> >To my interpretation, Feats are precise, but not all should be
> >interpreted with the same rules. 'Leap over Trees' lets you leap
over
> >trees, resistance 14. Anything other than trees gets an Improv Mod.
> >Deadly Javelin Throw, however, does NOT let you kill a target with
> >only resistance 14, it uses the usual resistance for the usual
damage.
> Yes. This is entirely in line with the distinction between active
and
> passive resistance. However, Roderick has said on several occasions
> that the feats are merely guidelines. So, either the god have those
> precise powers with that very wording, or the wording is merely a
> guideline.
Or both. What I mean is, some feats have precise wording anyway (Leap Over Trees - seems pretty precise to me), while others are pretty vague (good old Sunset Leap). Both are guidelines, but I cannot see any meaning for Leap Over Trees that does not involve leaping over trees. Sunset Leap, however, can have a bewildering range of meanings, none of which is WRONG so long as it involves Leaping, and Sunsets. Whether At, Toward, To, or whatever other verb you want to stick in is still within the guidelines.
> And if not all feats use the same rules, then there should be
> guidelines to various ways of interpreting feats and how to handle
> them.
Agreed, there should.
> >Improvisation does NOT let you change the wording of existing
Feats,
> >but an improvisation lets you create and cement a new Feat with
> >appropriate, and suitable precise to taste, wording.
>
> And i said what that contradicted that?
Nothing, just summarising my opinion.
> >In other words,
> >Feats are precise, any variation IS perfectly permissable, but is
> >Improvisation, and suffers the penalty therefore. Both in Target
> >number (Leap over Trees used to leap over a house would be -10 or
> >so), and in possible resistance (the house resists with it's normal
> >height resistance).
>
> If the house is to resist the leap with its height, you assume that
> the house is somehow able to actively resist or that the the
> improvised feat is no longer magical? Or are you working from
> "narrator decides"?
The feat is magical, and resisted by magic. However, by Improvising from it, you are corrupting the myth on which it is based (if your Narrator thinks it's a good enough myth, he can let you cement it as a new Feat). As such, you lose the power it had over the world, and you have to use YOUR ability against the house. Essentially, you are attempting to create a God-like feat, but without God-like powers, so the world resists you as if you are using a mundane ability. A bit like using a starter motor from a car to start a truck. For a start you have to re-wire it, adjust the voltages, fit new connections (Improvisation Modifier), then the motor has to overcome the inertia of the truck engine (nasty resistance). Use a truck starter in another truck, and it's pretty easy. Using a truck starter in a car is like using a 20W4 feat on the house. Your mental grip on the feat is sufficient to still treat the house as a tree in a God-like way - you get the same modifiers both ways, but you have the magical power available to overcome them.
> An Odaylan (Bear affinity at 10w2) tries to lift a human-sized
marble statue.
>
> According to you/Greg,
Can't speak for Greg on this one, but for myself...
>the Odaylan gets a magical strength of 8w, the
> strength of a bear, when he uses the feat "Bear's strength" (which
he
> presumably has to obtain in a simple contest where he pits his
> affinity rating against the 14 of the universe, considering that
you
> said the getting the "strength of the bull" was against a 14).
Agreed.
> This 8w is what he uses against the 14 of the universe, trying to
> lift the statue.
No, GETTING the Strength of a Bear is Resistance 14. USING it, it's just Strength. It's like the old RQ Fireblade. CASTING it it's magic, but after that, it's just flame.
> Reasoning that Bears are strong, the Odaylan improvises the feat
> "Lift heavy things". Unless he gets more than a 21-point improv
> penalty, he will be stronger when improvising a strength feat than
> when using the printed strength feat. This is especially true for
> initiates, who get improv mods for any feat-use.
Your Narrator could allow this, yes. Personally, I'd look at the Affinity. As I remember, the affinity is 'Bear' or something (apologies if I'm wrong), and Bears are NOT terrifically good at lifting things (wrong skeletal & muscular structure). If you could convince me that Bears are Olympic-class weightlifters, I'd allow it.
> This doesn't seem reasonable to me, but since i'm just complaining
> anyway, who cares?
Not complaining, criticising. That's better :)
Wulf]
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