HreshtIronBorne

Sorry if I derailed the thread. We cna move the min-maxing talk over to the munchkinnery thread if it fits better there. 

The open avenue in the Rules to worship Daka Fal and therefore any ancestor with great magic or going with Orlanth as a second cult really opens up options for ranged attack and supplementary magic for the Odaylan. Really, he has a niche he fills pretty good being the Wildman that interfaces with nature and lives in the boonies. Anyone wanting more can definitely get it through the Storm Pantheon or Daka Fal. 

8 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Am I missing something?  The Bear can't parry and has 4 points of armor.  (Plus any magical armor).  I guess Odaylans could be o.k. if they have a high Dodge.

@HreshtIronBorne  My Vingan warrior gets STR into the 40s when she is all mo-foed up.  But she uses an iron sword with perhaps some bladesharp.

Gotta treat the Bear kinda like a Berserk. He is really likely to go down unless he is a Rune-Lord with an allied spirit and/or all the other shenanigans you can put together to survive dangerous combats.

In older campaigns we have house ruled stuff for hunters making armor out of their most epic kills. Really wish the Weapons and Equipment guide covered some exotic materials like making Armor out of a 12AP dinosaur hide or something wicked. 

I haven't really had much game time on the ground playing an Odaylan yet, though there was one of them in my last campaign that had a decent run, not my PC though. I just really like the idea of a human getting up to a 3 or 4d6 DB and rolling Mega Crushing Damage on people. I am a simple man, I like beeg numbers and weird characters. Lol. 

9 minutes ago, svensson said:

Well, let's not forget the one unmentioned spell in Red Book of Magic that serves to make many of these spells VERY useful...

Transform Self:

2 Rune Points, Beast Rune

Touch, Duration [Special], Nonstackable

Definition: This spell must be stacked with the three specialty shapechanging spells. For example, an Odayla cultist used Bear's Skin, Bear's Strength, and Claws.

When these spells are combined with Transform Self, the user bodily transforms into a magical, semi-divine version of the god's animal. All the spells combine for full effect for one full hour. All the normal abilities of the animal become usable by the target for the spell's duration.

 

Now, that's a whopping 9 Rune Points[!], so this is out of range of most casual cultists. But it could be devastating to an opponent who is unfortunate enough to find themselves in melee with the Odayla priest.

The 9 RP investment is honestly kind of insane. It really incentivizes the creation of a matrix to place any of your extra POW after reaching your RP cap. 

Odayla gets Rune-Lords so they have awesome DI. The cult write-up also says that followers after worship ancestors through Daka Fal. And the associated cult of Orlanth Thunderous gets Bear's  Strength in addition to being name dropped in the spell description,  which I assume means it a pretty frequent secondary cult for Odaylans. 

Through those two avenues there are lots of ways tp get GREAT archery stuff if you want it. 

1 hour ago, svensson said:

It's Claws that I have an iffy time with. All the spells does is raise a caster's Fist attack to 1d6+db and grant +50% Climb. Since the Claws attack uses the caster's Fist attack score, I submit that it's just not that big a deal as a combat option. My reasons are these:

I would suggest either a Martial Art, Hero Cult Secret, or some other such device to provide Odaylans with an ability to attack with both claws simultaneously, maybe require surprise? 

Bears pinning and mauling a victim is definitely something I can imagine. I think I have seen it in a movie once or twice... Almost all cats in the bestiary get the ability to rip with hind legs if they land both claws. The Hsunchen cults and those like them should have some sort of Animal Martial Art to attack in the ways their totem animal does. 

I think abilities like that, acquired through gameplay like HeroQuesting or finding an epic teacher or something is a great way of rewarding players that picked a tough role and play it well. 

I just rolled up an Odaylan called Wrestles-With-Bears, ended up with something like 75% in Fist and Grapple. He will probably die fast but, it will be GLORIOUS! His 11 INT makes total sense. 

