Semi Adept Talent --- Feedback wanted...

[imported_Rasyr]

Here is the text for the Semi Adept. I would like some feedback on this and would like you to let me know what you think of it...

SEMI ADEPT
Cost: 10
Trainable: No
Description: When a character acquires this Talent, he gains a base of 5 Spell Points and access to a specific list of Class Spells. A Class Spell List is similar to a School of Magic, and should actually be considered a subset of a given School, but the Spell List is much more focused on the abilities of the Class to which it is associated.

When purchasing spells from his Class Spell List, the Semi Adept uses the "Mn" CP costs instead of the normal "N" CP costs. Unlike Major and Minor Adepts, a Semi Adept may not learn Spell Bases. The Semi Adept may only learn spells from the Universal Spell List and from his Class Spell List.

As mentioned above, a Class Spell List is considered to be part of a larger School of Magic. For example, a "Ranger" might be a Semi Adept and have a Class Spell List (i.e. Ranger Spell List) that is associated with Natural Magic. This means that any character that has access to the Natural School of Magic would be able to learn spells from that School and from the Ranger Spell List, but that a Ranger would not be allowed to learn spells from the Natural School of Magic unless he first acquired a Talent that allowed him to do so.


Some examples of Semi Adepts that spring to mind include Paladins, Rangers, Warrior Mages, Elemental Warriors (i.e. focused on a single element - Fire Warriors, Ice Warriors, Lightning Strikers, etc.), Monks (i.e. Martial Artist/Mystic crossbreed) and so forth...

[Fidoric]

I will try to make some characters this WE just to test this but it seems excellent to me.
Some years ago in a campaign, I used a semi warrior/fire belonging to a special knightly order. Their instructors were both armsmaster and mage and the logic behind this was that "real" or "pure" spell users should be able to know and master semi-casters' lists better than they.
This semi-adept works exactly that way.

One question remains for me : are the minor adepts very useful ? At the moment, they seem to me either puny major adepts, or semis with a broader magic ability. Or is there still any plan to use them as "hybrid" casters of sort ?

[imported_Rasyr]

Minor Adepts more easily fall into the role of hybrid between 2 Schools of Magic.

I should most likely redefine them (and the Extra School of Magic) slightly to make this clearer overall....

For example, the Extra School of Magic Talent currently should make it clear that if a Major Adept acquired it, his spell acquisition costs for ALL spells is changed to those of a Minor Adept (and I will be changing it so that a Minor Adepts costs don't change).

This way, a Major Adept can become a Hybrid, while the Minor Adept automatically is a Hybrid.

[Fidoric]

Maybe then you could consider renaming them to make this distinction obvious ? Something like dedicated adept and versatile adept ?

[imported_Rasyr]

I could rename a Minor Adept to Dual Adept, but if I did that, I would have to increase the CP cost so that it equaled that of Major Adept and rewrite it so that it also gave access to 2 Schools straight off, and then rewrite Extra School of Magic to exclude the Dual Adept.

[imported_Rasyr]

Here is the new wording on the "Extra School of Magic" Talent....

EXTRA SCHOOL OF MAGIC
Cost: 10
Trainable: Yes
Description: This Talent may only be acquired by Major or Minor Adepts. With it, the character gains access to a second School of Magic, learning how to cast spells from it. This gives him a Spellcasting skill for this second School of Magic as a Favored skill. Spells from a given School will be cast using the skill for that specific School. Universal spells will be cast using the Spellcasting skill with the higher skill bonus.

If the character is a Major Adept, he will no long use the "Mj" CP costs when buying spells. Instead, he will use the "Mn" CP costs from the point of acquiring this Talent on forwards, for all Universal spells and all spells from both Schools of Magic. Minor Adepts will continue to use the "Mn" CP costs for Universal Spells and spells from both his Schools of Magic.

This Talent may only ever be acquired once.

Thoughts? Comments?

Query -- Should I add in a note or addendum to the Mage (allowing for a variant Mage that is a Minor Adept who knows 2 Schools of Magic) or just create a new Hybrid Mage class for this?

[Fidoric]

Ok, if I understand, the advantages to be a minor adept are a lesser CP cost at creation and no loss when acquiring the extra school of magic talent.
And a Minor Adept with too schools will have to include both minor adept talent and extra-school of magic, right ? I think it could be not as a variant of the existing mage class. Such a class would be a good reason to play a minor adept IMO.

[imported_Rasyr]

Minor Adept with Extra School of Magic has the same point cost as a Major Adept -- it also has 5 less Spell Points starting off, and access to 2 Schools of magic instead of 1 and a slightly higher cost on spells...

[Fidoric]

OK. I got it now. I think it is a good flexible caster and a worthy variant of the mage class.

[imported_Rasyr]

The more I think about it, the more likely I will just create/add a new Class for this, simply because the Hybrid caster will have 2 Spellcasting skills as Favored instead of the one, and it will be simpler to just plop in a new Class that in...

However, I need a good name for the Class -- Hyrbid Mage is a bit too technical, and not flavorful enough... --- so, does anybody have any suggestions?

[Fidoric]

What about dabbler or dabster. Maybe these words have an "unprofesionnal" feel, I don't know.

[imported_Rasyr]

I am going to go with Mage (Classic) and Mage (Dual) for the names

[Fidoric]

That seems explicit enough.

[imported_Rasyr]

yup, and I think that in LN#4 I will intro a few new classes

Not sure which ones just yet, but the potential list includes the following:

Paladin (Semi Adept of Divine Magic)
Ranger (Semi Adept of Natural Magic)
Monk (Semi Adept of Mysticism)
Warrior Mage (Semi Adept of Wizardry)
Elemental Warriors (Semi Adept of High Magic -- but there would several versions of this -- one for each element.. For example, a Firebrand is a flame oriented Elemental Warrior, while Aquaon is a water-based Elemental Warrior, etc... -- a number of possibilities here)


 

[Fidoric]

I have used the rules from LN3 to create some professions. I will certainly propose them soon. But first, I have a question: how many spells are supposed to make a class spell list. I have used 4 as a base, but it may be too few. Is there any guidelines about this ?