icebrand

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Greg strongly disliked Thanatar (and almost NEVER incorporated the cult in anything he wrote after Cults of Terror). But Thanatar is there and present, although it is unlikely to make much of an appearance in stuff I write.

 

I deleted Thed. Shes just... NO.

My broos follow malia, and are extremely lecherous toward cattle beasts (they leave predatory animals alone unless they are specially devious and fearless).

They adress each other as bro(ooooo) and make dick jokes and all the time.

Intelligent beings get eaten if captured; my bro rarely if ever keep live intelligent captives unless persuaded to ransom. In any case a broo finds a human as attractive as a human finds a goat. 

I sincerely hope she doesnt ever get reprinted, i don't think theres a tasteful way to do her, and gives the game a bad name IMHO.

10 hours ago, Martin Dick said:

RQG clearly has a design philosophy that throws game balance out the window in terms of the mechanics, Jason, Jeff and co weren't trying to ensure that every 11th level character was roughly equivalent in combat power. Personally that's how it's always been with all the versions of RQ and it's one of the reasons I like RQ. I mainly played Issaries characters in RQ2 and RQ3 and I never was the combat monster, but fortunately I had GMs who always made sure that our scenarios were diverse and required all sorts of strengths to complete, so none of the characters were ever sidelined

I try to make sure my scenarios are diverse; i always have at least one social encounter, wilderness travel (for the hunters), a "dungeon" for adventuring/thief skills, and combat for the warriors and healers.

Thing is, theres not much i imagined the Waha shining, since i thought they had no exclusive skills or spells or area of expertise. The problem was my campaign style, which does require something else that what waha offers.

My players are: unicorn tribe yelornan (who has peaceful cut), healer of arroin from pavis (with an NPC lanbril bodyguard), (almost)sword of humakt, lhankor mhy initiate (from a MMA sub-cult!), and daka fal high llama vegan shaman. I felt like waha didnt offer much to this setup, and if instead of a new player someone died and went waha, would feel... Downgraded.

10 hours ago, Martin Dick said:

and even an Issaries initiate can be a useful spellcaster in combat and when you got your staff parry up and had some Crush going, you could occupy a bad guy until one of the combat monsters got around to them. Game balance in RQG is all about the GM adapting to the players that they have as opposed to making everyone equal.

even? EVEN? What??? Issaries is like... Super good? Like one of the best gods, comparable to like Orlanth? Issaries crush at social stuff, people seem to really enjoy playing them, and they can do any other role they want because basically your spell list is limited by your imagination (and POW budget)!

Like you, who casually had one of the best spells in the game going... Stack enough and you are better than a humakti lol XD. And as you already know you could heal body, or resurrect, or axe trance, or teleport, or madness, or whatever you could get your hands on!!! PLUS, surely you were filthy rich -or at least the richest one in your group-

In my campaign i make my players go Herald Goodword, who is even more adventuring ("you dont have to deal with carrying lots of stuff!!!" always seals the deal) because they are poorer and don't wreck my games as much =D

6 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Wait, you think Yelmalio is a good god for combat characters?!

Yeah, i had no problems tweaking them a bit and they are golden:

They use the pike (2d6+1), only other people youll see at my games using pikes are agimori. Just this makes them attractive for player characters, you do a ton of damage, and you have gift & geas! 

When fighting in phallanx and a templar is hurt they dont attack, but switch places with the guy behind instead (as seen in the roman legionaries vs gannicus in spartacus finale). Then the light priest (that they should always bring) can heal them! Also they are all initiates you know... They can totally defeat even agimori, "the best gloranthan infantry" and make mincemeat out of nomads. Yelmalions are FEARED!

Also they have cavalry. I made kuschile archery a talent (like in pulp chtulhu) so you just have it and are not limited by ride% anymore.

Last but not least, i gave access to sunspear to runelord + priest (aka any runelord with 18 POW). All these tweaks made the cult very competitive (but i use RQ2 access to battle magic & standard rune, the spell lists are only for starting characters)

Oh, also they are the only ones starting with plate greaves, helmet and (if they can carry it) chest.

