HreshtIronBorne

Severed and Maimed Limbs
Only a 6-point Heal spell (or its equivalent, such as Heal Wound stacked with 6 magic points) applied within ten minutes can restore a severed limb, assuming all parts are available.

RQG p.149

We have used a lot of both Rune and Spirit magic. I prioritize filling out the CHA limit of almost all the party members with a useful array of spirit magic as soon as it can be afforded. The Ernaldan Noble party leader has Heal 6 and just found a Healing Focusing 2 crystal. She spends most of her time slinging Heal 4+2 around to slap limbs back on or casting Protection and buff spells like Strength. 

Like WindChild said above, as we have a fairly experienced crew of players they are a pretty good judge of lethality, so the random encounters often only involve spirit magic and mounted charges or some skirmishing with missiles then into melee. Big encounters against NPCs or Rune-Lords or Elder Races often onvolve bringing out Rune Points and trying to conceive more elaborate plans for attack or defense. Often taking much longer to plan than to actually execute. So many anticlimaxes from a lucky 01 after an hour of planning a perfect defense. *sigh*

Gods damn it. Now I need an outcast group of yelmalions with Battle Yo-Yos...

15 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

On 7/22/2021 at 6:32 AM, Brian Duguid said:

In RQ, with easy availability of magical blessings to deflect weapon strikes, there will be fewer reasons to choose a shorter, lighter weapon.

Except that quicker strikes with magically enhanced weapons leads to higher damage - Although RAW doesn't allow for this 😞 There should be a mechanic for short, quick repetitive thrusts. And when there is, those 1D4 +4 (Bladesharp) thrusts 3 or 4 times in a couple of seconds are going to be nasty.

It has been discussed in other threads before but, because of the way RQ uses AP and the way damage scales often times Big Swings are much more effective at bringing down both Men and Beasts, with or without badass magic and/or equipment. 

This is one area I really hope we can get some optional more crunchy rules in the GM book or a Jonstown publication. Things like a flurry of blows from an opponent with a dagger that closes on the Greatsword bearing Sword of Humakt. Rather than just trading Attack rolls once or MAYBE twice a round until the skill levels get really high. I would like to see a good reason for the Sword to switch to Daggering with the closed opponent, turning the fray into a storm of blades between the foes.

I also REALLY loved the incidental knockback rules from RQ3, we still use them for Huge Swings that connect with PCs or Foes. It is just WAY TOO MUCH FUN, for enemies/allies to get knocked around battlefields, into cavern walls, off boats, or through ruined walls. Some of our most cinematic encounters came from incredible Parried Crits that sent a PC and his limb hurtling across the battlefield on a HeroQuest or epic encounter. 

Yelmalio was both a Rider and a stalwart defender with Pike and Shield?

Does the modern Yelmalio cult still use cavalry/mounter archers?

In our last campaign we absolutely allowed casting Earth Shield on the Blessed Champion. We figured it is the RuneSpell from Arming of Orlanth. Ernalda Giving him the Unbreakable Shield is a whole part of that right?

7 hours ago, SevenSistersOfVinga said:

8 hours ago, Arcadiagt5 said:

... whether or not you're summoning the elemental for a purpose that the god would approve of. 

So if the summon gets out of the gem and sees a bunch of chaos monsters there is nothing else to say. Got it

This is how we have been playing it in our most recent RQG campaign. The Ernaldan has saved the day at least twice with double castings of Summon Earth Elemental III. Once against a pair of Jack'O'Bears and again against Undead in the Rubble. The GM basically ruled that the targets were definitely and unmistakably Bad as far as the Earth Elementals were concerned, so they just went right in and started grinding them up! 2 or 3d6 to EVERY hit location is freaking awesome!

I know of at least one duel in canon where a Humakti used a fire elemental and though some in the crowd thought it bad form she definitely won the duel. We have always played the Humakti being the most uptight about honour and following rules in duels than other cults, at least on our Glorantha. Unless the two Orlanthi established some ground rules and didn't just shout challenges and start hurling lightning then all is fair, IMO. 

