PhilHibbs

Oh yeah, that's absolutely clear! Some (Sedalpists?) more than others, if I recall, but generally, yes. That's why I'm entirely comfortable with the idea that Malkioni don't use animal or spirit familiars (in My Varying Glorantha where old-school familiars could be a thing, I haven't decided yet, but Malkioni would do something different) because RQ3 familiars are zero steps away from krjalki.

It has just occurred to me that familiars may well be a God Learner experiment to replicate the benefits of the fetch or allied spirit.

Can anyone remind me where the magic crystal rules are for RQG? I know they are in a preview PDF, which I have, but how can others get this? Is it available to download somewhere (or did the crystals rules get published somewhere that I forgot about?) The file is available in a Dropbox linked from the Preview List email, details here. Not sure if we are allowed to share the dropbox link, I think we were asked not to: The file is called "RQG Preview - RQ Rune Metal and Magic Crystals - 3rd July.pdf" if anyone wants to search their emails for it.

No, and as Jeff just said, they aren't a thing in RQG. So any discussion of the concept, including my suggestion of the congregational wyter fulfilling the same role for Malkioni wizards, falls under "Our Glorantha Is Varying".

Elder Secrets p38: There's also Power Enhancing, one in ten of which will boost the Intensity of sorcery spells. So whilst crystals might affect sorcery in RQG, we don't have any rules for how they work yet since Intensity isn't quite the same as it used to be. Spell Strength is very similar so you could just extrapolate that.

No. Truestone is radically changed, but crystals and metals are very similar.

Yes, it's inconsistent. Some weapons scale only by damage bonus, some do more damage for being larger than others. But nobody wants to change the weapons table too much from how it was in 1978, so we're stuck with it. If anyone wants to make up a new weapons table and new damage bonus mechanics to go with it, then go for it! But compatibility with old material means most of us stick with the old ways.

I agree with the "damage bonus" calls. Yes, the system is asymmetric and built for ease of use above realism. Bigger weapons start off doing more damage, and you get damage bonus on top, but at the top of the human range the weapon damage stops increasing and the damage bonus takes over. There are a few glitches. If one 12m giant stabs another with a giant spear and specials, they only get double weapon damage plus one damage bonus. This is practically indistinguishable from a normal hit's damage. Maybe that's why giants exclusively use crushing weapons like clubs and rocks!

So game mechanically, what would it look like to have a system for creating a familiar, that presented clear advantages (otherwise why bother), but does not tip the balance such that Malkioni aren't the best sorcerers? Which we know that they are. So "best sorcerers" stems from something big enough that "having a familiar" really doesn't register on the scale. But I think to be truly satisfying it has to be something that is incompatible with having a familiar. They don't have familiars, but they have X, which is incompatible but better. So some sorcerers create a connection to the otherworld through a single entity. Either a spirit, an animal, an awakened staff or grimoire. It's easy, it's independent, but it's limited. Malkioni have a connection to the otherworld through what... community support? Does that community support manifest as a quasi-spiritual entity? (If only there was a Gloranthan word for a "community spirit"!) Maybe this pool of power that they can tap into acts in some ways like a familiar, but creating one blocks that spiritual pathway.

And I have no problem with that.

Any argument from Glorantha to the rules would rest on similarity to other magical systems - the connection via a spiritual entity to the magical world. Fetch, Allied Spirit, Familiar, Inner-Self-Or-Void-Or-Whatever. It makes sense that there should be something there for sorcery. That's probably what was behind the RQ3 mechanic, a desire to fill that gap. I haven't seen anything in Greg's (VERY un-canonical, now) western writings, though I haven't read them all.

Maybe if you take a spirit that has INT and POW and CHA, bind it into a staff, then give it one of each physical stat, you get a familiar without having to spend the "important" stats. But creating it from nothing providing all the INT... madness. The best familiar I ever came up with was my troll's hag.

I didn't mean to say "exclusively Praxian", I meant "is present in Prax" as against Yinkin and Odayla which are not. But the Homelands section of the rulebook lists the religions that are found in each region, and Foundchild is not mentioned in Sartar, neither are Yinkin and Odayla in Prax. If they are a rounding error in Sartar, then they are an infinitessimal in Prax.

...and the first thing it should do is learn the Strength spirit spell so it can get rid of that negative damage modifier.

Sandy seemed quite comfortable with familiars in his entirely Gloranthan sorcery system. If it's good enough for Sandy...

Oh you're right, I thought they were bigger than that! Yes, it isn't an allied spirit, but it can learn and cast magic.

I was talking about what the cults give, in general. There are some exceptions, Yinkin is one of them.

I have one (well the smaller size), it's not quite rugged enough for me to trust with a stack of hardback books (slipcase set, starter set, RBOM, and two or three JC books).

What do you mean by that? Dark Walk is castable with which pretty much all Orlanthi will have. Not so many Odaylans or Yinkin, but in my opinion they're likely to go for that or as their other duality rune for the augment options.

Not at all, I'm just checking if I've missed something. You're backing up a point with assertions that are written as if they are quotes from the books. If I were making a point like that I'd say "and I'd allow someone winning a Great Hunt to learn any new Foundchild spell". Which I very well might! But what you wrote implied that all Odaya/Yinkin initiates get access Sureshot by association with Foundchild, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of that.

It does raise another question though. Foundchild is a Praxian cult. Yinkin and Odayla are not. So where does this Great Hunt take place? Do Bearwalkers have to travel to Prax every year, or are parallel ceremonies held across Dragon Pass? Can an Odaylan or a Yinkin become a Foundchild Master Hunter? Sometimes the text implies that there is just one annual Great Hunt event. Others imply that each Praxian tribe has their own, since they allow initiates to take part if there is a vacancy for Master Hunter, and "tribal elders judge the quality of the various animals brought in". If the former is true, and two tribes both need a Master Hunter, and "Only one new Master Hunter can be created in a year", then I suppose one tribe has to do without for a year.

I don't see that anywhere either. Page 295 says "normally only Master Hunters take part", and there's no mention of anyone learning new spells.

You can't start out with an awakened shadowcat companion on the heirlooms table.

Where does it say this? Sureshot is not listed as being provided by association.

Is there any way to improve the 17244-Map.pdf resolution in the first two pages? Also is it intended that the first and second pages are the exact same map but slightly offset?