So, this is my arguement:

From an RP perspective, Tarot makes no sense for Researchers. We are about science and logic and Tarot is about fortune telling and flinging cards. There is very little order involved. Astrology and Healing make sense for us as Astrology in itself is a science to figure out and Healing is the study of auras, etc.

From a combat perspective, it has been mentioned several times that Tarot is terrible for Researchers as it has very little synergy with either Harmonics or Aeonics.

I propose that Researchers get Hexes instead of Tarot, but instead of calling it Hexes, call it Symbology etc. I realize that there is a huge probability to make Researchers overpowered with giving them Hexes but maybe there is a happy medium that can be reached. Or maybe even give Hexes two different specializations between the communes and the cities if the current Hexes is overpowered.

Thoughts? Comments? Arguments? Pros and cons?

Illuminati should have Healing instead of Astro, Institute should have Hexes instead of Tarot. Thematically, at least.

Agreed. From a roleplaying stand point it makes perfect sense. I feel that the current terts are all wrong.

Renaming a skill just to give it to one guild is weird and a spec seems like alot of work.


Renaming could just be a guild thing. "Hexes, a quaint name for an interesting science that uses symbols to afflict those struck with the magical energies imbued in them."

I've always imagined hexes like Japanese kanji floating around, but for Researchers I'd have to imagine them as glowing mathematical formula.

Achaea did it with Vodun/Puppetry and there were pretty much no differences between the two skills. That's why I brought up the idea. This is more of suggestions and brainstorming really.

I would love to take Hexes.

Symbology, semiotics, hexes... call it whatever you want.

Imagine a Moondancer.

Now imagine a Moondancer with reliable passive aeon and passive pennyroyal afflictions.

This is why we aren't giving Hexes to Researchers.

Soooo... a Shadowdancer?

But what about Shadowdancers? They have choke (though it affects both parties) passive Fae and Hexes on top of that.

Comparatively, Researchers also have passives but not quite as powerful as Fae I believe. And in order to stick Aeon, we need to strip quicksilver first.

You also have a better way to keep people from leaving the room

Yeah, nobody's ever complained about Shadowdancer skill set up being too powerful EVER!

If you're trying to drum up support for a skill change, comparing the results to choke is proooobably not the best PR move ever.

Most of you are saying 'hexes makes so much more sense', but you're not providing any arguments. I personally do not see at all how Hexes would make any more sense than Tarot, in fact, let's have a look at the helpfile:

'The ability to hex a person is an ancient mystic punishment.'

How is that any more scientific than Tarot? Your argument of renaming could be applied to tarot as well. I am not just trying to be difficult here, it's just that I genuinely don't see how hexes is less spiritual than tarot?

I can see you wanting it from a combat perspective, but then at least be honest and say 'I want this skill because I would be completely unstoppable and hallifax needs that'.

You say it like it's a bad thing.

When Isune returns, she should bring with her the tertiary of asthethics. The instant kill should be painting someone into a painting.

aesthetics?

Aesthetics. But it's a bard tertiary, not a guardian tertiary (and bards need another tertiary choice more than guardians do).

You're right. Healing makes more sense for Illuminati than Hexes does for Researchers. So can we just give them Healing and take Tarot away from Researchers and call it a day?

I think that Tarot makes plenty of sense for Researchers. I mean Hallifax is a city of scientists and artists, yes? Well, each tarot card is hand painted by the person who makes it. They're little pieces of art. Someone mentioned that Hexes would be thought of as symbology, or something, mystical fractal equations or something. Well, why can't that logic be applied to Tarot cards? Why can't the Researchers be painting those fractals into the image they're creating on their cards?

It just seems to me that folks don't like Tarot, like Elostian said, cause they don't think it's a good combat choice, cause if you can find a way to explain a hex as scientific, you find a way to explain a card that does things when you throw it as scientific too.

Yes, you could rename Tarot, but I think that solves only half the problem. Hexes would likely be an extremely powerful choice for tertiary (perhaps to a fault), however Tarot suffers from the opposite: it's an extremely weak choice for a tertiary. Tarot lacks in abilities that are either not duplicated in our other skillsets or simply don't work well with our existing strategies.

The addition of Soulless, in combination with vapors from the onyx harmonic could be nice. The utility additions would be nice, but, there are just so many things duplicated in Tarot that its not a worthwhile choice. Not to mention it does not address one of the primary issues that I see with the class: We have no real way to control our affliction output. Very few of our skills deliver a targeted, definite affliction.

Because of this randomness, Hexes is an attractive choice specifically because it fills that void.


I wouldn't go so far as to say that, what I want is a tertiary that works a bit more harmoniously with some of the central concepts of our class. Tarot has too many repeated skills, Astrology is just too random to ever be really dependable. Healing is a solid choice but lacks the technical finesse to really keep me interested for long.