Shiningbrow

12 hours ago, lordabdul said:

. (and yes I totally want to write Gloranthan erotica now).

Tales of a Ulerian Priestess...

4 hours ago, soltakss said:

 

For targeted spells, I normally have a streak going through the air, unless the spell is a hidden one, vast by thieves and assassins.

I've never played that.... let the Befuddle confound everyone! (also, much more fun when the players don't know that it's even happened, let alone who cast it!)

3 hours ago, Jeff said:

 This is part of the Gloranthan mindset. The gods can and do have multiple incarnations, and sometimes they even confront themselves. Orlanth Adventurous confronts Orlanth Thunderous, and so on.

I've got more reading to do....

3 hours ago, Jeff said:

of course any Ernaldan priestess worth her salt is VERY impressive when she wants to be

True - unfortunately (the way I see it), Charisma (spell) isn't all that awesome mechanically, as per RAW... maybe only a 15-20% increase in communication skills.  Clever Tongue doubles Orate and Fast Talk... which would be much more significant (and impressive) than Charisma.

1 hour ago, Manu said:

OK. Conclusion : Bound spirit (except if Shaman) is useless on all these situations

Thanks

My reading of the sections on spirits (in both RGQ and Bestiary) says that it shouldn't be a problem to sick (possibly pun intended, if it's a Disease Spirit) onto another spirit inhabiting someone's body, such as a ghost.

Don't forget, unless you have a Control type spell for the bound spirit, it only obeys your first command... so you could lose it, or worse, it may decide to possess your friend.

Healing Spirits do this sort of thing specifically against Disease Spirits.

For exorcising a Ghost, I'd suggest an Ancestor Spirit such as Richard Simmons or Jane Fonda...

3 hours ago, soltakss said:

The programmer in me approves, as a set of codes should be meaningless, but the player in me screams "Surely (C) for Canon, (L) for Largely Canon, (S) for Some Canon and (N) For Non-Canonical.

And for stuff that should just be thrown out, there'd be Fire Canon....

15 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Separate Death from Man (i.e. a mortal), Combine Fertility, Stasis for permanent life.  (Doing only the first creates an undead being)

What would happen if you Tap Death?

21 hours ago, Sumath said:

In practice, you're right, it wasn't omniscience. But it came from Ceridwen's cauldron and IIRC when he sucked his thumb he knew everything there was to know (or something like that - it's been a long time since I read it).

Gwion Bach was ordered to stir the pot of ultimate knowledge, brought about by the Salmon of Knowledge* that swam in the pond/lake/stream and ate the acorns from the Tree of Life/World Tree, etc. The pot must never boil over, as only the first 3 drops of the potion would give the knowledge, the rest would be poison. At the fatefilled moment, he fell asleep, the pot boiled, and 3 drops hit his thumb... which he quickly put into his mouth to suck...

The first bit of awesome knowledge was that he was going to be in deep shit with Ceridwen, and so ran... then begins the chase HeroQuest, where he's finally born as Taliesin

(because Affagdu (sp?) - "Utter Dark" - was ugly, and stupid, and rolled really bad stats at birth... oddly enough, his mother knew an alchemy potion of 15 Point Increase INT. (strange how she didn't have anything for increasing CHA!)

15 hours ago, gochie said:

Hmmm guess you're right.

Seems overpowered to me to increase a stat every season though... Very overpowered. I will likely propose the points to be one-use in my Glorantha.

Not when you consider that you are the ultimate representative of the cult, and it is your sworn duty to protect the cult, and be its greatest defender.

Your god wants you to be strong, and powerful, and to fight the good fights!

What good are cult champions who have terrible stats???

(ETA: Note that it's only the Rune Lords that get the 1D10 rolls for a DI to increase a stat... they're still going to lose 1 POW though. Priests and God-Talkers aren't likely to do this, because of the D100 hit)

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

We played that it did.

Soltak Stormspear won several games of the Shell Game by casting Farsee on the pea and then using Detect Magic, including the one where the pea ended up in the chappie's pocket.

I"m totally confused... what's the point of casting Farsee on the pea??? Wouldn't Bludgeon be bettet

19 hours ago, David Scott said:

The elemental runes in Glorantha are not opposites.

