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The Dread Morg
Posted: Mar 10 2004, 04:02 PM
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So I met Randy via the Birthright community, and having already been a fan of Jordanism, I've been lurking about this site for awhile. I've got the WoT RPG book, but have never played it, but am using it to convert into house rules for my Birthright game (and will likely carry some of it over into my Homebrew Rulebook -which is not d20).

Anyway, with all the topics seeming to be about revised classes and such, is it because they're broken, or are people trying to update to 3.5? Not sure really what it's all about.

I love the WoT classes personally (except for the Aiel... never been a fan of the Aiel). The Wanderer is a sweet class that is theify without being stereotypical D&D thiefy. (Know what I mean?) And the Armsmen kicks it all over the place. The Channeling and Initiate (trained) vs. Widler (untrained) concept is beyond cool.

One question that does pop into mind though, is clerical powers. I haven't read too much about the CHurch and religion of WOT, but I'd assume that somewhere there are clergymen huddled about in prayer to the Creator. How does this factor into the game? Are the clerics of WoT RPG just members of other classes, or are they simple friars who read and chant alot but have no other power?



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drothgery
Posted: Mar 10 2004, 04:25 PM
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There's no organized religion in the Third Age Wheel of Time universe, though the Aes Sedai, Children of the Light, and Masema's Dragonsworn all have quasi-religious elements to them. It's probably useful to think of channelers more as clerics than wizards, if you're coming from a D&D background.

As for the new & revised classes going around, they exist for a lot of reasons, but mostly for...
  • Fixing percieved balance problems with the existing classes
  • Fixing percieved mismatches between the RPG and the novels
  • 3.5 updates
  • Covering concepts that the author doesn't think the existing classes handle well
My Generic Channeler, for example, exists for the first two reasons. I wanted to fix the balance problems caused by initiate/wilder multiclassing as written, and I don't think that, based on the novels, there should be any non-roleplaying advantages to being an untrained channeler.

This post has been edited by drothgery on Mar 10 2004, 04:30 PM


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LuciusT
Posted: Mar 10 2004, 04:49 PM
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Well, ditto to everything drothgery said (beat me to it)... but in order to have something to say, I'll address the religion question a little more.

As drothgery said, there is no organized religion in the WoT world... but that isn't to say there isn't religion. People pray to the Creator. People believe in the idea of Fate, as represented by the Pattern, and in the idea of "Salvation and Rebirth."

It seems to me, from my reading, that the general religion on the populous is simply one of a personal relationship with the Creator. A priest is not considered necessary. Neither are regular religious gatherings or other mass affirmations of faith. A person "lives right" and that's all that is needed. The role of spiritual councilor appears to be filled by the Wisdom, at least in rural communities.

The Aes Sedai have the overtones of a religious order and we have at least a one instance in later books where we see an Aes Sedai filling that role (Egwene, as Amyrlin, giving her blessing to the laborers in the Aes Sedai camp). It may not be unreasonable to assume that Aes Sedai fill the role of spiritual councilor to the nobility, at least from time to time. (As drothgery says, channelers are really more akin to clerics than magic users.) At the same time, the Aes Sedai do not seem to adopt that role in any overt way. While the Aes Sedai appear to allow those so inclinded to believe in the spiritual authority of the Aes Sedai, they make no claim to such authority themselves.

One of the causes of general antagonism toward the Children of the Light and The Prophet's Dragonsworn (both clearly fringe religious orders) is that they don't leave spiritual matters to the individual. They intefer in people's personal relationship with the Creator by dictating that reliationship to them.
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The Dread Morg
Posted: Mar 10 2004, 04:57 PM
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QUOTE (LuciusT @ Mar 10 2004, 10:49 AM)
One of the causes of general antagonism toward the Children of the Light and The Prophet's Dragonsworn (both clearly fringe religious orders) is that they don't leave spiritual matters to the individual. They intefer in people's personal relationship with the Creator by dictating that reliationship to them.

Good point! I love to hate the Choldren of the Light, and this explanation tells me why. Nice post!


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Eosin the Red
Posted: Mar 11 2004, 12:40 PM
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I think of the "class creation craze" as something very similar to the "domain rules creation craze" in BR. Everybody has thier own varient because they feel that the rules are slightly off (or totally) for the way they percieve the world and the desired flow of play. That will probably only make sense to Morg. smile.gif




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The Dread Morg
Posted: Mar 12 2004, 02:41 PM
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QUOTE (Eosin the Red @ Mar 11 2004, 12:40 PM)
That will probably only make sense to Morg. smile.gif

Check that. Roger. Over and out. wink.gif

I also get the impression from reviewing the forums, that everyone here can agree on how "best" to di it as easily as the BR folks can.

Gamers rock! cool.gif


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/AJ
Posted: Mar 12 2004, 03:44 PM
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There is no religion as we know it in RandLand because religion to our way of thinking is purely based on faith. RandLand characters don't need faith because they all know the Creator exits, as does the pattern and the Dark One.

:)

/AJ


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