Rodney Dangerduck

Not exactly high praise... 🙂 The comments about "running out" of spells are spot on. HQ might well fix that.

This also means it's very difficult for an existing PC to join Yinkin in the middle of a campaign.

Side note: awakened shadowcat companions are incredibly powerful, arguably more powerful, at least in the short and medium term, than a beginning PC. Can you say "huge skill bonuses and species max POW 28"? The Family Heirlooms table is another example of where the game designers ignore game balance. Having seen one awakened shadowcat in action, if one pops up in a future campaign, if I am GM the shadowcat will be the PC, and the human their awakened companion.

If this were true, every 16 year old boy, and many of the girls, would join Yinkin, making it by far the largest cult in all of Sartar. Doesn't seem to be the case. 🙂

We are pointing out that the so-called "hunting cults" aren't very good at hunting. It would be fine to play a limited, small, less powerful, "roleplaying" cult, if that cult was at least superior (or at least decent) in within it's own limited focus. But they aren't. Hunting cults are mediocre at hunting and scouting, let alone in the overall sphere of general heroic game play. See next section: Claws is 2 points. For 2-3 points, an Orlanthi can get Flight (depends on their SIZ), or for 3 points Teleport, both of which are infinitely better at escaping when things go bad. And are, of course, great general use spells. Yet again, powerful general purpose Orlanth is superior to hunting cults at their own game.

What is it about their cults that makes them lethal? Yinkin doesn't even have Bow or Speedart as cult skills / spells.

Orlanth is a better hunter cult than Odayla, (nobody has argued otherwise) and a better Singer cult than Donandar, (Jeff admitted this) and, with Guided Tport, I'd say a better(ish?) merchant god than Issaries. I see that as a problem.

Orlanth cultists, who already have an amazing array of rune spells from his (and her) own myths, also receive 14 Rune Spells from associated cults and their myths. And I may be missing some, or more will appear in GoG. I'm not complaining, my current PC is a Vinga worshipper. Yet you begrudge giving Odalya one rune spell that's clearly useful to their archetype. As things currently stand, Orlanth is a far better hunter cult than Odalya. By this logic, should an Orlanthi PC have to do HeroQuesting to obtain Charisma or Restore Health?

You are not the only one who missed it - one of our players, very very experienced, just assumed, like you, that it was effectively a D10 POW, as in RQ2. His reaction to the change was also a four letter word. 🙂

No-uh. Page 273: (at least how I parse it) "As with priests, any Rune points spent in divine intervention are regained normally (at the next Holy Day, etc.)"

Logical. OTOH, unlike Odayla and Yinkin, Foundchild isn't closely associated with Orlanth and friends, the primary cults of Sartar. Making integration into typical adventurer groups much more difficult, depending on campaign style.

Odayla provides his arguably best spell, Bear's Strength, to Orlanth. Orlanth returning the favor with a useful spell makes sense.

The Spirit Pact rules you cite (page 358) apply to a shaman encountering a semi-random discorporate spirit on the spirit plane. Not an interaction with a particular Ally embodied in a weapon or animal. I agree with @PhilHibbs - this proposed rules chicanery mechanism is completely unconvincing.

How do you feed pow to the ally? RQG rune lord DI doesn't even cost POW and is completely broken. We have house ruled much of it.

A few of our PCs are nearing the CHA limit. I guess we are supposed to join another cult. Pending the release of any Heroquesting rules... Anybody have other clever or even good ideas?

Not sure about "reality", but I fear that giving more than a +1 damage to a "strong" bow will be unbalancing. Bows already seem very effective against modestly armored opponents. Two shots a round, can't be parried. Are you finding that missile fire is "too ineffective" in your games?

I would lump a lot of Fishing (and Hunting) into "Survival". As a PC, that's where the occupation could prove useful, when the party gets lost on the wilderness. Week to week feeding the village might arguably be another skill, but unlikely to be relevant in most campaigns. Then I noticed that neither Fishers nor Hunters get Survival as an occupational skill. WTF? Nathem the pre-gen does have Survival 30%, but not sure where that came from, as neither Hunters nor Odalya offer that as a skill. Was this erratisized?

Good point. There's also the fact that we don't encounter powerful heroic Rune Lords who also happen to be Shamen. Following the @Shiningbrow logic, there's also no real reason that Argrath, Jareel and Kallyr can't have both Allied Spirits and Fetches. Yet they don't.

(Emphasis added). Waha doesn't have Priests. As noted a few sentences later, they have shamen who "serve as" priests. Presumably to initiate people and lead services and that sort of thing. In all other respects, they are shamen. Therefore, only 90% of their time, but no +20% POW gain roll, no Ally Spirits, etc...

How the eff does one be a shaman - priest giving 180% of your time to your clan and cult? Also mythologically wonky, shaman don't worship gods (at least, not much, I'm ok with them being initiates, just not priests), they deal with spirits.

I think we are all in violent agreement!

Hm, Yes? If not, just keep the original wording, that the Fetch adds in POW v POW contests. Which is how I am going to play it.

One of our campaigns involved a "Rune Chef" competition, which was basically an extreme version of Iron Chef. You weren't allowed to directly attack opposing cooks, but you could sabotage their supplies, shoot at their bags of flour on stage, etc...

Under the RQG rules, these are all very good reasons (plus luck rolls) for a shaman to maintain a decent POW and not give it all to their fetch. None of them apply under the Well of Deliah modifications. And these are reasons why those modifications are flawed.

Maybe not one, but a shaman, under the errata rules, should certainly drop to the 2-4 range and stay there forever.