In our Glorantha every kind of magic EXCEPT the weird, alien, and vile Sorcery has a visible effect. This is one of the main reasons sorcery is mega spooky for the Orlanthi and others. 

Exceptions would be spells which mention being secret. Can't remember off the top of my head. 

Lightning also has unique utility in that it can destroy or ignite stuff instantly. If you disarm a baddie or are racing for the McGuffin or need to clear out a barn you can solve all of those with a single point of lightning. Maybe a couple to destroy or damage an item depending on whether it is equipment or jewelry. 

Our recent skirmishes with Lunar have well illustrated how powerful Mindblast is in comparison to Lightning in terms of directly removing an enemy threat. Lightning has to be used creatively to have the same level of effectiveness per point, IMO. 

1 hour ago, Hellfire6a said:

14 hours ago, Rodney Dangerduck said:

To utilize that bonus to attack and damage, you need to be in melee with your opponent, which places you in danger of getting hit by their sword or claws.

Lightning is indeed "worse" than Strength - I agree with your analysis.  It's big advantage is that it is much safer.

Expand  

I would agree with your assessment...except blowing everything on one shot in combat is a good way to end up dead. Adventurers in RQ:G don't seem to be incompetent, anything but in my opinion. Also one of the rules of gunfights...tracers work both ways. You shoot a bolt of lightning you just made yourself the biggest target on the battlefield. 

This is where the actual universe of Gporantha steps in rather than the RQ rules, setting itself apart from some other systems. An NPC, for most intents and purposes, cannot know how much RP are left in your tank. And if played appropriately shouldn't be always going Balls to the Wall on the party all the time either with their RP and resources, unless cornered and driven to extreme measure. Most of the possible "hostile" encounters in RQ versus something like D&D can play out much differently. If you find a dozen trollkin and a couple Dark Trolls and Liquify the Dark Troll with a lightning bolt there is a pretty damn good chance they DON'T CARE how many resources you have left or spent to bkow him up. They are fleeing terrified into their tunnlmels unless the last Dark Troll can manage to wrangke them. Then there are the possibilities of ransoms and yoelding and all sorts of other ways for encounters to end. Sometimes shit needs to die RIGHT NOW but, over there. So Lightning Bolt can solve that.  I personally prefer Teleport 😏. 

Also, Lightning or Thunderbolt can lay waste to Spirits or other exceptionally difficult to engage targets. I would agree it is one of the least efficient choices to use Orlanth RP on but, it can DEFINITELY save the day. 

2 hours ago, Pentallion said:

Dullblade works great for the guy with heavy armor.  And do you really want dullblade cast on  your sword by the troll you're fighting when getting damage through is literally the only way you're going to defeat that guy?

The troll laughs at your puny iron weapon

Also, combining Multispell or the shaman ability to Multi-cast Spirit magic makes it a pretty good option for a support caster type. This works even better if they are Fanatical or Berserk, so they do less damage on their mandatory attacks and you still get to hit with no parry/dodge or at most half dodge. 

27 minutes ago, lordabdul said:

16 hours ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

I am not sure how different GMs play bounc spirits. According to a rather strict reading of the rules as written getting a bound spirit to cast a single spell could take up to a round or two.

I don't think so. Check my recent Q&A questions, and David's answers (for example, this).

Either way, the OP is about Spell Matrices. I think that one point of Spell Matrices is to free up CHA: you spend a POW or two to store a "secondary spell" so you free up space for getting bigger versions of your most often used spells. You don't even have to spend all the POW yourself, you can collaborate with other PCs or with some temple priest NPC with which you have a strong enough Loyalty or Devotion. Another point of Spell Matrices is what @Kloster mentioned: build up, over time or in one go, some commonly used "cocktail" of spells that you can cast more efficiently. You can regain POW fast enough that I don't see why some people don't find that a good investment -- my guess is that it's a combination of player psychology (some are more conservative than others) and actual rules used at the table (since many of the enchantment rules are not super clear).

