Zurai
First Post
Best. (Computer) Game. Evar! New version in just a couple days!!! <bounce>Dire Lemming said:
Spirit marks have no mechanical benefit, at least at the moment. They're entirely flavor. Think of something in the natural world associated with healing or life and it'd be a good spirit patron; water, sometimes fire, certain plants, etc.
As for classes, there are four listed classes with healing spells and one with healing special abilities. The spellcasters are the Adept (NPC class, but it has a great spell list), Bard, Ranger, and Spirit Shaman. Non-spellcaster is the Paladin. Of the five, Spirit Shamans make the best healers, with Bards and Adepts pretty much tied for second. A note about Spirit Shamans and Paladins: while not all spellcasters are spirit-talkers, all Spirit Shamans and Paladins are. So, if you pick one of those two classes, you'll need to decide on a spirit patron. The patron is mostly flavor for the Spirit Shaman, but it will decide which abilities you get access to as a Paladin. Also note that there are currently zero Paladins in the setting. It's an extremely rare class in general in the world. I left it open for players here because Paladins are usually destined for great things - ie, they're mostly PC bait.
Of note here is that I do not play "hit points" (or more precisely with the variant I'm using in this game, Vitality Points) as neccesarily being physical damage. A soldier with extremely low morale would have very low "hit points" to me. This leaves the door open for you to flavor healing as non-magical for classes that don't neccesarily fit the general spellcaster mold, like Bards, Rangers, and Paladins. Their inspiring presence or knowledge of the local plantlife or witty reparte (or whatever else) can be the catalyst for healing, instead of a "spell" in the default sense of the word. Mechanically it'd still be a spell or SLA/SU ability, but flavorwise it can be pretty much anything.
No worries about "too much detail" unless you plan to start asking what color all 900-odd peoples' hair is
Marriages: Yes, informally. There's no true religion in the modern sense of the word, so there's not so much need for a religious marriage ceremony. Think more medieval joining of households than modern walking down the aisle. Ritualwise, there'd be a ceremony to ensure the blessing of the spirits on the union, and another ritual to attract a house-spirit to watch over the new couple's home.
Prejudices: As mentioned, Arcanists are looked at askance. Their magic is completely different from the healing and spirit-related magic that the vast majority of spellcasters in the area practice, and only the arcanists themselves really understand any of it. They're considered useful to have around, but mainly in the sense that an ox is useful to have on the farm.
Clothing: Simple wool and/or cotton shirts and pants. Women wear skirts. People tend to wear their "festival best" to market days and important ceremonies like the blessing of the crops and the supplication of the river spirit prior to the annual flooding. Work clothes are as likely to be leather as wool - there's plenty of game in the area, so non-exotic leather is cheap.
Domesticated animals: Yes. Sheep, cattle, and horses are all present in small numbers. There are more cattle than horses and more horses than sheep. The cattle and horses mainly graze west of the Spiritwash, while the sheep are usually kept in the hills to the south and east of town.
Climate: Temperate and moderately wet. Cuirlen is some distance above the equator so it doesn't get too hot most of the time, but the nearby mountains and dense forest channel rain right through the general area frequently.
).
