Re: Clarifying Theistic Magic

From: JEFFREY KYER <jeff.kyer_at_...>
Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 20:01:06 -0000

> Where was A?

It was the first of the three postings... =)  

> 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.

Yes. And when it comes down to doing something IMPORTANT like Blessing the crops, they make sure that the god-talkers that they have
been supporting pull their weight.

We feed the Ernalda priestess for a reason -- she's the best person in
the village with Bless Crop magic and she casts it for us all in the Sea Season revels when the First Furrow is ploughed.

And again when the crops are harvested, we give thanks for her skills... (and keep feeding her)  

>
> 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.

They last for a scene. That could be a combat or a conversation. Certainly the length of an encounter. I don't think I'd let them last
more than a half hour and probably a LOT less -- 5 - 10 minutes. If you want to look at the extending magic section in the Advanced magic rules, that will let you see that anything more than only 'a little while' requires you to start paying some very hefty difficulty modifiers.

But at least anyone CAN do it. And if you wish to risk a Hero Point, you can do a fair bit.  

> 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.

Think of the feat lists being the 'basic set' and those feats are the ones most of the locals know. I'd think that others can be done as long as they stay mythologically relevant with relative ease. Always,
of course, with an improvisational modifier -- the more obscure or difficult the feat, the bigger the penalty.

>

 >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:

Yes. Feats can be used for many things. In an extreme case, you can use it instead of a more mundane ability -- our Humakti has Fight Undead Thing as his feat but no 'Spriit Combat' and happily chopped away at a ghost with it -- at a penalty of -5 I think but it was better than not hitting at all.

> 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.
>

Tjis is the key -- its all description. What am I trying to do iwth this feat. How does that fit in to the conflict.

With the earlier example of Light affinity against a troll, the goal has not changed though I DO allow sometimes, one to do an unrelated action if its very strange or is being used to set up an advantage -- but usually it comes down to AP's

Jeff

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