Although Adepts have a subtitle all to themselves in HeroQuest, they are really only explored in the rules so far in the guise of Wizards. Sorcerers will, presumably work in much the same way, but outside of the established church (which, I guess, makes the Debaldan School on p172 sorcerers). Adepts who are not primarily magicians will have to wait until they are covered in one of the forthcoming culture books...
As was discussed here recently the rules do not help with determining the starting spells for wizards when created as a starting character other than an apprentice getting a "Use [grimoire]" at 13 on succeeding in the "Be released from apprenticeship" test (p163). (Although I would have thought that an apprentice who has been copying grimoires and assisting his master throughout his apprenticeship might already have learned to use the schools grimoires). I think I'd go for a starting wizard having "aid my master", "use [grimoire]" for each grimoire from his school, and one spell from each grimoire as part of the "magic" keyword.
So for example a Character created as a Wizard of the Iron Blood School would start with Use Abiding Book, Use the Book of Conflict and Use The Mysteries of Health together with one spell from each, plus "aid my master" all at 17.
Adepts (of all flavours) cast their magic from Talismans (similar to Orderlies, but with far fewer restrictions) or directly from their Grimoire, assuming they have access to it at the time. You can augment spells with any (relevant) spell for which you have a talisman, but a grimoire can only be used once (either to cast the spell or to provide an augment). You can learn to cast spells that are not in one of the Grimoires for your school (assuming, of course you can find someone to teach you, or some other source. I think this is probably more common amongst sorcerers than amongst wizards).
To create a Talisman requires accessing the Magic Plane (resistance
10w3) and a cost of 1HP (assuming you've concentrated your magic.
Interestingly none of the liturgists/orderlies/adepts need to
concentrate, providing they are happy to pay the price, and risk the
disapproval of their church/order/school). If you are creating a
Talisman for a spell in one of your Grimoires you can augment with your
"Use Grimoire" ability. This is a ritual magic check and can benefit
from community support (from members of your school, your apprentices
etc. etc.)
To attune a grimoire requires accessing the founders node on the Saints Plane (resistance 10w6) - Again this is a ritual magic check - You can see why Wizards congregate in schools for mutual support! It also costs a (concentrated) 3HP.
In keeping with the general policy of "If you've paid for something you should always be able to replace it" the rules specifically say that if a wizard looses a talisman they can generally replace it between adventures without any extra HP cost. They don't say the same for Grimoires, but it seems a sound general principle. Of course without access to the original copy and the support of your school it may not be quite so easy...
To create a brand new Grimoire it is necessary to create a new node on
the Saints plane (details for which are not given in the rules, but I'd
guess it is some sort of HeroQuest) and link each spell that will appear
in the grimoire to it - Which means that new grimoires are not commonly
written. (School founders obviously like to have a grimoire of their
own to encourage students to join their school). Something must then
"Set" this node, since it is not possible to add a new spell to an
existing grimoire (or maybe it is only the person who creates the node
who can link new spells to it?)
Reading around and between the lines I think there are slightly different versions of grimoires belonging to different chapters or academies of schools. (p164 "Most modern grimoires are descended from earlier grimoires with additions and deletions according to the skills, prejudices and discoveries of the school founder" - P166 "An adept who leaves one academy for another in the same school...")
Finally, not in the rules at all - but in RQ, one of the first things Sorcerers needed to do was to get a familiar - I'd suggest that independent sorcerers still use familiars - which, like apprentices, know (and can cast) "Aid my master" amongst any other abilities they may have.
-- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tim Ellis EMail tim_at_... | | Everything I tell You Three times is true | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
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