Post
by Mataxes » Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:18 pm
Versatility is cool, and provides a nice bit of flavor to humans, but it's a serious pain in the ass. It means we don't just need to look at talent combos within a Discipline when creating talents, but also how it might combo with other talents through Versatility. When you've got a couple hundred talents... things can be missed. (That's not really related to this, but just a general feeling I have about Versatility.)
I don't have an official stance on matrices through Versatility.
Personally, I think if you want to cast spells, you should probably be a magician. using Versatility isn't a very effective or efficient way to do that. I mean, you can, but you're spending (relatively) a lot of Legend for not as much impact even before you get to the question of matrices. You can't spend Karma on thread weaving/spellcasting tests for Versatile versions of those talents, and you don't have access to the options available through extra threads (those are based on your magician circle, which you don't have).
Matrices are in a unique place in ED4 -- it's the only talent where you have a reason to learn it more than once. It's also established each matrix is individual and tracked individually in terms of what spell it contains. I think it's ultimately a limitation of the talent system and its interactions with the "reality" of the game world.
Each table needs to decide what works best for them. There are a number of ways to approach it, and it reaches beyond just matrices in terms of things to consider.
* You can't learn "free talents" with Versatility. (The consequences of this mean you can't learn Air Sailing from Air Sailors, or Navigation from Scouts. Those are both talents that make a lot of sense to pick up under Versatility, and it makes sense that you should be able to learn them from those Disciplines.)
* "Free talents" are still talents, and so can be learned as if they were a talent. (This gives you more potential matrices, and other normal talents from adepts who get them for free, but opens up access to the broader "Entertainer" and "Craftsman" talents that are given to Troubadours/Weaponsmiths as a way to give them abilities they should have, but don't make sense as a bunch of discrete talents, and are more strongly defining an aspect of their half-magic. The abilities aren't especially powerful, so it's not game breaking or anything, but it does potentialyl steal some flavor from those Disciplines.)
* Setting aside the free talents, are matrices from different Magician Disciplines different for this purpose? That is, could Versatility be used to pick up the optional matrix from Elementalist and Wizard? (I don't like or condone this option, to be honest. It echoes the "Discipline specific" matrices from ED2, which I never thought were a good way to limit casters. And matrix items are a thing.)
If you want to allow Versatility to learn more than one of each type of matrix, I would do a couple things:
* Limit the maximum number of matrices through Versatility to the limit full magicians have.
* Any "free" standard matrices learned need to be increased with Legend Points as if they were First Circle talents (with the cost increase required through Versatility).
* There is no free upgrade from Standard to Enhanced matrix. Full magicians end up with 2 Standard and 2 Enhanced (assuming they take the optional ones as extra), Versatility is limited to 3 Standard and 1 Enhanced.
* I'm torn on whether to allow human magicians to pick up the "option" from another magician rather than take it themselves. I would probably allow it, but not to exceed the normal limit. I mean... if they want to spend more points on something than they otherwise would, that's on them I guess. (Again, matrix items are a thing.)
And feel free to mix and match with regard to other free talents. Maybe you'll allow Air Sailing/Navigation/Call Missile/Danger Sense from Disciplines that get those for free, but not matrices or Entertainer/Craftsman. That's fine. Whatever you and your table agree on.
