ZOMG More HQG Spirit Charm Confusion

[Clay]

OK, so going back and forth through the Spirit Magic section in HQG, and I come upon this:

HQG p. 136

“Unless you are a member of a spirit society or a shaman you may use charms based on the Spirit Rune only to augment; they do not produce overtly supernatural effects. Charms that are stand-alone abilities may, of course, be used directly.”

The first part makes absolute sense: unless you are a spirit society member or shaman, charms are augments.

Then the stand-alone ability “used directly” part.

Clearly, this refers back to the previous page regarding charms that states that non-animistic players with charms treat all charms as stand-alone starting at 13.

But, mechanically, doesn’t this penalize the animist attempting to use the same kind of charm, as the spirit worshipper can only use the charm as an augment yet the non-spirit worshipper can use it directly? Not quite sure why the rules are written this way. Can someone clarify?

[Mark Mohrfield]

Presumably, the animist could also have the ability as a stand-alone ability and use it directly. He could also simply join a Spirit Society, and gain the ability to use the charms directly that way.

[Scott-A]

A possible house rule is that players can use their non-initiated spirit rune charms at the base ability level of 13 when used directly, as if they were just a charm they had taken as an ability.

[Author]

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