>B.) theistic magic
Where was A?
>1.)-since there's no (rule) limitation of how often someone can use magic a
>day, how can one imagine the common people, farmer and herders of the clan,
>and their workings of magic? are they doing magics all day? in rq, a
The common people (depending on how common they are), probably do use magic, but low-level stuff, just (in game terms) +1 or 2 augments on their mundane skills. Although the PC starting level in magic is 17, those are heroes, normal folks would, I think, have Affinities (and usually not ALL the Affinities of any given deity) at 13 or so, before Improvisation Modifiers. So they can use it all day, but usually it'll just take longer to achieve a result than mundane skills. But they CAN attempt magic at any time.
> btw, any suggestions about a rule of thumb for duration and range of feats?
>(like:"if you want to do a swordhelp lasting 2 weeks, you got to make an
>affinity roll at d+40" ???)
In general, effects last as long as it's useful or sensible. Combat magic lasts until the fight is over, movement magic until you get there, etc. For long term magic, use the Extended Magic table on p230.
>2.)- page 183: initiates can use affinities with an improvisational
>modifier. do they improvise the (written) feats of the given affinity, or
>can they also create completely different effects, which are compatible with
>it (like:" i'm using the affinity Merchant to do bargain, of course with an
>improvisational modifier of (x)..." ???)
Both. The given feats (once you decide what they mean) are the best known, and most frequently learned, feats in an affinity, and can be used as guidelines for that deity's general sort of magic. But you can make up your own.
>3.)- since all feats eventually result in giving the character APs (for
eh? feats do NOT give the caster AP. They give edge or bonuses to abilities, they lend AP to others, or they are used directly to oppose/attack. If you mean they increase the AP loss an opponent faces after a successful attack, yes, that's an edge, but that's only one use of magic. From the look of your example, you're not quite getting it. Try this:
"you walk forward, using your Face of Death Feat to augment your Intimidate ability. With a +3 Bonus, the Intimidate 13 becomes 16. You bid 5 AP from the 13 AP your Intimidate gives you. Your opponent attempts to resist with his Maintain Cool 15, you both succeed, but you roll lower, and he loses 5 AP to a new level of 10 AP, but maintains his Maintain Cool 15 ability."
So... you roll your Face of Death feat against a resistance of 15 (3 levels of resistance), and win, getting +3 bonus (you could have gone for +6 edge instead at the same resistance). Added to your Intimidate 13 ability, that makes 16. A suitable resistance is Maintain Cool, but if both succeed, he lowest roll wins. In an Extended Contest, the attacker bids AP from a starting 'pool' equal to his ability. The loser of the exchange loses that AP (if you had added the edge and not the bonus, you'd roll against a 13, but if you succeeded your opponent would lose 11 AP, 5 bid plus 6 edge) from his 'pool' which starts as his first used ability. The winner loses AP, but NOT ability, so the Maintain Cool stays at 15. However, he now has only 10 AP from which to bid in his turn to act.
There are complications galore, like crits, masteries, wounds, etc. but that's the jist of it. All magic just augments in an extended contest, either adding a bonus or an edge to an ability (or another affinity), or lending AP to someone else, or being used as the active skill. It's all about reducing your opponent's AP to and below 0. In simple contests (or unconnected actions during extended contests), magic can do fancy stuff, like break shields, heal wounds, etc. The way to make it different is all in the description.
Wulf
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