soltakss

On 10/6/2016 at 9:05 AM, Mankcam said:

I greatly prefer the Character Generation from RQ6/Mythras to that of RQ2, as it feels a logical step from where things were heading in RQ3 where Culture, Social Class, and Profession are taken into consideration.

Mythras' Character Generation is the best that I have seen in a RuneQuest-Family product.

4 hours ago, Yelm's Light said:

If some of those are 'minor magic items,' I'm a monkey's uncle.  I'm afraid to ask what major magic items are like in that campaign.

Minor as in "not deserving a full Plunder form writeup". I suppose that the Rainbow Armour and Orlanth's Mantle could be given a full writeup, the others are variations on Powered Crystals and the like. Powerful but not spectacular.

4 hours ago, MJ Sadique said:

Against a fencer with rapier, screwed too... this is a historical fact : rapier go through plates and ended the era of heavy armors (severely outdated by crossbow and longbow), and the rules say so rapier max damage at 18 vs 7 PA (3rd ed.).

I am not sure about this fact at all.

I was under the impression that black powder weapons finished off plate armour as it offered not much protection against musket balls, so when we got large number of muskets deployed on the battlefield, plate armour was seen as unnecessary.

It would seem to me that a rapier against a plate armoured knight would consist of the rapier hitting the armour, bending in a cartoon fashion and then either bouncing back or breaking. "Have at you! Ah ...".

On 9/30/2016 at 1:59 PM, Yelm's Light said:

C'mon people, I'm not the only one with ideas out there. 

There you go.

On 9/30/2016 at 1:59 PM, Yelm's Light said:

As (many) people say in Monty Python and the Holy Grail,

"Get on with it!"

I thought they said Runaway!!!

Minor Magic Items

Glorantha is an extremely magical place. Everyone can use magic and most people do. It is surprising, therefore, that there are not more magic items around than hinted at in the published supplements. Certainly, in our campaign there were many minor magic items which had unusual and occasionally useful magical powers. Hopefully these magic items can be used in other people's campaigns and will ensure that everyone walks around with a big pack of cards, each detailing a number of items. (At the last count, my major PC had a stack around an inch thick).

Pretty Stone

This supplies all the magic points needed to power a single spell per day up to the user's POWx5. Once it has been used, it cannot be reused until Dawn the following day. Anybody may use it - there is no attuning roll, the user must simply touch the stone and cast the spell. For Spirit Magic or Sorcery this stone will power the spell, providing 10 MPs to cast Protection 10, Spirit Resistance 10 or Damage Boosting 5 Duration 5. When cast with Divine Magic which require Magic Points to be used with the spell, this provides all the required magic points. So, an Issaries merchant may use the stone to power his Lock spell, if he has POW 14 then the stone will provide up to 70 MPs to use in the Lock spell. A Babeester Gor cultist may use the spell to power her Axe Trance, if she has 16 POW then she could put 80 MPs into Axe Trance, increasing her Axe skills by 400%.

Silver Amulet of a bat with a pin through its eyes

This must be attuned with a POW of 5, costing 1 POW. It makes the attuner invisible to bats as long as the amulet is worn. This includes Vampires, Bat Hsunchen and initiates or above of the Crimson Bat cult.

Gold Javelin

Has double the range of a normal javelin and no range penalties. All attacks are powered, normal hits become impales, impales become criticals, fubles become misses etc. This costs 1 POW to attune to be used.

Crystalline Spectacles

These are spectacles, completely opaque made from some kind of crystal. When worn, halves the time taken to read a scroll or written source. Gives the user a blinding headache - after the spectacles are taken off, the user's Visual Perception skills are halved for the same time the spectacles were worn. So, if it takes 6 hours to read a scroll normally, using the spectacles would reduce that time to 3 hours, but all Visual Perception skills would be reduced by half for three hours afterwards.

Powered Crystal, POW 1D8

When the user casts a spell, the Gem adds its POW in magic points for the purposes of pushing through defensive spells.

Golden Bridle

When placed over the head of a creature, this allows the beast to be ridden, whether the beast is willing or not. The rider need not make a riding roll while using the bridle. Intelligent beasts thus ridden will not be able to resist the ride but may be annoyed afterwards.

Gem

To use this gem, put n POW into the gem and then attune the gem with your reduced POW, the gem having POW equal to the POW put into it. So, a POW 15 PC can dump 6 POW into the gem and can attune the gem at POW 6 with his reduced POW of 9. When the attuned character is killed, his spirit will remain with the body for the gem's POW in SR after death. During this time, if the body is healed so the character would be alive then the character will not be dead. It also reduces the chance of Discorporation by POWx5% and increases the cost of remaining discorporate by POW in MP per hour. So, a shaman attuned tothe gem at POW 4 has his discorporation chance reduced by 20% and it costs him 5 MP per hour to remain discorporate rather than the normal 1 MP per hour. If killed, he has an extra 4 MP to be healed before his spirit leaves his body.

Orlanth's Mantle

A red cloak, Orlanth's mantle is used by a Wind Lord in the Elder Wilds. Orlanth's Mantle is a cloak dyed with the juice of theberries of the WindBerry plant. When worn in an Orlanth Holy Place, Temple or Sacred Spot, including Sanctified areas, the wearer will have POWx5% Shimmer defence if he is an initiate or better of Orlanth. This efect is cumulative with other shimmer magics such as Shimmer or Impede Chaos and is compatible with Protection and the like. So, a Wind Lord with POW 14 wearing Orlanth's Mantle in a Temple of Orlanth would have 70% shimmer defence, as if he had a Shimmer 14 cast on him.

