Disciplines

What’s the difference? My good man, I kill bandits with style!
•Corys, Blade of the North •

Player characters in Earthdawn are adepts, people able to use magic to power special abilities called talents. To become an adept, a character chooses a Discipline. In one sense, your character’s Discipline is his profession, but a Discipline involves much more than that. Your character’s Discipline provides a metaphor for how he sees the world. For example, an Elementalist might see the world as a struggle between competing elemental forces, while a Weaponsmith may see the world through the eyes of a craftsman, looking to build things that last. This metaphor allows the adept to tap into and use the world’s ambient magical energy to power their talents.

Half-Magic

Though the Earthdawn system accounts for knowledge and skills a character might possess that do not require the power of an adept’s magic, that system does not adequately cover the different levels of Discipline-related knowledge that two characters of the same Discipline, but different Circles, might possess.
For example, adepts of all Disciplines learn of the lives and deeds of other adepts who have followed their Disciplines, such as the heroes Nioku the Archer, Venna the Warrior, and any other heroes the gamemaster may add to his Earthdawn world.
An Elementalist character may possess the Knowledge skills of Horror Lore and Pre-Scourge History, but a follower of that Discipline should also know a great deal about plants, weather, rock formations, tides, and other subjects related to the five elements. Further, his knowledge of these topics would increase with time and experience.
The half-magic system offers a way to determine the adept’s knowledge in subjects related to their Discipline, but not specifically covered by the Discipline’s Talents. At gamemaster discretion, it could also cover more practical tasks related to his Discipline. For example, a Beastmaster could use half-magic to perform basic veterinary techniques, while an Air Sailor would be proficient at tying knots and navigating an airship. These skills would be possessed by any member of the Discipline, and may also fall under the realm of half-magic.
Each of the Discipline descriptions provides possible uses for half-magic. Players and gamemasters are encouraged to work together to develop and describe what areas their character’s half-magic covers, but the gamemaster is the final arbiter of whether a Half-Magic test may be used in a given situation.

List of Disciplines

Air Sailor
PG. page 88
Archer
PG. page 90
Beastmaster
PG. page 92
Boatman
Mystic Paths, page 157
Cavalryman
PG page 94
Elementalist
PG. page 96
Gauntlet
Mystic Paths, page 167
Illusionist
PG. page 98
Nethermancer
PG. page 100
Scout
PG. page 102
Shaman
Mystic Paths, page 179
Sky Raider
PG. page 104
Swordmaster
PG. page 106
Thief
PG. page 108
Troubadour
PG. page 110
Warrior
PG. page 112
Weaponsmith
PG. page 114
Wizard
PG. page 116