Yelm's Light

Heh you can say that again. So Orlanthi would just lay down for a baboon KoDP? And I suppose he married the FHQ too?

Nice. I particularly liked the song, though I don't speak a word of Finnish. A group of Eiritha followers dancing a fertility rite, perhaps. (I know, I have Prax on the brain...) I was also particularly impressed by the dancers who I assume were Titania and Oberon in the Midsummer Night's Dream dance. They stood absolutely stock-still through most of it, to the point where I thought they were props until dancers escorted them off the stage near the end.

That narrowed it down for me. TotRM #12, p. 32, "Plants" by Eric Rowe. Unfortunately, none of the above are there...and now a more complete version seems to be niggling at my mind. I'm on the case! ETA: It appears to be a regular column. I only have #12, 14, and 15, but there's a plants article in each.

It's... (Sorry, your avatar reminds me of the old Monty Python guy limping out of the surf) ...coming soon.

I recall another article 'written by' a wandering botanist that may have included some of those, but at this point I'm not sure where it is among my numerous RQ supplements and mags. Missile Root and Irontree Pine ring a bell from that. Does anybody have a clearer memory of it?

Interesting. That demonstrates how much more intimately connected draconic magic is to Illumination than any of the other forms. (The others can be paths to Illumination, but it's a process inherent in Dragon magic.) That's convenient, since I generally recognize few of the changes in the game since RQ2, except for a number of concepts from HQG. However, I'm interested more in the overarching philosophy at this point; once I have that I can figure out how to fit it into my game.

Or perhaps a conversion of Dodge into a Defense-like modifier for purposes of missile combat only, say 20% of Dodge (or whatever level you prefer, or even a sliding scale for multiple shots). The problem with preallocation is that it's a fluid situation; archers can choose a different target, have more or less shots than the target expected, or become incapacitated in the space between declaration and resolution.

OK, where would draconic magic fit into all this? I don't see it as particularly theistic, although their priest phases are supposed to have a large complement of Rune spells. Who grants them, aside from the minority who become cult associates? True Dragons? Likewise, their magic is very much spiritual but not particularly spirit-related. Sorcery perhaps, but I don't think that's really a path toward spiritual balance, although it certainly could lead to Illumination.

That appeals to my Platonic side at the very least.

I'm also an ex-SCA member, and I tend to disagree with this from a game mechanics perspective. Dodge is inherently an application of the target's skill, not a modifier. There are two rolls in your scenario: the attack and the dodge. (This is one place where Defense would fit more logically, but since it's no longer in the game, that is roight out.) You also appear to be assuming that this occurs in the vacuum of archer vs. target. In reality it's almost never that way. Usually it's one of a cloud of arrows fired en masse, which one might be able to hide behind a large shield to avoid but it would be utterly useless to try to dodge. Further, if it did indeed happen to be one-on-one (and wasn't a sniper shot, i.e. from cover or otherwise with surprise on the archer's side), range becomes a consideration, as styopa brings up.

There's room for all philosophies under the Sun.

Sorry, but I had to chuckle at Joerg tasking someone else for being verbose.

This is a concept that I've had issues with, and maybe it deserves its own thread. It's presented as a game rule, but in 'reality' it should be governed by the cult itself. For instance, I'd expect a cult to waive such time restrictions for a Hero type in that they're nearly always providing great benefit to their cult otherwise.

Bah. Shannara is so plainly a ripoff of LotR that I wouldn't use it as an authority for anything.

Not three weeks ago I edited a draft document for MOB. Ask him what he thinks of my facility with the English language. And I've had more college education than the average doctoral candidate. Deal with it.

Let's try to have some sense of reality here. You're throwing around manufactures of your own mind. I neither said that the authors were obvious nor explicit in their description. I said that they should have been MORE explicit, specifically in regard to ranged attacks, which led me to believe that they hadn't considered the possibility. It's you people who have been bandying around the word 'explicit' and then immediately proceeding to draw conclusions that you claim as implied by the text. Spare me your japes about the level of knowledge of my 100K-plus word vocabulary of my native language. I've likely had more years of college education than most of you, including subjects ranging from several years of grammar/writing to classes on Shakespeare, American poets, English poets, and Comparative, Classical, and Modern Lit. And I've read an average of roughly a book a week for all of my adult life. You don't impress me. That last paragraph is ludicrous on its face, not even worth wasting the time to address.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Seven Mothers plus Sedenya which equals eight, hence octa-, not hepta-. And a symbol of chaos, eight arrows equidistant from each other at any radius and radiating from a common center.

You (and everyone else) are drawing conclusions from text, not what the actual text is. Do I really need to post the definitions of explicit and implicit?

Yes, the one in the center background. Not only does it have what appeared to me to be a moon rune, it's octagonal to boot.

We appear to be operating under different definitions of explicit. Explicit means you say it. And they did not.

"All of a sudden" because I'd never had that situation come up in game, nor had anyone asked the question until now. Irrelevant, other than that the text is substantially the same as the RQG version. No one even brought up RQ3 until now. Did the authors consider the possibility of using it for archery when writing/editing this? Or did they assume it would be exclusively for melee? Regardless, I will run the game as I see fit. And that interpretation is headed for HR hell.

I came up with my own rationale for this...Swenstown is a major trade outpost between Prax and Sartar, and as such would have strategic importance to the Lunars. However, I can't recall them ever actually subjugating the place. Does anyone else remember differently?

Sure he could. After blowing the SR's to drop the bow and pull out his melee weapon(s) and/or pick up a shield. And he'd get the bonus/limitations of Fanaticism if it was cast on him in that circumstance, which is melee. But he wouldn't be parrying while trying to use archery. So in what circumstances do parry occur? a) melee, or b) hiding behind a shield to block incoming archery/thrown shots (which shouldn't be occurring with someone acting fanatically anyway). The very fact that the spell applies to parrying implies that it's for melee, not archery. To attack it from another angle, don't you think the game's creators would have been more explicit if they meant to include archery? Like saying 'in ranged or melee combat?' It's clear enough that they never considered that eventuality, or they likely would have drawn one distinction or another. Melee-enhancing spells are separate from archery-enhancing spells in every other case: Bladesharp = Bludgeon = Ironhand = Speedart. Fireblade = Firearrow. Multimissile is in a class by itself, but is plainly archery only. Yet all of a sudden this particular spell covers both melee and archery?

Closed to melee. My point exactly. (Well, one of them.) A disadvantage that isn't really a disadvantage? And not by some clever tactic designed to neutralize it, but by the nature of archery? No.

Really? When was the last time you ever saw an archer parry? What, wearing a buckler on his firing arm?