PhilHibbs

I don't think the choice or preference of Humakt comes into it. You break a geas, and bad things happen. It isn't a punishment. It isn't Humakt getting angry and lashing out, it's just an inevitable consequence.

So for example in 1610 a Sartarite can skip the roll, but if they don't then they roll at -5? I guess that makes sense since the events aren't really related to Sartar.

I had a quick theoretical chat with my group and we came up with that as the minimum - you atone at the next holy day and take an additional random geas per geas broken in order to get the gift back. The players were a lot more harsh than me in that they thought you should lose access to your Rune magic as well until you atone.

Yes, they get +20% in RQG too.

Sorry, I forgot, I thought we were talking about regular Humakti and Yelmalion gifts.

What should happen if a Humakti or Yelmalion break a geas? Clearly the gift is lost, so keep track of that relationship, if you go by the Lottery Swords example. Is that permanent, or can the gift be re-acquired by some form of attonement? If one of the geases for a multi-geas gift is broken, does that mean that the other geases can be dropped, or are there further consequences for either or all of the first or subsequent broken geases? If you have to take the gift again to get it back, could you end up with 3, 4, or 5 geases for the gift?

Yeah, I'd allow +1 to species maximum as a 2-geas gift.

Gifts can raise non-raiseable characteristics, but it doesn't say that that raises the species maximum. It could still work like Pentallion says, where it's temporarily above the maximum. I think that's a bit mean, though. You clearly have to have it already at maximum as well, you can't have POW 18 and raise your species maximum to 22 by gift.

This has been clarified in the Q&A thread that a shield cannot be used to attack and parry. A regular weapon can. I'm not a big fan of that, so taking off my munchkin hat and putting my GM hat on, I'm not allowing two attacks with two weapons and also parrying with the same weapon(s) in my game. I'm allowing dodge, though. I think you should be able to get something for having to develop a third skill. Maybe a parry with a weapon that is also attacking should kick off the parry penalties at -20 from the start. But I already have a character in my game built around two weapons and dodge, so I think I will stick with what I have decided otherwise that character would have to be rebuilt to be fair. That works. Using a sword to parry may be preferable if you're being attacked with natural wepaons, as successful parrying against a failed attack is a fantastic tactic.

1610 has a mistake in the book - it doesn't list Sartar as a participating homeland, yet Sartarites get a modifier of -5 to the 1D20! Sartarites could be involved in the Second Invasion of Prax, or they could die of random causes! One thing to bear in mind with rune selection is to check the spells that the cult gives, and make sure you take runes that allow you to cast all the spells that you will want to. You should be ok not taking Fertility, as nearly all the Ernalda spells can be cast with Earth or Harmony or either. There are only a couple that only have Fertility, and they aren't "essential adventuring" spells. If your adventurer wants to have a child (a requirement for priesthood), and casts Reproduce to make sure it is successful, you can roll again if you fail the 50% roll.

v1.9.5: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12RHsYJeJw8NtSubDE--MENwd6rhfZVe-9WgFeG52cwM/edit?usp=sharing Corrections to French translation based on the quickstart (thanks again @sireRage) Beginning of German translation based on the quickstart (thanks @Joerg and @Oracle) Only the core game terms are translated to German so far, the instruction text, family background, cultures, occupations, weapons, and spell names are not done yet

Yanioth She's 5 points down on her Runes Swim 40% - doesn't make sense, should start at 20% and the only options are the elective +10 or +25 Orate 60% should be 55% if she's taken an elective +25 Cult Lore (Ernalda) 40% should be 55%, pretty important for an apprentice priestess Farm 30% should be 35% Worship (Ernalda) 70% should be 65% Composite Bow 45% should be 35% or 50% depending on whether she took +10 or +25 The number of other skills that can be explained by the elective +10 or +25 don't line up exactly either, and she clearly hasn't taken the +20 or +15 to cult skills. In points terms she's 25% down.

Also, Harmast's weapon stat block has a small mistake - his javelin damage should be 1D10+1D2 as thrown weapons get half damage bonus.

Ooh, nice. I might make a Google Sheets version of that.

Pretty tough if your POW is already at species maximum, because the roll is impossible, unless you allow 01-05. Still, should it be harder to raise your species max if your POW is really high? So what I did this evening is offer each character an automatic increase with no roll required on one ability that they had successfully used. The Hueymakti took +1D6 to a sword skill, Harmast took 1D3-1 to STR (for breaking free of a Krarshtkid's goo) and rolled 2, and Vishi Dunn who had POW 21 took a +1 to his POW. I think that makes sense, the way you increase your species max is by already having it at maximum.

I loved MRQ2, both the game system and the Second Age setting. We had a great time, I wrote up one session on the Mongoose forum.

Against weapons, yes, but not spells. Would it protect against spell damage? Probably, if it's physical damage like Finger of Fire.

Castback offers no protection whatsoever. It merely sends back a spell that already failed to affect you.

Quite. The question was "Why is RQ considered to be more complex than D&D", and my answer should in no way be considered a criticism of RQ's mechanics.

Nope, Neutralize (Rune) only works on rune magic, not sorcery.

Am I right in concluding that there is no sorcery spell that defends against incoming sorcery spells? *Edit* I suppose Attract Magic might count...

No, it would be resolved by a reisistance roll, each one would attempt to suppress the other on the resistance table. Although I wonder what would happen if both succeeded! Oh, hang on, I'm wrong, you only roll the resistance once when the second spell is cast to see if it suppresses the first. The first spell has no effect on the second. It just keeps on suppressing any spells that it suppressed when it was cast. Presumably if the first is suppressed by the second, then any spells that the first was suppressing then have to be overcome separately by the second one. But you asked that as if someone else had mentioned multiple Neutralize Magic spells - I don't see anyone else mentioning it.

Yes, that's how sorcery works. Protection 2 is spirit magic, Extension is rune magic, the two can't be combined, and Kloster was talking about sorcery anyway.

D&D is one roll to hit and one roll for damage, maybe a flat damage bonus. RQ is Strike Ranks, a roll to hit, maybe a parry (which might have changed the roll to hit if it was over 100% skill), comparison of success levels, damage roll including damage modifier die, HP of the parrying weapon, a hit location roll if it wasn't parried, remaining damage versus location armour, then if enough damage is done, figuring the location HP effect on the character. Maybe D&D has become more complex since I last played it?

That's some pretty good armour that can laugh off 5D6 damage. Sure, you might have 10 points of armour, and Protection 6, giving you a 50-50 chance of laughing it off, but how many of your army have that?