> A few points:
>
> - very few practices have spirits as strong as 5W2!
Hmm. I'd guess that virtually every tradition has at least a few practices with spirits this strong. For example, I would think that Waha has some very specialized spirits that are this strong ("Tame Wildfire", for example) and I'm virtually certain that Storm Bull can give you a Berserk spirit with a higher rating. (As you note, though, it is a double-edged sword: you won't have much chance of releasing it from its fetish until you buy up your relationship or want to spend HPs to bump your miserable failure). One point of game balance here is that you may want to make higher rated spirits more specialized. E.g., Berserk is a great spirit, but it has its downsides.
> - As far as active magic goes, you will usually
> be using the spirit at its rating, since you
> will seldom have your own "fly", "breathe
> fire", or "put to sleep" ability
Many abilities will be related to fighting, leading, or convincing, which are also mundane abilities. So, I'd dispute the "usually" part of your sentence. Maybe your point would be that it is OK to give out "Fly" at 5W2 where it would not be to give out "Fight with Sword" because Fly can't be combined with anything else. That, I'd agree with.
> Which is not to say that I think animasts are
> weak, but at higher levels I suspect they have
> to pick their moments carefully, as opposed to
> the warrior devotee who knows she's magically
> ready for almost anything in a fight.
Really interesting point! Note that the big animist cultures tend to be concentrated out int he wilderness -- trolls, Praxians, Hsunchen, Balazarings. They do tend to pick their moments when they want to fight the civilized folks ("Uh, oh, here comes Jaldon. Run!"). However, they then have to retreat because all their kick-butt magic is used up ("Jaldon's gone. Charge!"). Perhaps a sedentary, primarily animist culture cannot survive in the places humans like the best because their magic requires a period of recovery, so they cannot maintain the continuous effort required for more "civilized" warfare? It puts an interesting spin on places like Balazar and Pavis, where you see small, but resilient outposts of theistic magic in an otherwise animist landscape.
Powered by hypermail