Cathayan Discipline-Unique Talents and Karma
Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2015 5:59 pm
So... this question just came up in a game I'm in.
The specific question is this: Daughters of Heaven get Embrace of the Phoenix as a Discipline Talent, of course. Embrace of the Phoneix is marked, "Karma: Yes", which traditionally means that if you learn it through, say, Versatility, then it requires Karma, but if it is a Discipline Talent, it's optional just like always. But then it starts off with the text, "This Talent can only be learned by Daughters of Heaven."
Just skimming quickly through the Talents Section in the Cathay Player's Guide... there are *lots* of these. Talents that are absolutely only available to members of one Discipline, that are Discipline Talents for that Discipline, but are marked Karma: Yes.
These all tend to be pretty powerful stuff. Absorb Spell, Gift of the Phoenix, Spirit Blend -- stuff like that. They seem stronger than things like Claw Shape, to me. That is, I think, why they're limited to really only being available to members of the Discipline. But I don't see anything in the book that says that these Talents actually require that Karma even if they're Discipline Talents -- it just says their Disciplines are laid out just like the Disciplines in every other book, and that the Talents there appear in the same format and follow the same rules as the Talents chapter of the Player's Guide. Which suggests that there is actually no circumstance, ever, in which "Karma: Yes" applies, because they're only, ever, known as Discipline Talents.
That aspect, being uniquely available only TO a single Discipline, feels to me like they were probably intended to require Karma as a Talent for that Discipline, then, and the writers probably forgot that Discipline Talents.. don't, even if they say they do.
...Are we missing something important? Or was it just something that wasn't quite thought through all the way? How would people here rule on that?
The specific question is this: Daughters of Heaven get Embrace of the Phoenix as a Discipline Talent, of course. Embrace of the Phoneix is marked, "Karma: Yes", which traditionally means that if you learn it through, say, Versatility, then it requires Karma, but if it is a Discipline Talent, it's optional just like always. But then it starts off with the text, "This Talent can only be learned by Daughters of Heaven."
Just skimming quickly through the Talents Section in the Cathay Player's Guide... there are *lots* of these. Talents that are absolutely only available to members of one Discipline, that are Discipline Talents for that Discipline, but are marked Karma: Yes.
These all tend to be pretty powerful stuff. Absorb Spell, Gift of the Phoenix, Spirit Blend -- stuff like that. They seem stronger than things like Claw Shape, to me. That is, I think, why they're limited to really only being available to members of the Discipline. But I don't see anything in the book that says that these Talents actually require that Karma even if they're Discipline Talents -- it just says their Disciplines are laid out just like the Disciplines in every other book, and that the Talents there appear in the same format and follow the same rules as the Talents chapter of the Player's Guide. Which suggests that there is actually no circumstance, ever, in which "Karma: Yes" applies, because they're only, ever, known as Discipline Talents.
That aspect, being uniquely available only TO a single Discipline, feels to me like they were probably intended to require Karma as a Talent for that Discipline, then, and the writers probably forgot that Discipline Talents.. don't, even if they say they do.
...Are we missing something important? Or was it just something that wasn't quite thought through all the way? How would people here rule on that?