Sorry, yeah. But... I had in my head the  Powers which have opposing Runes. And, since the Elements are placed in a pentagram, I also figured there was some sort of contrary relationship which may be similar... Thus, the reduction of one etc...

So, from the above discussions, we have some who say Tapping (Elements, and probably most other things) will bring Chaos into the world... and others who say "nah, go for it" (unless your cult happens to  be associated with that Rune (which is possibly why Lhankor Mhy might not Steal Breath/Tap Air).

Q: Do the Form and Power Runes have sub-runes as well? So, for example, is there a sub-Rune for Movement such that a PC could have a Tap Dance spell?

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

Slap a woman in the face? That's fine, I can just cast healing, she's OK. Not my interpretation of the geas, but Your Geases May Vary.

This is a society in which women are frequently warriors, so yeah - a slap in the face might be nothing!

OTOH, disparaging her and mocking her ability, demeaning her, etc etc would be a type of 'harm' that no Heal spell will fix!

In the example above (Yelmalian challenged by a Vingan) - "harm" is not going to be "hurt"... and, denying the challenge would be a gross insult...

So, yeah, apparently MGDV.

Compare it to the phrasing for Soul Sight and Pierce Veil...

3 minutes ago, HreshtIronBorne said:

In our Glorantha nearly EVERYONE not in a Western, Sorcerer-Centric, Society loathes the Tap spell. Literally when I asked about it being related to ALL the techniques my GM said no freaking WAY would a LM sage use TAP ever on anyone's anything. As far as our Glorantha, especially in Dragon Pass, is concerned Tap is for Evil Bad Guy Sorcerers.

I'm not so sure.

Orlanthi hate the Lunar Empire - and the Red Goddess. Many hate trolls and darkness. They're not totally fond of the Sky either (although, some are...). Chaos? Tap that shit out of existence! (although, obviously, that would require having learned the Chaos Rune...)

3 hours ago, Sumath said:

Hilarious, but also fits well with mythology. Taliesin was gifted with omniscience and sentience from birth. Cu Chulainn was a boy (Setanta) who had immense strength and skill from an early age, and defeated armies without making it to adulthood.

I wouldn't call it "omniscience"... it wasn't on all the time, and it was limited. Somewhat similar to Bran Stark at the moment.

3 hours ago, Sumath said:

Come to think of it, Taliesin means 'shining brow'...

Ummmm  - you got me ☺️

2 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Does anyone else think that the existence of Bless Pregnancy is a good enough reason to throw out the 18 limit for the 3 points distributed if you rolled low?

Definitely!

1 hour ago, David Scott said:

As moonbeams stream from the moon, it just converts them to mps much like the Twinstars spirit magic spell Benison.

No, you'd have to add dark. There would just be less light, I imagine more blue like Dayzatar.

No you need to add light. It would make the darkness less dense.

No you'd have to add fire, it would likely cause ice to form (imbalance of sub runes)

 

You seem to have an image of Glorantha that doesn't have oppositions as strongly as my mind imagines...

Less light =/= more dark??

Less dark =/= more light...

(and yet, you suggest that Steal Cold would bring Ice...????)

There was another question I forgot to ask... using any of those spells - I'd imagine that their respective deities would be very unhappy with their use - yes? Or, is  the mundane form of the element irrelevant?

2 hours ago, Crel said:

(Moved from characteristic generation thread because felt like we were moving into Egregious Munchkinnery territory )

STR's important for making up your ENC. CON's important for HP, so it doesn't factor into skills but is far from a "dump" stat. I think SIZ can be a "dump" stat, more or less. You want STR+SIZ to be 25+ for the 1D4 damage bonus, and SIZ 13 gives a bonus Hit Point (but reduces Stealth by 5%, which is kind of whatever?). That 1D4 can often be the difference between getting through armor or not.

I don't think you can get more than 20 INT in RAW chargen. Fire/Sky as your highest, use some of your +3 points if under 92 to get to 18 then the Rune buffs to 20. (Those +3 can't go above 18, as Phil pointed out to me earlier in this thread.) So, I'd settle for aiming for 17+ INT.

