Re: Re: Concentrated Magic Use

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_...>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2003 02:12:17 +0100

On Wed, Sep 24, 2003 at 05:55:48PM -0700, Andrew Solovay wrote:
> I think it's because Flesh Man is the archetypal human, and thus teaches how
> to use your own human abilities (i.e. how to develop talents) rather than
> rely on gifts from possibly-unreliable gods (i.e. feats). But that's just my
> guess.
>
> If that's true, it would account for the sticky Heortling wicket--relying on
> Flesh man abilities is, to an extent, showing a lack of faith in the gods to
> help you. Entering deeply into the divine mysteries would force you to give
> up the crutch of your human talents, and rely on the gods.

Hrm. There's a logic to that, though I think it again stretches the plausibility of the concentration rules; if what FM does for you is 'develop your own human abilities', then I'd think that _losing_ those abilities to become a wholesale-prices theist seems rather harsh, not to say unrationalised. (Obviously if a particular _religion_ demands it, fairy snuff -- you thought the Swords/White Women were going to be _reasonable_ about your inborn Lightning Throwing talent? Naaaah.)  

> (Am I completely off-base about this?)

Your guess is (at least) as good as mine!  

> But I *do* think Heortlings can get common-magic feats, from sources other
> than Flesh Man...

That also seems pretty reasonable. In a sense the 'source' is somewhat moot: it came from myself/my family/Somewhere Around Here.

Cheers,
Alex.