3 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Waha worshiper was my first character ever, I played him for many years. He also joined Storm Bull later in the game. Skill wise he was in the 100 - 150% range in main skills and 80 - 100% in most of the secondary skills. I never viewed him as a "low tier god". We did a lot of fighting in and around Pavis and the Big Rubble against the Lunars and Chaos. The party was a mixture of Lightbringers, but no Orlanthi or Ylmalios (those was considered a wuss cult, LOL

Oh nice, a true rune lord!!! =D 

3 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Ok RQG. Waha gets all common divine, so that solves the issue with healing. His association with shamans makes all spirit magic accessable rather than just "cult spells". Sure, he does not compare well with a Humakt in one on one, but he does well agaist Chaos and other things.

Yeah, its a "me" problem. In my campaign everyone has access to all spirit spells and standard rune magic (which is from RQ2, not G). So waha's lose the edge they had!

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

. Of course you will not want to use it in every situation, but sometime it is the only way to go.

You put yourself in that situation, by picking Waha. He's a god better suited for NPCs, like ty kora tek or something. Sure those characters can be amazing at freeform roleplay, but then again, everyone in glorantha is amazing. 

Thing is, Waha adventurers kinda suck -no offense intended- at playing published adventures, hexcrawl and dungeon crawl. Thats pretty much all i run LOL.

You played a Waha hero. Why? When? For how long? What chargen did you use, how high %s did you get?

If you could buff Waha however you liked, what would you change, if anything?

What kind of campaign was it, and if it applies, were you aware waha was a low tier god?

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

so I released a Spirit of Law and once his POW was reduced by spirit combat

How do you play summon spirit of law? The rules both in RQ2 and RQG say its a single attack (slightly diferent wording)

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

You are again thinking stricly RQG. In prior version POW gain rolls happend more often and a Khan did not need to keep his POW at 18.

I'm sorry i never get to play, my players thought Waha was a wuss (and literally bullied wahans in game), and if i ever get to play RQ3, im a filthy power gamer so severed dick jokes it is.

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

You are again thinking stricly RQG. In prior version POW gain rolls happend more often and a Khan did not need to keep his POW at 18.

I would love to talk about RQ3 all day, but forum rules say this is for RQG because it's the version people can get now, and if you clarify, RQCE (which unlike 3, is compatible and people can also get now), so when posting i always assume RQG!

33 minutes ago, Grimmshade said:

Pulp Cthulhu book, p.71

Thanks i just saw it!!! Im TOTALLY using it for my runequest games!!!

39 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

My understanding has always been that while engaged, you are simply limited to one attack action. You can cast spells like Bladesharp or Heal (yourself or others) or Truesword or Berserk (they are not attacking a target) and attack in the same round. You can't cast Sever Spirit or Thunderbolt and attack in the same round since it would constitute 2 attacks.

Same here!

38 minutes ago, Godlearner said:

I am seeing it as a cult with decent offensive and defensive magic, unlike Yelmalio, and great social benefits. The healing thing is managable.

Man im around 140% certain using fix intelligence in combat goes against the lore. I'll check my books later to see if i just rolled 96-00 😅

I also remember something about that spell only being used in members of the covenant.

In any case, one shot spells are not viable combat tools. How many times are you going to use that strategy?

Because by the 4th time your khan, who already has low healing prowess, low combat prowess, and is a worse hunter than any hunter god now has -8 rune points compared to the rest of your party.

And 8 rune points is 23 seasons average, IF you get a POW check every single season (at least you have slow, a reliable spell to get checks)

Mechanically, the 2 worst things that can happen to an adventurer are:

#1 death

#2 pow drain (you can restore the others)

Pretty much everything else you can bounce from. Heck, dying can be better than losing pow if you like have a chalana in the party.

A one-use runespell can actually be worse than an ID if the runelord has 10+ RPs!!!

Also: using fixing INT in combat is pretty horrible, isnt it? Like... "The guy that lobotomizes people" seriously? Thats effed up man, you are worse than some chaos gods...

1 hour ago, Bill the barbarian said:

If I recall a lonnnnngggggg thread from a while back where many of the denizens hereabout tried to figure this out, the key word is engaged (emphasized above by moi). Unengaged one can do many things, like cast a spell and then wait to engage (as above) and with enough SRs left can then attack and defend (defending requires no SRs) as per normal. 

