On Tue, 12 May 1998, Robert Harper wrote:

> Plant Growth, but they are of a clerical and not wizardly bent (the wizard
> version of Plant Growth has no benefits for agriculture as the cleric
> version does), personally I prefer to keep the "life force
> restoring/affirming/boosting" magics in the clerical sphere and make sure
> wizardly approaches to these tasks are nasty necromantic ones.

Then you need elven clerics, which Cerilia does not have.
I would class all druidical spells as available to Sidhelien wizards on
the grounds that if it is good for nature and can be done with magic, the
elves will manage it.
And speaking of "nasty necromantic" wizard spells, the two great
necromancer-hating cultures (Sidhelien and Khinasi) are also the two most
intensely wizardly cultures. They hunt undead and the makers of such, but
deny themselves access to most tools for doing so, namely the school of
necromancy. Thus there should be powerful undead-affecting spells of
other schools, like a turning analog in abjuration and a dispel undead in
evocation. I know that this runs counter to one of the raisons d'etre of
the original D&D cleric (I also think that any sane wizard will realize
that he is the most vulnerable person in the party, and develop a healing
spell, but that's another discussion), but the system also generally holds
that wizards are better at destruction than creation. Thus I suggest that
since Animate Dead exists, it should be reversible, and the reverse
(Disanimate Dead, or Destroy Undead) should have a bigger ZOE; I have
several draft versions if anyone is interested.
Also on the topic of clerics and undead, my strongest feeling on
the issue is that druids should have *greater* powers of turning than any
other priest. Lawful good religions stressing duty to society should not
only justify but also celebrate citizens willing their bodies to be
animated (whether for use as soldiers or sewer cleaners, or anything else)
for the betterment of the whole. Druids worship Nature. Undead are an
abomination against Nature, and completely outside the cycle of life and
death -- indeed, they prevent reclamation of useful resources of life by
natural processes. Undead follow orders. They're real good at that.
They *can't* think for themselves. So why does Haelyn have more power to
defeat them than Erik does? This makes *no* sense to me. No human could
hate everything undead stand for more than a druid.


- --Ryan