> > 1. Characters can only concentrate magic when they commit to a
> > Specialized Magic System, defined as a theist cult, wizard school,
> > saintly order, animist practice, or the Selfrock Teaching.
>
> Why bother? If someone wants to commit to a type of magic, but doesn't
> want to spend the HP to do anything, why stop them?
I'm trying to keep active use of magic in the hands of characters who make a substantial time and resource commitment, modelled by hero points.
I'm also trying to avoid the "munchkin" scenario where a player concentrates exclusively on common magic and pours a ton of points into a few abilities, gaining a good deal of power without all the rigmarole of initiating, passing the devotion test, befriending a spirit, and the like.
The Glorantha.com site notes that this scenario is possible, and suggests a number of ad hoc solutions to avoid it, such as inventing a social sanction for characters who concentrate on common magic exclusively, or arbitrarily prohibiting proposed specific common magic abilities case-by-case. I am looking for a solution that's less ad hoc and requires less narrator discretion, namely house rules.
(See http://www.glorantha.com/support/hq_faq.html#Magic for the official discussion of this scenario)
> My heortling warrior would have to concentrate on theistic magic upon
> initiating in Orlanth? Well, since "all" the population is
initiated to
> O or E, you've just emasculate Flesh Man.
For the Orlanthi "all" of 85%, that's correct. Somewhere in that 15%, however, there can be someone who devotes himself exclusively to the Flesh Man. With the proposed rules, he will be handicapped, compared to his fellow Heortlings, until he learns the Selfrock Teaching and subsequently maintains it with 20% of of his time and resources (modeled as Hero Points).
> All they have
> from Flesh Man (or any other Common Magic Religion) are a handful of
> passive magic abilities.
In fact, the section on concentrating magic, p. 108 of the HQ book, implies that characters who concentrate on "innate magic" can use talents actively. Elsewhere on Glorantha.com, innate magic is defined to consist of talents plus natural magic abilities. So in fact the Flesh Man talents and any other Common Magic talents can be used actively by expending one Hero Point.
Even if you don't buy that interpretation (it's contradicted by the Hero Improvement Costs table elsewhere in the HQ book), a character who has learned the Selfrock Teaching can use any common magic abilities actively. Learning the Selfrock Teaching is simpler to do than even devoting to a deity (half a mastery simpler, according to the rules).
> > 2. All Specialized Magic Systems, even the Selfrock Teaching, require
> > an ongoing commitment of no less that 20% of a character's time and
> > resources, modeled as Hero Points.
>
> Isn't that already in the rules?
The Selfrock Teaching at presented on page 108 of the HQ book requires no ongoing commitment, just beating a 10w resistance with one's best Common Magic ability and paying one Hero Point.
> An initiate has to spend 30% and a
> devotee 60% of time, cash, HPs and everything else about the character.
But a munchkin who learns the Selfrock Teaching doesn't. Moreover, he has a wider choice of magical abilities (including abilities that he makes up) than either an initiate or devotee.
> I thought that most initiates could only augment from the affinities.
An initiate who concentrates theism can improvise a named feat within an affinity at -5. If he raises the relevant affinity to 18 (cost: 3 Hero Points), his rating is 13, just as good as many of his starting abilities. So there's no reason why initiates won't use feats actively on a regular basis, unless the narrator disallows it for some reason.
> I personally consider your goal to be a step in the
> wrong direction, but if that is what you and your group want, have
at it.
I'm not that committed to the goal. What I'm really trying to do is come up with a reason for characters to initiate to gods, become practitioners, join orders, and the like, not just learn and concentrate Common Magic. Under the base HQ rules, there are only weak incentives to do so -- characters can obtain more diverse and powerful magic abilities with less hassle through Common Magic.
I can devise various ad hoc incentives to steer them into specialized magic, such as arbitrarily shooting down common magic abilities that players devise, requiring them to join specific religions to even participate in the game, and so on. But I'd prefer to create a small set of rules that all the characters know up front, so the whole business is less arbitrary.
Rob
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