Baron Wulfraed

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Unfortunately -- I'd interpret "parrying weapon" to mean "a weapon capable of being used to parry"... One isn't going to parry using a bow, sling, or pretty much any missile weapon. Well, at least not more than once... I'm also of the world where "parry" means "deflect", not "block". In formal fencing, a parry often translates into a counter-attack (riposte) -- one has to move the opponent's attacking blade out of line, and then makes one's own attack.

Moderator appears to be indicated by hovering over the blue shield (or is it an harp) on the avatar. Though that doesn't negate a special logo for /pure/ moderator (Note "Scotty" gets a red-letter "administrators" tag, but still has the blue moderator on the avatar.

Considering the straight character generation rules (page 53) -- the "total < 92 -- allot three more points as desired" is almost a guaranteed action. Consider: average 3D6 is 10.5 * 5 => 52.5, average 2D6+6 is 13 * 2 => 26, total is 78.5... Add three ad-hoc points and the "typical, as-rolled" character is still only 81.5 points... Over 10 points below the break point of 92. Heck, it's even below the sidebar break for "discard an ... average 12 or less" (which is a total of 84 points). Which leads me to the scheme I follow -- and was what my GM used in the early 80s... Best N out of N+1 dice (roll 4, keep best 3 for 3D6; roll 3, keep best 2 for 2D6+6). I'd have to study half a dozen statistics texts to determine how to compute the average (or just do Monte Carlo -- generate some 1000+ such rolls and see what the average comes out to be)... {Actually, I wrote a program some time ago to do just that -- for 10,000 rolls} C:\Users\Wulfraed\Documents\_Hg-Repositories\Python Progs>dice-RQ-character.py Straight Rolls - Mean: 78.4477 Standard Deviation: 7.544770179780599 Max: 102 Min: 51 Modified Rolls - Mean: 89.9702 Standard Deviation: 7.175434526637715 Max: 114 Min: 63 Even the best N from N+1 has an average below the 92 point cut-off... JUST; adding three ad-hoc points gets the average to just over 92. Straight rolls Best N from N+1 rolls

<blink><blink>RQ2: Humakt geases were always D% roll (Cults of Prax [Classic reprint], page 37). My GM of the time used a D10 for the selection of the gift. Yelmalio (page 57) explicitly says "Roll" above the 10 available gifts (so using a roll for Humakt makes things consistent), with the geases, again, being on a D%

Skulking rat-weasel on left, something staring at its tongue on the right, Boris Badenov in space suit and bent-frame glasses in the middle... And something I'd expect to find in a Penthouse comic behind him.

Emphasis on "mutually comprehensible" (which is also why I think Chinese for Theyalan). It's not just shared letter forms -- ignoring a few letter forms, Old English and Latin tend to use the same letter forms, but being able to read the former won't let one read the latter. In Chinese, one may have a complicated glyph for "big house" which Cantonese might (forgive the simile using european terms) speak as "chataeu" while Mandarin might pronounce as "mansion". The Cantonese could write "chateau" (big house) and the Mandarin could read that as "mansion" (big house). For Theyalan, even a moderate read/write might allow for clearer communication between Esrolian/Heortling/Tarshite than taking the half (or worse) penalties for attempting to speak.

"You! Come here!"

Given that the written form(s) for the Theyalan languages are mutually comprehensible, even while the spoken forms aren't... Theyalan (Esrolean/Heortling/Tarshite) is closer to Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese) -- in which the spoken forms are also distinct but the written forms are the same (some stylistic differences)

Unfortunately there is no "lead ritual" skill. Worship is described as personal (everyone in the sanctified area uses their worship skill to determine what they regain; the closest in the rules is page 316: the Sacred Places bonus -- and I suspect a field Sanctify may only reach the level of (temporary) shrine, and no bonus. Possibly Cult Lore could be used for "how to lead a ritual" and somehow augment Worship skills for all attendees. I would tend to include the RP in a Sanctify as recoverable -- after all, the recovery is based upon the Worship skill result, and it could be argued that one does not know the result until the end of the (full day) ritual (by which time the sanctify expires). Definitely a local ruling, as the books don't mention "weekly holy day", just minor, seasonal, and high (and my favorite victim doesn't even have minor holy days, just one seasonal per season, and one high holy day in the year which is also the seasonal day for that season)

Pity the poor Humakt follower... ONE holy day per season (and none shown for sacred time in the calendar!) One HIGH holy day in the year. Really, how do all these massive killing machines get played? Burn off your RPs in one combat and you are out of it for weeks! You pretty much have to live in the temple and apply every last bonus (MPs, priest, temple size) to ensure getting refilled. Persuading the temple priests to make room for votive figures/images is really the best guarantee 😱 Especially if you can persuade multiple temples to accept one (maybe possible if working as a caravan guard -- and the end-points of the route have Humakt temples). Still limited to one day a season, but no need to be near the temple if working a caravan.

