Re: Using affinities to power magical effects v. feats

From: Peter Larsen <p3larsen_at_f5cZ0Ryd2wrrSTucyJ-qTNqqKmiON77G_oQQ8ZI1z6TCEvT34oh1NAwz_oBssf7z5c1>
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:41:55 -0500


Let's see if I have this clear in my head.

We have a clan, the Thunder Oak clan, who worships Orlanth in the normal and proper ways, but has a special fondness for Hedkoranth, the Thunder Slinger (in fact, their Wyter, Grandfather Oak, is a child of the Slinger).

Leik is born into the clan, and grows up a fairly normal boy with Movement, Wind, and (oddly) Communication as his runes.

When he is young and a Lay Member after his first Initiation, Leik is taught the Sling Stone Song, which guides his casts while hunting for small game. He can augment his sling 15 with his Air Affinity 15 (+3 as a quick augment) for a skill of 18. This probaly inolves carefully selecting stones, maybe painting Hedkoranth's rune on them while singing, and then singing a brief prayer when he shoots at his target, but it will not be particularly noticeable as magic.

In the normal course of things, Leik raises his Movement Affinity to 1W and becomes an Initiate of Orlanth. He can now use his Movement and Air Affinities to work obvious magic -- run up cliffs (Movement 1W), throw rocks long distances (Air 18), etc. These are obviously magical, in that they defy normal actions (e.g. throwing a stone a mile), but also because Leik chants, and glows, and his tattoos do weird things and the stone makes a shout when it leaves his hand, and so on. Leik can call on the magic of Issaries as a Lay Member, and use his Communication Affinity 13 to augment various contests, using the Three Peaceful Words, the Listen Now Stance, and the Let's Be Friends Gesture learned from tales of Issaries and his travels. He can't do obvious magic with any of these, because it's not an Orlanth-related action (and it uses a Rune Orlanth doesn't hold).

Later, after much excitement in his life, Leik raises his Air Affinity to 11W, and decides to devote himself to Orlanth (specifically to Hedkoranth in-game, but the rules don't make a clear distinction -- it's all Orlanth). He can still use Orlanth-related Movement and Air Magics, using his affinities as direct abilities. He can no longer use the Issaries-based Communications augments, but he might still be able to claim a Communication Affinity augment based on doing something Orlanth did (Communication isn't an Orlanth rune (Orlanth uses Mastery for more or less the same effect), though, so maybe his affinity just becomes worthless). Leik also learns the Hedkoranth Feat and, later on a heroquest, the Pounding Hail Feat.

The Hedkoranth Feat involves throwing stones with magical effects -- he can throw far, multiple stones, amybe defeat magical defenses, etc. Normally, it just uses Leik's Air Affinity (15W at this point), but he could also increase the Feat as a sub ability (ie Air 15W (Hedkoranth +3)). With the Narrator's agreement, Leik is able to increase his ability in this feat by acting like Hedkoranth before using it -- He paints his body with woad, lifts heavy rocks, and boasts of his own and Hedkoranth's exploits. He can roll his Air Affinity 15W vs a Moderate resistance (usually, it might be higher or lower depending on whether he is in a Temple of Orlanth or hiding out in a Lunar city) to get a lingering augment for the whole battle.

The Pounding Hail Feat (again, worked out between the Narrator and Leik's player) requires more investment by Leik -- perhaps an extended contest to full identify himself with the god, acquisition of various ritual objects, performing quests like those Hedkoranth did to allow him to boast Hedkoranth's feats as his own, etc. He must do a ceremony that lasts a whole day to activate the feat, and it calls down punishing hail on the enemy army, providing them with a negative modifier based on Leik's success (or maybe there would be a second contest between Leik's augmented Air Affinity and the enemy counter-magic). In the latter case, bonuses or penalties would be applied depending on how appropriate the counter-magic was.

Later still, Leik earns the Smash Giant Feat, which might give some extreme bonus automatically (+(? +more?) but would serve no purpose but to kill giants. This would probably require carefully-prepared stones, but not any ritual beyond that because it is so narrow in effect (agin, the Narrator and Leik's player would work this out).

OK, given all that, what have I gotten wrong?

Peter Larsen

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