I seem to recall this being thing as well and if the spells happened to be aimed at a weapon the focus could be on it saving the need to change a weapon for a focus (and 5 SRs, as well).

Spellcasting then engaging is another stuff.

In RQ2, you can cast+attack or cast an attack spell.

In RQ3 i can't  remember.

In any case, i wouldnt worry too much about it, both variants have been used for decades, so just pick whatever you like and run with it, nothing will break!

Just now, PhilHibbs said:

I quoted it earlier. p.195:

So whilst the paragraph could be interpreted as allowing it, the bullets make it clear that you cannot.

Id go with the paragraph, which plays the same as earlier editions.

Your interpretation is like BRP4e, but there it says very clearly you can't combine.

Maybe @Jeffcan answer this authoritatively (is that a word?)

On 4/18/2022 at 6:01 PM, Grimmshade said:

Pulp Cthulhu Dual-Wielding is pretty mechanically easy with handguns, but a bit more confusing for melee. If you are wielding 2 melee weapons, does the opponent get a penalty die against the second attack (for the "outnumbered" rule)?

I guess the same could be asked about fighting monsters with multiple attacks. 

 

Where are the dual wielding rules?

Index doesnt help, and search finds the dual wielding rules credits but can't find the actual rule 😭😭😭

13 minutes ago, Jeff said:

But note that they have Heal Wound as common magic, and so they can always call upon the god to be healed.

Was mr stafford involved in the RQ3 gods write up?

Is the max heal-1 from there (i don't have gods of glorantha with me sorry) or new from RQG? 

Also the isnt the heal wound a byproduct of adding it to common magic, instead of a deliberate choice? (He didnt have heal area and healing was 2x cost no limit in cults of prax)

3 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Officially no you can't.

Can't find it in the book, what's the page? You could in previous editions!

4 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

That makes no sense, if you're casting Extension then you're also casting another Rune spell.

I forgot that you can't extend spirit magic (you can extend battle in 2, thats where the quote crawled from)

2 hours ago, JRE said:

The point here is whether in your game the world adapts to the mechanics, or the mechanics adapts to the world. In the first case there is an effort to make the deities balanced, because otherwise nobody would pick a poor deity. 

My Glorantha adapts to my mechanics, which i house rule if i don't like.

For example, in my Glorantha the dagger-axe is storm bulls weapon, the greatsword is for humakti, and the pike for yelmalio, and the troll maul is for trolls, etc. You don't get to have a 2dX+ weapon if you arent on those cults.

Same for cults. Everyone has all standard rune magic (and reflection is buffed because otherwise noone would ever use it, absorption is a lost battle, that spell can't compete really).

2 hours ago, JRE said:

RQ2 tried to fit in the first class, while from RQ3 forward Glorantha tried to move into the second paradigm, which brought us my most envied spell ever (erotocomatose lucidity). Goddesses and magic for the 99.9% of people that are not fighting every day.

Yeah, i like the RQ2 way. We played RQ3 (for like 20 years btw) and yeah, many cults arent good for the classic RQ adventurers (or at least they suck at solving the published scenarios the suggested way)

In my Glorantha 99% of people are lay members! If you want to play an ulerian my current RQ campaign isnt the place to do so i think (well, an experienced player would get the ulerian *and* another "more competent" PC)

2 hours ago, JRE said:

Waha has social advantages rather than magical advantages, and only once you make it to Khan,

If we count the social advantages of runelords, waha has NOTHING on everyone, at least in my campaign. But even if it was a nomad-centric campaign i firmly believe every other barbarian god is more powerful mechanically and as fun or more roleplaying-wise.

2 hours ago, JRE said:

A Humakti may have better magic than you, but I doubt he can survive being the target of 200 Impala braves

Surely the humakti also has allies? Lets agree that a Khan with 200 braves isnt an adventurer (at least not anymore) and outside the scope of normal play.

By the way a handful humakti lay member/newish initiate (the bread n butter troop) will likely win even outnumbered because Morale is so good it decides almost all battles. 

A guy with 75% is twice as good as one with 50%, not just 50% better.

2 hours ago, JRE said:

before considering the Uroxi that obey the khan, the shaman that also obeys the khan, etc., and all of this without asking his wife for help

Well, the humakti can call on his Orlanthi chieftain, who has a hotter wife with better magic. Also the wife has BABEESTER GOR bodyguards, check mate, nomad.

