I don't see how that's clearer, or more correct, at all.
o Specialised magic user isn't a defined term, but interpreting
it in the obvious manner of "a member of a specialised
religion", it does nothing to exclude initiates.
o Initiates _can_ use their magic directly (i.e., on parts of the
World other than their own being/abilities), as discussed below.
> It's pretty clear on p. 118 that Affinity use by Initiates can only
> augment other abilities known by the Initiate.A similar stricture
> applies to CM.
I think it's pretty clear they are _not_ similar. CM users, unless innate-concentrated (and for their feats, charms, and spells, unless also Selfrocked-up) cannot use their magic 'directly' _at all_. Initiates can indeed use their magic directly, at a penalty. HQ says they're using Feats when they do so, you prefer (nay, insist on) the construction that they're really using their affinity, but the point is they can do so, however you choose to characterise it.
> Concentration is not included in the various Wizardry rank write ups.
> Is this an oversight, or can one become an Adept without having had
> to previously concentrate one's Wizardry ? Inquiring minds wish to know ...
> (or did I miss a line of text ?)
> Shamans OTOH must concentrate their animism.
"Dunno", throughout; 'beyond the scope of this present article', as we say in the trade.
> > > I think you're confusing HW and HQ. The important point
> > > is that "no-one" "ever" uses feats directly ; they use affinities.
> >
> > HQ, p118: "A hero cannot use an affinity as an active ability. [...]
> > An initiate _can_ improvise any named feat in the affinity [...] as an
> > active ability with a -10 penalty (-5 if he has concentrated his magic
> > use) [...]"
> Which is clear as mud.
I don't see what's at all unclear about it. You may not use the affinity 'directly', but you may use feats, based on same (he said, carefully avoiding the I-word, since that was what was originally at issue), 'directly', where by 'directly' we mean "not just as an augment", to wit, what HQ is calling 'active'. It may not be how you'd have chosen to put it (nor me -- nor I think, even what I'd have chosen to put...), but its intended practical effect seems pretty easy to discern.
> The pertinent fact is that the TN is derived from the score in the
> Affinity. A Feat is simply a common or unusual manifestation of an
> Affinity. ie the Affinity is the source of the magic.
Which has nothing to do with anything much at issue here; this is true in essence for devotees too, excepting the case where they have a feat with a different TN. And whether they're 'really' using an Affinity vs. 'really' using a Feat is a terminological (or at the risk of you mentioning Plato again, a philosophical use) issue, not a game-mechanical one.
Cheers,
Alex.
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