Jens

In addition to the table on page 311 of the core rules, Jeff regularly mentions the compatibility of various additional cults so we know an RQG version exists somewhere- we just don’t know where and when it will be published. While the mythology book makes sense, since that would reveal all the cults in the future volumes I’m not sure it will be in there. Perhaps in the mythical game master book instead? Until then I supplement the core rule table with the big one at the back of the Gloranthan Classics Cult Compendium.

As often, @PhilHibbs has us covered- http://www.hibbs.me.uk/snarks/sandysorcery.html

I couldn’t find a local store that was stocking the books, but most will special order if they are available from their distributors, and as long as you pick up from them I haven’t been charged shipping. Have you tried asking your local Imaginaire? I ordered from Rain City Games in Vancouver Sadly your PDF coupon is only valid at the Chaosium store, and don’t think you’d get a refund if you buy a second copy through B&M- best bet might be to regift if you do.

Given the potentially long wait for the Canadian warehouse to re-open, I was able to special order the books from my friendly local game store. The physical books have reached Canadian distributors so your FLGS should be able to get them; I ordered from one that takes part in Bits & Mortar, and they sent me the link for the PDFs while I await the physical copies.

I wonder if it was more of a cultural rather than a cult restriction- in Prax, for example, sorcerers are greatly disliked, while in Sartar shamans might be fine out in the hills but frowned on in “civilized” towns. With the Cults books representing their cult in all of Glorantha, not just Dragon Pass, they obviously need to represent areas like the West where sorcerers often join Orlanth, or Kolati communities where Orlanthi shamans are more common.

IMHO it’s a Ritual Enchantment, not a regular spell. Just like Binding Enchantment, there’s a Divine and Spirit Magic version of the spell; they both have the same permanent POW sacrifice requirements (1 point per SIZ). Whether it’s a Common rune spell or a separate 2 pointer akin to Alter Creature is up to MGF, although I wouldn’t have it ding your Rune Pool since it already takes permanent POW; shamans shouldn’t have a problem finding the spirit version but may need an apprentice to raise suitable hosts.

We Germans all look alike. Or perhaps it's the accent. Fully agree with all of the points about using ritual practices to bump your Spirit Dance- easy to start at 50%; and augment your Spirit Combat- easy to start at 90+%. And of course an Extended Charisma spell can be a big boost. POW is IMHO more of a gate than skills, since you don't want either your or your Fetch's POW to be too low, but even there you can start with an 18 (or more thanks to the Moon rune). So with a willing GM, and a player more interested in expanding play opportunities rather than waiting to become an overpowered Shaman, you could certainly step up from Assistant to Full Shaman soon after character creation (assuming your brand of Shamanism doesn't have other skill requirements).

The Well provides specific guidance for Control (Entity)- "Look to the RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary. You might break it down to Animal Spirits, Demons, Disease Spirits, Healing Spirits, Plant Spirits, Ghosts, Guardian Spirits, Landscape Spirits, Nymphs, etc."- see https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/catalogue/publishers/chaosium/cha4034-the-red-book-of-magic/cha4032-the-red-book-of-magic-qa/cha4032-red-book-of-magic-chapter-03-spirit-magic-spells-qa/#Control

IMHO items would fall to the ground, unless they were enchanted Vivamort items (not sure the POW cost or spells required). Of course, any crafty ancient vampire will have multiple sets of weapons and armour hidden around their lair for just such a circumstance- and would be highly motivated to retrieve any unique items they had to drop to flee.

I'd shy away from a close-combat oriented assistant shaman; likely won't help you long term, and armour tends to vanish to taboos (plus you don't start with any). I'd pick a missile weapon and dodge- fits in more with the skirmisher archetype a lightly armoured assistant shaman naturally falls into. For starting sprit spells, this is what I chose for my last character: Befuddle 2 - more effective than Demoralize or Disrupt for removing foes from combat, gets you POW gain rolls Distraction 1- great for making sure spirits attack you, and saving allies as a last resort Glamour 2- helps your social skills, as well as magic skills and spirit combat damage Mobility 1- helps you run away (skirmisher role), and drops your SR (spell casting & ranged) Speedart 1- lets you hit harder and more often for only 1 point Second Sight 3- free spell For healing, I got a Random Boon and lucked out with a Bound Spirit- GM let it be a spell spirit with Heal 6. For Rune spells I chose: Discorporation- a must for an Assistant Axis Mundi- helps when summoning spirits Summon Ancestor- the building block for the other summon spells, and useful in its own right

