I'm not sure where you're reading that in - can you tell me which sections seem to imply it? To get the additional subcult affinity, he needs to join that subcult (3HP, plus 10% time commitment) and then pay 3 hp to learn the affinity. The Heortling system as shown in TR is not the same setup as described in HW.
>I also presume that Devotees can pay either 3 points for a new Affinity
from a subcult within their aspect and 1 point for a new Feat.
Hmm, what's the "or" condition?
>I presume that the standard rule of 1 HP per Feat also applies, here,
Yes
>and that a Feat is gained automatically when the Affinity is learned in
game,
Not so stated, but I'd say yes
>but that the rest of the Feats have to be learned individually,
Yes
>and that trying to use a Feat without having learned it gains an Improv
mod.
Yes.
> Second, direct initiation to a Great God. HW states that Initiates and
Devotees of a Great God gain access to *all* Affinities and Feats of the
god. What does this mean for beginning characters?
Initiation to the Great God is extremely rare. If you are uncomfortable with
it (I certainly am) then do not allow beginning characters to do it.
>Is initiation and devotion to a great god something that can only be done
in game?
As a narrator I'd certainly prefer it!
>If not, what Affinities and Feats does an Initiate or Devotee of a Great
God get at the beginning? All of them? If so, such a character would be
very powerful at the beginning, although ultimately capped.
An initiate gets *one* Affinity (HW 184 - Initiation to a Great God). he may
pay to get others, from any aspect/subcult.
I'd give a Devotee his choice of, say, 4 affinities from any aspect/subcult.
This is simply to give the player somethng to focus on. If you *really* want
to give him all 30 or 40 affinities, go ahead. The player will have to
decide where he wants to put his HP...
>Or is devotion to a Great God something a worshipper grows into?
Some people are "called" to the Great God, but not very many. Again, if you
are leery of letting a player have a devotion to a Great god, don't let him.
>Or is this Discipleship?
Discipleship is something different, and will be detailed in Storm tribe.
basically, it is a 90% commitment to an aspect of a great God, or to a
Regular god. It is rare, and has various high requirements.
> Third, associate magic. One of the things I always liked about RQ2 and 3
was the ability to become an associate priest of an allied deity - for
example, an Orlanth priest becoming an associate priest/acolyte of Issaries
in the RQ2/3 rules, being able to perform Issaries ceremonies and have some
access to resuable Issaries magic. Certain magic was also shared with
allied deities - for example, Orlanth lending the Shield spell to his
Lightbringer allies.
>
> I propose that to duplicate this, that in long form cult writeups a secton
be included for Associate cults, and for one Affinity with a limited number
of Feats (say, only 1 or 2 as compared to the full range of Feats that an
actual Initiate or Devotee of the full cult could use)
> that allies grant to Devotees of the God/Cult. For example, Orlanth
Adventurous might look something like this...
We thought of this when writing the books, and rejected it. The function has been taken over by Communal Worship - basically *any* god's magic can be called upon by the community, not just specific gods. However, if you want to detail hero cults or minor subcults that are shared between cults, you can achieve a similar scheme. In ST you'll see a number of "shared subcults", for instance, Drogarsi is shared between Orlanth and Donandar, and Skovari between Ernalda and Donandar.
RR
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