[quote]Fuggyt wrote...
[quote]Riverdaleswhiteflash wrote...
Problem one: The mages can do this whether they wish it or no, thanks to that abomination thing. In this state, any mage can cause devestation almost no mundanes are capable of. The vast majority of mundanes can't take out a city.[/quote]
This is the usual gross exaggeration of a mage's power in order to justify their suppression. Although the codex on the subject observes that "abominations have been responsible for some of the worst cataclysms in history," it also points out that "thankfully, abominations are rare." Certainly they must be more rare than apprentices failing the Harrowing. So while they are certainly powerful, they are not numerous enough to provide an existential menace to Thedas and so their threat is clearly exaggerated for institutional purposes by Circle, Templars, and Chantry.
You can argue that we see a lot more of them around Ferelden and Kirkwall than the codex suggests, and you'd be right. We need a steady stream of goons to slaughter, after all. But if you suggest the gameplay more accurately reflects the design of the world than the lore, you have to concede abominations aren't so tough at that. They're mages, after all, and the pointy thingies go right through their widdle wobes. You can't have it both ways--either the lore is right and they're powerful but not numerous or gameplay is right and they're numerous but not powerful. Either way, not the threat they're cracked up to be.[/quote]
My argument is that the lore (and parts of the gameplay, since you seem to have forgotten about Uldred and Connor) is right, and they are rare. Now comfort the people who encounter them with the knowledge that most people won't die the same way they did. I'm sure the people of Redcliffe will be relieved to hear that.
[quote][quote]Problem two: Having apostate mages running around can make the powerful, beautiful, or charismatic more dangerous. Howe had apostate mages under his control, and he is shown to have used their abilities to his advantage. And how much worse could a bandit leader become if he hires apostates?[/quote]
So we agree. It's not the magic per se, it's the mage. It's not that they or Jowan were apostates who had magic. It's that they employed the abilities they had in the service of evil. [/quote]
Did you even read my post? That is the opposite of what I said. A mage serving evil is worse than an ordinary human serving evil, which is part ofthe justification the Chantry gives for locking them up. No, I wouldn't lock them up based just on that factor, but combine it with the abomination one and maybe you'll see my argument.
[quote][quote]Problem three: A mage can be much more dangerous than a simple crazy man. A single mage is a match for most non-mages in a fight, whereas if a simple mundane crazy man finds himself face to face with the guards, he's probably done with.[/quote]
Or, in other words, problem one reiterated. The same points apply. An individual mage is far and away a match for an individual mundane warrior. But there just aren't enough of them to stand up against a far-flung military order ranged against them. One mage + one warrior = one flaming corpse. One mage + one platoon of templars/one angry mob = one head on the end of its own staff.
[/quote][/quote]
Okay, there is some repetition there. What I meant to communicate there was "mages who don't go abomination or joing a gang can still go crazy" but that's not what I wrote now that I read more carefully.
At any rate, the reason the Templars are able to stand up to them is because they can nullify magic. If the town guards tried to fight a mage, there'd need to be a large number of them or at least one mage in the group. And an angry mob? Useless. Without at least some discipline in the mob, any mage who knows Fireball can break it up, with the survivors moving on to greener pastures. I'll concede that if that doesn't happen, the mage might die. On the other hand, you have to concede that alternatively the mage might go abomination. If we accept the lore (and the boss fight with Uldred) as true, there no longer is a mob when that happens.
Modifié par Riverdaleswhiteflash, 17 juin 2013 - 01:02 .
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