The Magus Cup thread is being overrun by commentary on the difficulties had by non-combat oriented characters. This is in part my fault, and so I've made a separate topic to discuss it.

I'll now summarize what I see as the points thus far.

POINT: Tournaments (and Althanas generally) puts a lot of emphasis on combat over anything else. Non-combatant characters are disadvantaged by this.

REPLY 1: This is not a fault of the system, but rather of people or of the fantasy genre. (The International)

SUR-REPLY 1: Granted. This is the cause for why many characters do fight. They are welcome to. The issue is that many if not all of the events of Althanas prefer combat to non-combat. I don't know if you will be familiar with it, but The Cell is a prime example. One of the most interesting ideas, but combat focused. A non-combatant would be mere comic relief in a X man enter 1 man leaves type fight. Comic relief is never going to win first prize. (Visla, new in this thread)

REPLY 2: You needn't fight. People have engaged in non-combat activity in tournaments before. (Max Dirks, The International)

SUR-REPLY 2: This only works if both parties consent. If a non-combatant runs up against a fighter, he is forced to run or act confused or fight back. A combatant acts in character and does what his character does best. A non-combatant has a choice between acting in character and spending the thread fleeing, dodging, etc. or acting out of character and fighting back. If the character is a craftsman or a stealthy thief or a writer, it becomes abjectly difficult to do what the character is designed to do when pitted against a combatant in a tournament. The ability to cite counter-examples does not eliminate the problem. This is not always a problem, but it is one that a non-combatant faces which a fighter does not. (Zantetsuken, Kially Gaith, Visla)

REPLY 3: This is a forum for adventurers. Tournaments are for the bold. Those who made meek characters made their own beds. (No one has said this yet, but I anticipate it)

SUR-REPLY 3: This may be the case, and if so Althanas is welcome to declare that official policy. However, since it is a writing forum and not strictly an RP forum, I would find this unlikely. There are an increasing number of unconventional non-combatant characters. Visla would be one of them if I hadn't compromised somewhat at character creation and given her at least a minimal ability to fight. I did that because of this very problem. I knew if I wanted to be part of Althanas-wide tournaments and other such competitions, I would need to be able to battle. Battles have long been the preferred method of leveling (for those who consider the forum a game, this is not my concern, but one I have noted) because they are quick, rewarding, and require little planning. While both a quest and a battle need good writing, a battle describes a time-span of as little as a few minutes, while a quest could stretch to years. Granted, a long thread of equal quality should always get more xp, but battles are just easier to make. But I digress. Non-combatant are here. Althanas ought to be more accommodating. I hear this is going to be the case soon, so I'm not particularly riled up about it, but I wouldn't mind more information from the staff on these upcoming changes.

FINAL NOTE: As I stated, the Magus Cup is already underway and whatever problems might exist will continue to exist in that tournament. This is focused on the future.