SPOILER WARNING: A thread about the Harry Potter books

[Edena_of_Neith]

(finishes The Half Blood Prince, and sighs wearily, and sadly)

 

[TheNovaLord]

For example, he can cast a far more powerful patronus. The spells Harry has down he does really, really well. Hermione, however, is competent in far more spells, so it comes down to versatility versus power.

sounds classic wizard versus sorceror

JohnD

 

[Darth K'Trava]

sounds classic wizard versus sorceror

JohnD

Yep. Harry seems more the sorcerer than a wizard. That is if you're applying D&D context to HP. He learns more by intuition than by actual bookwork. Whereas Hermoine is the opposite.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

(finishes The Half Blood Prince, and sighs wearily, and sadly)

Aye. That was a bummer at the end.

[sblock]How many of you think Hagrid's next?[/sblock]

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

I've forgotten how to do the Spoiler tag thing you're doing (it is well for me I'm not at Hogwart's!)
I wish to ask the moderators if I can set up a second, Spoiler marked (in the title) Harry Potter thread?

I think you have something there: Harry makes the better Sorcerer, and Hermione the better Wizard.

 

[Ilium]

To see how to do a spoiler, just click the Quote button on Darth K'Trava's post. You'll see what he typed including the sblock tags.

 

[billd91]

For example, he can cast a far more powerful patronus. The spells Harry has down he does really, really well. Hermione, however, is competent in far more spells, so it comes down to versatility versus power.

We really don't know this, though. The only patronus that Hermione's ever cast, that we've seen, was in the DA meeting and so relative power is impossible to judge. But I think you do have a point that whenever Harry manages to get a spell down (which takes a while), he's usually pretty good at it.

As Umbran points out, the main difference between the two, aside from Hermione being a supremely quick study of things magical as well as personal, is that Harry's a do-er. A bit too impulsive at it, perhaps, but he takes risks, he scrambles up quick and effective plans, and manages to succeed.

 

[Ilium]

I agree. Harry seems able to function under the kind of pressure that makes most people go to pieces.

In d20 terms, he seems to be able to Take 10 on casting rolls even when in combat or under stress.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

I agree. Harry seems able to function under the kind of pressure that makes most people go to pieces.

In d20 terms, he seems to be able to Take 10 on casting rolls even when in combat or under stress.

That or he's got a bucketload of Action Points.

I'm still inclined to give the power advantage to Harry, not only for the extra oomph he can put into his spells when in a pinch (there's a pretty good editorial over at Mugglenet.com that describes the instances that Harry's made use of "excessive force" with his spells, especially when they should have a much milder effect). When he gets his act together and focuses, he is able to learn new spells pretty quick, such as the Summoning Charm he mastered in just over a day in Goblet of Fire, and so far he's the only non-adult known to have conjured a Patronus in a combat situation, let alone one powerful enough to chase away a flock of dementors (something we've only seen Dumbledore do). He's also done wandless magic at least once, and that's supposed to be very difficult to accomplish. For the non-verbal spells, that's more a case of study than power, as Hermoine apbly proves, being the quickest to get used to non-verbal magics.

Hermoine's the brains of the outfit to be sure, but she's not always able to make the best use of what she knows. Kind of reminds me of the Aesop Fable of the cat and the fox, where the cat only has one trick to avoid a pack of dogs (climbing up a tree) while the fox has a plethora of tricks, but ends up getting caught because he couldn't decide which of his many tricks to use.

 

[sniffles]

(finishes The Half Blood Prince, and sighs wearily, and sadly)

Ah, yes, welcome to the club. We shall all sit glumly together awaiting release of the next book.