A young woman calling down fire from the sky. An old, bent wizard holding back a land-slide by force of will. The village healer, with blood on his hands from a baby born dead, but who now will live to see his first birthday. They are Adepts, men and women who dedicate their lives to using magic. Some are saints, some are power-mad egomaniacs, but most are just ordinary people using their native skills to make a living.
Not everyone who learns a bit of magic is an Adept. Many people learn how to harness limited parts of their Personal powers, or master a few simple elemental spells. They learn enough to get by, to make their lives a little easier, then move on to the real work.
For an Adept, the magic is the real work. He studies magic both for its practical effects and because he sees it as the means though which he can effect the world. In his view, the magical powers that he learns to harness are the solution to every problem that he might face.
This monomania is comparable to a Warrior's focus on conflict or a Scholar's focus on understanding. Adepts use magical solutions to problems because they are magical, not because they are necessarily the easiest or the best way.
Adepts are found in every walk of life, in every culture. They are village magicians and healers, consultants to kings and beggars on the street corners. Most work quite openly, offering services just like a craftsman. Others, engaged in more sinister or simply less profitable forms of magic, take care to keep their activities secret.
Many Adepts gain their first exposure to magic in their early years, as children in villages, towns, or cities where there is an active and powerful magical tradition. When they reach an appropriate age (as determined by their culture), the children start studying with one or more Adepts, just as their friends study with other craftsmen.
Magicians who study magic with a single teacher, in a practical environment, are often called 'Hedge Wizards' in the lands of the East, 'Craftsmen' in the center of the continent, and 'Magicians' in the Empire of the Phoenix. These magicians mix various magical styles without discrimination, using all knowledge as an integrated whole to achieve their goals.
Those Adepts who study in formalized schools typically learn how to use a single type of magic. Unlike their 'parochial' brothers, school trained magicians study the why of magic extensively. This does not mean that their magic is any less powerful, but simply that it can be somewhat less flexible in its application. The narrower focus on a single style of magic, however, virtually guarantees that the magician will be much stronger with that style.
'Hedge' magic is a hodge-podge of the Eight Powers, each twisted upon the other to form a sometimes indistinguishable mass of effects. A magician may use Personal power to set a bone, then give someone an alchemical mixture for the pain. He might change the weather using Elemental magic, then encourage the plants to grow with True powers.
When building a 'Hedge' trained magician, it is important to scatter the magician's skills among several different magical styles. Although a magician trained in practical magic may be better at one style or another, he will have a working knowledge of at least three kinds of magic. His approach to magic will emphasize working/useful effects, rather than spectacular special powers.
'Schooled' magicians typically study a single style, either to the exclusion or the detriment of all of the others. Their understanding of the workings of that one style of magic is usually both deep and complex; they can accomplish feats with that single style that are beyond the abilities of those without their focus.
When building a 'School' trained magician, the character should focus strongly on one of the Eight Powers. Their other skills should be placed into skills related to their educational background. A magician who trained in an Army school might have tactics and Hand to Hand, while one who studied at a scholarly institution might have Scholarship and History or Philosophy skills.
Being an Adept has the following advantages:
An Adept may select one of the Eight Powers (Elemental, Personal, Sorcery, Wizardry, Pattern, True, Star, or Shadow) as his 'style of choice'. Within his style, he gains the following advantages:
Adepts receive 400 bonus ticks when they go up in Vocational Level. These ticks may be spent on any skill that the Adept already possesses, or on maneuvers in any magical skill.
Over the course of their career, an Adept may select up to six Vocational skills, in which he has unlimited advancement potential. All other skills are limited to a maximum of 50% or level 5.