Sling Bullets

These are magical sling bullets. Their properties are one-use unless indicated otherwise and only take effect if they strike a target as a sling shot, i.e. they won't work if thrown. If the shot misses the effects are not used, but if it hits a friend on a fumble the effects will work. The stones do not need to do damage to work and do not need to overcome POW unless stated, are not blocked by Countermagic etc. If the stone has to overcome POW, use the slinger's POW.
To find out what kind of effect the Sling Bullet has, roll 1D10 when created and consult the table below. Once rolled, the effects will not change.

1. If cast at a Discorporate or Free Spirit this acts as a Bind Ghost spell, binding it to the Sling Shot. The ghost so created will attack anyone who picks up the sling bullet. This must overcome POW.
2. casts a Free Ghost spell at the target, if cast at a free spirit it returns to the Spirit Plane and does not attack.
3. casts a Turn Undead spell at the target lasting for 15 minutes and must overcome POW.
4. Destroys the physical body of an elemental.
5. Dispels all spells cast on the target.
6. Blinds the target for 5 minutes, including Darksense and Sonar. Must overcome POW.
7. Explodes doing 8D6 damage to the location struck, with armour blocking damage.
8. Salamander-style attack to target for 1 round doing 5D6 heatshock.
9. Drenches the target in running water for 10 rounds. Must overcome POW.
10. Roll again but the effect is usable once per day. If 10 is rolled again, roll again and it is usable twice per day, or three times if 10 is rolled again.

Limpets

These are magical shells with a sticky base. If placed on a non-living surface they stick to it until the user removes it. The shell acts as a Glue 5 spell for the purposes of being removed by others. The shells only work once per week and have various effects which are rolled when the Limpet is created.

1. Float spell - as the Zola Fel version but lasts until the Limpet is removed.
2. Sink spell - the reverse of type 1.
3. Doubles the speed of the target.
4. Seals the target to make it completely watertight (will not lose Seaworthiness).
5. Makes the target totally non-watertight - it loses 1 point of Seaworthiness per round (or turn) until the ship sinks.
6. Will seal up any hole in the surface until the Limpet is removed, in which case the hole opens up again.
7. Makes a hole in the surface with a SIZ = User's POW.
8. Totally repairs the target, this effect ends when removed, any damage taken while the Limpet is attached is temporarily ignored (Structure Points are at maximum).
9. Roll again, adds 1 use per week.

Water Rune Amulet

Made of Aluminium, this enables to give verbal commands to any single sea creature within sight. The user must overcome the creature's POW and be able to speak Seatongue at 30% or more. It will not work on familiars or intelligent creatures. The user cannot command the creature to injure itself. The use may command other sea-creatures only by relinquishing control over the first. When control is ended the caster must roll POWx3% or the sea creature will be hostile towards him and will attack. The wearer will not be attacked by an unintelligent sea creature if he rolls POWx1% on contact, one attempt per creature.
Pharaoh's Sandals

For 10 MPs these swell up to form floats enabling the user to walk on water for 10 rounds. In this form, each sandal is ENC 2 and movement is reduced to one third of normal. If a sandal is damaged it will burst causing the person to fall over, unless the wearer fails a Luck Roll he will overturn and submerge. This fits any humanoid feet and will change size if necessary.

Rainbow Armour

A Suit of armour, normally Iron but may be of any metal, including bronze. The armour glows with all the colours of the rainbow, in a swirling mix of patterns.
Attune the Armour with 1 POW. This activates the armour's powers.

The Armour will change size to fit the person attuned and will only function for the attuned person. It has half the encumbrance of a normal suit of chain armour, has Armour Points = wearer's POW, gives a Shimmer Defence (as per the spell) equal to the users POWx5% and reduces the wearer's Hide chance by POWx5%. So, someone with 15 POW attunes the armour, reducing POW to 14. The armour gives 14 AP, Shimmer Defence of 70% and reduces Hide by 70%.

Stone Head

When asked for advice this will give advice on Kingship and rule. Occasionally it will get things spectacularly wrong but will be able to give advice on how to put things right again. It is cantankerous and is not known for its politeness. If not asked for advice it will remain motionless and will appear as a bust. It is the petrified head of a Lhankor Mhy HeroQuestor who turned himself to stone in order to escape a Thanatari Headhunter.

Spirit Bottles

Clay bottles which can hold a bound spirit. Simply open up the stopper, place the captured spirit into the bottle and close the stopper. The bottle gives access to MPs and INT, thus combining the functions of a POW and Intellect Spirit. Any Spirit with POW and INT can be bound into the Bottle. If the bottle is broken or uncorked the Spirit is released. Anyone holding the bottle has access to the MPs/INT. Normally, these are found in temples where they give their benefits to Temple Guardians.

Various Items

• Flawed Breathe Water Potion which does not work on fish of any kind.
• Stone which when placed in a sample containing poison reduces the Potency of the poison by 1D6. This only works once per sample.
• Stone which when eaten acts as a poison of Potency 4D6 but if the eater survives any poison eaten by the eater has its potency reduced by 1D6.
• Stone which acts as a Purify Water spell if placed in a sample of water. Each time it is used there is a 5% chance (96-00) of being destroyed, fouling the water.
• Stone which if swallowed changes the eater's Speak Seatongue to his INTx5%.

These are by Ian Martin, but I am sure he won't mind them being posted here.

The Red Stone.

The stone is the size to fit inside a man's fist, it is flat with curved edges, like a stone from the beach front. It is a deep red in colour, almost burgundy and has black and silver flecks running through it. It weighs more than you would expect a stone of its size to weigh, the same as if it were made from lead. 
The stone needs to be attuned, but instead of waiting for someone to place a magic point into it, to begin the process of attuning, if it is touched by someone with more than 10 POW and 10 MP (it will do its thing when the person regains enough MP's if they are below 10) it enters spirit combat with them, for the purposes of the combat it has a POW of 14 and if it wins it reduces the attuned person's POW by 5. If it loses the contest then it only draws 1 POW from the attuned person but still stays attuned.