Yep. After checking up on the rules Q&A Bound Spirit use is quite forgiving. After casting a single control spell from whatever school of magic on a bound spirit it will just listen to you from now on. Which makes it much easier than needing to command the bound spirits individually. I assume as long as you don't need them to target something other than you they don't even need to leave the binding which makes it extra safe. 

Still there are some reasons to invest POW in spirit magic matrices.

If you enchant a sword with fireblade and an attack condition to cast it on the sword when drawn and link MP storage to it, do you need to worry about fireblade being active anymore? 

24 minutes ago, Kloster said:

5 hours ago, icebrand said:

Yes, so much this. Like, some people do them to free int/cha or to pass around the spell. I'm shocked they spend 5+ pow (some even spent 10+?) For a spirit matrix... Imho no spirit spell is worth POW; my players always used spirits or just picked their spells more carefully If they didn't have access to.

You go to 10+ when using conditions, linked spells and magic point storage. That allows for effect you can't have without doing it. In the case I have described, for 15 POW, you have a sword that casts instantly and without roll Bladesharp 4, Strength 3 and Coordination 3 when you decide it, and the magic points are already stored for 2 uses. You just have to refill when needed. When casting the spells, you need 10 SR if the matrix are linked, 3 rounds if you know the spells ore the matrix are not linked.

Kloster's point is really what made us consider it. With CHA limiting RP you can only ever spend so much POW that way. 

The Strength + Coordination + mobikity matrix for example takes  DEX Sr +4 to cast, which gets all 3 of those spells up in one round. Then there are spells much too big or unwieldy to keep in your free int. Why keep 2-6 free CHA for dispel magic when it can be in an item?

I am not sure how different GMs play bounc spirits. According to a rather strict reading of the rules as written getting a bound spirit to cast a single spell could take up to a round or two. You first have to cast a command spell at the spirit in the binding and direct it to go about casting spells. Once it leaves the binding to see stuff then it is completely open to being messed with by opposing magicians. Maybe even getting jacked by a shaman. You then would spend your time and concentration directiong the spirit to buff you or others. The exception in our Glorantha are Allied spirits which are specifically in a psychic link with their priest/Rune-Lord and can cast spells through each other. 

The God Learners could literally print magic items like the Second Age was D&D with whole armies having +1 or +2 magical swords and armors. It isn't like mega efficient magical projects haven't been done in Glorantha before. 

I personally love the feel and flavor of spirits working with craftsmen to create a Masterwork. Sometimes things turn out better than you'd  hoped. I would especially encourage players to find exotic materials and magically resonant places to make the greatest works possible. Whole adventures in and of themselves. Then you can add the whole layering of HeroQuesting into it and have This World and even Otherworld smithing quests. 

Also, that guy soltakss up there has a whole website with some of the most wonderfully flavorful, powerful, and sometimes a teeny but OP ideas for magical items that a PC could definitely create with the RAW for RQG. 

One of my favorites is a box with either a Fireblade matrix and linked Attack Condition to cast fireblades on whatever sword gets thrust into the container, or it is powered by some spirit. Either way I think it would definitely be a functional magical item that makes Fireblade WAY easier to cast on a whole group. And if you haven't impaled or slashed with a fireblade then, have you ever really lived?

I was fairly certain that a wordhipper of an enemy god cannot divine intervention inside your holy place. So, an Orlanthi couldn't DI out of a Krarsht Temple and vice versa. Is Sanctify where this special temple holy groubd ability comes from? If so, why would it end after the ceremony, or is it constantly being sanctified somehow?

I had a PC that was offered a reward for exceptional service doing Humakt stuff. The PC ended up contributing 5 or 6 POW, though it may have been upwards of 9 for a big Spirit Magic Matrix. 

