Well last night was certainly interesting. The King called for everyone in the realm to take the class that was being given at the mage guild. I attended and then also stayed for the class on roleplaying a mage and made some interesting discoveries. At least this is my understanding of what i heard. If i am wrong about this i would like to know the error of my beliefs.
1) Mages have no set spell list. They can make up anything they want as a spell and use anything as a vehicle to deliver the spell. Thus they have unlimited creativity.
Clerics on the other hand have to adhere to a limited spell list. I suppose they can manifest the divine spell however they want but a cleric usually is expected to pray for their power from a specific diety.
2) Mages have no point system they have to watch out for. If a spell is very powerful it is up to them to say whether their character is overcome by the effort.
Clerics have a very specific point system beyond which if they try to do a spell they are expected to collapse from exhaustion.
3) Mages do nothing for their power except the act of casting the spell. They are not required to be seen studying their spell books or anything like that.
As i understand it Clerics are expected to be seen praying or meditating every day so that they can stay in contact with their divine powers.
I am sure there are other points that can be brought up but even with just these points i have no questions why there are only 5 active clerics in the realm where there are many, many mages. It seems to me given the above points that being a mage is fun with unlimited creativity where being a cleric could be seen as limited without nearly as many powers or opportunities for creativity.
I am afraid that after a while i could no longer stay silent about the above points and began pointing them out. I must admit that the one doing the class was very patient with me and answered my questions to the best of her ability.
These are things i think must be thought about and perhaps brought up to the council. Otherwise we will continue to have very few clerics in the realm. Perhaps that will not matter to anyone but do not the clerics actually perform a specific service with their healing powers? So far that is the one thing that i understand that a mage cannot do.. or perhaps they can. But then of course we also have the meters that allow someone to recover so perhaps clerics are not really necessary after all.
No one wants to ONLY be called when someone is hurt. I went through that in Everwind where i was not invited to the roleplay until the end when someone needed healing.
It got very old very fast.
Clerics can fight, and our powers can be very important in battles and other events if things are set up with some thought. We do not necessarily have to have the same powers as Mages. That would be boring. But if mages can do EVERYTHING but heal then perhaps there should be some overlapping of powers. I do believe that the Clerics are too restricted and our true potential is not known.
In any case I will continue to look up clerics powers online to familiarize myself with all that a cleric can do.
As for the rest of the evening the Archer/Dragon Hunt was a great sucess as usual. Strangely enough the archers seem to like being roasted. I suspect it does sharpen their skills. They must be learning something because in the very last session i was brought down for the first time that evening. I suppose that would be an encouragement to the archers, knowing that they can bring us down especially with the advantages we seem to have.
As far as i am concerned that is part of the point. Yes dragons do have extra powers.. we fly, we flame, and we will have a few other powers as well hopefully. But then to ally with us will bring our powers to the bipeds also.. or to fight us and winn will make it that much more of an accomplishment.
It is as in life. Not everything is fair. But that makes the accomplishment that much sweeter. Perhaps i should look at the clerics powers in the same way. Instead of being so concerned about having a fair playing field perhaps i should look at the challenge that using limited powers would be and the accomplishment that it will also bring.
I do fear that our full potential will not be known and as it was before we will only be considered at the end of the adventure for the healing we can do.
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2 comments:
The meeting was a real eye opener was it not!
I had no idea up to that point about how mages worked. I too thought they spend hours studying spell books and mastering specific spells.
I wonder at the openness of their roleplay however. It certainly allows for creativity, but I wonder if , without boundries, it can cause dispute more? It relies heavily on the honesty and integrity of the players involved. Having been on the wrong side of a rogue mage before, i would have appreciated a specific guideline in what was allowed and what was not. Those not in the mages guild, probably dont know whats acceptable or not, and just think its a 'mage thing'and must be ok (even if, as in my case, it involves being flung 50ft in the air and suspended there while being blasted by some sort of fireball effect until dead)
I think we have quite a bit of work ahead of us, to make our two disciplines work together.
Yes i think so too Wren. I hope that Alphonsus sees this before his meeting with the head of the mages guild.
I fear as limited as our spells are that we will be even more limited when it is over. This is why i want to look up AD&D clerics spells to see what is commonly accepted from a cleric.
Oh i never knew you had a run in with a mage. How awful.. what was his justification to doing that to cleric of Parlamay/Illustree?
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