Earthdawn Disciplines are paths of magical "enlightenment" practiced in the world of Earthdawn. Each follower of a Discipline has their own personal vision of how they should think and act, and violations can weaken their ability. See the Earthdawn Discipline Power Modifier for details. Disciplines are further subdivided into Grades, starting with "Novice" and following with "Journeyman", "Warden", and "Master" (in the original Earthdawn rules, these were further subdivided into Circles, but the GURPS conversion does not attempt to convert those).
Each Discipline consists of several elements:
- A Discipline Talent which gives a bonus to a certain number of skills, as well as all attribute and skill rolls associated with individual abilities associated with the Discipline. Characters can purchase up to four levels of the Talent if they are a Novice in the Discipline, five if they are a Journeyman, six if they are a Warden, and seven if they are a Master.
- Abilities associated with each Grade within that Discipline - characters can only learn these if they have initiated into that particular Grade.
- Finally, characters can purchase additional levels of Extra Fatigue and Extra Hit Points depending on their Grade within the Discipline. These are in addition to whatever normal campaign limits the GM sees fit (such as no more than "ST x 0.3"/"HT x 0.3" in Extra Hit Points/Extra Fatigue"). If a character initiates into multiple Disciplines, these values do not stack - instead, apply the highest single value.
Each grade requires a separate initiation by a teacher - a more experienced member of the Discipline. Furthermore, before qualifying for a higher Grade, a character should have spent a minimum number of character points in abilities of the previous grade. Suggested requirements are:
- Journeyman: At least 100 character points in Novice abilities.
- Warden: At least 100 character points in Warden abilities.
- Master: At least 100 character points in Novice abilities.
Advantages and techniques count for this purpose. Skills count as well if they are associated with an ability of the relevant Grade. Furthermore, all skills associated with the Discipline Talent count for advancing to the Journeyman Grade.
List of Earthdawn Disciplines
Earthdawn is a registered trademark of FASA Corporation. This material is not official and is not endorsed by FASA.