2 hours ago, JRE said:

Seeing your campaign set up, the only reason I see a Waha initiate joining is to get experienced enough to try for Khan, and then leave and never return (unless he uses what he has learnt to raid the settlement), which is not good for long term play.

Yeah, i already removed the Waha adventurer from the stack 😭😭😭

23 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

if your play is focus on personal fight (spells + weapon), and few social / hunt / gods feed back / tradition / leadership / strategy / ancestors etc.. yes Waha is not really useful

If only there was some house ruled spell i could add so he's good...

For starters ill let spirit of law fight longer.ñ

34 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

now Waha gives you the capacity to kill the beasts without be cursed (butcher)

Almost every barbarian has peaceful cut, which does nothing mechanically. That curse sounds cool, you got any mechanics for it? (One of my players is a yelornan and has peaceful cut).

37 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

Waha gives you automatically (no roll, no rune point) the knowledge to survive in the wastes

That sounds NICE! Is it a house rule? Eiritha has 2 survival skills + 1 survival spell, it seems like cheating to give waha automatic success at everything? Plus, can even the lowliest initiate survive alone in vulture country or the dead place just for their cult? 

16 minutes ago, svensson said:

@icebrand No offense intended at all here, but I think you're confusing roleplay utility with min/max powerhousing.

No offense taken at all!

What is roleplaying utility? Im not familiar with the concept.

In my campaign you pick a god, you get the cult skills, pick battle magic, roll stats and you are good to go (after writing down everything).

We use RQ2 as a base (but with lots of RQG stuff), so the cults are the RQ2 versions (you can earn RQ3 and RQG new magics by heroquesting).

There is one scenario (and XP roll) per season, with a free (from cult) training and free access to normal stuff (armor up to 4 pts and cultural bronze weapons).

We started with borderlands and after muriahs revenge the players were free to wonder around (but need to come back to the fort the same sesion, if you want to go home IRL you retreat from the combat and go home in game (this helps me replacing dead adventurers and adding people and not sweating it when someone can't make it).

We have one combat per session (plus random encounters), with minis and everything is rolled in the open. If you fumble your spot trap everyone expects you to walk happily in the room, fall into the spike trap and most likely die.

Social encounters are managed with response charts, cha x5, & oratory. Some cults hace a few more skills (Waha aint one lol) but mostly this is done pretty freeform. You really just tell me what you want and i "yes, but" you.

I was running through the characters (one per god) and waha sticks out because it seems pretty useless for an old school campaign; again, combat is a big part of the game (like... 1/3 to 1/2 of it) and stuff without actual mechanics doesnt do much.

Every other god brings tons of stuff to the table. Waha doesnt. Survival in the wastes is eirithas domain by the way, she can find cattle, water, light fires, and has kickass heal magic while being able to fight.

Waha has... Uhhhh... Peaceful cut i guess?

3 hours ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

we are not in an "action points system" (I would prefer, for sure), but in a round system and initiative.

With this model, I don't consider "silly" the rune magic rule : It is just that  (your spell is before everything) + (open the gate is so hard that you can't do anything else before the next round 😃   too tired, need to focus again, etc...)

 

If we were in action points system, I would be happy to have "some action points before the spell effect and some action points after the spell effect too

same if we had some specific fighting actions (you can't do anything the next 3 act pts after you touch your ennemy)

 

so don"t consider the rule model as the simulation or the explanation of the effect, just a model to resolve situation with dices.

Wait, you can't cast runemagic and attack? I play it like this:

If you cast rune magic you can't cast battle (except extension)

If you cast an attack spell (battle/spirit or rune) then you can't attack.

Changing from weapon to spell focus (or back) is +5sr, but weapon enchanting spells use the weapon as Focus (no extra SR).

2 hours ago, JRE said:

Most Humakti see only one set of rules, so they apply always. In a way the choices for Humakti are easy, though the consequences of the choices are hard.  

There is only one set of rules, of course they always apply.

The rules say you can ambush to your heart's content unless the lord of death geases you not to; you see, geases make you a better humakti, but try not become too holy, or else you may find yourself at our god's company.