Fully agree with all of the previous points- while Shamans are easily as, if not more powerful, than equivalent Rune levels, Assistant Shamans are more challenging to play, and are best suited to more experienced players and a willing GM. Just like other specialized characters (a Lhankor Mhy sage for example), they will be less of a combat monster than combat specialists, and the GM needs to provide opportunities for their special skills to shine (lore, reading, investigation for a scribe; talking to spirits, visiting the spirit plane, summoning ancestors for Assistant Shamans). That being said, since most have a high POW and access to diverse spells, there are 2 low cost spells that make Assistant Shamans extra useful in combat- Distraction, and Befuddle. As mentioned by @jajagappa, Distraction is a great spell for having malign spirits attack the spirit combat specialist in your group, but it's also helpful for pulling the focus of a corporeal enemy- cast it on the big bad guy who's about to kill your best fighter and then run away- he'll be forced to chase you, rather than finishing your colleague. Befuddle is the other fabulous first choice for an Assistant Shaman- can potentially neutralize an opponent every round, and can be used in non-combat situations as well (bluffing your way past a guard, getting out of an increasingly hostile conversation, etc.). Assistant Shamans do best if they have access to a bound spirit early on, either by getting them as a random boon or family heirloom during character creation, or by buying or sacrificing a couple of points of POW to create a biding enchantment.

Right now there are 3 cults that say Yes to Sorcerer Initiates- Chalana Arroy, Lhankor Mhy, and Seven Mothers (via Irippi Onto). Lhankor Mhy is the only one that has Sorcery Spells in the Initiate Membership benefits section, and therefore must have Cult Sorcerers that teach those spells. Chalana Arroy forbids Initiates the use of Tap and Offensive Spells. so conversely allows all other sorcery spells. However, the cult does not teach any sorcery spells; no sorcery spell teaching, no Cult Sorcerers. Seven Mothers does not mention sorcery anywhere in the core rulebook; I assume the upcoming Lunar Cults of RuneQuest book details Irippi Ontor, who likely teaches the same sorcery spells as Lhankor Mhy, and probably makes those available to Seven Mothers Initiates. So Seven Mothers as a cult would allow sorcery but not have Cult Sorcerers; the separate cult of Irippi Ontor would have both. No other cult mentions sorcery in a neutral or positive way; those fall in the Not Forbidden camp. Clearer @g33k?

One additional wrinkle- while SRDs were required for the OGL, they are explicitly NOT needed for ORC (see the bottom of page 2 of the ORC explanation doc). This means Chaosium does not need to publish a separate text only version of the new book/rules to release it under ORC- the license notice at the beginning is enough. It would certainly be convenient if they did, but if not any of us in the community can put such a document together, as long as that document also contains the ORC notice and the correct attribution (and respects/excludes the named Product Identity elements). Of course IANAL, don’t take that as legal advice, and the license is still subject to change.

“Gottlerner” is certainly the most straight forward translation, but agreed it misses nuance (although frankly so does “God Learner”). I suppose it’s an easier term in Tradetalk than “experimental epistemologist”.

@Joerg I'm 5 years late to the conversation, but to me the God Learners weren't just researchers, they were experimenters. I'd vote for something like Götterwissenschaftler, or perhaps refer to them as angewandte Theologen.

While I understand that mechanically it is, I don't actually see Extension as a separate spell. Instead, you are asking your god to make the power you are channelling from them last longer (e.g. you're not casting Shield 2 and Extension 2, for 4 rune points you are casting a Shield 2 that lasts for 24 hours). For this reason I'd require all rune points to come from the same pool. For earthrunning, I see 3 options- There are many spells in the Red Book with durations other than 15 minutes- give earthrunning a longer default duration (perhaps at a higher starting cost), or make it stackable with an increasing duration- something like 1 hour for 1 point, or 12 hours (or dawn/dusk) for 2 points- or even until the caster falls asleep or stops touching the earth, like Path Watch (a 2 point spell). The spirit cults listed in the core rules all provide Extension 1. Perhaps the default duration is 1 hour, but when stacked with Extension 1 from ERGirl, that increases to one day (make sure you sacrifice 2 POW for the 2 point rune pool needed). ERGirl is a Daughter (and subcult) of Ernalda. You need to visit her shrine to learn the spell, but the POW point you sacrifices increases your Ernalda rune pool, and the spell (and extension) are cast from that pool.

Conversely RQG has problems with small creatures, particularly those with good CONs and/or a single hit location. Take a Vrok Hawk- you could have a SIZ 2, CON 15+ bird with 13 or more HP in its single location...

While Lodril has few direct adherents in Sun County, we know there are at least some. Perhaps there is just enough business in the Cremate Dead game to keep one local Priest employed, in between modelling the behaviour of Yelmalio's lecherous, drunken uncle (relevant thread on Lodril in SC).