Nevun

While it's not implicitly mentioned on the spell description, I'd probably allow the Humakti spell of Sever Spirit to sever the link between the shaman and their fetch. It's in line with the meaning behind the spell. That said - I'd probably rule that the spirit was 'lost' - not destroyed. And should lead on to a suitably memorable quest to find the lost fetch and bring it home again.

One change we made to our RQ3 combat was to make combat rolls effectively opposed rolls. A successful hit vs a successful parry resulted in no result - no need to roll location or damage, move on the the next person. Effectively results were: fumble=-1, fail=0, success=1, special=2, crit=3. Subtract defensive level of success from offensive level and work out the result. eg. Subtract successful parry (1) from a critical attack (3) results in 2 or a special attack result. OR (flip a coin) a successful attack + a fumbled parry. We lost some combat realism in return for a substantial increase in game speed. It ignored the possibility of really heavy blows blasting through defenses despite successful parries etc. I think we came up with other rules to cover the edge cases but it resulted in a major uptick in the speed of games. Prior to implementing that, a single fight could consume most of a game session.

Thinking about the Atlatl, it's not something I'd make generally available to my players. The ability to make your spears go further and hit harder sounds dead on like a cult secret - something that is taught in a heroquest and only available to that one specific sub-cult or clan. Or learned from Dragonnewts.

Good call. Categorisation of things into Animist, Theist & Sorceristic is a very God Learnerish way of looking at it ("not that there's anything wrong with that"). But to put it another way. animists recognise that all creatures not of this world are spirits. Some small, some big and some world-shatteringly huge. But they're all spirits and can be approached (with caution) and bargained with. Theists recognise that Spirits and Gods are two entirely separate things and only occasionally mix. Sorcerers recognise that all things are symbols of the background world processes and can be manipulated with skill and study. And all are entirely correct.

I'd envisage a simple exchange. Go to the shaman and get cured. That's his duty as a member of the clan. He may ask a favour in return which, as a matter of politness, you should agree to. Maybe place a totem in a cave (infested?). Stand guard over his body for a night. Watch his back while he picks some sacred herbs. Etc. lots of RP opportunities there. Nothing major - just little plot hooks and character development. Get to know the shaman's personality and build a relationship.

I'm trying to work in ways to include Shamans in the daily lives of more civilised tribes. I'm thinking of running them something similar to the Witches of the Discworld - someone you go to to deal with the little problems that crop up in daily lives. Ones that don't warrant the big hammer of god powers. Got the sniffles - go to the shaman to get the (very) minor disease spirits moved on. Lost a family necklace somewhere - go ask the shaman to set a spirit looking for it. Milk starting to curdle - ask the shaman what you may have done to displease the hearth guardian. Need help digging a well - ask the shaman to press a gnome into your service for a day. Can't remember where dear departed dad said he saw that excellent grove of bow wood - ask the shaman to chat with him. i don't think it warrants a big process. Skills checks etc. Maybe just a roleplaying opportunity and a minor sacrifice or gift. They're also useful for the BIG spiritual issues. Possession, Strong disease spirits, Assistance form powerful elements etc.

I see Shamans and their relationship to the civilized heirarchy of spiritual engagement, as analogous to hunters and their relationship to the defense and martial arrangement of a civilization. They both work on the fringes. Dealing with the rough and unstructured elements that are not typically part of a civilized society. But still very important for their skills and their presence on the outer limits of society.

I've always thought of an alchemy skill as being a similar system to rune magic. You start with a few basic alchemy skills - Gather, Brew, Preserve. And a few related skills: Trade, lore etc. Modified by how much of a prepared (sanctified) place you have. Learning the basics gives you access to a suite of basic potion recipes (like Common rune spells): Simple healing potions. Low level woads, tinctures to improve the quality of certain goods, Powers of a similar level to spirit magic or common rune magic. Being taught by a specific school gives you access to more complex and specific recipes (like cult rune spells). Powerful healing elixirs. Combat boosting drugs. Base draughts required for certain heroquests or spirit world visits. Shapechanging totems. Then you can research (heroquest) for unique recipes known only to few individuals or just you. I'm not sure how you would place a limit on the number of recipes created per season - in a way that would be analogous to rune points. Any ideas?

I don't know if it exists at all but it has occurred to me in the past that smiths should have a heat/fire immunity and form the heated metal with their hands like clay. That said, there's something primal and warlike about subduing earth by beating it with a club and fire.

Heya. All variable Spirit magic spells can be cast at any level up to what you have learned. So if you know Heal 3, you can cast Heal 1, Heal 2 or Heal 3 - costing 1MP, 2MP or 3MP respectively. The page 256 reference to boosting spells is purely for the purpose of breaking through countermagic or other resistances.

That's probably the only complaint I have too. The artwork is superb. The Pregen characters will be very useful. But I can't see the books lasting anything like some of the original 2nd ed books.

Ages back - in a RQ3 campaign. Very early on in my characters career - the very first fight in fact, I lost my shield. By the time I could get it replaced I had somehow managed to get really good at parrying with my arm and by sheer luck, had kept it attached. So building on the flavour of that, I opted for an armouring enchantment on that arm. Several over time in fact. Learning how to improve my skills at enchanting to build on the original enchantment, became a focus for character development. That plus some GOOD heavy armour on that one arm, made for an interesting character. Parrying with the arm was in fact the first skill that character mastered.

Doesn't really roll off the tongue does it.

You can always rule that in your players history, one of his ancestors was a hero cult that teaches that one rune-spell Become 'other'. Player is initiated into Orthanth (or whatever) AND has membership in the associated Orlanthi hero cult Moon Moon Wolf Brother or whatever.

That was my thought too. Loot from battle is probably in the form of arms and armour anyway,