From then on, until the stone is removed from the attuned person by a distance of 100 yards all spirit magic spells cast have a 90% chance of being cast twice, on the same SR, for example, if you cast Disruption, then there is a 90% chance it will result in 2 Disruptions (same target although a new POW v POW and hit and dam roll) it also goes for spells such as countermagic, cast countermagic 4 and there is a 90% chance it will cast it on you again (you cannot change the target) in effect wasting the spell. Spells such as Bladesharp will affect multiple weapons, so if you have a weapon in each hand and you get a multicast then you can have the spell effect each. 

This stone is a double edged sword, it means that spells like Firearrow (if you are holding 2 shuriken or throwing stones) will happen twice in the same round 90% of the time. It also means that spells like Protection and Countermagic are VERY expensive in MPs.

The only other feature of the stone is that it can never be attuned to the same person twice.

Its true history is long lost although there is one rare reference to it in some old scrolls, detailing a stone that fell from Eurmal's boot treads when he was in Orlanth's Hearth, it was swept up by one of the servants, but soon after the servant was seen no more.

Trail Grit

Pouches of trail grit are one of the many secrets of the Rubble Runners who travel into the rubble from the Flintnail temples in Pavis. These heroic bands who often help adventurers and escort those in need of protection know the rubble better than most of its denizens. Notoriously hard to track the rubble runners use a small pinch of this dusty grit in each of there boots, once applied although slightly uncomfortable to those unused to it, it reduces the tracks of the runner, and his party.
Anyone within 5 yards of someone who has a pinch of trail grit in their boots will leave only light signs of passage, effectively reducing the tracking chance of anyone following them by 40%. If the runner sprinkles five pinches on the ground then his parties trail will disappear forcing anyone following to delay for a number of rounds while they search for the trail afresh (with a -40% penalty). Trail dust lasts for four hours and then the trail left from then on will be normally trackable.

The Flintnail temple makes this dust by grinding up a small part of the foot rock of the giant stature, it is mixed with pumice and is sometimes given as a reward to adventurers who do the temple, or runners a service.

The Pavic Quill of Families

When the city of Pavis was at it lowest ebb, the darkness races running amok and the humans of Pavis hid amongst the rubble of their once great city, the people found care and support and, better yet, food from the Flintnail and Pavis temples. In this time families became spit up, though those lost always found succour with one band of refugees or another, time took its toll and the people started to lose the family they were born to and instead found shelter with others.
Rimlar the writer was a Daughter of Pavis, he worked hard as a scribe to re-unite these lost families, especially in the time after the Dream when the darkness creatures did not threaten them so. He was an old proud man, who worked deep inside the catacombs of the Pavis temple, he kept the rolls and his close friends, some say even followers, brought hundreds of long lost families back together. It is through him that bloodlines in Pavis can be still traced through this hard time.

Rimlar was also a HeroQuestor of some small renown and spent many years learning about the Quests and Myths of many different people. One time he returned with a quill of significant magical power. He used it up to the day he died with many of his followers defending the temple against a massive troll raid, his body was found smashed and his things taken by the trollkin that sought treasure for their masters.

The quill looks like a normal goose feather quill, but radiates strong magic under the correct spells. Normally the quill works like any other, but it never seems to need to be sharpened, and even when sharpened it never gets any shorter. Long research would be needed to find its function, but when done it would be this:

When the quill is used to write a name upon parchment that is them rolled and tied with a blue ribbon and burned in a censor, at the time the scroll becomes ash it will levitate by itself and point its writing end at the person named, if two persons share the same name, it points to the closest. It gives no indication of distance and no limit had been found to how far away it finds people.

Every use of the pen drains 4 Magic Points that can be regained normally.

The cult of Pavis would love to have this item back, it is thought lost somewhere in the rubble but could have changed hands innumerable times.

Crokis's Sword

This one comes from an old joke at a RQ session a long time ago:
Long ago, a tired and battered adventuring group settled down by the fire. Much talk was made and of course ale made boasts start. Crokis, a Sword Sage of Lhankor Mhy, was always being belittled by the warriors of the group, two Orlanthi and a Humakti, because of his studious nature. Crokis's skills with sword and dagger were not at all grand and as such he was the butt of their jokes. One day he exclaimed "The pen is mightier than the sword", the Orlanthi took this as a riddle and thought long and hard about it, but the Humakti, a small quick man named Rudarr, exclaimed that it was true, bringing a hush to the group, "but," he continued "only if the pen is very sharp and the sword is very small". Much laughter ensued but Crokis decided then he would stop being the butt of the group's jokes.

Years later, after the group became separated in the Holy Country, Crokis spent long hours researching the secret scrolls in the great library and lead an expedition to a ruined keep not far from Sog. When he returned he bore with him a weapon, a quill that was tipped with metal. It never needed sharpening and wrote the neatest of notes. When in time he met his old friend Rundarr he challenged him to a Humakti duel and history tells he took first blood with nothing more as a weapon than this new quill.

The quill is a long white plumed ostrich feather quill its tip is a diamond shaped piece of enchanted iron with a small split in it. It functions in all purposes as a pen, and does in fact help the writer's presentation (+10 write skill) but if grasped tightly about the feathered stem, as one would a weapon it looses its natural flexibility and becomes rigid. It is then a weapon, related to knives and daggers and much akin to a parrying dagger. It has a base 20% attack and 45% parry, it also has an AP of 20. It does the same damage as a dagger. It never needs repairing, if it is left stuck in the corpse of a creature slain by it, it regenerates its AP at 1 per hour. Crokis had a Bladesharp 4 matrix inscribed upon it as a reward from King Byron.

