Re: (TFT) TFT: Wizardry Talent & Priestly Talent

["John Paul Bakshoian" <shadowhex@hotmail.com>]

On the category of Wizardly Talent:

I'm OK with the two classes of characters Wizards & Heroes.  I think its 
alright for the 3 point cost for a hero to learn a spell.  His restrictions 
on other magic items are OK too.  I think that the 1 point cost to learn 
high level spells and low level spells alike is OK; your IQ capacity has 
increased your ability to deal with the complexity.  So, in a sense, yes, 
the wizard has a natural bent for learning spells.

"A 'wizard' is a character who has spent all his life studying magic.  It 
comes naturally to him, and he thinks in terms of magic; thus, he is good 
with spells, and handicapped at almost everything else."
"A 'hero,' as far as this game is concerned, is any player-character who is 
not a wizard.  A hero mayuse his weapons, his wits, or both - but he deals 
primarily with the physical world, rather than the psychic-spiritual one of 
the wizard.  Heroes gain talents - physical abilities - easily, but are 
handicapped in learning spells, since they lack the proper training.  By and 
large, a wizard should stick to spells - and a hero should leave the magic 
to wizards.  A character who tries to do everything will not be very good at 
anything."  ITL:9

I think that wizards should be able to learn a few talents without the 
double penalty though.  I think that a wizard could learn how to use a KNIFE 
properly without a double cost.  Witches and warlocks often perform 
ceremonies with knives.  It would seem they could be well versed in its use. 
 I think there could be a Thrown Weapons equivelant in THROWN SPELL talent 
that would be purchased at 2 points (I think this was brought up a couple of 
times on this site.)  I don't recall, but I think Languages cost 1 point for 
a wizard, also.  And there are some things a wizard can do better than a 
hero:  Assess Value of magic items; Tactics when applied to other magicians, 
Naturalist when applied to herbs and other spell components that grow in the 
woods, etc.  And does a wizard have no social life (studies 14 hours a day 
in a dank cell)?  He probably spends some hours partying or doing his 
masters chores or making show for the peasants.  I would say some things 
like swimming could be gotten at 1 point if you can give good enough 
explanation to the GM.  Then again, the social life excuse for getting hero 
point costs can get EASILY abused.  Just a thought.

Where I'd like to see a WIZARDRY TALENT come into play would be at the 
higher levels of IQ of say 14 IQ (sorry, I know that this might be an inborn 
trait, but in gameplay, I'd rather have it manifest itself when a mage can 
achieve a certain high level of insight).  It could be purchased at 4 points 
(optional:  you could have it only be purchased at character inception and 
become available when the character reaches 14 IQ or another way is just 
have it purchased when you get to that attribut level.)  This Talent may 
allow you to recover fatigue faster or reroll a spell die roll or get better 
insight into the magic around the character, in short whatever the group 
agrees too.  The idea is that it enhances magic in some way.

I'd also like to see SCHOLAR expanded to include more than just recognizing 
languages, though the "knows a good deal about history and about customs of 
the various races and peoples, and can make a very good guess about the 
origin of most artifacts or objects." allows the GM to introduce much story 
plot line. What I'd like to see is a hero SCHOLAR IN MAGIC who knows the 
theories and practices and can even attempt to do magic, but cannot bring 
about the spell.  He might even have a detect magic or reveal magic if given 
enough time and alchemy tools and tomes to search.  It would be vague and 
easily disasterous, but might prove useful to those who don't want to 
involve ANY magic users.

Dave mentions:
> >I can't wait to see what you've come up with! What do you think
> >of "Wizardry" as a super power?

Ready for more outrageous controversy?

Well, not only would I not want to get rid of the "class" of wizard (I think 
it balances out magic users and non-magic users), but I think a 'class' of 
supers might not be a bad alternative for the guys who like High Fantasy.  
Introduce them as {A 'super' is a character who has spent all his life with 
a superhuman power.  It comes naturally to him, and he thinks in terms of 
his super power; thus, he is good with his ability, and handicapped at 
almost everything else.}  JPB Variation of ITL.  Well, this was just a 
thought too.  Perhaps the same could be done with PSI, too.

And while we're on the subject of a 'hero' dealing with the physical world 
rather than the psychic-spiritual world...what about the priest who deals 
with the material-spiritual world?  [This assumes that you make religion 
effective in your universe.  If gods or spirits are just a theory, then this 
could not be a seperate class!]  {A 'spiritualist,' as far as this game is 
concerned, is any player-character who is not a wizard or a hero.  A 
spiritualist may or may not use his weapons, may or may not use his wits, he 
WILL use his god or totem - but he deals primarily with the 
Material-Spiritual world, rather than the psychic-spiritual one of the 
wizard.  'Spiritualists' gain talents - physical abilities - easily and 
Spiritual Mana somewhat easily, but are handicapped or prevented in learning 
spells, since they lack the proper viewpoint or the gods are against it.  By 
and large, a wizard should stick to spells - a hero should leave the magic 
to wizards - and the realm of the spirit is to the Spiritualist.}  JPB 
modification of ITL:9.

More on religion in future posts.

John Paul








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