- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-birthright@lists.imagiconline.com
[mailto:owner-birthright@lists.imagiconline.com]On Behalf Of John
Sweeney
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 1999 3:21 AM
To: birthright@lists.imagiconline.com
Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - More questions from a BR newbie


Now that I've more or less completed reading the materials in the BR boxed
set, as well as a bunch of the stuff available online, I've developed some
more questions, these dealing mostly with the setting and rules... (some of
this may be good fodder for the FAQ)

Does anyone find it strange that elves, who have never believed in gods, and
cannot be priests, have bloodlines derived from the same pantheon as Humans?

The fact of being blooded has nothing to do with belief in deities. It has
to do with the proximity to the deities that were destroyed at Deismaar.

Has anyone considered writing rules for an optional elf-only bloodline for
Cerilia? (I was thinking something along the lines of ALL elves being
blooded, with at least a tainted level bloodline, but many of their blood
abilities encompassing their racial bonuses/advantages...this bloodline
would not be inherited from any god [the elves have always been blooded
creatures, from time immemmorial...even they might not know the origin of
their bloodline], and would go a long way toward explaining why only elves
[and in the past two millenia, blooded humans] can become wizards and/or
weild realm-magic, and why they still can't become priests) Would anyone be
interested in reading/using/posting to the web such a system if I were to
write it up?

Well, considering that the ability that elves have regarding being able to
be full fledged wizards is intrinsic to being an elf (and having the correct
ability stats), it kinda makes having a bloodline a moot point.

(sorry if my parenthetical structure is a bit complicated...it's late, and I
don't really feel like cleaning that thought up...)

For that matter, if elves can't become priests, how do they handle
investiture? Hire a human priest to come in and cast it for them? (somehow,
this seems a bit out of the question...)

This is explained in the Book of Priestcraft. Basically, only in voluntary
investitures, they act as a priest by themselves.

Why are there War Cards included for units like "The Iron Guard of Ghoere"
and "The Guardians of Mhoried," when those units are not listed in the
armies for those countries in "Ruins of Empire"?

Couldn't tell you this. But if you are looking for muster/maintenance costs
for them, the general concensus is 2 GB above knights for muster, and the
same for maintenance (2 gb total). This is for each unit mustered.


How is Caliedhe Dosier a Fighter/Diviner, when wizards are specifically
forbidden in specializing in Divination? Should he be considered a Magician
(Diviner/Illusionist) with no access to realm magic and limited to 2nd level
spells in all schools except Divination/Illusion? Or is he just an exception
to the rule?

You'll find a lot of rules discrepancies in the character descriptions. The
Vos cannot become paladins, yet there is a vos paladin of Haelyn in Ruins as
well.

If half-elves are so shunned and scorned by humans, how have FOUR of them
risen to positions of regency (not counting ones with just source holdings,
but actual provincial kingdoms, here) in Anuire? Are ALL half-elves destined
to "overcome tremendous hardship and prejudice and rise to new heights?" I
could see maybe ONE exceptional half-elf really doing this the hard way, but
I'd rather let a PC do it and let that entire rise to power be a really epic
campaign in and of itself. It kind of takes a bit of the bite of a
half-elf's supposed difficulty fitting in with his human kin away when FOUR
of them are merrily running kingdoms in the setting's first book of source
material.

This is a matter of personal preference, but 4 out of thousands is not good
odds, regardless. There is also something called "Land's Choice" that is a
factor. This is described in the Book of Priestcraft as well.

Concerning expansions: Do the major domain expansions include more war
cards? If my campaign leads to Vosgaard, I somehow suspect that typical
units there might differ from the Anuirean ones on the cards I have...

Every one of the have additional warcards.

I'm not really trying to point out flaws in the setting, but some of these
points seem a bit weak to me in an otherwise extremely strong campaign
setting. I am really excited about BR, and I'm greatly looking forward to
starting a campaign in Cerilia. (now if I can just lure a few power-hungry
players to my table...) I'd like to know if and how any other DMs have
addressed these issues, however, to give me a few more ideas on how to
address them myself.

BTW, has much of this stuff been disgussed before? I know the mailing list
has an archive, but it's really big and tedious to go through, especially in
the absence of any kind of FAQ (I know you guys at birthright.net are
working on one, so I'm not griping, just pointing out that I'm not trying to
be an annoying newbie...)

Don't worry, your not annoying anyone. These things have been gone over a
lot, and there is a general concensus that there isn't a concensus. It all
is pretty much up to the DM. Us "veterans" can give you ideas, but for
every idea that we come up with 5 more of us will come up with ways to
dispute/refute that idea as incorrect. :-) Don't worry about it too much.

I'm sure I'll have more again in the nearish future...

- --
Johnny
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