Crokis adventured for more years with Rundarr until they both sold themselves dearly in the Starbrow uprising, no one knows what became of his quill, but the Lunars never recovered it from the battle field.

Glowtions

These small glass tubes are filled with a clear viscose liquid with a sealed stopper. They are 6 inches tall and resemble a modern day boiling tube. They are purchased from the Pavic Alchemist Guild or from the Flintnail temple. When shaken vigorously they emit clear light for 15 minutes, the light has the same radius as a 
torch and is colourless.
The glowtions are bought only in ten use tubes for a price of 300 Lunars, they are used by many adventurers since torches produce smoke that easily brings those creatures a fire will not scare to the light.  The liquid reduces each time it is used, and some of the tubes have scales marked down the side to indicate how many uses they have remaining.  Recently they have been produced with 11 charges, since the first one is used for demonstration, after a large number of tubes of water were slipped onto the market through a less than honest group of adventurers.

Ancestor Bundles

DESCRIPTION: Ancestor Bundles are typical Shamanic Medicine Bundles. They contain many different components, maybe with runes or symbols as decoration, typically decorated with feathers, bones, cloth, and so on. All Ancestor Bundles contain at least one item sacred to the ancestor to be contacted, perhaps a piece of the ancestor's body or a picture of the ancestor or something owned by the ancestor during life. In more civilised areas, Ancestor Bundles may well take the form of icons or small shrines which would sit in the family shrine and allow the ancestor to be called.
CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Daka Fal, Shamanic cults
ENEMY: Humakt, other Death Rune Cults
HOSTILE: People who were hostile to the ancestor while alive

KNOWLEDGE: Common, Shamanic.

HISTORY: When Daka Fal taught people to contact those who had died and were part of their family, he also taught how to contact individual spirits more easily, so as to make it easier and less dangerous to contact these spirits. Thus were created the first Ancestor Bundles.

PROCEDURE: Ancestor Bundles are made by shamans who know the ritual to make them. This ritual may be a Spirit Magic spell or a HeroQuest spell, depending on he individual GM's preferences. The Shaman makes an Ancestor Bundle using the techniques that his culture uses to create Medicine Bundles in general. So, elven shamans will use plants and stones in the manufacture whereas praxian shamans may use bones, feathers and cloth, troll shamans may use bones, hair, cloth and polished stones and so on. However, all Ancestor Bundles have to contain some kind of link to the ancestor, so a troll Ancestor Bundle may contain a finger of the ancestor, a lock of hair, a piece of cloth worn by the ancestor and so on. The cost of creating an Ancestor Bundle depends on the ritual used but is typically 1-3 POW.

POWERS

Ancestor Bundles enable easy contact with the ancestor specified in the creation of the Bundle. One need not know one's exact genealogy in order to summon this ancestor when using an Ancestor Bundle, all one needs to know is that one is a descendant. 

A Summon Ancestor spell is still required to summon forth the spirit and there is no chance that the wrong spirit will be called. The ancestor tied to the Ancestor Bundle is typically well-disposed to the user of the Bundle, subtract the user's POW from any reaction rolls which need to be made.

Summoning Spirits which are not one's ancestors using these bundles is a bad move and cause the user's POW to be added to reaction rolls. Also, the only spirit which may be summoned is the spirit linked to the Bundle. This may be used to trap a spirit who is not one's ancestor.

VALUE: Ancestor Bundles are worth a great deal to the descendants of the Spirit in question. Depending on the relative power and prestige of the ancestor, an Ancestor Bundle may sell for anything from 500L to 20000L. They may also be sold to enemies of the Ancestor for around half the amount.

NOTES: Some Ancestor Bundles are extremely sought after. Any Bundle that ties to a Mistress Race Troll is valuable to the trolls as many trolls are descended from these beings. In places such as Prax and the Rubble, Ancestor Bundles may allow powerful ancestors to be summoned in times of war, in which case Bundles tied to mighty warriors or magicians are especially sought after.
Some families will summon ancestors of rival clans using these Bundles and will then bind or destroy those ancestors to weaken their enemies.

God Bundles

DESCRIPTION: God Bundles are typical Shamanic Medicine Bundles. They contain many different components, maybe with runes or symbols as decoration, typically decorated with feathers, bones, cloth, and so on. All God Bundles contain at least one item sacred to the spirit to be contacted, perhaps a piece of flint to contact Orlanth or a raven feather to contact Raven.
CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Shamanic cults, the cult of the spirit to be contacted
ENEMY: Enemies of the spirit to be contacted
HOSTILE: Members of the cult of the spirit to be contacted who do not like outsiders gaining access to their spirit

KNOWLEDGE: Common, Shamanic.

HISTORY: When the Horned Man told his children how to contact the Spirits, some came to him and asked why they could not contact the deities who walked the world. The Horned Man thought a while and went to each deity in turn asking if they would allow worship by his followers. Most of the deities were greedy and wanted more worship with only a few refusing. Dayzatar was one who refused, as was Ourania Queen of Heaven. Those deities who refused may not be contacted with a God Bundle. The Horned Man then made the first God Bundles and taught the secret of their use and manufacture to his children.

PROCEDURE: God Bundles are made by shamans who know the ritual to make them. This ritual may be a Spirit Magic spell or a HeroQuest spell, depending on he individual GM's preferences. The Shaman makes a God Bundle using the techniques that his culture uses to create Medicine Bundles in general. So, elven shamans will use plants and stones in the manufacture whereas praxian shamans may use bones, feathers and cloth, troll shamans may use bones, hair, cloth and polished stones and so on. However, all God Bundles have to contain some kind of link to the Spirit to be contacted. So, a Sun Hawk God Bundle may contain one of Sun Hawk's feathers, a stone with Sun Hawk's Runes written on it, a picture of Sun Hawk or a Sun Kiss flower.
The cost of creating a God Bundle depends on the ritual used but is typically 1-3 POW.

