Native American Fetish (not what you think)

[glitterboy2098]

don't fetish items only work for those of native american descent?

[Library Ogre]

don't fetish items only work for those of native american descent?

Wow.... switching to Rifts from Sound Off, the gears take a few minutes to realign.

[Balabanto]

Yeah, the Native American Fetish rules are even more badly written than the tattoo rules.

Can my Battle Magus use fetish items? She believes in magic and the spirit realm, and has PPE.

Can a Tattooed Man?

What kinds of spririts belong in what Realm? The Kiowa don't believe in the same spirits as the Sioux. In general, I loosely lump this and play as we go. There aren't a lot of NA characters in my game.

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

I think, if a psi-druid had Lore: indians, and was close to a tribe or shaman, they could use them. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong... I read that as, you have to be EITHER native american OR understand/believe the traditions and spirits.

It says "AND" though, not "OR."

"Only characters of Native American heritage and those who understand and believe in Indian traditions and spirits can use a fetish."

So you have to understand AND believe.

~ Josh

[glitterboy2098]

I think, if a psi-druid had Lore: indians, and was close to a tribe or shaman, they could use them. Or maybe I'm reading it wrong... I read that as, you have to be EITHER native american OR understand/believe the traditions and spirits.

It says "AND" though, not "OR."

"Only characters of Native American heritage and those who understand and believe in Indian traditions and spirits can use a fetish."

So you have to understand AND believe.

~ Josh

so basically you have to be an indian, or an adopted member of their culture.

[glitterboy2098]

a psi-druid of native american anscestry and culture is perfectly possible. and unlike being a headhunter or other tech oriented class, you could even be acceptable to the ultra-traditionalists.

[Slag]

My understanding was that you also needed to follow a Traditional lifestyle, e.g. no high tech, no MDC armor, no video players, living in a wigwam, etc. I'm away from my book so I can't cite page/paragraph, but IIRC there was a distinct rule or at least (for me) distinct indication that even a Full Blood Renegade couldn't use a fetish since they have basically rejected the Traditional lfestyle.

Unless, of course, there was some special way to bypass this... ("he says knowingly")

[mobuttu]

Only characters of Native American heritage and those who understand and believe in Indian traditions and spirits can use a fetish.

For me it is pretty clear. Only those with NA heritage who understand and believe in Indian tradition can use fetishes. So only Traditional OCC (pg 33 Spirit West) can use them.

[Prince Artemis]

I asked Kevin specifically about this on the show and he had the same feeling I did. The powers are not dependant on a persons race but a person's culture. While it says native american heritage, if you follow the ways of the indian faithfully and loyally (as in, your not faking it to get the powesr) then you would get the powers.

[Library Ogre]

Only characters of Native American heritage and those who understand and believe in Indian traditions and spirits can use a fetish.

For me it is pretty clear. Only those with NA heritage who understand and believe in Indian tradition can use fetishes. So only Traditional OCC (pg 33 Spirit West) can use them.

Actually, the word "those" in the second clause means that you're dealing with a second subject; 'who understand and believe in Indian traditions' in an adjectival phrase describing the pronoun 'those', which immediately precedes it, not the previous subject, 'characters of Native American heritage'. 'And', in this case, links two parts of a compound subject ("characters of Native American heritage" and "those who understand and believe in Indian traditions")[sup]1[/sup] to a common predicate ("can use a fetish")

If you want to say that characters who use fetishes must share both traits, then you'd need to write "Only characters of Native American heritage who understand and believe in Indian traditions'; in that case, 'who understand and believe in Indian traditions' is an adjectival phrase describing 'characters of Native American heritage'.

Good grammar is hot.

[sup]1[/sup]Technically, the compound subject has three parts; characters of native american heritage, those who understand and believe in Indian traditions, and spirits, but the third isn't in contention.