Re: Common magic

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 19:56:06 -0800


Peter

>That's all very well but what distinguishes a feat from a spell? I
>know what charms and talents are but with feats and spells, one
>enters a thick haze where in effect they seem to be the same thing.

I'm not certain if it's still explicit in the rules, but I play that spells are extremely literal, whereas feats allow more flexibility. Casting a spell would be a very mechanistic thing -- get the notes right -- and performing a feat would be more situational -- improvise in the key of C.

I think it's still of value to refer to RQ3, where the priestess acts as a vessel for the goddess, and the sorcerer manipulates the laws of the world. So a feat is sort of like method-acting the deity, and the spell a recipe which must be followed.

>What does one use to determine whether a given magical effect is a
>spell or a feat?

Any pattern in the published sources has escaped me. I'm not sure it's important to have one.

-- 

David Dunham
Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein

Powered by hypermail