i.e. a Sorcerer). The initiate can still call for divine intervention just as the communal worshipper does. The higher level SMKs are "Base + More" if you will. As opposed to "just" base.
>So a couple of words in your narrative give the character more raw
>power, more interesting decisions, and more scope to do things.
On the other hand, the character also has been "decided" to some extent. That is, it's possible to switch beliefs, but harder, more arduous, etc. It can be very fun in play to find out to which cult your character will choose to initiate, or what practice he decides to take up, or if he'll attend a school of wizardry, or join an order, or learn some liturgy...
I think there's a lot of power in starting the character as a little more "blank" here, and allowing them to develop further. The "intermediate" levels can be particularly interesting. Does a practitioner allow themselves to slide further into the spirit world, risking alienation from those people he knows? This is exactly the question one player's PC is facing in play of my IRC game tonight.
I think I may have been accused of powergaming recently... I'm an "Interest-gamer." That is, abilities are, to me, what makes the character interesting to play. Especially how they interact in terms of giving varying motives in different situations. In this case more is often better... except where you have what some call a "fruitful void." Meaning that which is to be filled in by play. HQ does a great job iof providing both.
Mike
Powered by hypermail