One big reason I grew distant from SsA development of late despite the vast merits of the game and my very positive opinion of SA and the Alpha version is my overwhelming dislike of specialization (as Heinlein said, it is for insects). As far as I am concerned, too many good games have been ruined by pushing narrow and mandatory ability specializations, rigid classes, and protected power niches down the throats of players (including yours truly) that do not need or want them, and would very much prefer to be left alone with their generalist, fluid-concept, and archetype-mixing characters. "Play this narrow set of signature tricks freely, pay up a scarce resource to do anything else" is a good way to make this player ragequit or hack the system. I got disillusioned when I saw SsA going down this road with the Path, Fount, and Tradition post.
I had little more to do with SsA since then, until I just noticed by chance the announcement of the beta version on another forum and gave it a cursory read out of curiousity and fond memories. I have scarcely changed my mind about the issue (my dislike of classes, specializations, and power niches is a foundational feature of my geek self), but I have started wondering how I can possibly hack, bend, and twist the current system to make it just a bit less disappointing to me, even if, as long as the Expression system is in place, I can only deal with it by going against the flow. The individualist me especially dislikes the perceived chain drive between Civ, Tradition, and typical Core Expressions, and the apparent expectation your group affiliations largely define what you are individually good at about magic. I do not necessarily need my characters to be able to do everything magical w/o effort, but I absolutely need maximum freedom to customize their set of Core Expressions across all of their Traditions w/o being a slave to any cultural background or group identity, or compromising the freedom to choose other important features such as Core Values, Paths, and Founts.
In order to do this, I need to know two things:
a) If you have multiple Traditions, when it says you can have six Core Expressions, does it mean a personal syncretic set of six that is true for all of your Traditions (and you can more or less freely pick a choice of six from all the methods you know), or every Tradition has its broadly typical set of six Core Expressions and you pay Reserve to switch between them?
b) How much room is there in the game for cultural rebels and nonconformists that care little for the Traditions and related typical Core Expressions of their original Civilization and throw them away to adopt the methods of other groups or some personal system, even if they stay somehow tied to the Civ outside of their magical methods for one reason or another?
If you ask my opinion, any mage worth this name in a high-powered, high-fantasy setting should be able to do all of the following basic feats on a regular basis: making things from nothing (or transmuting them from existing matter); using magic to harm enemies in combat with at least two different ways; summoning and controlling basic elements and energies; healing themselves and others; moving stuff around; influencing minds; changing one's shape; enhancing one's physical and mental abilities; having a fast travel method; protecting themselves and others from hostile magic and mundane damage. The relevant Expressions should be included in the Inherent list if they are missing. Admittedly, given the peculiar metaphysics of the SsA setting, the mental manipulation stuff might be rather more problematic then the rest, and represent a justifiable exception.
The game really needs a few options to expand your amount of Core Expressions, even if you don't fancy playing a charity addict. E.g. the Protean Society should absolutely give the choice of having Shapeshifting as an extra Core Expression, or a competitive advantage in the Self Nature.