POWERS

God Bundles may be used by anyone having the knowledge to use one. All Shamans are taught how to use God Bundles as part of their training. Some GMs may want to play that God Bundles may only be used by shamans of the same or related culture to that of the creator, so only Praxian shamans may use God Bundles created by a Praxian shaman. I personally think this is an unnecessary complication.
A God Bundle allows a shaman to contact a spirit in order to worship the spirit and to gain benefits from that direct worship. The Shaman must still discorporate and find the spirit to be worshipped, then must persuade the spirit to allow the worship as per normal shaman rules, but the God Bundle allows this to occur.

Most shamans cannot contact spirits for individual worship without a God Bundle of some kind.

As shamans generally only know how to create God Bundles for the spirits they normally contact, finding a God Bundle of a new spirit is important as they can now attempt to contact the new spirit.

Shamans typically have many God Bundles, one for each of the Spirits they worship. They are often jealous of these God Bundles as if they lose a particular bundle they will not be able to contact the Spirit and may no longer regain the use of the Spirit's Divine Magic nor may they sacrifice for more Divine Magic until the Bundle is restored or a new one created.

VALUE: Typically, a God Bundle is worth a great deal to a shaman, especially if it is one he does not possess or for a spirit which he wishes to contact. God Bundles are typically sold for 4 points of Spirit Magic, or maybe up to 8 points for rare or important spirits. Shamans rarely pay cash for these things, but if you wish then convert the cost of the spells into cash.
 

Spirit Weapons

DESCRIPTION: Spirit Weapons are typically small versions of real weapons, maybe a painted shield or ceremonial spear. They are often decorated with tassels, feathers, stones or engravings, carvings or painting. They may well take the form of non-weapons, such as musical instruments or images of powerful people.
CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Daka Fal, Shamanic cults
KNOWLEDGE: Common, Shamanic.

HISTORY: The Horned Man gave his children many weapons in order to protect against Spirits. The secret of how to make them was passed down amongst the shamans until every shaman in the world knew.
PROCEDURE: Spirit Weapons are made by shamans who know the ritual to make them. This ritual may be a Spirit Magic spell or a HeroQuest spell, depending on he individual GM's preferences. The Shaman makes a Spirit Weapon using the techniques that his culture uses to create Medicine Bundles in general. So, elven shamans will use plants and stones in the manufacture whereas praxian shamans may use bones, feathers and cloth, troll shamans may use bones, hair, cloth and polished stones and so on.
The cost of creating a Spirit Weapon depends on the ritual used and the powers gained, but is typically 1-3 POW.

POWERS

Spirit Weapons must be used correctly for their powers to work. Thus, drums must be played, rattles must be shaken, pipes blown, spears and shields wielded. They are, of course, designed to look silly while being used.
While the user performs the activity he gains the benefits of the Spirit Weapon. If he stops then the abilities are lost until the activities start up again. A Shaman will use these weapons during his Discorporation ritual and can then use them while discorporate, as long as he continues to perform the required activity.

Spirit Weapons have varying effects when used, depending on the powers of the individual items.

Some sample weapons are listed below:

• Spear - Increases Spirit Combat Damage (by a variable amount, e.g. 1D6, 2D6, or a fixed amount e.g. 10, 20, POW)
• Shield - Increases Spirit Combat Defence (by a variable amount, e.g. 1D6, 2D6, or a fixed amount e.g. 10, 20, POW)
• Rattle - Adds the user's POW to his Spirit Combat skill (Shamans include their fetch's POW).
• Drums - Add user's POW to all friend's Spirit Combat skill within earshot
• Pipes - All unintelligent Spirits within earshot will try to move towards the player to listen to the music.
• Net - When thrown over a Discorporate Spirit in Spirit Combat, prevents the spirit from disengaging. The combat can only end with the spirit bound or the opponent reduced to 0 MPs and possessed or captured.
• Rattle - Doubles damage inflicted on Disease Spirits fought.
• Bull Roarer - Doubles the user's POW for the purposes of determining Spirit Combat results

VALUE

Spirit Weapons have variable powers and this determines their value. Weapons with minor effects may be worth 1000L, those with major powers anything up to 10,000L. Weapons which affect groups or areas are worth more than those which affect individuals.

NOTES

The powers use my own Spirit Combat rules, which give a value for offense and defence. They might need adjusting for whichever rules set you are using.

Moon Swords

DESCRIPTION: Ornate two-handed scimitars made from a red metal. Moonswords glow with a faint red sheen which waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon, when the Red Moon is dark the sword does not glow, when full it glows almost as brightly as a Light spell.
CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Yanafal Tarnils, Red Emperor, Red Goddess, Lunar Cults
ENEMY: Orlanth, Storm Bull, Moon-hating cults

HISTORY: There are many demigods serving the Red Goddess and the Red Emperor on the Red Moon. One of these is a master smith who makes magical weapons for the court. After several HeroQuests he came back with the knowledge required to make the Moon Swords. For the past 40 years or so he has been making Moon Swords at a rate of one per year. The process takes so long because the Smith must refine Moon Rock in order to create the Moon Metal used to make the Sword.
Moon Swords are given as gifts by the Red Emperor to those he feels worthy. It is known that Jar-Eel carries two one-handed versions, the Red Emperor has a Moon Sword but never uses it, the High Priest of the Crimson Bat has a Moon Sword as does the head of the Bloodspillers cult.

