CBDunkerson

The book covers this. If the spirit is reduced to 3 magic points or less, or 5 fewer than an opponent it is facing in spirit combat, the pact ends. It seems like spirits captured by the shaman's fetch can do everything a spirit in a pact with the shaman could. Thus, making spirit pacts likely only makes sense to recruit multiple and/or more powerful spirits.

"Using a Rune spell literally channels part of the power of a god to affect the Mundane World; it is not an invisible act! The caster always exhibits some form of manifestation of the magical powers at their disposal. The caster might appear to grow larger (even if their SIZ is unaffected), burn with an inner glow, crackle lightning from their fingertips, or even start to physically resemble the image of the deity." pg 315

Ultimately this is a GM call, but the rules seem to describe all spirits "tied to a single Rune" as the normal (10% modifiers) level of this power, and the example given is all Death spirits vs the subset of those which are specifically Disease spirits. This case is a little less clear because the majority of spirits tied to the Air Rune are specifically air elementals. There may be some exceptions where another Rune is also involved, but whether 'air elementals' truly represent a significant distinction from 'Air Rune spirits' would likely depend on how many non-elemental Air spirits exist in your GM's game world.

Regardless of how we want to define 'living' in reference to fictional supernatural entities... the point is that Second Sight's text about detecting the POW of living creatures clearly does NOT exclude spirits because there are numerous references to using Second Sight to see spirits.

Neither a shaman's fetch (pg 356, 358) nor a spirit preparing to attack (pg 366) are 'stuck'... Second Sight allows both to be seen. "Shamans can see the spirits at all times using Second Sight..." (pg 366)

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Spirits ARE living beings. Second Sight specifically allows you to see spirits whether they be in the spirit world, bound into an item, possessing a creature, a Shaman's fetch, or whatever.

So far there have only been a few passing references to Truestone in RQG. Mostly in connection with The Block. We know it is very rare, very strong, and can be used to make something called adamant about which we know even less. Presumably details will be in the gamemaster guide, but no reason to assume it will be markedly different from previous versions.

Read the example. It answers every one of those questions. Or: 'yes', 'yes', 'no'.

My take is that it lasts for the duration of the underlying ritual. So if you are sanctifying an area to perform a worship ritual it lasts for a day, but if done to perform a Divination ritual it lasts one hour per rune point spent on the Divination. Et cetera.

See the Vasana example on page 424. She started out as a Warrior, but once she became a Rune Lord she is treated as a Noble.

Based on the writeups and examples in RQG I got the impression that you only had to tithe the income from your occupation. There is no mention of having to tithe any of the loot recovered in the Vasana's Saga writeup on page 407. On the same page the standard 20% to the temples and 10% to the Lunars are described as percentages of the harvest. Other taxes are listed, but they are generally smaller and for specific circumstances / areas. Then on page 422 in the annual harvest / accounting writeup it is said that characters should pay cult tithes "from their occupation income". Nowhere is there any suggestion that magic items or even coins and valuables gained from adventuring are subject to the 20 / 30 / 90 percent 'income' taxes. That could certainly be assumed, but then it would seem odd that there are detailed rules for how occupation income must be taxed and not a word about spoils of adventuring or war. If you take enemy weapons and armor do you have to pay for those? Gifts from other party members or inheritance from family? My take is that for the vast majority of people the occupation income is the only source of income and thus it is the one which gets taxed. There is no 'Heortling IRS' with special rules covering every conceivable form of wealth transfer. Rather, there is a simple system based on occupation income which generates plenty of revenue to cover expenses. That's why the taxes are collected at Sacred Time after the harvest... because the income of most people is tied to the harvest. If they were actively seeking adventuring income they'd want to collect taxes on at least a seasonal basis so that they could collect some of it before the adventurers drank it all away or lost it in their next reckless scheme.

See the 'Spell Effects' description of Rune Magic on pg 315. I can't think of anything specific for the other types, though there is also a statement in the 'Spell Effects' section on pg 248 that implies all spells have sensory effects.

We know they are working on a 'Gamemaster Guide' with info on treasures, hero questing, and other subjects. However, we don't know when that will arrive or whether there will be other products before it.

My read is that you permanently lose one rune point even if the divine intervention attempt fails, rune masters may then expend any remaining unused rune points but can recover these through worship as normal, and anyone can also lose permanent power points.

Another example on page 314 clearly states that Vasana has a single rune point pool for both Vinga and Thunderous subcults.

Daka Fal and Waha both get Distraction as a common cult spirit magic spell... but anyone, even those not associated with ANY cult, can learn it or any other spirit magic spell. Clearly the spell was primarily introduced as a means of aiding characters who are being attacked by spirits they have little chance of beating. The effect on corporeal creatures seems tagged on as an afterthought, and thus I'd doubt the authors would even have considered the relative likelihood of use of each... let alone that they'd have then agreed with your assessment and rewritten the spell accordingly. In any case. Corporeal creatures cannot break off spirit combat. How would this spell allow them to do that? Nor can corporeal creatures initiate spirit combat. So how would the spell allow them to do that either? Both of those things seem more powerful than a 1 pt spirit magic spell. Such a reading would also mean that any time an ally is attacked by a spirit you could cast Distraction and they'd be suddenly free of the attacking spirit, initiate spirit combat with you, and you could then both agree to drop the combat. The party would be all but immune to attack by spirits... from a 1 pt spirit magic spell.

