icebrand

I'm sorry but i feel compelled to quote what you wrote: "One other thing - Greg used to say that his definition of an "internet troll" was someone who did not positively contribute to a conversation - be it by providing an answer (and when possible what that answer is based on), providing additional ideas and thoughts, or just keeping things friendly and positive. Walls of text or snark do not positively contribute to a conversation". Edit: if you have the time i would love to hear why don't you like this, what approach do you take and why? Also what is it specifically that pains you?

Orlanth is S tier instead. But don't fall into the lightning trap that spell is terribad; Thunderbolt has some merit because it doesnt have POW vs POW but still flight is like... 12d6 fall damage every other round? For 2-3 RP and you can use it over and over and over and over until your target dies, and then you can throw it over someones head for even more damage. I couldnt tell, my melees are fast and brutal, and if course only a fraction of the total playtime is spent in combat. What i can tell you is that many people playing fantasy roleplay like combat. The players that don't are few and far between, and usually end up playing something else, where the archetipical story isnt "lets beat up those guys and take their stuff". Also the group with the yanafals aint winning that unless the lightbringers terribly misplay? I mean, maybe if you force everyone to melee but with the info you giving me and similar skill levels the lightbringers win that medium difficulty.

Humakt is not a viable pick when baby Gor is a thing that exists, and ernalda> babs unless all you want to do is kill stuff with your own hands. Source: a friend told me 🤪

Yeah i just put shield/absorption/reflect in the standard rune spell list. Everyone is chill now. I also buffed reflect because noone ever used it. 1) Oh they fought very effectively trust me. 2) this has absolutely nothing to do with having shield or not. Why is there a weak PC without any warning anyway? *SUPRISE!!! YOUR CULT WAS A JOKE CULT!!!* It's like they want to ruin the fun. Issaries is an S tier god, so they are probably buffing him anyway 🤪 I don't think i ever seen a scenario that doesnt have combat, and i own almost all of them. The closest thing is the one with the lamia that enslaved the town i can't remember the name. Plus, RQ is a combat based game, it's plain to see just check the depth of the combat rules compared with any other skill, or like... 4/5 spells are combat spells, etc. I mean theres nothing wrong with roleplaying but you don't really need many rules for that, do you? And if you do there are many other games with actual mechanical depth for that. No, that doesnt happen in my games sorry. That affects all rune magic through

There never was any debate. It's ernalda by a landslide. Anything else is *literally* unplayable for the people of the powergaming persuasion, and if you disagree they send a baabester gor after you!

My players rate the cults like this: Does it have shield? If yes its playable, otherwise it's an NPC cult.

I make them roll for both, but i'm evil.

What POW would the spell attack with, the enchanters at the time of the casting? So 18 to 20?

If you cant contribute with anything but snark, maybe YOUR time may be better spent elsewhere? Like, you literally didnt read what i posted. And theres no warning, and theres many people that seems to be proud of this. The disconnect is real... "RUNEQUEST: The game where you may chose a character that sucks, but dont worry its intended" And they say this unironically? Like this was good game design instead of something horrible??? But the cults already existed, and yelmalio already sucked, and then they nerfed it, and they changed the mechanics, which made the powerful cults more powerful and the sucky cults more sucky (and everyone knows yelmalio isnt the only one in this situation). So in RQ2 yelmalio is subpar. But not by a landslide! In RQ3 yelmalio is plain bad. In RQG you need to not know how to play to actually pick it as a serious option. People here seem to play them "ironically" or something, and i sure they have plenty fun, but i have actual players complaining that this didnt happen in other games and that their god is way worse than everyone elses and... They are right. Since i already know the official position is "sucks to be you" i fixed it myself and everyone is happy and yelmalio is a top shelf cult now. We have tons of fun at roleplaying, but the campaign is serious and not fit for joke characters, at least not mechanics-wise. Encounters are challenging and skill at playing the game + luck determine if you succeed or die (you know, like RAW). Since the players are new to runequest their "playing the game" skill isnt very high, and using a subpar choice is not viable. Again, theres actual challenging enemies and i dont cheat; many people have this view of runequest where the sub-part cults are wacky and funny and whatever, but if you play RAW that ends up with your character either being a drag to the group, or (the better outcome) receiving a ticket to the court of daka fal like... really early. Yes, thats what i did. No need to write up anything, i just put Shield/Absorption/Reflect as standard rune magic and any cult can learn any spirit magic (except prohibited ofc); the starting spells are the ones you pick for character creation, and are half price to learn after. This fixed yelmalio and everyone else that needed fixing. The broken, overpowered, and good cults remain the same (a smidge better maybe, but those cults already have almost all spirit magic from allies and/or their extensive list), and the crappy ones get buffed and feel real good to play. YES.

Are you really gonna compare those kickass abilties with "you can shoot from your horse, but also you dont have a horse, and you can't ride either"??? I mean, all these threads are the same... "X stuff is underwhelming!" "Well, yeah, thats because the cult sucks"* ... I think people want cults that "suck" to suck less, not a reassurance that yes, the war cult for soldiers has no magic for soldiers, and the mouted troops have no magic for archery, or horses, or knows how to ride, and actually never mind, apparently the cult that teaches kuschile and speak with horses doesnt even have horses (seriously?). *By suck i mean it sucks. Lore aside, if you compare yelmalio with... Mostly anyone... It is a poor cult that offers nothing to the adventurer concept of a phalange trooper, or soldier, or whatever you want to play (unless you want to play "guy thats a soldier but has a subpar cult so deal with it".

