PCIHenry wrote:
Hello,
I think you're splitting hairs here.
If your shaman acted as a battle mage (not a Coryani Battle Mage) then yes, I don't see an issue with you claiming that.
As for claiming to be a legionnaire to reap the benefits but not actually being one - I suppose that's sort of like that "Stolen Valor" we keep hearing about, where people are claiming to be veterans to reap the benefit, but have never actually been in the military.
So if you want to play a charlatan type, I suppose you could do so, but you'd also have to fake the legionnaire tattoos on both arms. And hope you don't run into an actual veteran.
Well, no that isn't what I was saying. I thought from your posts that my character could be a Coryani Battle Mage Shaman, and it could be true, despite the fact that they wouldn't qualify for the Coryani Battle Mage Path. That makes sense as long as your roleplaying description of your character is the prime controller of your character - not paths and backgrounds.
So I compared that to being a former Legionnaire. If your character description is the prime controller (excepting only qualification for roll-play requirements, where obviously actual rules and character build trumps character "flavor text") of your character, and you can have been a Coryani Battle Mage without the path, then it seems like you could have a character who is a former legionnaire without the background - no stolen valor involved. You obviously wouldn't have any of the talents, etc of the background, so no rules violation, but if it's in your character story that they were in a legion, but you don't take the background, and your character go into a legion hall... do you get treated as a former legionnaire? Same with the battle mage question. If you are a shaman, have the former legionnaire background, and say you were a battle mage, and you have to deal with some battlemages, do you count as one of their numbers or not if you don't have the Coryani Battle Mage path?