I think p. 120 should say, "Devotees can *learn* feats". An initiate can improvise feats from an affinity (paying an improvisational modifier) or can use the affinity to augment another skill. A devotee can do either of those, and he can *also* learn a specific, named feat, and use it without the improvisational modifier.
e.g. Jane the Vinga Initiate has the "Combat" affinity. She can use the affinity to augment her sword attack, or she can improvise a magical feat (say, "Vengeful Blow"), with an improvisational modifier (say -5).
Sue the Vinga Devotee has the "Combat" affinity, and has also learned some feats within the affinity (like "Fight Uz" and "Deadly Spear Throw"). Like Jane, she can use "combat" to augment her sword attack, and she can improvise feats (paying the -5 to -10)--but she can *also* use the feats she's learned, at her "Combat" affinity level, without an improvisational modifier.
> In the same paragraph: "However, because feats learned as part of an
> Affinity are not distinct abilities, a hero may only augment another
> ability..."
What that's saying is that you can't use a feat to augment another feat *in the same affinity*. ("may only augment another ability" there is saying "if you augment, you have to augment another ability"--it isn't saying "all you can do is augment".)
So in that example, Sue the Vingan has the "Combat" affinity with the "Deadly Spear Throw" and "Fight Uz" feats. Say she's throwing her spear at a dark troll. She can pick either of those two feats to use (they're both appropriate), but she can't say "I use my 'Deadly Spear Throw' feat, and I augment it with my 'Fight Uz' feat". She can't say that because they're both part of the "Combat" affinity, and she only gets to use the affinity once in a particular action--she can't use the affinity to augment itself. (She could use a "Combat" feat to augment a feat in some other skill--say, if she's charging at some trolls, she could augment her "Movement: Burst of Speed" feat with her "Combat: Fight Uz" feat.)
> What's the story? Who CAN use Feats and who CAN use them as active
> abilities and not just augments?
Subject to correction, I believe the situation is this:
Ordinary person: Can use common magic feats, but only as augments.
Concentrated in "theistic magic": Can use common magic feats as augments or as active abilities.
Initiate in a cult: Can use affinities to augment, and can improvise feats from an affinity (paying an improvisational modifier). The improvised feats *can* be used as active abilities.
Devotee in a cult: Can use affinities to augment, can use learned feats as an active ability, and can improvise feats from an affinity (paying improv modifier).
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