The whole Matrix eventually consisted of Coordination + Mobilitiy + Strength all linked to be cast together with the Link Spell Condition. Effectively turning it into one Big Spirit Spell worth 5 MP that took Dex SR + 4 SR to cast. The entire Enchantment had Linked Spells, and a condition that it could only be used by at least initiates of Humakt. This cost a total of 5 POW in spells, 2 POW in Conditions, and 1 POW to Link all the Spells because it was all done at once, or so our GM ruled. There was also an additional point of POW for Enchanting the Iron for the Segmented Plates within which the enchantment was being made. I think that brought it to 8 POW for Spirit Spells and Enchantment optimization, and 1 POW for the Enchant Iron, any extra POW the GM handwaved as rewards.  Combined with Multispell 3 the entire front-line of the party would become a formidable shock force instantly. The PC eventually called it Humakt's War Wind. 

The plan was to eventually add Power crystals to the enchantment that were linked to the spell, and then depending on how the GM ruled I was going to add an Attack Condition that targetted anyone Initiated to Humakt that gave a traditional Sword Salute, to make it instant and self powered. By putting spirits in the crystals it would regen power as well. 

The whole party threw down 1 or 2 POW apiece right when the first Wind Sword/Lord got online and we made a crazy huge POW 12 Teleport Matrix. Which became the central party artifact basically. We became well known for teleporting 8 dudes into the back line of the enemy or escaping from ridiculously sticky situations which should most DEFINITELY have killed us. The Orlanthi Wind Lord in question our the enchantment into his Iron Large Shield, so the whole party could touch it most easily, and so it would be durable. 

Otherwise most of our matrices would come from looted objects. Occasionally we would be allowed to barter for one or very occassionally buy one. 

Carefully reading the enchanting rules and also infering powers and abilities from different Gloranthan stories has given us some cool ideas. I still want to make a PC that has Flaming Javelins on Firey Cords the rell back in automatically while the PC leaps around. It is from a short story Greg wrote, I think. I always mention it when thinking of the whacky things a PC might do in Glorantha. 

I have been wanting to recreate the Avengers in RQ as a crazy eccentric Hero Band some PCs might encounter if they get overpowered someday. I think you could totally do it with enchantments right out of the rulebook. Lol. 

2 hours ago, Godlearner said:

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Easier to create a matrix than to use a crystal that you got as loot?

No, but how often do you find one is what I am trying to judge.

As far as I have seen looking rhrough adventure material and from playing a TON of RQ3, it depends a lot on campaign power level and role play. We ended up swimming in crystals in some cmapaigns that were combat/loot heavy and high power level. When we started lowbie RQ3 characters it would take a long time to get the first few as skills start low, combat is hecka deadly, you have even less equipment/spells. 

By the end of our most recent RQG campaign of 11 Lights we had approximately 30ish points in stored MP on each of the ten(?) Or so PCs. In game time we played for about 8 years, I think. We ended up with the priest and the shaman carrying a majority of them because of their spell throughput per round when stuff got hairy. Also, the humakti had 60 or so, he had a lot of personal adventures, duels, and such that led to piling on the MP. 

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

3 hours ago, davecake said:

Not really - there are plenty of people who don't get much from Strength (casters, ranged combatants), but extra hit points are always good.

If you've just been stung by a scorpionman, you want Vigor.  Boosts your effective CON up in time to resist the poison if you don't happen to have an antidote handy.

I had not considered use against chaotics and their poisons/diseases. That is actually a really useful point. Also 3 total hp is enough to go up a point in each location, which adds at least another 3 points for a maiming/limbing, not much but, it helps especially at low levels of power. 

I just cannot see what they would be mutually exclusive. Oh well, one less buff you gotta cast, I guess!

30 minutes ago, davecake said:

Vigor and Strength are incompatible anyway. 

