Topic: Arcane Talent and stat bonus question

[Zut]

Hi all!

I have a little question about the arcane talent: if a character purchase this talent, does his spell casting stat changes as well?

For example, a Ranger wants to have access to the Harper's sphere. The Ranger sphere uses In + SD and the Harper sphere uses Pr + SD. The profession doesn't change, but what about the stats?

Thanks!

[Thom @ ICE]

My interpretation is based upon the wording for the talent, "The high cost of this talent reflects the time and effort it takes for the character to learn new types of magic."   (Emphasis mine)

I would therefore say that the character is learning the new type of magic, and the Stat Bonuses (PR+SD) remain in effect.

This is NOT a case of using their own type of magic to cast spells normally done with another type of magic.

[Zut]

So in this regard, it's better to take the additional profession talent, as it costs 1 dp less than the arcane talent. And if the PC was not a spell caster, he now gets the mystical arts category as a favored one.

I think the cost of the arcane talent is too high for its benefits, or the arcane talent is too restrictive. (?)

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Neither Talent changes the allocation of stats to spell skills. They provide mechanisms by which professions can learn spells from outside their profession. With the additional Profession Talent, you can only increase ranks in the spells belonging to the natural sphere/circle of the profession that you are advancing in at a particular level.

e.g. a character is Mage 2/Ranger 1 for a total level of 3 having taken Additional Profession (Ranger) at 3rd level. At 3rd level, the character may only buy new Ranger spells (if that's the special ability they chose as the benefit from Additional Profession). If the character survives to 4th level, the player chooses whether to increase Mage level (in which case you only can buy Mage spells) or Ranger level (in which case you can only buy Ranger spells).

Arcane Power Talent allows the character to develop the extra spell sphere at the same time as any existing spell spheres/circles.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[Zut]

Neither Talent changes the allocation of stats to spell skills.

So... that means that a Ranger would still use SD+In to cast Mage spells?

But I still wonder why the Arcane Talent costs so much compared to the Additional Profession Talent. The latter seems more beneficial overall. (?)

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Neither Talent changes the allocation of stats to spell skills.

So... that means that a Ranger would still use SD+In to cast Mage spells?

No. The wording in the book is abbreviated. The stats for a given spell are determined by the Professional Sphere that a spell falls into (not by the profession of the caster). Thus anyone who casts Mage spells uses Re+SD, whether they are a Ranger, Cleric, Mage, Fighter, etc.

But I still wonder why the Arcane Talent costs so much compared to the Additional Profession Talent. The latter seems more beneficial overall. (?)

Arcane Talent is more flexible. You keep your favored categories and ability to accrue level bonuses (see Clerics, Rangers, etc.), you can advance in the additional sphere whenever you want.

Best wishes,
Nicholas