Shiningbrow

Is there a specific ruling that says the 'attack' needs to be a valid attack? Or, could you just have fun throwing Befuddle on your mates, and get a POW gain from that? WTF!!! Sounds like an awesome way for a shaman (in particular) to get a heap of POW (or, anyone else who can get a summon & control disease spirit). It's only risky if you don't prepare for it well enough. Legitimately, a shaman of a tribe or clan should have the spell to summon a few diseases, and get various members of the clan immunity for a year (as well as the POW check).

In one iteration of RQ, Kolat was an associated cult of Orlanth. Thus, yes.

You mean, a Kolati? Makes absolutely perfect sense to me! Various deity cults have a pathway to shaman for their priests/esses. The problem seems to be getting the sorcery legitimately, along with the other two pathways of magic.

But - it makes shrugging off the Befuddle hilarious to watch (Befuddle, walk up to character and slap them in the face.... see the mental machinations of "now, did they do that because they hate me? Or because they needed to pretend that they hate me? Or because they do actually hate me, but are pretending to like me but also need to pretend that they hate me....")

If there was an occupation of Apprentice Wizard/Sorcerer, I'd presume they would count as skills as per normal. So, it wouldn't seem logical to deny them to the philosopher just because of a title.

Right... (Yeah, I thought previous iterations was current MP, not POW). Your tactic is... worrying. Allowing your enemy to cast spells while you sit back and wait. 95% of the time, you won't have any idea what their POW, nor current MPs are, let alone what spells they have. So, casting up front would make more sense. I think it'd be rare that a character will have a 95% success rate. I'd suggest most times you're better off throwing the spells you need quickly, on the hope that they'll fail the resistance, rather than wait for a more 'opportune' time (which may never come about, if the enemy decides to throw a Befuddle and you fail your roll).

True - but it wouldn't stop a Lhankor Mhy companion from casting it on you

Confused.... An average human would have POW 11. To get a 95% success rate, you'd need to have POW 20, or up against something at POW 2... The new rules also allow for a Augment. If you're average POW for a human (11), then you'd have a 50% chance of a POW gain. (plus some on Holy Days, if GM allows the Worship to Augment the gain roll). I don't immediately recall RQIII, but I thought they were basically the same percentages.

Oddly, Cousin Monkey, Vishi's "Boon Companion", doesn't have a Passion such as "Loyalty - Vishi Dunn" or similar.

Personally, I think the problem comes down to his spell selection. While typical and expected for a shaman (and apprentice), they're not great for 90% of the time. And, doesn't help that his boon companion has a couple of cross-overs (Spirit Screen, and Heal, although obviously most would have that). Vishi has Spirit Binding - but no bound spirits... which is odd as it's basically one of the main reasons someone takes a shaman. So - change out a couple of spells (give Befuddle and Demoralize, up the Heal to something useful,, and add Protection or similar). And, lose a couple of POW, and add a Spirit (possibly with the aforementioned spells, and/or others).

I ran an RQ (mashup) session about a year ago to introduce players to the idea of D100 and everyone has magic, etc. First time in 30 years or so I'd gotten to actually do something with a system I've loved. Very rewarding to have one of the players get very engrossed, and emotional against the Lunar occupying force! But, it sort of sucks when you fumble when the attacker Crits (also, being the bastard GM that I am, I roll perception checks, and fumbles were a-plenty... I was amused, but some of the players didn't like it being a bit more 'real' than other games they'd played. Nor enemies that actually think!).

If you just happen to roll 18 on the 2D6+6 (or, use Point Buy and just take it) for INT, then grab the Sky/Fire Rune for +2, and then a Yelmalian (or Humakt - though the rune is more appropriate to Yelmalio) Gift of +1 Int (and 3 Geases)... to get to INT 21 at Char creation. So many skills have INT as a Primary (using old terminology), so that'd add +15% to a whole slew of skills - especially Manipulation for weapons. RAW - Enhance INT is super-munchkin, as each successive casting would over-ride the previous if it's stronger... which it will be by having a few more points of Free INT available. Rules specifically state INT can go over species Max. 11 Intensity would give +4 INT, 10 Duration is 2 days (to get MPs back). Of course, you'd need to get your hands on a spirit or crystal, and you'd run out of MP sources quickly... (Combine the above 2 for serious nastiness, as each INT increase also affects most other skills. At the very least, should be able to increase by 10%)

Yes, in addition to the (new) gains with worship and battle. I always thought that Power gain rolls through Spirit Combat were normal (assuming it wasn't a 95% success). So, does that mean if you go adventuring, you'll most likely get *two* POW gain rolls - once for the spell/spirit combat, and once for the Holy Day services?

I always took "godi" to be a priest level. I wouldn't call it min-maxing... just a normal part of life. Gods want the best out of their chosen followers. Unlikely to have everyone drained of both MP and RP... only need 2 MP to do a Worship (plus a couple more to up the skill - which would really only be for the lower tiers, because the GS, Priest and RL (and many initiates) would already have a high enough level to not need it (nor would they need to blow the MPs to get their RPs back). Granted, if it's a small temple or shrine, it might be worth attacking (but that damn wyter will be watching out!) - but attacking something major would be just silly (or daring).

