A question on Astral Mages

[Marcethus]

Recently I was making an Astral mage. And the number of spells the book says they get is

5. Magical Powers At first level Astra Mages Know Four spells from levels 1-3

Now Given that they are a mage this seems awfully damned low to me, Does this mean they get only 4 spells to start or does it mean four spells from each level 1-3?

Just curious on other peoples view of this.

[The Beast]

Ley Line Walker says they start with 3 spells from each magic level 1 - 4 for a total of 12. Seems like the Astral Mage only starts with 4 spells total.

[Marcethus]

The Line Walker is also not a Nightbane OCC. Just was wondering what other peoples take on how it is worded. Seems kinda off to me and I wonder if maybe I got a misprinted version or if it lists that in all version of Between the Shadows.

[Rallan]

I'm with razorjack. The Astral Mage is a very specialized class, and it's insanely powerful in its area of expertise (the astral plane) compared to any other spellcasting class in the game. Hell, it and the other Astral classes from Between The Shadows are more badass in the astral plane than pretty much any other OCC available to humans in any game in the entire Palladium Megaverse. The reason his initial spell selection is so poor is because where most mages spend their formative years studying ley lines and spells and the principles of magic, he's spent most of his formative years studying the unique rules of the Astral Plane and learning how to pop out effects that a normal mage would have to research and create a plethora of high-level spells from scratch to duplicate.

[The Beast]

The Line Walker is also not a Nightbane OCC. Just was wondering what other peoples take on how it is worded. Seems kinda off to me and I wonder if maybe I got a misprinted version or if it lists that in all version of Between the Shadows.

I realize that, I was just pointing out how it should be worded if they meant for the OCC to have that many spells.

[AlanGunhouse]

Perhaps you need to get a job as copy editor with Palladium and correct the wording to match the intent on everything

[The Beast]

Well then perhaps I'll just point out that the Sorcerer OCC from NB says the exact same thing.

[Marcethus]

4 total is fine. They are a mage, but they focus on making a magic (even a 'mystic') connection with the astral plane. They're the only class besides an Astral Lord with this power. They're the only mage with this power. This is the only class that can LEARN to make astral realms instead of just naturally having the ability at birth as a PCC does.

Honestly if I were one I wouldn't even need any spells.

Actually they don't learn how to do it they are born with it much like the Astral Lord. (it says as much in the book that they go through much the same things as the Lord) But Unlike the Lord whom doesn't have a link to the Astral Plane. They Forge a link to it which is why they have spells (I think not sure about the why of their spells).

[Rallan]

The Line Walker is also not a Nightbane OCC. Just was wondering what other peoples take on how it is worded. Seems kinda off to me and I wonder if maybe I got a misprinted version or if it lists that in all version of Between the Shadows.

Yeah but it's a good benchmark to use for comparison. The Line Walker is a class that specialises in regular old everyday magic. No fancy spells nobody else can learn, no particularly wiggy powers, they're just professional spellslingers who are defined by their ability to cast a whole bunch of conventional spells.

So if they only start with three spells per level from the first four levels, you can bet your sweet ass that a class like the Astral Mage isn't going to start with more. Astral Mages are among the most specialised of specialists. They're defined almost entirely by their ability to manipulate the energies of the Astral Plane. They've dedicated virtually their entire magical career to mastering a form of magic that's got absolutely nothing to do with traditional spellcasting. So you can bet your ass that if it says "four spells from levels 1 to 4" then it means just that, and not "one more spell per level than a Line Walker".

[Vidynn]

total of 4.