Now get back to prayer young initiate!

"This is My Sword. There are many like it, but this one is Mine..." 🤪😂

13 hours ago, Dissolv said:

Waha picked up Shield in RQ:G.  He also has Summon spirit of Law and Axis Mundi, which are role-playing wise extremely powerful.

Waha had shield in every single edition. Also shield is broken, being twice as good as 95% of spells, and still better or equal to the other S tier spells. You can't justify a cult offering nothing with "wait, it could have been nerfed MORE!"

And mechanically inconsequential. This wanst intended as a roleplaying post, but mechanics. I mean, you can roleplay a hero-god-king and a 6 year old without magic, and theres no metric to tell which is "worse" other than personal fun. Clearly i need to improve my english.

13 hours ago, Dissolv said:

Waha is the god of Nomad/Desert survival who lacks any magic for actually surviving extreme conditions.

Both cults would be majorly improved with one spell that helps them do something that they are nominally touted as providing via mundane means.  Yelmalio has the Phalanx formation, and Waha has....I guess Nomad culture?

Yes. But waha doesnt have "nomad culture". You can "nomad culture" with any other nomad god, which also gives you... You know... magic?

I fixed yelmalio by giving access to sunspear when you hit runelord+priest (but they have shield, because thats standard rune magic in the edition i play)

I fixed waha by deleting him from the list of gods. It makes for awesome NPCs i guess?

13 hours ago, Dissolv said:

Neither of these deities really stack up to the combat power houses

Waha doesnt really stack up for anyone. Yelmalio has gifts and geases at least, waha gives you "spend a RP to detect chaos", and thats it. Everything else is either fluff or useless. They have no special skills, no talent, and no magic. 

13 hours ago, David Scott said:

Waha is the Culture Hero of the Praxians who teaches how to live in the Wastes, no magic required. The key element of his magic is the covenant, his other magic reflects his great feats.

If you are going to play a Waste based game, Waha is a must. Outside of Prax, he's the god of butchers.

The rules do not reflect your statement. I am running a wastes based game, and having a waha character is a detriment because the player could have picked something else that actually helps the team.

10 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Fix Intelligence and Release Intelligence were not available until they became Khans. These are really strong as they are Instant and can be used in combat with a touch.

Alter creature is one-use for wahans, so thats hardly a viable choice. Also isnt it a ritual? It used to be a ritual, it makes no sense to use it in combat.

9 hours ago, svensson said:

Waha is the cultural hero-god of the Praxian beast riders, but it should be remember that he's one half of a PAIR of deities that form the cultural basis. Waha is the masculine hunting /war god but don't forget that without Eiritha he'd be crippled. Death, after all, needs Life as it's equal-but-opposite force or it is meaningless.

I would need to check eiritha in RQG, but in CoP shes a powerhouse, of course if you add an eirithan to your waha it improves...

"yelmalio kinda sucks, but if you hire a humakti as bodyguard they are decent warriors" really?

9 hours ago, svensson said:

Nevertheless, if your campaign takes you to Pavis and into the Vulture Country, you'd be smart to have a Waha with you.

WHY would i take the guy with no special magic and no special skills over a real initiate, like orlanth or chalana arroy or... anyone, really...

3 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Waha has Shield. This alone makes him better than Yelmalio (yes, I know Yelmalio will pick it up in the Cult’s Book). No Cult can be truly bad as long as it has Shield.

That means shield is broken. Anecdotically i have it on the common rune spell list, so thats not an issue for me.

Everyone laughs at yelmalio, but it seems to me that the sun domers run circles around WAHA.

i mean, look at their rune spells!!! Their Best spell is a spirit with no Magic that does a single spirit combat attack at a chaos foe... Well, that or cremate body, i bet they spend all their rune points on that (because waha has crap magic and his cultists die all the time, get it?).

Anyway, just wanted to know, have you guys made any tweaks to waha? Even a single worthy rune spell could turn the tide, the cult is actually really cool roleplaying wise, but it's just too weak!

Just now, Monty Lovering said:

The RAW rules for dual wielding as regards SR are against most actual historical uses of two weapons. 

Very frequently it was something like a rapier (SR normally 2+2+2 = 6) and a dagger (2+2+4 = 8 ) which is impossible in RAW.

