PDA

View Full Version : Player Help Question about the FFG Midnight Campaign



Castiron
2014-08-08, 03:59 AM
I was looking at playing a channeler, then i got to looking at the druid prestige class in that campaign , and a few other things when an idea hit me (yes it hurt),
there are 3 channeler traditions,... why couldn't i mix them ?

take a wis channeler at level 1, CHA channeler at level 2, WIS channeler at level 3, INT channeler at level 4, and so on mixing the 3 types all the way up to level 18. then i got to looking closely at the class. at level 1 you receive a feat "Magecraft" that feat is the building block of your magic casting power. when you get Magecraft you have to choose a tradition and that tradition sets what ability controls your spellcasting (WIS, INT , CHA). so i thought to myself oh no looks like that is the problem its going to force me to 1 type of casting (WIS = Spiritualistic, INT = Hermetic, CHA = Charismatic). then i went to page 123 of the second edition book to look at the feat more closely (and other ref points about the feat in other locations) and i noticed something. The feat DOES MENTION that you gain only so many spells when you take the feat blah blah. BUT the feat DOES NOT SAY that it can only be taken once. here's the feat for you to review.

Magecraft (Channeling)
You have the gift (or curse, in these dark times) of
Aryth’s magic running through your veins.
Prerequisite (Hermetic only): Literacy in at least one
language in which you are fluent.
Benefit: When you gain this feat, you must choose the
magical tradition with which you are connected. You then
become a channeling spellcaster and gain benefits and abilities
as described on page 126. The details on this feat have
been presented there to create an inclusive, comprehensible
set of spellcasting rules all in one place.
Normal: A character cannot cast spells in MIDNIGHT
without taking this feat, unless he is a legate.
Special: Spellcraft is always a class skill for you.

Now what i glean from this is that i COULD take the feat multiple times (total of 3) and each time choose a different Tradition (INT, WIS, CHA).
Why would i do this ? at different levels channelers gain "Tradition Gifts" and i would like to Mix-N-Match those to "Power Game" the character.

anyone see anything that would suggest or know of a rule that prohibits, taking a feat multiple times if it doesn't expressly say it cant be (or can be) ?
im interested in "Official rules" for that, not house rules.

Yora
2014-08-08, 07:05 AM
The default rule is that unless a feat explicitly states it, it can be taken only once. No feat should state that it can not be taken more than once, because that rule is always in place.

Also INT Channeler and WIS Channeler are not two separate classes. That would be like playing an illusionist and a necromancer, or a dual weapon and archery ranger. That doesn't work.

Castiron
2014-08-10, 01:39 PM
can you tell me where the rule about taking a feat only once is,.. a page ref. thanks.

Swashbuckler
2023-07-20, 03:42 PM
*scrubbed*



Dungeons & Dragons, Player's Handbook, v3.5; page 89:

FEAT NAME [TYPE OF FEAT]
Description of what the feat does or represents in plain language.

...

Benefit: What the feat enables the character (“you” in the feat
description) to do. If a character has the same feat more than once,
its benefits do not stack unless indicated otherwise in the description.
In general, having a feat twice is the same as having it once.


The first part of Yora's response is not technically correct; the RAW (at least in v3.5) do not impede a character from taking the same feat more than once; logic and intelligence do.

However, that is not the governing factor; Yora's second part is correct.

In the Midnight setting, spellcasting outside of the Legate class is only done via one class - the Channeler. When a character chooses the Channeler class, there is not an existing subdivision (wizard, sorcerer, bard, favored soul, etc.). By virtue of the Magecraft feat, the PC can only choose a single tradition (hermetic, spiritual, or charismatic). This choice defines their class abilities and directions from that point forward without the ability to change.

As someone who has both played and ran Midnight games since the setting was released, I can not recall where it has ever been an issue or question, since only one path is available to the player who chooses the Channeler class / Magecraft feat. There is no choice to "swap" traditions when you feel like it, nor is there game/setting context for allowing that course of action.

Of course, if you want to house-rule it to be different, have at it!

flat_footed
2023-07-20, 04:09 PM
The Fullmetal Mod: Thread Necromancy is a forbidden art.