PROCEDURE: The only way to gain a Moon Sword is by sucking up to the Red Emperor to the extent that he will gift you with one. Generally, only Lunar Heroes or important religious of political figures may be given Moon Swords. As Moon Swords only work for their owner they may not be gained through conquest.

POWERS

Moon Swords share many of the properties of Scarlet Scimitars with which they have much in common.
The Scimitar has the same AP as an iron scimitar and acts as a runic weapon.

The owner may cast a Truesword on the sword once per day except when the Moon is Dark. This spell is provided by the sword itself. On days of the Full Moon, this spell lasts for 1 hour.

On command, the Moon Sword will glow a bright red, illuminating an area of 50m diameter.

A Moon Sword does special damage, depending on the Phase of the Moon. The scimitar does 1D8 + 1 on Dark Days, 2D8 + 1 on Crescent Moons, 3D8 + 1 on Half Moons and 4D8 + 1 on Full Moons.

Once per week the owner of a Moon Sword may call forth a Lune from the Sword. Each personal MP expended (not from POW Spirits or crystals) increases the size of the lune by 1 cubic metre. So, expending 10 MP calls forth a lune of 10D6 POW. This lune will remain summoned for 1 minute on a Crescent Moon Day, 5 minutes on a Half Moon Day and 15 minutes on a Full Moon Day. The Lune must be commanded as usual with Command spells which the Sword does not supply. Once summoned, a lune may not be resummoned until the next Full Moon.

Within the Glow Line or within a Glow Spot, the Moon Sword will function as if the Moon were Full. This makes them extremely powerful within the Empire proper. The Truesword spell affects the Sword fully, so on a Full Moon a Truesworded Moon Sword does 8D8 + 2 damage. If you play special damage as RQ2, the Moon Sword does 8D8 + 2 on a slash or 16D8 + 4 on a truesworded slash when the Moon is Full. Some people may feel that this is excessive, but one has to bear in mind that these Swords are generally given to Heroes as personal gifts from the Goddess.

VALUE: A Moon Sword is priceless to its original owner. If he loses the Moon Sword, it is a matter of honour to regain it. In this case, the owner will generally pay up to 100,000L to regain the Sword but would be just as likely to try and take the Sword by force.
As trophies, Moon Swords are worth around 10,000L.

NOTES

Two-Handed Scimitars

Moon Swords, with the exception of those wielded by Jar-Eel, are 2 Handed scimitars. These are seldom used, even in Lunar areas, as most Lunars use the standard 1 Handed scimitar.
Here are the statistics for a 2H Scimitar, given in both RQ2 and RQ3 formats.

RQ2
Type Sword, 2H
Name: Great Scimitar
STR 11 
DEX 13 
Damage 2D6 + 2 
HP 12 
Cost 150L
ENC 1.5
Length (Range) 1.4
SR 2
Basic 10
5-25% 400L
0-50% 800L
51-75% 1200L

RQ3
Weapon Category: Sword
2H Weapon: Great Scimitar
Damage 2D6 + 2 
STR/DEX 11/13
ENC 2.5
Base Chance 10
Armour 10
SR 2
Price 280L

Thunder Arrows

DESCRIPTION: Tin arrows with flint arrowheads. When activated, the arrowhead sparks as a Thunder Stone.

CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Orlanth
ENEMY: Yelm, other Fire/Sky cults

KNOWLEDGE: Cult Secret, Few

HISTORY: When Orlanth killed Yelm during the God Time he picked up the objects that Yelm left behind with him as spoils of victory. Some of these objects were the golden arrows that Yelm had fired at him. Orlanth filled these with his own power and transformed them into Thunder Arrows.
During the First Age, many followers of Orlanth HeroQuested and travelled back to his victory over Yelm. There they found the method to create Thunder Arrows.

PROCEDURE: The Thunder Arrow variant of the "Orlanth Slays Yelm" HeroQuest is available from many Orlanth Great Temples. A determined Orlanthi Wind Lord should be able to locate the HeroQuest by travelling around the Temples.
To create the Thunder Arrows, the Orlanthi must perform the "Orlanth Slays Yelm" HeroQuest and must take one or more of the arrows fired at him during the fight. If no arrows were fired at him, he may not create Thunder Arrows. He must then use the Create Thunder Arrow spell on each arrow to create a Thunder Arrow.

A member of the Thunder Arrow Magic Weapons Subcult may use Thunder Arrows created by another member by sacrificing 1 POW per point of the Thunder Arrow.

POWERS: A Thunder Arrow acts as a ThunderStone when fired at an enemy. For each point of the Thunder Arrow the Thunder Arrow does 1D6 MP and 1D6 General HP damage to the target. The damage is blocked as normal Thunder Stone.
Once used, the Thunder Arrow is de-activated and must be re-activated using the Bless Thunder Arrow spell.

VALUE: Thunder Arrows will sell for 1000L per point in the Thunder Arrow.

NOTES

Thunder Arrows have several advantages over normal ThunderStone. They have a longer range and are easier to use, most Wind Lords being more proficient with a bow than with throwing rocks. Thunder Arrows are re-chargeable and may be reused.
Thunder Arrows are also more expensive to create and may only be created at the culmination of a HeroQuest. They may only be re-charged and created by members of a small Magic Weapon Subcult of Orlanth which is only found in certain Great Temples.

The following spells are available from a Thunder Arrow magic weapon subcult whose members only include those who have successfully performed the "Orlanth Slays Yelm" HeroQuest.

Create Thunder Arrow (Stackable, 1 Use, Permanent, Ritual Enchant)

This spell may only be cast at the culmination of the "Orlanth Slays Yelm" HeroQuest by the Orlanth of the HeroQuest.