Ironically Rune Lords don't seem to have a requirement on POW, or RP built up? Although as a GM I'd rule they have to have at least 5RP like priests, but I don't think there's a requirement present in the text. I'd say optimally, you want a minimum of 5 POW. At 5, you get the 1D6 Spirit Combat mod w/ CHA 18, but don't take the penalties to all of your skills. Of course more POW is generally better, but as a Rune Lord you resist with POW 21 at all times so that's pretty great.

If you want to be as heavily armored as can be, you want STR 15: Closed helm (ENC 2), Plate vambraces (ENC 2), Segmented plate (Chest&ab, ENC 5), Plate greaves (ENC 2), a weapon (usually ENC 1), and a Large Shield (ENC 3). You can wear leather underneath all locations for an additional +1AP at no ENC increase. This combo results in 7AP in all locations, plus an HP16 shield to parry with. If you've got STR 16, pick up a few darts to clip to your shield (2 darts for ENC1) to get a quick ranged attack.

"Dump stat" in that it's not one you want maxing out... or even needing to get massively high.

For creating a quick Rune Lord, the order of stats should probably be - INT, CHA, POW, DEX, followed by the other three (probably SIZ at the end - but it's a 2D6+6 anyway). (CHA is necessary for RL - Rune Lord... although, I'd suggest having a high CHA in Real Life is probably pretty useful as well 😛 )

Once you get to Rune Lord, your DIs become D10, and you can sacrifice your POW to up your other stats... with POW obviously being the easiest to increase (especially with the +20% and the incredible frequency of such rolls now - at least 1/season!

I think I mentioned using the Bless Pregnancy munchkinnery to get the INT to 21...

48 minutes ago, Joerg said:

Ok, we have ways to maximize Bless Pregnancy. But the initial question still remains: when do you roll the stats for the baby? How do you know which stats to enhance if you have a limited pool of rune points? And what stats do the children have in their infancy and youth?

Also looking out for magical children like Salinarg's who formed the Household of Death.

Has anybody considered an ill-intentioned use of "Bless Pregnancy" with just the minimal blessing on a pregnant political rival aiming for giving birth to the next great queen?

The Bless Pregnancy says the stats go to the child at time of casting - caster's choice.

I'd say - those points get allocated then, and the random rolls at birth (well, technically... but really at adulthood... a 2 year old child better not have STR or SIZ 16 :p)

ETA: Stats for kids? Maybe - final (rolled) stat divide by age until adulthood? The stat is rolled at birth (or before - who's counting?), and then adjusted by the age as I mentioned???

1 hour ago, Crel said:

Putting them into that top 100

But yeah, you're basically right. And as a GM, I'd allow it. IMHO the main barrier to reaching Rune levels isn't the required RP, but rather the skills required. Especially for some with required skills that can't be increased by experience, like Lhankor Mhy and Chalana Arroy.

Just quickly looking over possibilities... getting those 5x90% for Rune Lord isn't really that hard at starting if they have good starting stats (see Bless Pregnancy 😛 ). (BTW, Humakti Swords only need one Sword at 90%, plus only three other skills at 90%... with the +20% to cult skill Gift, and you can take 3 of them at initiation - that's made really easy!)

If STR, CON (and if possible, SIZ) become 'dump' stats (ie, not so crappy you can't pick up your sword) and try to get high in INT (21 is best, for the extra +5% on lots of categories), we know the CHA needs to be at least 18, and so should POW... then your weapon skills just based at least 25% (plus culture... plus occupation... plus cult (if so inclined)... plus personal skills))... and you have Rune Lord!

Many PCs are likely to start with at least 1 weapon skill at 90%, possibly two (especially if you choose dagger),  plus shield. So, right from that, you've got 3 out of 5 skills for Orlanth Wind  Lord or Humakti Sword. (if you choose Humakt, you actually have to spread them around, or you'd waste skills over 100....)

Other cult skills are likely to be in the 80s or higher as well.

So, with the right choices, players could (technically qualified to) be Rune Lord within a year - if not at starting...