How far can a bear-man throw a dude if he has STR of 49 or so? How much damage does he do when he hits a tree or other dude? 

I want to play a character that hits a mo-fo with another mo-fo and Odayla seems like a hot ticket! I used to play a Basmoli in am old campaign for a similar vibe, I can see Odayla hitting similar buttons for a player so inclined. 

8 minutes ago, Bill the barbarian said:

have seen foes levelled with the toss of one javelin and MM 3 (and a wee bit of strength) when similar foes would take MR after MR of time to drop with melee weapons. Oh and the foes had good armour, but the first MM is still able to crit or special and the Javelins are still 1D10!

This has been the case for our groups. A Bear's Strength plus a Strength spell makes any Javelin toss or Sling stone do deadly damage. I dunno if RAW has sling get half DB but, we do at our table. 

Our odaylan started with a bow but, quickly disliked it so the GM let him switch to javelin. Been kicking butt ever since. Lol.

13 minutes ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

True.  Same for NPCs not dispelling PC spells like Charisma is a social situation.

They just cast their own. Or Lie, or whatever else if fun. Lol.

4 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

 

I played in one game with Todd Gardiner (of Chaosium) and his poor Scorpion Men totally stopped attacking with their stingers after several had been chopped off in one round on parries.  The standard tactic of ganging up with multiple attacks on the Humakti Duck backfired completely.  The Duck did have up Truesword, some sorcery spell, and a lot of Bladesharp as well, so this was an extreme example.

I played in a campaign several years long in game time, probably about a year maybe year and a half of weekly meet ups. My humakti was a MONSTER. Regularly Sword Tranced for 11mp, it happens in one round. When he needed to he would go all out and spend enough to get to 500% to hit for infinite specials. He was able to cast several combined Strength, Coordination, and Mobility through a matrix. Had at least 10 RP by the time we got to the end of the first couple years. Really prioritized getting his RP pool large enough to not worry about having only 1 re-up a season. 

We were just getting the party into Rune-Lord status when the campaign fizzled out. My Humakti would almost always go into battle with a Truesword and CM and/or Shield on the sword and Sword Trance 11 and Shield 2-4 on himself depending on the baddies. He absolutely dismantled anything not intelligent and most intelligent beings. 

The party also had a LM Philosopher that knew Boon of Kargan Tor, could do something like 3d6 for 8 weeks. Every conceivable weapon and ammo was enchanted as he had 100 and some odd MP storage, most of which regenerated. 

@Oracle

Yes, exactly that one! It is one of the most truly awesome pieces of art I have ever seen. It does Glorantha and the Gods War justice. 

I would pay whatever to get that on my wall.  

Sorry to necro this thread but, it ses like the best place to ask. I remember seeing a post somewhere that showed a preview of the physical work from which the above posted art by Agatha Pithié is taken. I think it looked like a huge scroll of watercolor art. 

You can clearly see how the three images from the Storm Age are all cut from the same source image.

That sort of work is almost exactly what I imagine a LM sage trying to decipher from time to time. Mythic imagery as much as actual text. 

I would do basically ANYTHING to be able to get a poster of the wonderful art Agatha Pithié has created to bring the Gods to life. 

This recording is awesome and gives me real RQ vibes. I could see something like this at the funeral of Kallyr maybe?

Just because the 1 sample dwarf shows 1 handed hammer and it isn't a particularly good weapon for Iron dwarfes definitely doesn't mean EVERY iron dwarf uses hammer as main weapon. Just give them whatever. It really isn't  that big a deal. 

I dunno about warhammers. Probably some mythical reasoning. The sample in the bestiary has a battle axe and a 1 handed hammer. PC generation for Iron Dwarf adventurers has melee weapon +40%, so you can pick whatever is most advantageous. Also, ALL their equipment is IRON. Which is both immensely expensive and incredibly fearsome. Double penetrating damage versus trolls and elves. Great defenses and nigh unbreakable gear. 

