RE: (TFT) Wizard talent templates

["Pasha and Rick Smith" <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

	Hi all,
	In response to John's post below I think if
we have talent packaging for heroes wizards should
get in on the action.

	However, I wonder if every one will want to
make ever more specialized 'specialties'. Wouldn't
it be easier to just give everyone +3 memory.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of specialties
because talents are so expensive the ability to
get an extra talent or two is very attractive to
me.

	Rick


Well, not popular among some TFT philosophers, but a way to encourage
specialization is "Talent Packaging".  This is where a Career is named, the
appropriate talents (magical or heroic) are pulled together, and appropriate
penalties are included.  The package is purchased at a discount because it
is a package deal.  If no discount is given, then this is called a "Talent
Template."  This concept has been covered in other posts, though not for
wizards.

A note on Wizard costs for Hero Talents...  It might been brought up that a
wizard might be described as one who is one with the magical universe and a
priest is one who is one with the spiritual universe.  If we might look at
the ratios of wizards in TFT to lets say earth's medical profession, there
might be some equivalents in terms of time spent to learn it and the number
of doctors to public.  Taking this posit, there are a wide range of views
and practices in the healing arts.  There are a wide range of style in
participation of being a priest on Earth.  One can have a heart surgeon who
specializes in by-pass surgery in a fully equipped hospital.  One can have a
Chinese acupuncture herbalist who practices healing in the rice paddies.
One can have a rabbi who is a learned scholar in words and attends a
powerful synagogue.  One can be a member of a monastery and has to farm with
his fellows to live.  If you inserted Magic for Healing Arts and for
Religion, you would get wizards whose philosophies and culture demand
different things from them.

The Wizard monastery would demand that they farm just as much as they make
magic.  I would bet that in that culture, farming is not going to cost 3
points or be foreign to these monastic wizards.  Because they view the world
as all one with the energy of magic, or that the only safety is to be hidden
from view behind protective walls and be self-sufficient, or whatever, this
basic "talent" is going to be ingrained in their philosophy as much as
magic.

Same with the acupuncture shaman.  He is going to know  much about his
herbs and animals.  He would gain Naturalist probably easier than some
city slicker, because he is "one" with the natural surrounding he is
"living"
in.

I understand that non-Wizard talents for Wizard's cost 2x and that Hero
Spells are three is a matter of keeping some type of identity separation and
balance.  But there are some talent combinations that when linked up with a
philosophical background that justifies it, might call for lower costs.

Here is some other view on the subject of specialization.

Below are not really Talent Packaging so much as a slight expansion of
Character Creation on page 6 of ITL.

Some Alternate Wizard specializations (because a type of job is a
specialization if no one else is doing it.)

What about all the Wizard Class (as opposed to Hero Class) who have just
gotten fed up with magic and perhaps the politics of it.  The guy grew up in
a generation of bakers and now he pines for his own baking shop.  Probably
before he was shipped to wizard apprenticeship, he worked in his father's
bakery and recalls a thing or two.  He could try to switch careers and
perhaps magically cooks his bread.

The wizard merchant is a good career.  Sell a few pots and pans while
dealing in black market magical items, etc.

The wizard sage, who is a philosopher teacher.  He educates noble youth, not
in magic, but in the possibilities of physics and metaphysics.

The alchemist who is also a mechanician who builds toys and weird
contraptions.  Let him delve into Leonardo's books and he may develop
awesome siege equipment or flying contraptions.

The Wizard/Mathematician/philosopher who studies in the esoteric math realm
and discovers what the Mnoren already knows about parallel planets, etc.

The Wizard detective.  He is the Sherlock Holmes for the Emperor.  He uses
some spells like Telepathy, Astral Projection, etc. to unravel mysteries.

Will such ramblings never cease?

Hailmelee,
John Paul
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