Don't overlook https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-qa-by-chapter/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-chapter-13-rune-magic-qa/#ib-toc-anchor-3 https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-qa-by-chapter/cha4028-runequest-roleplaying-in-glorantha-chapter-07-skills/#ib-toc-anchor-27

RQ2/Classic page 101 RQ:RiG Bestiary page 105 So... A wolf FORM is in the rules... But it is a natural wolf, NOT a lycanthrope/werewolf with whatever attributes/resistances the latter may possess.

Furthermore -- while the study was done by/for law enforcement -- that guidance is also taught to civilians taking concealed carry courses to qualify for carry permits. The primary point applicable to RQ however is that an assailant at under 21feet with a melee weapon (knife/sword/club) can go from a harmless standing position to strike range faster than a defender could get a weapon into play (better hope one has been carrying a shield on one's arm and not via a shoulder strap -- you won't be able to draw a sheathed blade and get it into a usable position). I never was a runner -- think my school days 50 yard dash was in the 10 second range, and that distance is 7 times the 21 foot range of the study. Even allowing for initial acceleration, that would have put a 21 foot sprint into the 2 second range for me. <heh> 2 seconds is also the old guide line for following distance on the roads -- being that if one sees an accident starting with the vehicle 2 seconds in front, one has just enough time to react before catching up to the accident (which would have moved some distance further, giving space for one's reaction to affect a change)

In a totally left-field diversion... I've at times (in reading this thread) visualized these "Prax hounds" as something on the nature of a dachshund -- bred to go into vermin dens and kill the residents. After all, all those "prairie dog" holes are a danger to the legs of running herd animals 😱

At the risk of offending the readers -- especially those not in US -- consider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tueller_Drill (I'd had a few other links, but felt Wikipedia would be the least offensive)

For a human, the "each +4" likely has no effect -- the rolled max attributes are 3D6 (3..18 -- unless you purloin the later editions 2D6+6 for SIZ and INT getting 8..18). The MAXIMUM (with training or other forms of improvement) is "max roll + #dice" so (since 2D6+6 counts as 3 dice) humans top out at 21 -- but can not be rolled at those levels. The tables you are referencing are used for ALL entities. If you have a giant of STR 32, then the "each +4" means each 4 points above "20" (in the referenced table above). STR 17..20 => +5% STR 21..24 => +5% + 5% (+10%) STR 25..28 => +5% + 5% + 5% (+15%) STR 29..32 => +5% + 5% + 5% + 5% (+20%)

Heck, it could turn out like those trash-can lids used in "Ivanhoe". The shields didn't fall apart, but tended to wrap around the user's arm under impacts 😱 I really doubt anyone is holding, on one arm, something with the mass of a man-hole cover, or even quarter-inch thick sheet metal. That brings it back to more likely being a thin /puncture resistant/ layer mounted upon a wood base -- where the wood provides the structural strength to prevent dents and folds.

Images of a troupe of Aldryami digging their toes (or equivalent) into the bodies of the dead on a battle-field...

Non-sequitur: as long as they don't result from godly kidney stones 👹

Please note that I'd cited (quoted) text from pages 27&28 of that same volume, not RQ3. I interpret page 26 as just a general concept, while the table on page 27 is specific as to what falls into each of the groupings.

Not as I recall... Weapon similarity was within class... 1H short sword, 1H broadsword, 1H bastard sword (maybe even 1H dagger) would allow skill in one to move to another at something like half skill, but 1H axe was a totally different category. 1H axe, 1H hatchet, 1H tomahawk would group. I'd actually think 1H axe to 1H hammer (bec de corbin, to slaughter the French) would group at half skill. The swords are typically double-edged, allowing for a back-swing without having to flip the hand. Not all axes are double-bitted, so a back-swing likely is learned with a rotation of the hand (palm up on normal horizontal swing, palm down to reverse direction). Swords cut anywhere along the length (ignoring any flats for 2H gripping in front of the guard). Axes (and hammers) have the working end all in a short span at a distance; misjudge and you just club the target with a stick. RQ2 (Classic reprint page 28 and table on 27) Referenced table give 1H sword as: bastard sword, broadsword, scimitar (I'd object to the latter as, to me, scimitar are curved single-edged -- I'd swap it with short sword, which the table lists as a stand-alone, as is the rapier). 1H axe is: hatchet, battle axe

Of course, to play Devil's Advocate, a "proper" parry DEFLECTS the incoming blow, which would mean excess damage would be more likely to strike an adjacent area not covered by the shield -- ie: a downward strike might slide along a tilted shield and hit the upper leg on the shield side. This is different from using the shield to directly BLOCK the incoming blow.

I would nominate the Giant Anteater... long nose AND big tail brush... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_anteater

Captain Hook's crocodile... (or was it an alligator?)