6 minutes ago, Crel said:

Putting them into that top 100

But yeah, you're basically right. And as a GM, I'd allow it. IMHO the main barrier to reaching Rune levels isn't the required RP, but rather the skills required. Especially for some with required skills that can't be increased by experience, like Lhankor Mhy and Chalana Arroy.

True. I was thinking about trying to find out what combination (not including stats, but obviously minimum CHA and POW) would get closest.

Re: those LM skills.... I don't see why having a cast of Logician to a language they can barely R/W, then transcribe/translate a treatise on a Lore from one language to another (especially if said Initiate has the Total Recall spell available).

I think we've all gone up a few % in Gloranthan Lore by our readings of the various texts... pretty sure it didn't take years and years and years (although, I wonder who would claim to have 100%... or even 90%)

2 minutes ago, Crel said:

Here's another way to look at it: my take is that the starting adventurer in RQG, as an initiate, is already someone who can be treated as a representative of their faith. They aren't a major figure, but to some degree they've already become someone significant to their community. At least, that's what I think is the dev intention. Whether or not that's the best approach is another matter.

It's also worth noting that not every cult gets every common Rune spell. Eurmal, for example, only gets Divination, Extension, and Multispell (IIRC). And while @Shiningbrow is right about how important and precious RP are on an adventure, having access to common+3 at adventurer creation does provide lots of both complexity and flexibility.

 

Actually, a basic starting PC is about 2 sacrificed POW to Rune Points from being a God-Talker.... and I imagine most GMs would be willing to let the player do it!

RE: Lay Members... yeah, makes the concept of being "initiated" into adulthood rather confusing, as that usually means initiation also into the cult. They'd also be Lay Members of the Associated Cults of their main cult.

Clarification requested...

2 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

It would not surprise me if there were other ways of awakening the Fetch other than the formulaic Bad Man fight. I think Shamanic Abilities probably require a Fetch, although again there are probably Heroquest powers that strongly resemble them. I doubt that any of this would be any easier or safer than the Bad Man method, otherwise more people would use it.

Maybe Argrath knows.

You've just made me think of something... is a Fetch always a Fetch?

By that I mean, could someone have something 'awakened' that is mechanically exactly the same as a Fetch, but would not be considered a 'shamanic' fetch as far as the cult/god/tribe is concerned???

Thus, allowing not only membership into the cult (or higher membership), but also without the restrictions (100% responsibility to the tribe)

9 minutes ago, dracopticon said:

Thank you for explaining this! Yes, I probably have misintepreted the rules a bit, but... I still think it's a lot of casting possibilities for budding heroes. As I say, just the possibility of all this casting is too much for me, let  alone understanding for the players as they are quite new in this here. It should be a lesser amount in my mind - except when you are a playing a true representative of the temple/faith, such as a priest or a shaman/assistant shaman.

I also think that the role of a representative of the faith is really lessened when this much magic and this type of magic is spread throughout to just about everyone. In my eyes, if a group or a person that is not this kind of representative(s) finds some rune magic laid on something hindering them, let's say a Spirit Block or a Warding, then the interesting thing would be to have these people understand that they can't solve that kind of thing themselves. They need a priest or a shaman to take a look on this problem. In my eyes, only such a person should be the solution to something like this.

But, they are budding heroes. Close to becoming that Shaman or Rune Priest (or Rune Lord).

I do understand that for the new player, the amount of spells available will be a little overwhelming (although, mostly for Spirit Magic... not so much for Rune Spells), but it shouldn't take too long to get over that.

Also remember... as per the Glorantha Adventurer's book, there are about 12,000 people in the Colymar tribe - including about 5000 kids, and 7000 adults. 3000 adults are (free) farmers.. so, almost half. The rest are half-free. Meaning - most won't be adventuring anywhere too soon. (at best, they might go on a raid once or maybe twice a year).

Of those 7000 adults, all should be Initiates of their local cult (usually the most dominant, but not always), but only 100 will be higher. Our heroes are expected to be a part of those 100 fairly shortly...

Bruce Dickinson... modern day hero!

(Top 10 UK fencing champion, commercial pilot, singer in one of the most successful bands in the world, owns a football team... Somebody Blessed his mother's Pregnancy!)