Non-adepts questions

[LADRILLON]

Hiyas:

All-right, can the "mundane folk" (non-adepts) be any of the adept Disciplines (sans the Talents, of course)? Can there be a non-adept Sky Raider, non-adept Scout or non-adept Archer, for instance? Also, is the reverse also true - are all Scouts in Earthdawn adepts, then?


Thanks!
L

[Anunnaki]

Hi Ladrillon,

In the published ED3 books, members of Disciplines are usually denoted in Proper-case. So a Scout is an adept, but a scout is (usually) a non-adept. Non-adepts don't belong to Disciplines, but certainly they can hold some similar roles as professions. And in many cases, sufficiently skilled non-adepts can make worthy adversaries for adepts.

Kind regards, James

[Telarus_KSC]

Anunnaki nailed it. They can practice professions which share a lot with a Discipline, and may even be casually referred to with the same word. If a character is being explicit about referring to an Adept, they may add the Circle or the Rank (Master, etc) to the term.

There isn't a clear category cut (or at least not as clear as the mechanics lead one to believe). This is because of the setting element called "half-magic adepts". These are basically trained professionals who have picked up enough magical savvy with their "shtick" that they can cast little charms or use magic that is akin to a full Adept's Half-Magic Abilities. Half-magic adepts have no defined rules (haven't since 1st edition), and are basically a GM element to smooth out the magic scale. I like to think of the farmer who has charms for each of his tools and a sixth sense for smelling ripening produce in the fields. Or a collection of acolytes gathered up by the local spellcaster who can't Threadweave themselves, but can assist in other ways with ritual magic.

It's an odd bit of Earthdawn trivia, and shouldn't really worry anyone.

[LADRILLON]

Hiyas!

As a follow up question, then:
Would it be safe to assume that most leaders (in charge of nations, clans, cities, nobles, "celebrities," etc.) are Adepts too?


Thanks!
L

[ukhata]

it is not uncommon for them to be. king needen is a Warrior adept. but his father, King Varulus wasnt any for of adept at all.
also the leaders of Travar themselves dont need to be adepts, but it is rather possible they are. also Liferock Elders often are NOT adept because Adepts dont tend to live that long