In our Glorantha Dwarfs use all sorcery, so the Iron Dwarf can take the crazy expensive Stabilize Iron or whatever that costs POW to cast or just take Boon of Kargan Tor and other awesome War Magic buffs. Even a warhammer without any DB or Special Effect bonus does decent damage with a 2 or 3d6 Boon of Kargan Tor, much less something better suited like a battle axe, broadsword, or what have you. You could give them Enhance CON or STR based on how Enhance INT works maybe, if you thought they were weak?

In our campaigns a squad of iron dwarf warriors on the horizon is terrifying because the players know they have guns and know how to use them. Lol. Then there are the powder kegs and all sorts of other hardware. Dwarfs are scary because they are smart, not brutes. Those are the trolls. Except the mistresses, they are terrifying AF. 

An ornately engraved Lead Box enchanted to hold a Shade, fill it with stuff and it gets cold, Gloranthan Refrigeration!

The restrictions to Dodge and Parry seem like they may be just a little harsh. Not taking any defensive action against most attacks is a great way to get killed in RQ. 

I mean, mythologically it brought Urox back from the dead to fight Wakboth to a standstill/smashing his butt with the block. So, I err on the side of making it freaking AWESOME!

I don't know if it is in the RQ:G spell description but, I would HUGELY play up the fact that this 1 spell is why the Wastes of Prax are... Wastes. It specifically destroyed the life giving energies of the lands all around Urox for a HUGE area. Now, your run of the mill Ernaldan ain't gonna be affecting that big an area but, who in their right mind in the clan would stand by and casually let someone continuously stab/maim/pillage Ernalda and her life giving vitality for the greedy purpose of, making personal enchantments and other power gamey nonsense?

When I saw the new rules for building spirits with special powers I TOTALLY allowed my player shaman to have a spirit that gave him a bite attack of a Hawk Spirit he had randomly found and bound. Mostly because it was totally freaking awesome and MGF. Even if the rules technically don't allow it with a regular binding. I am not gonna hamstring awesomeness because we don't have the GM guide yet. I had no idea that was a sort of HQ idea/convention. 

2 hours ago, g33k said:

Of course, at the point where the PC's are facing that sort of foe, it's likely they have other options than straight-up combat; and even in-combat, they likely have options like, "Whaddaya mean, dodge it???!  I'ma Legolas that sucker:  jump on the tree-trunk, run up his arm, and stab his eyeballs!"

Edited 2 hours ago by g33k

We have had many moments where a PC decided to do something bonkers like Teleport onto the shoulder of the giant. Or get thrown up onto the back of the Avatar of Cacodemon. It is always a blast!

On 7/8/2022 at 10:31 AM, Erol of Backford said:

So how big and strong does say a great troll (as an example) need to be to wield a 2H sword or 2H spear in one hand? Likely the haft or handle was thickened as needed to be comfortable for them?

So, the way at worked in our games was actually an artifact of old school D&D and Conan. Our GM used to play AD&D Dragonlance when he first got into RPGs and the Max Strength a human could roll was an 18 and the 100/100 on 1d100. Characters with Max Strength could use Greatswords 1 handed like Conan the Barbarian. I dunno, I wasn't even alive when this tradition started but, it stuck.

This means that in our Glorantha a Human can use a Greatsword 1 Handed at 21 STR, a troll would need Species Max STR for wielding 1 Hand Troll Mauls, which would be freaking METAL!

We never really cared much about DEX requirements. Just used the ones from the charts. 

I am really looking forward to digging into a brand new sandbox that isn't quite as focused on the Dragon Pass region and the Adventures of Argrath, Harrek, and Jar-Eel. I rather like the idea of a Hero Wars where PCs can be movers and shakers, or destroyers, or whatever the story becomes.

Also, freaking awesome ninja pirates! 

