Initiates & Devotees

From: simon_hibbs2 <simon.hibbs_at_...>
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 13:22:24 -0000

In my upcoming game most of the PCs are Initiates of various Lunar deities, but one is a devotee (In my mind, he's the equivalent of an RQ3 Accolyte). In the rules it says that Initiates have affinities at whatever level they like (they can make them their favoured ability, just like any other abilities), the difference is that they must improvise feats while devotees don't have to.

Presumably this means that initiates are always at a penalty when attempting any feat, but I can't find any reference as to what this penalty should be. -2? -5? -10? And that feats not in the description of the cult are even harder?

Secondly, I am also presuming that Devotees can improvise feats not in the list in the cult description?

I don't like the idea of players always rolling against an ability with an automatic penalty. It seems to me that the target number of the ability should be the number they roll against in most circumstances. The alternative I'm considering is upping the difficulty of feats when they're performed by Initiates, so that the penalty is effectively invisible to the players in mechanical terms. They just know that the devotee is more effective at magic.

Any thoughts?

Simon Hibbs