The caster must have collected arrows fired at him by Yelm during the Quest. He then casts the spell and attempts the Enchant roll. If the roll is successful, he loses 1 POW per point of spell and enchants the Thunder Arrow. In any case, he uses the spell and must re-sacrifice if he wants to create more in the future.

The Thunder Arrow created will act as a Thunder Stone when fired as detailed above.

Bless Thunder Arrow (3 point, Reusable, Permanent)

This reactivates a Thunder Arrow, the caster must be able to touch the Thunder Arrow and it becomes energised with Orlanth's power.

Wakboth's Teeth

DESCRIPTION

A mottled grey fang, in its raw state. A mottled grey weapon, normally a spear, sword or dagger, in its attuned state.
CULTS

ASSOCIATED: Cacodemon, Primal Chaos,
FRIENDLY: Other Chaos Cults
ENEMY: Storm Bull
HOSTILE: Other Chaos Fighters
KNOWLEDGE Cult Special, Uncommon

HISTORY

When Wakboth fought Storm Bull in Prax, he was crushed by the Block and his remains were mashed far into the ground. Much of his body was destroyed, but some remained relatively intact. Some of Wakboth's Teeth were broken into pieces which still retained some of their powers.
A Cacodemon HeroQuestor, known only as Dag the Krjalk, quested towards the end of the First Age in order to uncover some of the secrets of his deity, Cacodemon. As Cacodemon was born from Wakboth's Death, he Quested to the Block and descended beneath it, finding Wakboth's Skull and returning with one of Wakboth's Teeth. He managed to evade the Uroxi and made the HeroQuest known to others.

Since then, many creatures of Chaos have tried to find one of Wakboth's Teeth, but most have failed, sometimes killed by the Uroxi near the Block, sometimes by the Chaos beneath the Block and sometimes through attuning the Teeth.

PROCEDURE

There are two ways of gaining one of Wakboth's Teeth, through HeroQuest or by liberating one from its current owner.
The HeroQuest is available through certain Temples of Cacodemon or through the Cult of Dag the Krjalk who may be contacted in the Footprint, Snake Pipe Hollow, the Marsh, the Tunnelled Hills and beneath the Block. It is extremely dangerous and will be detailed here in the future. It involves going to the Block, entering the Caves below, locating the remains of Wakboth's Head, finding a Tooth or fragment, controlling and binding the Tooth and returning to the normal world.

Taking a Tooth of Wakboth from its current owner seems simpler, but when it is borne in mind that the current owner probably survived the above HeroQuest and has one of Wakboth's Teeth as a weapon, the task suddenly appears somewhat more difficult.

To attune the Tooth, match POW vs a POW of 3D6 + 6, rolled each time the Tooth is attuned. The attuner loses 1D10 POW when he attempts to attune the Tooth, regardless of success.

If the attuning is successful, the attuner gains the Chaos Feature "Appears Extremely Dangerous" and may use the powers of the Tooth. If the attuning fails, the attuner gains the Chaos Feature "Appears Harmless" and may not touch the Tooth, otherwise he suffers the effects of being damaged by the Tooth when a location touches the Tooth.

POWERS

Once attuned, the Tooth takes on the appearance of a weapon of the user's choice. If the Tooth is complete, it may take on the form of any size weapon. Otherwise, the Tooth may only take on the form of a weapon of the correct size (ENC). Incisors are ENC 10, Canines are ENC 6, Pre-Molars are ENC 15 and Molars are ENC 20. Fragments of the Teeth will retain the Powers but will be smaller.
When a Tooth is wielded in battle, calculate damage normally, but if the Tooth penetrates armour it does a special type of damage. Match the wielder's MP vs the target's MP. If the roll fails, no damage is done. If the roll succeeds the location struck is turned into Chaos Slime (cf Plunder) and destroyed. If a limb or other non-vital location is destroyed, it may be restored through Divine Intervention or Regrow Limb.. If the location is vital, the target is dead and may only be restored through Divine Intervention- Resurrection will not work. Cure Chaos Wound will halve the time taken to regrow a limb and will halve the POW lost through Divine Intervention to restore a location.

A Tooth of Wakboth can be used to parry normally, with Armour Points equal to its POW. It does not take damage from Runic or Magic weapons, but takes normal damage from Truestone weapons and double damage from Adamant weapons.

VALUE

As a generator of Chaos Slime, this is invaluable. As a Weapon, it is unequalled. To Chaos creatures it is priceless, to enemies it will be gained at any cost. For these reasons, it is impossible to put a price on Wakboth's Teeth.

Duck Masks

Description: Full-sized masks in the form of Duck faces, made of various materials and of various degrees of realism.

Cults

Associated: Ducks, Humakt
Enemy: Delecti's Horde

Knowledge: Common amongst ducks and Delecti's forces, uncommon elsewhere.

History: When Delecti created the Upland Marsh he extended his protection to all the inhabitants of the area. These included Ducks who lived in harmony and safety within Delecti's Realm. All of Delecti's army were programmed not to attack Ducks unless they were specifically ordered to. This meant that the Ducks were safe from all the mindless zombies and skeletons of the army. When the Lismelder tribe became duck friends some tried to live in the Upland Marsh but were attacked by Delecti's patrols. A wise duck craftsman found the solution when he created the first Duck Masks. The secret has been handed down amongst the Ducks and those Lismelder tribes people living in the Upland Marsh.

Procedure: Make a mask out of wood, metal, cloth or any other available material. Paint it to look like a Duck and put it on.

