>Use the Duck test. If it quacks like a Specialized Religion, and waddles
>like a specialized religion, then you can't go too far wrong by treating it
>like one.
Well, again, I'm not trying to argue, but just explain where my confusion was coming from. But, being that they were listed as Common Magic Religions made me think that they were different from Specialized Religions. That is, the Homelands make the distinction between the two.
The "glaringly obvious" thing that I may have missed is what Bryan brings up. Which is that listings for Donandar, and Lanbril are actually found in many/most of the homelands under Specilized religions. What I assumed (incorrectly, apparently) was that for these homelands that these gods were treated as Specialized Magic religions, but that they weren't treated at all in other places. That is, for example, in the Heortling Homeland Keyword, it lists Skovara as the local Donandar cognate. Skovara is then listed under Theism. In other places, these cognates of these gods are listed as having affinities, in fact. So, my assumption was that in these places, the worship of these gods was specialized. They were listed there, after all.
But that meant that my assumption was also that where not listed, Lanbril and Donandar are available in the form listed under "sample common magic religions". That is, if there is no cognate, that you can still be in the religion, but then it's available as a common magic religion, not specialized. In fact, my assumption was (and still is) that you can be a worshipper of, say, Donandar, even in Heortland, even though Skovara exists (again subject to the character experiencing social pressure, etc, as you mentioned).
But then they're keywords, so that seemed unbalancing, hence my question as to whether or not they counted against the specialized magic keyword limit. Given that these religions were all listed together in one section, I assumed that they were handled similarly - either they all were free under the rule that says that common magic comes along with the homeland keyword, or they all cost the slot under the rule that says that you only get one magic keyword.
I see now where I was wrong. The problem was in assuming that Donandar and Lanbril were "global". That is, given that they are supposed to be available to any character of the appropriate occupation, I saw them as common magic of every homeland. Heck, given the openness that seems to pervade these religions, I was also thinking that Imarja and Seven Sisters were widely available (surely it's not a stretch to think that someone in Esvular might know Imarja). As such, they seemed like they would be handled similarly to the other common magics available from that homeland. But, apparently it's precisely that scope difference that makes the difference?
That is, as you said, only the ones that are specific to the homelands in question, the ones listed as belonging to the homeland are "free" with that homeland. Wheras, the ones that are "global," like Lanbril and Donandar cost the slot, as they aren't part of the homeland per se. That is, just like one isn't free to be a Practitioner because one is a Spiritist from Prax, one isn't free to take the Donandar keyword, just because he's an entertainer from Prax. They are additional to the basics of the homeland, which, as Bryan notes, are listed right with the homeland. Put more simply, since Donandar and Lanbril aren't listed in any homeland's common magic section, they can't be taken as though they are part of the homeland. (In which case I could probably extend that to say that if someone wanted to take a common magic keyword that was from another homeland - as in my Esvulari Imarja worshipper - that I could reasonably charge them the slot for doing it, no? Assuming it's kosher at all.)
That makes sense to me as a division line, if that's what's intended. I can see clearly both the mechanical line, and the in-game rationale explaining it. So, I assume that I have it right now? It seems to me that this was what you were getting at in your previous post (and was clarified with Bryan's help).
To get to the follow up question, then, would it be safe to assume that all common magic religion keywords that were aquired as free parts of the homeland would use the homeland keyword rating, while all specialized common magic religion keywords would be listed in the specialized slot on the sheet, and have their own rating? That seems consistent.
Lastly, would I be correct in assuming that if I learned Self-Rock, or something similar, that, despite these being listed as specialized, the fact that they still provide common magic would mean that the magics in question would become usable as active abilities?
I think part of the problem is that I've always erroneously associated Specialized with theism, animism, and wizardry. That is, "specialized" seemed to be the opposite of "common" in that all of the three types above were always specialized (a common theism magic religion keyword would be a contradiction in terms). Instead what I'm seeing now is that there is just a subset of common magic that's "non-specialized" and that some is specialized, too.
Sorry to have been so frustrating, but I do find this all fascinating. It's details like this that, in application, really detail the world. As an example, I just went over all of the animist details with a player in the game I run, and in creating all of the facets of the character's religion to fit the animist mold, we created a really fun and interesting religion (ah, who am I kidding, it's just another horse animism culture, but it was fun).
More interestingly, I think that given my new understanding that I'm finally going to be able to employ common magic in my game. Something that, up until now had been very sketchy. So thanks for the efforts, all.
Mike
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