Talents: An Ongoing Discussion

[Rahvin]

So, talents are something that - in general - require a fair bit of work to prepare ahead of time. There's any number of cool things that might be thematic and fitting to the Wizarding World universe that, so far, we haven't thought about - or, if we have, that might be able to be rethemed and made into a similar effect but in a different way.

That said - we're open to suggestions or thoughts for talents. Talk to us; we're open to possibly creating and modifying existing talents to help with character concepts and wacky ideas going forward. This is the Wizarding World - things are a little weird and crazy and wonderful and we can't think of everything you might want to possibly do. We're just here to help do the mechanical portion.

[Grace Wilkinson]

An idea....could there be a version for "A Knack For It" for specific spells? Like Harry and Expelliarmus, or Ginny with her bat hex thingie? Not for a magical skill, just a specific spell?

[Faith Cassidy]

There are people that are actual seers, in that they actually see the future with some amount of clarity rather than just sort of omens like they see with divination. Apparently it's fairly rare, but Professor Trelawny's great, great, grandmother, for example, was a 'genuine' seer. That could be a talent, though I'm not sure what rank it would be.

[Arlington Wayne]

How about some sort of "death vision" for those who have witnessed and gained an understanding of death, like Harry and Luna, allowing them to see Thestrals or the equivalent?

[Grace Wilkinson]

How about some sort of "death vision" for those who have witnessed and gained an understanding of death, like Harry and Luna, allowing them to see Thestrals or the equivalent?

Honestly, I consider seeing thestrals more of a fluff thing than a talent one, unless the talent adds something more. I'd probably add setback dice to handling of any thestrals unless you've seen someone die, to the creature itself perhaps?

[Ondine Corbeau]

What about taking original Inventor instead of Potion Master in order to make magical stuff like amulets, masks, etc?

[Arlington Wayne]

Honestly, I consider seeing thestrals more of a fluff thing than a talent one, unless the talent adds something more. I'd probably add setback dice to handling of any thestrals unless you've seen someone die, to the creature itself perhaps?

Setback dice would definitely make sense for those who can't see them.

[Rahvin]

An idea....could there be a version for "A Knack For It" for specific spells? Like Harry and Expelliarmus, or Ginny with her bat hex thingie? Not for a magical skill, just a specific spell?

Give me a bit to think about it; Knack for It's already pretty low tier and it'd be hard to make a more narrow version of it and still be worth the cost. I'll come up with a solution of some kind.

There are people that are actual seers, in that they actually see the future with some amount of clarity rather than just sort of omens like they see with divination. Apparently it's fairly rare, but Professor Trelawny's great, great, grandmother, for example, was a 'genuine' seer. That could be a talent, though I'm not sure what rank it would be.

Incoming with the next wave of talent updates - just tinkering with the tier, likely will be multi-tiered (regular and improved version).

How about some sort of "death vision" for those who have witnessed and gained an understanding of death, like Harry and Luna, allowing them to see Thestrals or the equivalent?

I personally like the idea of attaching that kind of thing to the Thestral itself as opposed to a specific talent and just leave the rest to fluff. Not sure there's enough of a mechanical advantage to be worth the experience cost.

What about taking original Inventor instead of Potion Master in order to make magical stuff like amulets, masks, etc?

Actually making stuff like that might be outside the confines of the game's core - the only part that you're really doing is crafting the item in particular and then using existing magic skills to enchant the item to do all the tricks. There can likely be room found within the existing skills for it.

Potions in particular were called out as they create effects of their own separate from magic; a no-maj could, in theory, brew a potion and still have the effects of it work.

[Grace Wilkinson]

For Proper Upbringing can we assume that the teachers and stuff in general count as polite company? Or would 'polite company' cover something more specific at Ilvermorny?

[Jerric Mason]

So. I was kind of hoping my character could have an almost anti magic ability and maybe some kind of tier one or two talent that would upgrade spells targeting him but also give him an equal amount of set back or upgrades to cast spells? Possibly a tiered talent that stacked or reduced the downside as it went. Just an idea.

[Faith Cassidy]

Do animagus gain any sort of stats from their animal form? Gaining or changing mental characteristics doesn't make a ton of sense, but physical ability stats like Agility or Brawn would.

[Sylvain Leloup]

Do animagus gain any sort of stats from their animal form? Gaining or changing mental characteristics doesn't make a ton of sense, but physical ability stats like Agility or Brawn would.

I second that question.

Animagi are less prone to emotional attacks in animal form thought

[Rahvin]

For Proper Upbringing can we assume that the teachers and stuff in general count as polite company? Or would 'polite company' cover something more specific at Ilvermorny?

Unless otherwise noted, staff are considered Polite Company. Individuals students can decide whether or not they're "Polite Company" but, once that decision is made, it can no longer be altered.

So. I was kind of hoping my character could have an almost anti magic ability and maybe some kind of tier one or two talent that would upgrade spells targeting him but also give him an equal amount of set back or upgrades to cast spells? Possibly a tiered talent that stacked or reduced the downside as it went. Just an idea.

I can't find anything in particular to support that as a particular talent in the setting; there doesn't seem to be anything established at all about about magic being able to be stopped that way at all. I might instead recommend focusing on counter magic and theming the character (and possible talent choices) around that.

Do animagus gain any sort of stats from their animal form? Gaining or changing mental characteristics doesn't make a ton of sense, but physical ability stats like Agility or Brawn would.

Depending on their animal form compared to human forms, they might receive some changes to their physical stats while in animal form. That'll be discussed on a case to case basis with the players picking up animagus.

Animagi are less prone to emotional attacks in animal form thought

There will be additional dice bonuses on certain skill rolls related to emotional control while in animal form.

[Rahvin]

N.B.: I have lowered the tier for the Animagus talent from Tier 3 to Tier 2. If you have it on your sheet and you've handled the Talent Pyramid correctly, I'll make the adjustments and we'll work out what you want to do with your extra experience by the end of Day One.

If you're one of the two I've already emailed back about talents by this point, this decision was made after sending those emails to you so we'll handle it after approval (or, if you see this before sending emails back, you can adjust for it in your character sheet).