Powers: A Duck Mask allows the wearer to pretend to be a Duck, allowing them free passage through the Upland Marsh. This works because zombies, skeletons and other undead do not recognise the difference between real ducks and people wearing Duck Masks. It is known that Vampires and Mummies do not attack people wearing Duck Masks, but nobody knows whether the masks work against them or whether they are just humouring the silly mortals. What is known is that people wearing Duck Masks who ambush Delecti's patrols often disappear.
People wearing Duck Masks can pass the Humakti defences of any Duck Tower without a problem, unless they are Undead. Delecti uses this property to explore Duck Towers with hired flunkies.

Although there exist elaborate masks which are very lifelike, the Ducks know that extremely primitive masks still work. Therefore, even simply carved wooden masks painted in a Duck face will protect the wearer from Delecti's Hordes.

Value: A Duck Mask is typically worth 200L to travellers within the Upland Marsh. However, enterprising Ducks may be able to charge a lot more for a more realistic Mask .
 

I always assumed that Rone was the House back home. Raus might always have been a Duke, it doesn't necessarily mean that he became Duke when he came to Prax. Of course, he might be named after the Rone Grantlands, but I don't think so, the House of Rone is mentioned in Borderlands, so predates the Grantland. There are other Grantlands along the Zola Fel, which would make good campaign settings.

The Seven Directions, North, South, East, West, Up Down, Inward.

The Seven Lightbringers.

The days are named after the 5 Elements plus Wildday and Godday, so that might offer some clues.

On 9/30/2016 at 1:30 AM, Insanity said:

Is there a deadline to submit feedback on A Tim to Harvest?

Anyone called Tim should probably avoid this scenario.

There are definitely enough Aldryami in the Stinking Forest and Vale of Flowers to field at least two regiments. 

I would give Aldryami +1CF in Forests and allow them to move at full movement.

Elven cavalry doesn't really work for me, I'd make them all infantry.

For me, all elven units should have missile combat, * for heavy infantry, ** for other infantry and *** for specialist archer units.

Also, RQ2 was very much a "Zero to Hero" game, where you start off as a very young, unskilled PC and improve skills. There was a section on Previous Experience, which was an optional rule, that allowed PCs to start off at higher levels, Most NPCs in the monster section are given basic, starting skills, we used to run them through previous experience or just give them higher skills.

On 9/29/2016 at 8:35 PM, RosenMcStern said:

But dual wielding includes shields! MOST soldiers were dual-wielding. With shields. Only shock troops (pikemen, greatswordsmen, poleaxemen) did something different.

The point is that having a shield encompasses both the advantages of dual-wielding (engage enemy weapon with your shield and counter-attack with your sword or axe) and having a powerful defense against missile fire. Who wouldn't have a shield when there are so many advantages?

Exactly. Look at the Vikings, some of them had iron-bound shields, with a ring of fairly sharp iron around the edge of the shield, that could be used to smash someone in the face or the body as a slashing attack.

On 9/13/2016 at 5:31 PM, styopa said:

Well, Sheng Seleris was a shaman, so we know they can be hella powerful.

So was Jalakeel the Witch and the Earth Witch. Shamans can be very powerful and it would be good to see the new rules reflect that.

9 minutes ago, Raven Shadowz said:

I would like to thank every one who has answered my question. Now I know which system I prefer. 

Pray tell!

I found that this happened when I starting to quote something in a thread, then closed the thread without posting, BRP central seems to remember the quoted post and I didn't know how to stop it. Hopefully the CTRL-ALT-Click solution works.

14 minutes ago, shark_bone said:

I thought that skills maxed out at 99%. Isn't that the pinnacle of human achievement?

What if you have a difficulty rating that halves your skill? Someone who is very skilled could have a 100% chance with a skill at half chance, making his skill 200%. It depends on how you look at it.

CoC has usually capped skills at 100%, but we play RuneQuest that allows skills past 100%.

On 9/17/2016 at 8:04 AM, Nel said:

Reading through Sartar: Kingdom of Heroes, I found some contradictory facts about the Evil Emperor Yelm:

* How did Yelm defeat Orlanth during the 1st contest, the Contest of Music?
- By performing a Court Dance, according to S:KoH p. 96
- By playing the Harp, according to S:KoH p. 104

These were either two contests (Dance and Music) or have been conflated into one Contest. I treat them as two distinct contests.

On 9/17/2016 at 8:04 AM, Nel said:

* When did Orlanth kill Yelm?
- On the battle of the Extinguished Field, according to S:KoH p. 40
- By wielding Death during the 4th contest, the Contest of Weapons, according to S:KoH p. 96 and GtG p.117

Both, they are almost certainly the same place/time/event.

On 9/17/2016 at 8:04 AM, Nel said:

Also, could you tell me about the Evil Emperor Malkion?
According to GtG p.387, his cruel sorcerers and inhumans dwarves enslaved Orlanthi people during the Gods war until they were freed by Orlanth.
I haven't find any other mention of Malkion as a/the Evil Emperor, and that title looks to be applied by Orlanthis only to the Bright Emperor (aka Yelm) and the Emperor of Dara Happa (the earthly representative of Yelm).
Is this an errata, and GtG p.387 should say Evil Emperor Yelm instead of Evil Emperor Malkion?

Orlanthi are precious about the Evil Emperor, as they have a concept of freedom (Nobody can make me do anything/Violence is always an option). Orlanth has the Movement Rune, which makes a static, oppressive emperor automatically evil. Yelm is THE Evil Emperor, although Aether Primolt was Emperor before Yelm and was Orlanth's grandfather. Malkion is AN Evil Emperor as he oppressed and tried to control the Orlanthi.

In RQ2, you could only bind spirits up to your CHA / 3, so each bound spirit took up 3 CHA, so using CHA as a dump stat seriously affects how many bound spirits you could have, which affects the number of Battle Magic spells you can keep and the number of Power points you can have access to. Shamans also used CHA to gain controlled spirits.