PhilHibbs

The way you have played it has always been the way the rules were written. You don't get a POW check for resisting spells, and never did in any Chaosium edition.

Dismiss Magic.

Yeah it's pretty toasty. But if you want to see a really silly spell, look up Moonburn.

If you pick #17 for your Family Heirloom, don't take Bladesharp or Bludgeon as the matrix. It will become redundant if you later learn the spell at a higher level. Strength will give you an improved damage bonus and +10% to hit anyway (and on all skills and weapons, not just the sword) and is stackable with Bladesharp. The same applies for any matrix gained, always go for a non-variable spell.

Spoilsport. Once it hits 21 it's "non-raisable".

Impala Riders get +2 DEX. Combine that with Water as your highest Elemental Rune, and 21 DEX is achievable on a roll of 17, there's +15 to your weapon skills all on its own. Remember that these bonuses cannot take you above species maximum (21). Humakti gifts can, so your Impala Rider Humakti can have a DEX of 25 for the low low price of 12 geases!

🤣 I think the implication that Initiates only get visited by SoR when they leave the cult is incorrect, although it does make sense to me that the transgressions have to be more severe than those for Rune levels to get smacked. And yes, if you did a load of stuff as an initiate and got away from it, you better be extra-careful now.

Illumination both is and is not cognitive dissonance.

If you learn sorcery in secret, and you're at a worship ceremony re-enacting a myth in which Lhankor Mhy exposes an evil infiltrator from the west who is corrupting the people to worship foreign powers, you might just find that it is you that the priest seizes and throws to the ground for judgement by Orlanth. This is a myth* that is re-enacted any time someone wants to learn the Truespeak spell. Or maybe Soul Sight, although it's a "common" spell I still think there are myths that you re-enact to learn it. * I just made this up, by the way

Your god knows because you know. You are a part of the god, you literally become an avatar of the god for a moment every time you cast a rune spell, and every time you participate in a worship ceremony. Initiation isn't just words that you say in order to get a wafer and a sip of wine on Godsday, and to stop your mum from pestering you. it's a commitment of your soul. Your god will know if that soul that you have committed is tainted. If you are illuminated, then you can learn to partition your soul into bits that are your god, and bits that are not, a sort of cognitive dissonance, but that's a different subject.

The gods don't have a choice whether to care or not. They are what they are, they do what they do. If you break the rules and learn sorcery, then you will be attacked by Spirits of Reprisal. Looking closely at the rules, it says that the SoR only go after 1) Initiates who leave the cult, and 2) Rune levels who break major cult rules. So technically an Initiate learning sorcery should be ok, in fact by this strict reading an Initiate can break any cult rule without risking the Spirits of Reprisal, but if you ever intend to achieve Rune level, don't even think about it.

Looks like I might have got the wrong end of the stick then. My reply was based on this: We had no truck with GMs who denied skill ticks in legitimate circumstances where a skill roll was required. Sure, if it was obviously a no-risk no-stress situation, like "who gets to the pub first", no tick, but that applies to every skill! If that section is supposed to define extra situations where you gain, sure, we did that. We did that for a lot of skills, I've handed out sword skill ticks for people who witnessed a particularly exceptional display of marital prowess such as a duel between Humakti rune lords.

...and is a rule that nobody really bothered with back then either. You make a roll, you tick it, done. Then you do something fun. Of course I'm talking about my personal experience, the groups that I have played in, as @Jeff points out below that is not universal.

I don't miss the Fatigue Point rules, though!

p417: p418: I think it's pretty clear that only the caster gets the chance of a gain roll. This is in line with all prior editions.

I do miss the Endurance spell. It was nice to have a specialty, to be that one party member that could keep going all night and still be fresh in the morning.

Well, I was close, because I was mainly talking about spirit combat, but yes you're right you didn't get them for resisting spells. And you still don't, so no change here at all. Bumble the Unlucky always was on a path to POW gain.

p418:

Back onto "What the heck check that out" features, if you beat off a Disease Spirit you immediately gain 1D3 POW. Bestiary p.169. Risky, but lucrative.

That's always been the case in all versions of RuneQuest. Any spiritual struggle, the winner gets a gain check. *Edit* Spirit combat only, not spells. Thanks @styopa. Same way that ducks get good at fighting by being constantly picked on and fighting off their attackers. By saying "somehow" and calling him "the useless" and calling it "lucky" you are unfairly stacking the language against him and presenting the illusion that it is odd. Yes, if you are constantly engaging in spirit combat, and constantly beating them, yes your POW goes up. Should it make a difference whether you sought out the spirit combat, or were the target? Why are spirits constantly attacking Bumble, maybe they are jealous of the great destiny that they sense in him!

Also, all craft skills are base 10 so technically anyone can...

Ah, damn, and re-reading that section it's clear that you take gifts upon initiation, and thereafter no more until you make Rune Lord. Oh well! I do seem to remember something about being able to take further gifts, I think it might have been as reward for service.

I think I agree with you, actually. I certainly would not be offended if a GM ruled that this was not possible. And it could lead to some great drama between players, where one character has used up their spell, but the other has not. "No fair, you got your Rune Points back when I healed you, but I won't get mine back until you use my Flight spell!" Maybe you should get your own RP back when you've used the spell you got, rather than when the other person uses yours? That still would leave the loop hole where "you give me a 1 point spell, which I'll use right away. I'll give you Charisma plus Extension 5, leaving you down 1 RP." Actually, that helps answer it: if you accept Jason's ruling that you shouldn't be able to get RP back until Extension expires, then the same really has to apply to Spell Trading.

Just for the craic, anyone got any hot munchkin tips? Here's mine! When creating your character, if you can arrange your Humakti's stats so that your sword skill comes to exactly 100% at the end, but with all three of STR, DEX, and POW (Manipulation stats, omitting INT) right at the level where they one point below giving an increased category modifier (12 or 16), then take three gifts of +1 to a raisable characteristic at the start of play, and get sword skill at 115%! For bonus points, do this with INT as well for 120 but that's 3 more geases for a total of 6...

Yeah, I apologize, that was unfair of me to paint that in such a broad brush. I started roleplaying at the age of 12, by my later teens I was more mature. Apologies also for derailing this thread!