faith casters limitations in FH?

[forged]

Hi --

 

I am working out the details on a campaign setting in FH, but I noticed something interesting when I got around to setting up the default limitations on faith casters:

 

+Requires Skill Roll: -1/2 (Faith -- standard penalty of -1 per 10 active

points)

+ Concentration: -1/4 (1/2 DCV until caster's next phase)

+ Only when serving the God's Purpose: -1/2

+ Variable Limitation pool:

++ Focus: (obvious, accessible, not expendable, unbreakable, restricted

Universal Focus -- anyone of same religious faith (after praying with it for a

period of time)) -1

++ Noisy: -1/4 other faith casters can sense the spell being cast and roughly how powerful.

++ Gestures: -1/4

++ Incantations: -1/4

The above 4 limitations can be replaced the following options (can be combined):

-- Additional penalty on the Skill Roll

-- Increased Activiation Cost

-- Extra Time

 

Total limitations cost: -3.25

 

My very first observation was that the Holy Symbol focus by itself is a 1 pt. limitation? I can understand it being so valuable for a superheroes game, but it seems a little too severe for a Fantasy game.

 

My concern is that they came out with just making them limited by the holy symbol & god's purpose made them have 1.5 points of more limitations in spells over arcane casters. A friend recommended requiring arcane casters to also need foci, but I didn't really want to do that.

 

Comments/Suggestions/recommendations on this?

 

Thanks for the help,

forged

[Lethosos]

Re: faith casters limitations in FH?

 

Faith Mages, eh? I was in a free-form RP with semi-strict background material, called Leirune, and one of the mage-types they have are faith mages. The reason they work is that they devoutly believe in pretty much something. The effects only differs in what the belief is in general. (For example, a faith mage in service to Ristan, the God of Justice, would be able to cast spells that would aid him in tracking, capture, and interrogation in general.) And faith isn't always limited to a belief in a deity--we've had one who believed that a non-functioning magical collar (which supresses unstable emotions) that he wore did work.

 

So really you can leave off the focus limitation and have the faith mages take a hefty Pych Lim. that, if broken, temorarily prevents them from casting any of their spells until they regain their belief.

 

http://www.leirune.com is their site, if anyone wants to look. I've been thinking of tackling ths world as another sourcebook project after Eight Sages.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: faith casters limitations in FH?

 

If it feels right to you, go with it. Faith casters will get cheaper spells, and therefore, more spells than arcane casters, but as long as the GM enforces the Limitations (ie takes away the holy symbol from time to time or sets up situations where using magic is not in accordance with the god's will), there should be no long-term problem.