So I just put any second attack in on SR12. 

Love it and stealing it! +5 SR or SR12!

25 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Yes, in movies you see warriors smacking each other with their shields all the time. This never happens in RQ because there's never a mechanical advantage to doing it.

Maybe something could be done with the special success on a parry. If there was a result that prevented the attacker from attacking with their main weapon for one round, then they would have to kick, punch, shield-bash or cast magic instead, giving a reason for more varied combats.

I allow a 2nd attack with the offhand (at half chance and +5 SR). Its not that big a deal with the -20 for extra parry!

Off-hand must be SR3 or 4 ofc, no offhand battle ax attacks!

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

On the other hand, the notion that Humakti can't party completely ignores their gothic self destructiveness.  While dueling is preferable within Humakt, it is possible to drink oneself "to Death".

Indrodar Greydog dude! Pick up your Sword and lets meet at tourney altar, let me beat those sacrilegial thoughs out of your -clearly not blessed by humakt- mind.

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

Compare that to little miss axe castration fetish in the corner and I know who I'd rather party with.

"NOW WITH D10 DI AND MAGIC RESISTANCE"!!!

why Jeff, whyyyyy

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

I think in RQG there will be some cults without Rune Lords and some without Rune Priests, and I'm not sure Daka Fal will have either.

Yeah, in RQG some gods don't have both! Like Chalana lost their RL (which i found weird, since now they actually have at least 5 skills lol) and baabester gor got some (which, being the power gamer i am, i find outrageous... Not having rune ladies was the only thing that gave that cult a semblance of balance).

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

It is true every Cults of Prax cult has both, and maybe every RQ2 cult, well, maybe not some of the smaller or more obscure cults, I'd have to look through all the sources...

Every cult of prax has them. Some cults of terror dont, but i don't think that matters that much.

For NPCs i generate like this:

Lay member 20 years as per book

Initiate 19+1d6 years: all cult skills 30, 5x skills at 50+bonus or 60 without (both options available, mirroring Barbarian and mercenary XP).

This guys have 1 rune point (or +1 pow if you use RAW), 1-pt of all the cult free battle magic spells (which they can buy at 2 pts per point) and 4 points worth of battle magic they can pick from their cult spells (which include all free, all cost reduced, and all spells required to qualify for ranks). If the cult has poor selection either improve the list as GM or give the chatacter appropriate spells from the list.

Example: Rosa the Healer starts with sleep-1 and heal 1 for free. She wants heal-6, so thats 3 points. She even has 1 more point to chose, getting countermagic-1 because the fine GM she has didnt let her get sleep-2.

A veteran initiate gains +20 in the 5 cult skills (same as all my veteran -whatever- NPCs get +20 to skills). This rule is from BRP and i also seen it on an RQG oficial youtube vid (but i don't know if its actually in the book, i don't know it by heart yet lol). One version was +20 the other +25.

They also get +2 rune points, +3 battle magic and +5 age.

My goal is to have everything on Index cards; one initiate, and one runelord of each god (runelords have all 13 stats and 15 pow, initiates have 1d4+8 stats with 13 power and another 13 in str (with 12 size), INT or DEX depending on cult.

One i have all those, supported by mercenary/barbarians lay members, then ill be able to run any fight without prep!!!

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

RQ3 cults of course are very different...

Yeah, when i read cults of prax for the 1st time i felt SO CHEATED. Gods of glorantha is a VERY nice book, and great to generate NPCs, but for players, CoP is just better. Plus RQ2 is soooo much better balanced. Taking shield/absorb from the standard list made most of all those new 40+ cults severely underperforming.

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

And ah, if you've added some bits to Orlanth, then you're already working the solution - if a cult really doesn't look so hot for your previous experience system compared to others, then you will adjust things. With some adjustment, I think your system has a lot to speak for it. 

