Richard S.

Afaik sixth edition is the upcoming one, it isn't out yet. 5.2 is just the latest revision to 5th edition.

If someone wanted to cement "Pouch of Silver" as an ability, then that means that hero always seems to carry some silver on their person and can probably find some in there if its needed. The rating gives some idea as to how much they usually have, but it's not really a definite amount. I disagree with @jajagappa that it can be removed from your sheet on a simple defeat - a defeat just means the hero didn't have enough to fully meet their needs, they still keep the ability. If it was only a marginal defeat, or if the Narrator needs to keep things moving, the hero might get past the guards but also take a temporary penalty to "Pouch of Silver", representing that the bribe significantly impacted their wallet, but they can get it back up to normal in time.

I think heat is a sub-rune of Fire, like light. There used to be a volcano/magma rune too which was his personal rune, I think earth+fire.

Communication is a combination of Movement and Harmony, as well as Issaries' personal rune. He still has it, but it's not one of the core runes.

I'd recommend making your character a Yelmalion. I believe most Hyalor worship nowadays is as a subcult of him, providing Command Horse, and Yelmalio himself can give communication with horses as a boon. Also, if you're establishing yourself in Balazar, Yelmalio already has a strong presence there. If you want to emphasize your connection to Hyalor, maybe claim kinship with the horse breaker, giving yourself high fire and beast runes.

I think the biggest disconnect is that Yelmalio is primarily a Light god whose worshipers just happen to be soldiers, but we expect him to be primarily a soldier god whose worshipers just happen to use Light magic.

I think Hender's Ruins is a holy site, which counts as a temple when enough of them gather. If I remember correctly they say it used to be the capital of a great baboon empire. Edit: Monkey Ruins are the old capital, and it wasn't an empire sofar as I've found, though I still think Hender's Ruins are probably a holy site. Daka Fal worship ceremonies count ancestors among the initiates, so even small families can have a functional shrine to him without needing to be initiates themselves.

Ah, that makes sense. I think it's reasonable to have NPCs focus on it, it's definitely something people in-universe would know of and be intimidated by. And at least the enemy will be wasting resources and/or ignoring the rest of the party.

Do you mean enforcing the "trance" part of the spell? If you don't do that then yeah of course it's horribly unbalanced, it's meant for the Humakti to be doing nothing but nonstop fighting.

Right on both counts, my bad. I though sword trance was an RQ3 spell, whoops. If I can ask, though, have you had any experience with those spells in-game? How powerful spells are theoretically can be pretty different from how they actually perform in the players' hands. Wind warp and thunderbolt are from RQ3, but you're right on Leap. Most of the associates are also carried over from RQ3, though I feel those are the most flexible to change since it's fairly easy to justify new associates in game depending on where in the world you are. Yelmalio's getting shield at least from both Orlanth and Yelm. That's a very good spell. I'm hoping priests serving under the Light Captain will get access to sunspear too, like in RQ2, so it's not high priest only. We'll see.

RQG's sanctify specifies that regaining RP (equivalent to regaining divine spells) is one of those ceremonies performable on sanctified ground. I'd rule you still need enough worshipers present at the ceremony for it to count as a shrine though. Spirit cults usually center around special shrines using a focus attuned to the spirit. They need less total worshipers (10 minimum), but more frequent worship (weekly). It's not clear whether spirit cult foci are portable or whether the shrine needs to be permanently established. For shaman cults that aren't spirit cults, they follow the normal rules, though I'd assume Waha and Yelm have some sort of portable temple, a special tent or artifact or something.

Orlanth's the only god you mention whose repertoire of spells has really changed, with Adventurous getting Lighting; Humakt and Yelmalio have the same options they've had since Cults of Prax. The only major difference between then and now is the availability of Rune magic in general. EDIT: and seemingly Yelmalio will be getting Sureshot at some point, judging by the starter set Yelmalian. And we know he's getting Shield as an associate with the cults book. And keep in mind that not spending RP on specialty spells means you have more to spend on common spells, like wards and healing and cult spirits, which are very valuable even if not as flashy as lightings and trueswords. The other war gods might have a broader range of spells on offer, and some of them might be fairly powerful, but they have no more resources than anyone else when it comes to actually casting them. Hell, you could argue that Humakt has even less since his initiates only have one chance per season to get RP, with no associated cults. Anyone keeping tally on how often this conversation's been brought up? I count at least four.

Orlanth doesn't have a distinct "thief" aspect, though he has been a thief in several of his myths under the name of Desemborth. Dark Walk is one of his Adventurous spells.

First off, I want to mention that I completely forgot Devotion/Loyalty was now a requirement for Rune Lords. But even if they don't get the passion in character creation, if the player and GM can work together it's not hard to get new passions in play. Hell, if the character is explicitly trying for Rune Lord status, and showing sufficient effort, I might rule that enough to give them the Devotion. EDIT: Also forgot it's a requirement for Rune Priests too, which decapitates the example I was going to try about how a non-Devoted priest would work. Whoops.

There's a very large difference between worshiping a god and fully dedicating yourself to it, and I'm not talking about the difference between laymen and priests. Devotion represents a personal, emotional connection that I've only seen in real life about a dozen or so times. You don't just follow the god's teachings and doctirine - you follow the god itself.

What all does proofing entail? I might have some free time to help.

I don't know why but my "Detect God-Learner" wards are going off like crazy right now

I was browsing the shelves of my FLGS today and was surprised to see Talislanta: the Savage Land with a Chaosium logo on it. I hadn't been paying much attention to Talislanta, besides being aware a new edition was coming out, but I thought I'd have heard that it was being published by Chaosium. It's certainly not in their web store. Anyone else not know about this, or am I just particularly blind?

Does worship of Ehilm - without knowledge of Yelm - provide anything?

Native Sun Domers tend to be blondes, sure, but they'll take anyone. And notable mysogony is really only a thing in the Praxian temple. Hell, an Agimori might actually be more welcome than many others because of their intense fire nature. Discrimination based on skin tone just isn't a thing in Glorantha, except for maybe that one island with literally rainbow colored people.

The most I'd do is give shield-trained characters a situational penalty if fighting someone without one. Until Leto II they're just a normal part of the Dune universe, they only need to have an effect when there's either a distinct lack of them or if someone's shooting lasers around.

Presumably the Zzaburi can do something similar with sorcery. We do know it's magically the same as other forms of worship, in that it crosses to the other side. I'd guess that's necessary for the chain of veneration to pass MP to other Zzaburi.

I wonder how good of an example Urvantan is for a Zzaburi with theist supporters. He certainly doesn't seem parasitic.

There's a large "pagan" element in Malkioni society, but I don't think it's really comparable to what you find over in Peloria and the Holy Country. There's no priest-kings or living gods, nationally supported cults, or specifically favored pantheon. The lower castes have their personal magic but the really big kingdom-wide stuff, planting and harvest and sacred time and all that jazz, probably have Zzaburi stepping in to give it some real oomph. Sorts of things that aren't really described in the rules. And of course you can probably ask the local wizard to cast out spirits or give you a blessing or ward or whatever, same as you could a priest or shaman.