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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack7" data-source="post: 5060539" data-attributes="member: 54707">I kinda wished I had time to work on this in detail as I've spent years and years studying the real prophets, Old and New Testament, how they operated, and what their characteristics were. You know Philip had four daughters, all of whom were prophetesses, though it is historically hard to tell if this was Philip the Apostle, or Philip the Evangelist. And in the early church the prophets were considered second only to the Apostles in authority and importance. (Before most of the other offices were well established, Deacons, what later became known as Bishops, - administrative posts, etc.)(I've even studied the pagan Oracles, augurs, and soothsayers, and how they operated.)In any case the subject is of great interest to me.Of course there were many different kinds and types of prophets, and different ways in which they operated. I would suggest a little background study to discover some of these characteristics and to give you ideas for your own "class." (Though from an initial overview of your effort it seems you have indeed done some study and have made a good start to consider the subject carefully and reasonably. In my opinion it is too game-oriented an approach though, so far, and this kind of hampers the real potential of the class, which, like the Cleric I would consider far more a vocation than a class.)Personally I'd forget the spell aspects altogether and work far more on these factors, being able to both anticipate future events and help reshape or change them, miracles (as opposed to spells which are almost scientifically pre-determined in effect, miracles are very different in nature and character), Charismas (both the ability to influence people, and to have "charismatic effects"), psychology (prophets are usually excellent psychologists), psychaec powers (not exactly like psionic or psychic powers, but more like that than spells), some Druidical type abilities (prophets were often very close to nature and lived in wildernesses, giving them excellent opportunities to observe and utilize nature and to exploit what they knew of natural science - look for instance of all John the Baptist and Christ knew about nature and natural cycles), and so forth and so on. That's my opinion of how I'd work a prophet. You might also consider linguistic ability, and scriptural natures. (Will your prophets leave writings, what languages can they read, how do they employ language, both written and spoken, and can they do so miraculously and charismatically.)I like much of what you've done here, though I would change the emphasis from being a Clerical-type (in the game sense, this is not how I envision real "clerics" at all, though) user of pseudo-scientific pre-programmed Divine magic, to being a fluid and adaptable and miracle working/prophetic representative of his god, imbued with certain Divine energy and a Divine relationship that makes him basically unpredictable. (If you look at many real world prophets they were often extremely unpredictable in the way they went about working, and even predicting events - ironically enough, but not really when you consider the nature of their activities. Being unpredictable (even cryptic, another aspect of the prophet I would emphasize) about prediction makes a great deal of sense when you consider the nature of their relationship to both God, and to the subjects [both events and people] they were addressing.)On the other hand you had basically priestly prophets, and their mythologies were every different, for instance use of the Ark of the Covenant, holy implements, and the Urim and the Thummin. (I find it fascinating that within the middle of a strict, revelatory religion like Judaism, full of individual men and women who were prophets and judges, you also had a basically "chance based" tool driven method of resolving disputes and even of predicting possible or likely events.) Interestingly enough over time many personal items of prophets became imbued with Divine energy, staves and vestments, etc. So smites you had items being either given or transformed by God, the staff of Moses and the Rod of Aaron, then other times implements became a sort of iconic focus for other prophets (Elijah), and then at other times you had almost state or religious type implements and divine vessels. I might even mention things like shrouds and burial cloths, and the relics of hermits, etc. Portraying the same basic motifs and transmitting the same types of ideals and influences. So you had assisted and focused and relical prophecy, tool based prophecy (Urim and Thummin, I Ching, etc.) and you had open-ended prophecy, and so forth and so on.Here are some of my ideas on the same basic subjects:<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/blogs/jack7/2211-magic-miracles.html" target="_blank">On Magic and Miracles</a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/253595-playing-god-divine-control-natural-spiritual-forces.html" target="_blank">Playing God</a>I imagine there's much more on the same general subjects my blog but I don't really have time to look it up right now. Anywho, maybe I can come back to this later.   I definitely agree with what Mark said here. Real prophecy is far more fascinating than merely predicting the future, although that is interesting in and of itself. It is a much, much greater discipline, one I think that can be learned and studied like any skill (though personally I think that without a direct and personal relationship with God you are likely to be either very bad at it, or at least your efforts will be corrupted or confused), because it is not just about predicting or anticipating events and reading psychological inclinations, but about influencing events towards a better outcome, and about inflecting psyches (as the Greeks meant the term, that is, souls) and minds towards better conditions and behavior.Therefore I also agree with these general ideas as well. Interesting that the bardic concept should be mentioned as there were sub-groups of prophets who engaged in ecstatic behavior using music and dance as a focus for their activities and work. Plus many bardic abilities were "influence-based." Prophets were often excellent survivalists as well.Anyway, I'm way too swamped to continue this now. But good luck and Godspeed on your project. I'll check back up on it again as I'm also developing a prophet and working on expand the way Miracles (a related subject to prophecy in my opinion, miracles being unpredictable benefits of God, often transmitted through a medium or agency, and prophecies being cooperative anticipations of the future between men and God with the intent of indirect or direct intervention, often cyclical or repeated interventional and influence, in human history and behavior) work in my game. Gotta bug.Had to write fast.Later.</blockquote>

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