(10-21-2015, 12:02 PM)Vyce Wrote: Alka Zolka is a scholar but not a SCH. He can read the writings, but he cannot wield the magic.
It's a counter to specifically this:
(10-21-2015, 10:19 AM)Vyce Wrote: And Black Magic which uses your own body's aether reserves will kill you. And Scholars need one to even comprehend Nymeian magic. And Summoners need one to comprehend Allagan magic.
And Bards need one to figure out how to sing aether into battle. You get the singing part down, and the arrow part down, but what you don't know how to do is magically make all the panties drop with a single note. That is what the soul crystal teaches you. It doesn't seem like something someone else could just teach you- you gotta prove you're worthy and then the crystal helps you feel the groove. It basically teaches you how to DRR on extreme mode.
Alka Zolka doesn't need the Soul Crystal to understand how the Nymian magic works. But he's not an Arcanist. He's a Marauder. In Alka Zolka's case, he was learning things the "old way". By studying.
Then the Adventurer comes in, touches the shiny rock, and basically learns through osmosis. Soul Crystals aren't enablers. They're shortcuts. Or like plugging in a flash drive full of someone else's research, reports and work so that you can copy it easier instead of having to do all that work on your own.