On Monday, May 5, 2003, at 01:38 PM, Jeff wrote:
>
>> So, common magic. Characters start with 5 common magic abilities.
> They
>> can be feats, talents, charms, etc. As a power gamer, I will of
> course
>> choose to make all 5 of them feats, so I can continue to use them
> once
>> I've concentrated my magic as theistic magic. Unfortunately, I
> would
>> expect most players to do the same. Just call everything the type
> that
>> matches what you may or will concentrate in.
>
> This is quite likely. I don't see it as a problem actually - many
> players many not concentrate just so they CAN have the flexible
> magics.
>
But it is it more flexible. As I read it, any common magic ability can be any type of magic (talent, feat, spell, charm, etc.). Thus, any common magic ability I want to improve or gain I can just call a feat. "Gesture to Ward Off Magic" is the same whether it's a spell, charm, or feat. So, as a Heortling, if I call all 5 of my starting common magic abilities feats, and begin with my magic concentrated (which appears to be free at character creation), I will have my affinities at 17 and 5 common magic feats at 17 and the normal improvement costs.
>> So, two questions/comments:
>>
>> 1. Why use this process? Many characters will not be affected by
>> concentration anyway, so wouldn't it be easier to eliminate this?
>
> Not everyone uses concentrated magics. Particularly those who
> use 'folk magic' which really isn't all that well organized. Certain
> religions (such as those which are Misapplied) cannot concentrate
> their magic at all.
>
Ah. I hadn't considered misapplied worship.
> Concentration lets heroes decide to 'give up' their wierd magic for
> a 'pure' form. There is a lot of roleplaying potential in this.
>
But, they won't need to give it up, as they'll just call it all feats. If a common magic ability is a feat, then you can still use it if you concentrate on theistic magic, as it is theistic magic. That's the part I don't get. I would say either remove some of the players' flexibility in assigning what type of magic their common magic abilities are (for example, in the Heortling keyword, they're all Talents from Flesh Man; thus, you could say that the majority of Heortling characters' common magic abilities are Talents, not Feats) or else put the concentration limit on Common Magic vs. specialized magic.
> There is one school of 'common magic' which allows you to concentrate
> your common magic. You loose any specialist magics you have
> specialized magic. (I think you only get to learn common magics from
> wherever you are). These would become regular spells, feats, charms
> but you'd be restricted to just those availible through your local
> Common Religion. While this lets you learn any spell/feat/etc, it
> does mean that they are all individually raised (which does lose most
> of the benefit of grimoires and affinities.
>
Hmm. That's interesting. Useful for areas like the Empire, where most people are just communal worshippers.
>> Am I misunderstanding the way this works?
>>
>> Michael
>
> I'm not sure
>
You're definitely helping me get it.
Michael
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