A) blowing off all your rune points before a holy day is what almost every Rune Lord will do to up their stats.. or, if GM allows, up the stat of an Initiate or God Speaker (bah - I much preferred the term 'alcolyte') as a reward. b) Holy Days are also when you know most of the people will be at one place at the same time. So, depending on cult affiliations, it might be a *really* bad time to attack!

Fair enough to all of the above. (Yes, I didn't think you could double-up on bonuses - skill + Rune augment). Which still means most assistants are going to take a hit (unless they're going to be an assistant for many years... although, of course, our adventurers are not normal people!) Bad Man will usually have an edge (probably minimum of 20%, probably higher), and so the new shaman is likely to have a few taboos, and not likely to have more than the starting ability (after the initial battle). My question was based on previous iterations of the games and the use of the spells mentioned - which blocked the actual spirit attack, not the MP loss.

I'm aware of the augment... I still doubt an Assistant Shaman going for full shaman-hood is going to have a huge skill... and likely whatever their is is going to be reduced. Either way, that's not my main query...

Q: do spells such as Spirit Screen, Spirit Block etc have any affect on the Bad Man when the wannabe shaman goes up against her/him to get his/her fetch? RAW, neither entity does MP damage. If the Bad Man wins the round, a taboo is imposed. If the wannabe wins, s/he gets a shamanic ability. But, the above spells are specifically about MP loss - not the imposition of taboos... Also, does the Spirit Combat skill reduce for skills over 100%, as per other combat skills? If so, then it means the Bad Man is going to be very nasty to any wannabe shaman... 170% is going to reduce most applicants to almost nothing... fortunately, not lethal, but still... One last question - when it comes to pacts, there is the 1% chance of finding a deity to pact with. What would be the POW sacrifice for such a being?

I was thinking with regards to cult skills, that I expect most cults will have most skills available - but some are taught for free, others at cheaper than normal rates - and thus, those listed cult skills fall into that category. Lhankor Mhy probably isn't teaching 1H sword for free to its initiates, but Humakt would. Thus, listing it makes sense (I remember a version of RQ where pricings for skills were specifically laid out as free, half, full. RE: Death Song Beserk.. ok, that makes more sense!

Why are swords not cult skills for Humakt? And, the better you are at singing, the worse the penalty for the Death Song Beserker ... I'm confused!

My 2 cents... Perhaps Yelmalio should have a specialised version of Shield - one that only works in group formation - Shieldwall (I've only thought of the name - not the details... perhaps, +5% to both shield and spear/pike skills, and +1 damage and shield AP, must be cast as a ritual, only stackable from different people (ie, an individual can only contribute 1 point of the spell)). Also, given their special use of a shield with a pike, the shield skill should definitely be one of the cult skills.

Apologies for my ignorance (not having read as in-depth as most of you here). I, too, wondered about Arkat, seeing as he's one of the few gods that cross over so many regions, pantheons, races. And talking of Arkat, will Illumination (rules, etc) be present in the new book? Is Vinga still going to be treated as merely an aspect of Orlanth, or just another sub-cult? And lastly, I'm also surprised that elemental shamanic cults don't seem too prominent in the list (and thus, associated cults with some of the bigger names, eg Kolat as an Associated Cult to Orlanth).

Thx. I did a search for "errata", but to no avail

However, Rune Magic is an extension (pun obviously intended :D) of the god the Power was sacrificed to ... So, I would have said that Orlanth's Extension is not the same (and thus, not stackable with) Issaries' Extension. The spell may be common and available to all cults, but it's certainly not from the same source. (Counter argument... Not only are certain special spells granted to associated cults, but so too are all common spells ... it's just that it becomes somewhat meaningless. That is, Issaries cultists don't get Flight from Issaries, but direct from Orlanth... it would depend on whether the Associated Cult Rune Spells are given by the god to the cult, or to the god...) Sanctify should probably be called Sanctify to <deity>. (related to the first - obviously PCs can initiate into associated cults. I presume they can also be in friendly cults. What's the general rule for Neutral cults?)

I have a couple of queries about RPs. Firstly, since there are multiple times throughout the year when Initiates and above get their (often full) complement of Rune Points back, and the amazement that is Extension, would it not make sense for any forward-thinking cultist to be throwing their best temporal spells packed with Extension 5 (for a 1-year duration) on a regular basis? If I'm an Orlanthi, Humakti or other combat-oriented Rune Lord, I'd be putting up a Shield 7+ with a 5pt Extension (probably just before a major Holy Day (so I can go battling with my full complement of RPs afterwards). Which leads to - do such effects (Runic Extension, Shamanic Spell Extension, and even Sorcery duration effects) impede regeneration of points (either magic or Runic)? That is, if an Extended spell is still in effect, can the RP's be regained? Secondly, if a person is a member of multiple cults, and has multiple sources of Rune Points, can they be used across different deities spells? Eg. could an Orlanthi Shield spell be Extended through RP's dedicated to, say, Ernalda (presuming initiate level or above to both)? (this is not about whether RP's used on Associate Cult special spells are being combined with base cult spells - eg, an Ernalda cultist using Orlanth's Shield spell, backed by Ernalda's Extensions ... this should be obvious). The question is being asked as a way to get around the CHA maximum Rune Points per cult rule.