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

 

 

Yeah, this is a broad "one fits all" template, you need to tweak it if you are using it for PCs instead of NPCs. What i did is go the semi pregen route, so i have:

The adventurer, Pol Joni orlanthi

The Amazon, unicorn tribe yelornan

The Berserker, bison or high llama storm bull

The Khan, bison or high llama waha

The Healer, pavis Chalana

The Mercenary, pavis humakti (this one is actually from dragon pass in the game)

The Philosopher, pavis lhankor mhy (with MMA style martial arts at my player's request, so LM now has special martial arts rules lol)

The Soldier, sun dome yelmalian

The Thief, pavis lanbrilian 

The Traveller, pavis issaries

The wanderer, any social class daka fal (this is the "custom class")

I have no eiritha because i can't come up with a good name, and no daka fal shaman because my players don't know the game enough to play a shaman, and no 7mothers because it's too complicated with the moon stuff, so they got to be the Bad Guys again.

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

Most of my "objection" (which really isn't that strong) is that I would prefer starting PCs to have a bit more magic than your system gives. That's a simple tweak I could make if I was to adopt your ideas.

The starting list is supossed to do two things:

1- Let me have premade NPCs. Less work, faster, more fun.

2- Give NPCs an identity. Different groups should have different spells, and the spell list should be short enough that they are recognizable (oh no! Morocanths!!! These always use confusion!)

Oh, and also be a *starting* list for PCs. Being able to buy (mostly) any spell is one of the things that make Classic RQ the gameplay beast that it is. 

How would you do starting spells? I'm not married to my chargen, so please share!

13 hours ago, ffilz said:

I will probably revisit previous experience sometime for my campaign, there are some definite issues with the RQ1 previous experience, and looking to RQ2 and your idea offers some ideas for a system that works better for me, so thanks for indulging all my questions.

It was a pleasure! Finally someone that likes Classic RQ better than the new ones! 🥳

Do share if you end up making something!

Well, the editor is acting up so i can't seen to quote you.

Keep in mind that despite playing in glorantha since the late 90s i'm not very versed in it and i bullshit my way through, so all this is in MY glorantha.

A Baby Gor wouldnt be a servant, but a bodyguard. I mean, they could be a servant, but thats more like a personal oaths thing.

Also the baabester wears death runes and is covered in ritual scars, etc. (again, in my glorantha). So you pretty much stuck with ilussion magic, which neither cult can use. To add insult to injury, the Gor is probably lacking social finesse... To be honest you are better off just grabbing a randon lay member (or initiate if you are rune level).

A sartarite spy may or may not work. It depends on how sartarite they look. A sartarite born and raised in sartar can maybe play double agent, i imagine they would easily be spotted otherwise.

Of course a sartarite eurmali or donandari that spent a few decades in some lunar lands and dominates the language to perfection is a different beast! 1st and 2nd volume of Manfredi's Alexandros has some espionage in ancient times. Its also a really good trilogy and super good RQ inspiration!!!

As for the sartarite climbing the ranks... I guess they prove their loyalty by doing so; this would be extremely problematic for most cults tbh!

21 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

The skills-over-100 rule (FoC had 200% Spirit Combat) meant I had to do tons of arithmetic in my head, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, fortunately I am pretty good at head-sums and keeping track of chains of numbers. Everyone else in the room was just bamboozled by the constant stream of changing chances. I think the over-100%-rule is dead to me, but that's another thread...

Thats a skill ratings every 1% thing, not an over 100% thing! I bet you have no issue in 2nd ed with round skill numbers!

On 5/6/2022 at 5:57 PM, ffilz said:

Hmm, what about cults that don't have rune lords?

I don't think theres any? At least not for the good guys!

On 5/6/2022 at 5:57 PM, ffilz said:

Hmm, does a PC following Daka Fal get 30% in every skill? And 50% plus bonus in any 5 skills?

Daka Fal doesn't have any discounted spells, so no spells?

A daka fal character would get any 5 skills and any 5 pts of spells, no restrictions but no freebies. Having said that, i don't have a daka fal pre made (yet).

On 5/6/2022 at 5:57 PM, ffilz said:

I just prefer my PCs start with a bit more magic

I give them 5 pts in the "cult spells" (gods with very poor lists, like orlanth, get a few more spells that go with the theme (like, i added disruption so they can shoot lightning and mobility because doh).

Free spells are either free or 2x1, or free depending on the cult. For example chalanas get free sleep-1 and can purchase heal at 2 pts per pt (so heal 6 is worth 3 out of their 5 pts, same with humakt and bladesharp)