I think you are reading it wrong. Corporeal creatures can't normally break off spirit combat with a spirit OR initiate spirit combat. Thus, I see no reason that the Distraction spell would suddenly give them the ability to do both of those things. Rather, it seems to me that it is intended to cause a corporeal creature to physically attack the caster. In short, whether it is cast on a corporeal or incorporeal creature the effect is the same... they stop attacking their current target and start attacking the caster. That seems a reasonable effect for a 1 pt spirit magic compulsion... as compared to the 2 pt Befuddle or 3 pt Sleep compulsion type effects.

There are examples of this in the book, and yes you get a single pool of Rune Points for all the sub-cults of the god. See 'Joining a Subcult' on pg 282 and the example there of Vasana joining the Thunderous subcult in addition to her existing membership in Vinga.

Elementals are spirits. Which is why they can be bound in the first place. I see no reason that a released spirit would automatically materialize. If they did... you'd be better off doing this spear trick with a bound horse spirit and watching the target explode when a horse suddenly appeared inside their wound. It simply doesn't make sense. I'd rule that the fire elemental is harmlessly released to the spirit world.

pg 366, "Spirit combat may occur between two discorporate entities (entirely within the Spirit World) or between a discorporate entity and an embodied entity (such as a human being) in the Middle World." "A shaman wishing to engage in spirit combat must first discorporate to begin spirit combat." Also, the description of the Possession shaman ability: "While any shaman can discorporate and engage others in spirit combat, this ability lets the shaman possess the body of a victim and control it as desired." My understanding is that spirits automatically become visible when they initiate spirit combat with someone in the Middle World. The Visibility spell is used to make spirits visible w/o spirit combat. Distraction: "If used against a corporeal enemy the effect is identical." All Assistant Shamans get two points of spirit magic which they can choose (plus Second Sight). Also, the 5 points of cult spirit magic each character gets can come from associated cults... so a Waha follower could get Demoralize through Storm Bull that way too. So yeah, no reason he couldn't have those spells. For the record, I played Vishi Dunn at a GenCon scenario last year and was pretty much the 'combat machine' of the party. Of course, that scenario was a Mallia cultist infecting the entire town with disease spirits... so heavy on the spirit combat. Still, he has plenty of abilities that should be useful in combat. Heal, Shield, charge with lance (+4d6 damage). Cousin Monkey also has Mobility and Countermagic.

Vishi Dunn can Discorporate and use Spirit Combat to take out most enemies.

The overland movement rates chart on page 102 lists 40 km per day on a royal road in good weather. So it is in the same ballpark. At that, barbarian peasants may not be trained to the same standards as specialized military units. None of which has anything to do with 'movement in combat' which RQ:G deliberately treats separately. They seem to be taking the view that properly positioning yourself in a chaotic melee situation reduces the rate you can move at.

That's not really how it works. See the example on page 195. Vasana spends SRs 1-5 casting Demoralize, SRs 6-8 moving 9 meters, and SRs 6-10 (the GM allowed simultaneous action) readying her bow. Thus, you can take movement in the 'middle' of the round after other actions... rather than it just always delaying the SR of your first action as you seemed to be saying. Essentially, each 3 meters of movement is an action that takes one SR to complete. Thus, a character with sufficient MOV and melee attack skill (i.e. to split attacks) could potentially start a round disengaged, move up to an enemy, attack and disable that enemy, move to another enemy, and attack again. It is really a very open and flexible movement system... other than the two oddities I pointed out. Also, you absolutely CAN move on a round you began engaged... a mounted character becomes disengaged from an unmounted opponent after SR 6 and can then move away (see pg 195 Retreating, another example of mid round movement). Cast Teleportation on SR 1 and you can be disengaged and free to move on SR 2. Or cast Invisibility and then successfully sneak away unheard. If your only engaging enemy is killed then you aren't engaged any more and are free to move that same round. Heck, just turn and run on SR 1 (leaving yourself open to attack) and you are disengaged on SR 2 and free to continue moving.

I haven't seen any reference in this thread to the fact that each 'MOV unit' requires one strike rank. That seems to resolve a lot of the questions about how much you can mix movement with other activities. However, it leaves at least two oddities unresolved; 1: Creatures with vastly different speeds effectively move at the same rate up to their limit. That is, a creature with a MOV of 4 (e.g. Human with Slow) and a creature with a MOV of 16 (e.g. Human with Mobility) both require 4 strike ranks to travel 4 MOV units (i.e. 12 meters if hurrying). If both were rushing to be the first to get to the magical mcguffin then a MOV 4 character 9 meters away would get there before a MOV 16 (or MOV 600) character 10 meters away. 2: Creatures with MOV higher than 12 have some amount 'left over'. That is, a MOV 16 character should be able to go 48 meters in a round, but they are limited to 3 per strike rank and there are 12 strike ranks... so it caps out at 36 meters. Are the remainder 'lost'? All happen at the end of SR 12? One possible resolution to both the issues above would be to change the rules to allow characters to go 'MOV / 12' (round up) move units per SR rather than having all creatures fixed at one move unit per SR. In that case our MOV 16 character could get to the mcguffin in 2 SR (beating the closer MOV 4 character by 1 SR) and would hit their 48 meter cap at 8 SRs of movement.