13 hours ago, StephenMcG said:

I like death moments to be special in some way.  I liked Hero Wars using the Mortally Wounded condition rather than Dead.  It allowed me to talk to the players about what they wanted to do.

I have agreed for a last effort that allowed the dying warrior to rise, hold off enemies while his comrades escaped.  I have agreed for a character to be healed (taken to dwarves to replace his heart - chest wound- with a Heart of Stone).  I have agreed for access to healing magics for a price.

These moments should be epic if possible, the loss of a character is always mitigated if it comes with a cool memory or story.

I think this perfectly fits with things like Divine Intervention already in the rules. In a suitably awesome moment for a player I would definitely let them "Give their soul to Orlanth", same thing as rolling exactly your POW on a DI roll. You get an epic moment and then go to your God. The GM could work with the Player to make it memorable and Epic/Mythical. Depending on the style of game and player they could use the moment for all sorts of awesome scenes.

A suitably Heroic band of adventurers could even figure out how to visit the dead PC with their God or even retrieve the dead PC if that fits the campaign. We did it at least a few times. 

22 minutes ago, Kloster said:

Just use RQ3's combat rules and all your problems are solved ... if your players decide to read the rules and to use them. You will then have pushes, close in, attack to disarm or to destroy weapon or shield, knockback (intentional or not), moves interweaved with attacks to attack from side or back, etc.

This worked for us for a really long time. In fact, for our next RQG game I think we are going to be lifting the RQ3 combat rules entirely. 

You could steal and adapt the rules from stormbringer. If you are a weapon master you can riposte after a successful parry. You could make it more or less powerful by requiring a Special or Critical, or use it to replace the Over 100 Rule and if you "Outclass" your opponent instead of negating their skill you get ripostes or other special maneuvers, making combat awesome and cinematic. 

3 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

91-00 Attacker knocked back. Roll defender's STR vs attacker's SIZ. If successful, knock back is 1D6 meters, otherwise 1 meter.

This was always my favorite part of playing RQ3 back in the day with my buddies. Even the burliest fighters would get knocked around a battlefield by trolls and larger enemies. Anything with big damage that needed big magic would run the risk of knocking you all over the place unless you were huge. My main PC was SIZ 11. 

My more combat oriented PCs have often used the Disarm rules, for RQG we found them published as RQG Rune Fixes 3rd July.pdf. Attacking to Damage a weapon or shield is a cool and cinematic tactic against another skilled opponent, so is the traditional fancy swishy disarm or the brute strength smashy disarm. I would also allow someone to use their DEX if it were better in my Glorantha. 

Disarm
In a combat, an adventurer may at any time declare that they are striking at their opponent’s weapon instead of the opponent. If the opponent is parrying with the designated weapon, they will automatically parry if the attacker succeeds in the attack. The attacker has the normal chance of success if the target weapon is a Strike Rank 0 weapon. The chance is reduced by –10% if it is a SR 1 weapon, –20 percentiles if it is a SR 2 weapon, and by –30% if it is a SR 3 weapon. If the attacker hits the target weapon, they may attempt 
one of the following actions:

. Strike to damage the weapon. In this case, the weapon loses hit points equal to the amount by which the damage exceeds the hit points of the weapon. Such damage cannot be done with a weapon meant only for thrusting, such as a spear or dagger.

. Hit with the flat of the weapon and match the rolled damage against the STR of the target weap-on’s user (or STR×1.5 if the weapon is held with both hands) on the Resistance Table. If the attack succeeds, the target weapon is knocked from the user’s hand and flies away a distance in meters equal to the difference between the damage done and the STR of the user. If the STR is greater than the damage done, the weapon lands at the target’s feet. If the attack is unsuccessful, there is no effect on the struck weapon. This attack cannot be attempted with a short weapon meant only for thrusting (such as a dagger), but it can be used with spears, clubs, or quarterstaves to slap away an opponent’s weapon.