InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I know you are but what am I?"

Kat (katling) wrote,
@ 2008-10-08 08:14:00

Current mood:	grumpy
Entry tags:	grumble, rpg

Grumble, grouch
Argh! My pet hate (as a Severus Snape player) in RPing HP games has happened again!! Drives me up the wall!!

The Wolfsbane is very difficult to brew. They make an issue of that in the books. No, I'm sorry, a student less than a year out of Hogwarts, no matter how good is he or she is, could NOT brew it. Your average brewer could NOT brew it. Only someone highly skilled and with experience can brew it. Lupin makes the comment that he's grateful that he's at Hogwarts because Severus is one of the few who can make it. It is NOT an easy potion to brew.

I've hit it several times in several games and it never fails to drive me round the bend. Not to mention, threaten to drive me out of the game. I've only had one set of mods who understood how difficult it is and they'd made the decision well before I came along that only Severus and one other (who had their Mastery) would be able to brew it. It's right up there with the number of potions 'experts' people seem to like to play. It's like they can't bear to have their character be just an ordinary brewer of potions. No! They have to be as skilled as Snape without going through all the years of learning and experimenting. They have to be speshul. ARGH!!

ETA: Also... Bwee!! My friends sent me silly text messages for my birthday yesterday which made me giggle enormously.

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	coeur_delanuit 2008-10-07 05:19 pm UTC (link)
	But Kat, Ravyn Elizabetteth Darque Moon Devereaux is so GOOD at brewing potions. She does not need experience. You did not respected her(!) (Reply to this) (Thread)

	katling 2008-10-07 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	lol Man, that name alone has just got Mary-Sue written all over it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	coeur_delanuit 2008-10-07 08:11 pm UTC (link)
	I try. xD (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aliciadances 2008-10-07 07:20 pm UTC (link)
	CHELS YOU LEFT OUT RHIANNON >:O (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	coeur_delanuit 2008-10-07 08:12 pm UTC (link)
	OMG HOW COULD I FORGET(?!) :O RHIANNON ELIZABETTETH RAVYN DARQUE MOON DEVEREAUX IS WHAT I MEANT. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kavalier 2008-10-07 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know what it is with Potions. So many people seem to want their character to be the best at it when there are already canon 'bests'. :/ (Reply to this) (Thread)

	katling 2008-10-08 01:44 am UTC (link)
	I know. They have to be the best at Potions and the best at Transfiguration and at Charms and be an animagus and have the coolest patronus and be a metamorphmagus and can anyone say Mary-Sue? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	kavalier 2008-10-08 01:49 am UTC (link)
	LOL And of course they are also drop-dead gorgeous and total animals in the sack. (Reply to this) (Parent)

xanthophiliac
2008-10-07 05:56 pm UTC (link)

I could be wrong about this and it's more of a feeling I got than anything, but I feel like the whole expertise in Potions thing suddenly became much more popular after Slughorn started teaching it in HBP and it became a *cool* class and subject when in the past under Snape, JKR made it sound like the class from hell. And Sam just pointed this out to me so I can't claim credit for it, but the fact that it sounds like one of the most 'exclusive' and selective classes at the NEWT-level probably plays into it too.

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	katling 2008-10-08 01:46 am UTC (link)
	lol Well, it probably was the class from hell with Severus. The man was not the best of teachers. Yeah, I'd say that has something to do with it. Everyone wants their character to be the one to impress the unimpressable. (Reply to this) (Parent)

IAWTC

hafren
2008-10-08 12:30 am UTC (link)

Yes. Thank you.

I need to make certain that's noted on the potions page I send Em, which, really I need to just SEND her, cause I think it's all but finished anyway. But basically, yes, you very much get the impression from Lupin that it is complicated. And the impression that Snape is one of the few wizards in Britain, and possibly other places too, who can brew it, thus, obviously, it is not something your average potion maker is going to be able to make. It is probably not something even an excellent potion maker necessarily would be able to make - if so, wouldn't it be available more easily?

I don't know if I've really discussed this with Em, but we should possibly talk about it BL wise too - We had a discussion on wordless/wandless magic and casting, etc - which was really good for me to read, and I'm sure helpful for other people as well. Potions would be a good thing also...

Generally speaking, I just get ticky when people are like, 'the best' at everything. I'm so paranoid about it and I'm often paranoid about making Snape TOO clever, cause he is just nineteen. *pets him* Even though canonly speaking, he is a pretty powerful wizard - eventually. But he wasn't born that way.

Anyway... ahem.

*puts soap box away*

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Re: IAWTC

katling
2008-10-08 01:51 am UTC (link)

Yeah, that was always the impression I had too. It was insanely difficult and I expect also expensive or the ingredients were. Severus was able to make it because of his skill and because he had the resources of the school to buy the ingredients. Therefore Remus was able to get the Wolfsbane without having to pay through the nose, which he wouldn't have been able to do anyway.

Well, I think Severus was probably born quite powerful, it's just that he didn't know how to use it or had to learn how to use it. I always think of using magic as like exercising. The more you exercise the muscles, the better and stronger you get. With magic, the more you practise and learn, the more you can use the inherent power you have... or perhaps the easier it is to access the power you have. And we know Sev is pretty powerful. He can fly without a broom after all. Actually that's always intrigued me because it makes me wonder whether it's a Dark spell or whether you just have to be very powerful to use it (so perhaps only people like Voldemort, Dumbledore and Sev could use it). If so, it does make a very interesting comment about Sev's place in the magical power hierarchy.

Yes, well... there I go again. *grins*

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Re: IAWTC

hafren
2008-10-08 02:06 am UTC (link)

Basically - yes.

I think Sev is really powerful, but as you say, you have to learn how to use it. And that obviously takes time and practise, and skill. I think

snapedom has a post at one point talking about Sev's power, and I think Severus really WAS powerful. And as best I can read from canon, you are born with a certain level of magic. And they can use it without a wand, the wand then focuses it as they're learning, but then you can do wandless magic, so eventually if you get to a level of power, you could focus the magic on its own, without the assistance of a wand - at least to a certain extent. And the flying without a broom is really fascinating I agree. I'd played Sev as an adult and I've played him in school, and one of the things I'm loving most about BL is the ability to play him at that point in time where he's got all of the basic skills, and he's really stretching those magical muscles and learning more, and becoming extraordinary - and he's not to his adult power level at all, but he's getting there... & it's fun.

It is interesting to me that some of the most powerful wizards in canon seem to be halfbloods... Doesn't speak well for the Pureblood philosophy does it? ;)

And here I go again... But it's Sev... I could talk about him for hours. And sometimes do...

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