No, it wouldnt happen in DnD, since theres no DI and Rurik would have been dead like 2 adventures ago? Also i would argue that in DnD terms Rurik would have been rolling death saves and the trollkin hit him then, this can and does happen in DND! It's like people parrot this "crit by a trollkin" part while forgetting the rest.

I'm sorry but ruriks death is fine and theres nothing wrong with it, and you can bet your RPG collection he would have died in D&D too. You see, Rurik wansnt "killed by a lucky trollkin". "When faced by a priestess of Kyger Litor, in contrast, Rurik led his friends into an ambush by trolls hidden by Invisibility. Half the party was slaughtered and the other half were beggared by the ransom that the trolls demanded. Finally, on a quest to regain Power lost in a previous call for Divine Intervention, deep in the Pavis ruin known as the Devil’s Playground, Rurik and a long-time rival Johnathan Trollsbane led the party into another ambush; this time of well-prepared trollkin. One of the enemy unleashed a Shade that drove Rurik’s spirit from his body. Yelmalio heard his prayers and sent it back. Before he could rise a lucky trollkin had plunged a spear into his leg. The shock was too much, and Rurik died again. This time, though, he didn’t have the Power to plead to Yelmalio again." So the guy got half his party killed, then DI, then killed by shade, then DI, then killed by trollkin. Theres nothing wrong with it, it's a lot of fck ups one after another, and a good death.

I take it back, now i want a nomad with permanent speak to horses hahhaha

If im playing a beast nomad and i get "speak with horses" gift, then the GM and me are gonna have words (though burning down their house is also an option)

Please tell me this is sacarsm? "Compared to other cults, this one sucks... But wait!!! We have thought of a new way to make them suck even more!!!"

If you want that, just let them shoot arrows with kuschile skill instead of bow. Kuschile isnt limited by ride, but cant be used on foot (or most likely, can be used at 1/2%).

I use it as a gift & geas. You get it, you get a geas, you are no longer limited by your ride skill, thats it! Mechanically, Kuschile is awesome for people with high (120%+) bow skill that didnt develop ride all along. Even if they check ride every single time, they are checking bow too you know? then kuschile can be easily brought to 95% i guess? I hate how it works because it adds an extra roll, so i made it a gift and you just shoot ignoring your ride skill. YES.

https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4088249 Bronze age rapiers (+/-60cm) are not much longer than a xiphos (40-60cm) according to Wikipedia! Was there really an entirely different set of footwork? Do we even have combat manuals from back then???

Yes, sun county in prax!!! So, yelmalios have kuschile archers (what armor do these usually use?) and sarissa+large shield hoplites with greaves, full helm and maybe cuirass if they can afford, am i correct? Where is the spear used? And the Javelins? Do they have light infantry or skirmishers? What armor do they usually wear? Or are they for adventurers? Last, the sidearm question... I imagine when the pike breaks a half can be used as long spear? Is this an acceptable ruling? Maybe this is the secondary weapon and they dont have to rely on a shortsword or dagger they get no training into?

Rapier it is!

Yelmalions are antisystem chaotic falx wielders?????!?! 😂😂😂🥳

So, what's the sidearm for yelmalio cultists? Real life macedonians (who also used sarissa and shield) used the xiphos, a shortsword. Do yelmalians also use those?

Thats why Jon Pol Joni (which could have fought him at least to a standstill) chose to break his spirit in a guitar battle. Now Harrek is grinding his bear-powered banjo skill in pamaltela, bidding the time for his revenge. If they happen to appear in my campaign they are runelord+priest of their respective god, AND shaman, with 21 all stats, 185% combat skills (90 in the rest of their cult skills) and 21 rune points with the appropriate spirits and magic ítems (which are the spirits and magic ítems can attain if they want to). Of course they can resurrect (your PC can too) and have a lot of followers, and very powerful, rune level ones (your PC can too). But those dudes don't appear in my campaign unless YOU want to go beat them up, and dont have anything PCs cant have. Nah, my players are the heroes of the setting. If the hero wars ever happen, it's THEIR thing. I love glorantha but seriously idgaf about canon. The Big names exist and have stats and you can kill them if you ever get powerful enough, but what they do happens in the background and you only find out about it if you ask, now GET OUT OF TOWN AND GO ADVENTURE. My heroquests give benefits to the community, and personal gains are límited (no more powerful than a humakt/yelmalio gift) and/or a metagame reward (a die re-roll, or an xp bonus). I don't have super powers, if you want super powers im also running a BASH campaign 😁 Thanks lol! Jon Pol Joni is *amazing* lol

Yeah but then Jon Pol Joni challenged him to a duel, and everything changed. Everyone was there, bisons and llamas and sables and impalas and morocanth, and all kinds of other peoples, from baboons to men and a half, harreks pirates and even some chaos folk. The musical battle blasted the land, moved the block, woke up the devil and enthralled everyone who happened by. Harrek really gave it all, but his bear-powered banjo was no match for the six-string of storms; even his most trusted ally, Gunda, eventually rooted for Pol Joni, and after this religious reveal, she renounced humakt and joined donandar. Shamed and broken, the white bear picked up his pirates and sailed to pamaltela, never to be seen or heard of again. THE END.

Lol... "He didnt kill a god in his initiation, he already killed another god before" like... REALLY? Thats your compelling argument? CMON DUDE... My Glorantha Will Vary. ID rather not have Conans and Goku son running around with plot armor, TYVM. So, imagine i'm at your RuneQuest Game and Harrek appears and my adventurer calls him out, saying he's full of it and making stuff up. Now Harrek wants to kill me, what are you gonna do? Because we both know he has no stats and if you give him stats then im right and he's lying, because You can't kill gods (PLURAL) with RQ stats.