Is this a return to classic RQ2 or something? Why would strength and vigor be the only two of the stat spells that are incompatible? Vigor is straight gargage if they are mutually exclusive. 

The 2 minute duration is most difficult to work with for spells like Vigor and Strength, IMO. They sorta feel right on the cusp of being valuable enough to cast. Protection 4/6 and Bladesharp 4/6 or fireblade are almost always worth getting up if you can get the time before engaging. Strength, Vigor, Coordination, and Mobility are really good but, casting them all separately takes way too long to be viable unless you have support casters or allied spirits or you invest in RP or POW for enchantments. If you "fully buffed"  one weapon buff (Bladesharp, Bludgeon, or Fireblad), a defensive spell (Protection, Spirit Screen, or Countermagic), and then try to get the stat and speed spells up you will have spent almost half duration of your first spell just getting ready! That's where things like linked enchantments (matrixes whatever), Multispell, or the Shaman Ability to Multi-Cast spirit spells are really strong. 

RuneQuest combat does tend to be hella deadly but, I have definitely seen combats between evenly matched fighters last quite a while. Definitely long enough for us to track spells wearing off. Ten rounds comes surprisingly quickly in a duel for instance. 

6 hours ago, lordabdul said:

I'm confused about this... Multispell is a Rune Spell so you can't put it in a Spirit Matrix Enchantment AFAIK.

Also, Multispell doesn't speed up anything (it takes effect at the highest SR of all spells), nor does it prevent you from rolling (you still roll under your Rune to cast Multispell, and I *think* you need to roll POWx5 for each spell? I'm not sure about that).

A Spirit Matrix Enchantment likewise doesn't prevent rolling, you still need to roll POWx5 to cast the spell inside.

You can't store multiple spells in a matrix without doing multiple matrix enchantments AFAICT. I don't think you can put multiple enchantments on the same item anyway, either for having the matrix pump MPs from a storage automatically, or for having multiple spells (although of course a GM may rule that it's OK depending on the item... having an item with multiple "parts" that touch each other may help, but, again, depends on the use-case).

Did I miss something?

I was talking about using multispell to generally increase spell throughput per round/unit of time. It definitely will allow you to cast a ton more spells for the encounter. 

As far as the enchantment it was a single item, a set of Iron Segmented Plates worn by the Humakti. He had contributed most of the POW for the individual enchantments and a lot of the value of the object was from a big reward. Anyway, we used the Link Spell cindition from page 250 of the core rules to link the matrices for Strength, Coordination, and Mobility. This would allow him to cast all three at the same time as basically a big 5 point spirit spell. I had not had resources or time to add the POW crystals to the enchantment, though that was the plan. 

I had never considered the Attack Condition to construct buff equipment for the party, though it is brilliant. I must have glossed over it thinking it couldn't be munchkinized, bot was I wrong. 

2 hours ago, Crel said:

8 hours ago, resurrected duck said:

I am wondering, how does it affect gameplay?

We played a combat-heavy RQ3 game, and then a combat-heavy-ish RQG game. It's pretty impactful. At the old 5min duration, you could stack a bunch of spells, and then jump into the fight. With 2min - ten melee rounds - you can't really cast more than two buffs before initiating a fight. If you try casting, for example, Strength, Protection, and Bladesharp, you may already be down to half duration remaining by the time you take your first sword-swing.

I don't know if I'd assign a value-judgement to this change. But it does cause a difference in how my players tactically approach combat.

This makes the Common Rune Magic Multispell such an incredible tool in Mid-High level play. With just 3 points you can cast all your buffs in one round and throw out a couple Disruption 4s once you end up slicing down your first melee opponents. Then you can have allied spirits and/or bound spirits that can cast spells on you in combat. 

My PC in one RQG campaign had put together a matrix with Coordination, Mobility, and Strength all linked together. So we would cast it as a 5 point spirit magic spell, makes it much easier to get the whole party spelled up.