In RQG the spirit magic spells have such short duration, and they can't be cast silently before an ambush, so I've found out that they aren't as powerful as they used to be in RQ3.
I'm not completely sure if there has there been an official clarification about this. Another reading would say that the higher skill drops to 100% before it gets divided.
In my campaign a Sword of Humakt who was in massive Sword Trance, and also had a Shield that had been pumped so full of MPs is almost impossible to remove, got a critical arrow in the chest from some lousy bandits, and would have died if his sword hadn't rolled a 1 for Divine Intervention.
Yeah, re: spears, the javelin prices especially make no sense. And this is also one of the places where the Guide and RQG are at odds. In the Guide light infantry equipment is cheaper than heavy infantry equipment, but in RQG poor cottar skirmishers have to buy more expensive stuff than karls who fight in the shieldwall.
The Communication Rune may not have rule mechanics in RQG, but it's used in my campaign in stead of white flag, and has played an important part on few occasions.
On the whole, RQ and Glorantha are better than other fantasy rpgs and their worlds, but there are some absurd things in the rules, eg. CA resurrection costs, inflated bow prices, and stickpickers making fortunes from enchanting.
Hah, I thought that it did have an effect. But yeah, the rules specifically say on p. 122 Gamemaster Adventures that "This limit does not apply, however, to the POW of a spirit contained within a crystal." So the minimum price for all POW crystals should be 400L.