Dragon

Also how we play it. One more benefit in our game, the 'extra' effect takes no strike ranks. So casting Heal 4 and getting 8 points takes DXSR+3. Because the caster only provided 4 MPs. The same for Power Enhancing crystals and Spell Strengthening crystals. I don't know if that is canon, but is that has always been our interpretation.

I do think a very valuable spell for an assistant shaman would be Distraction. Too bad Vishi doesn't have it yet. Waha offers it. Distraction is very useful to pull dangerous spirits from other party members to the one person who is best equipped to fight them. It increases the chance he can get Spirit Combat skill checks and POW gains.

I was devoted to Satire before I learned about Glorantha.

Agreed. If you could generate magic, Illusory Substance a small item with a Lightning 20 matrix on it. Nope, not going to happen. On the other hand, if someone had an enchanted iron broadsword back in the inn, I might let them Illusory Substance that particular sword for its normal effects while they are in a prison cell. Would an Illusory cloud of poison (e.g. Walktapi gas) be Illusory Taste or Illusory Smell. Illusory Smell states POT 4 forces a CON x2 or nausea. But allowing a gas cloud that inflicts 1D6 per point of potency may work as well. With Taste, the victim needs to consume it. With Smell, the victim can avoid it by not breathing, e.g. asphyxiation rules. Without Illusory Motion, the cloud won't chase them. I agree that Antivenom (Antivenin) is quite possible and super useful. You can match the antidote to the opponent's venom/poison rather than hoping for half effectiveness. Illusory food eaten within the duration should nourish. The people of Glorantha don't understand digestion fully. I would GM that if your character is completely unfamiliar with a substance, you cannot properly make it via Illusory spells. Like Gunpowder, radio, or a cloud of iron filings. Depends on the justification given. Lots to think about, but it all comes down to if the GM allows.

Agreed, with the addition that a redsmith would know how to make a wooden haft for axes, spears, etc. and wooden grips for swords. The redsmith could alternately purchase the hafts, especially for more decorative ones, from woodworkers if one was available. My limited understanding is it is a 'haft' until the tool/weapon is attached, then some of them become 'shaft' (longer ones). They would need Craft/Woodworking to know how to make tongue and groove, mortise and tenon, or dovetail joints. So Woodworking for furniture or anything other than a haft or grip.

For good ideas, I usually grant an experience check in a related Lore or other skill. e.g. a good idea about how to use a plant would grant a Plant Lore check (I know it has no check box), a good idea figuring out the NPC is lying gets an Insight check. Good roleplaying may get an award at the next holiness check. e.g. The Babeestor Gor remembered a situation where the goddess did X; The PC gets to note +5 on next Worship(BGor) check, next 'convince the examiners', or allied spirit check. They need to write that down, because it may be a while before they use it.

Vomit Acid (Chaos Feature) vs Shield: My thought was that the acid strikes the person's Shield spell first, as though the Shield was magical armor. Once the Potency of the Acid exceeds that, it dissolves the armor at 1:1, then affects hit points of the person. So, in effect, Shield spell does protect the armor. Shield protects against the Shatter spell via its Countermagic effect instead, even if the targeted weapon has no spirit. One odd quirk is that it appears Lightning vs Shield can have both the Countermagic and Protection apply. If a target has Shield 2, a Lightning 1 or 2 fails. A Lightning 3 inflicts 3d6 damage, which is reduced by four due to the Shield (as the spell specifies 'but spells that defend against physical attacks are effective'). ** Added missing )

Excellent point. Done.

In RQG W&E page: "Lead (na-metal) is soft and pliable. It has half-again the ENC of bronze. Even in its unenchanted form, this soft, dull metal neither clanks or reflects, so lead armor never detracts from the user’s Stealth skills. Lead formed into crushing weapons (only) does +2 damage. Thus, a heavy mace made of enchanted lead does 1D10+4 damage. A war maul does 2D8+2." The bolded example does imply you only get the +2 damage from enchanted lead. But it should have been one sentence earlier. And the second example makes it unclear again. Note also that 'war maul' is not in the Melee Weapons table, but 'maul' is. Note that Mace, Heavy in the Melee Weapons table does d8+2, not d10+2 (without the Enchanted Lead bonus). Suggestion: "Lead (na-metal) is soft and pliable. It has half-again the ENC of bronze. Even in its unenchanted form, this soft, dull metal neither clanks or reflects, so lead armor never detracts from the user’s Stealth skills. Enchanted Lead has the ENC of bronze. Enchanted Lead formed into crushing weapons (only) does +2 damage. Thus, a heavy mace made of enchanted lead does 1D8+4 damage. An enchanted maul does 2D8+2."

In RQG W&E the example does imply you only get the +2 damage from enchanted lead. But it should have been one sentence earlier. And the second example makes it unclear again. "Lead (na-metal) is soft and pliable. It has half-again the ENC of bronze. Even in its unenchanted form, this soft, dull metal neither clanks or reflects, so lead armor never detracts from the user’s Stealth skills. Lead formed into crushing weapons (only) does +2 damage. Thus, a heavy mace made of enchanted lead does 1D10+4 damage. A war maul does 2D8+2."

Indeed. The GM can always allow experience checks when it makes sense in their game. Don't fret whether the rules allow it. Our resident Chaosium staff have also said this is acceptable.

I recall a certain classic RQ scenario having a matrix for Detect Chaos as a spirit magic spell that took 4 magic points. I would welcome its return, as a player. For when Sense Chaos fails or worse, fumbles while standing next to the Ernalda High Priestess.

I am not familiar with the weight of bronze greatsword. In all the museums I have visited, bronze weapons displayed were generally shorter. But this isn't Glorantha and metals don't have exactly the same properties or limits. That said, the vast majority of historical iron or steel greatswords I have seen were around 8 lb to 8lb 8 oz, so just under 4 kg of mass. Back in college a friend said that the weight listed in AD&D (version 1) was about right at 25 lbs. His evidence was that he toured West Point and saw one in a display case. He asked the student tour guide who said 'about 25 pounds'. I thought that was excessive. So I started checking into it in lots of history texts, catalogs of 'museum-quality' replicas, and museums. Nearly every single one I found from a legitimate source was under 4 kg. There were a couple outliers at 2 kg and 5 kg. And they were usually commented as outliers in the texts. Moral of the story: don't trust student tour guides when you ask them something outside their training. Ask an expert (I do not count myself as an expert in sword metallurgy - I just recall what they said). There are lots of references the World Wide Web provides these days. Just check that the source should be reliable, e.g. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Yes. While I believe the RBM version specifically allows the big invisible weapon to be wielded by the caster, I also think it is a bit overpowered. We don't want to see a two full page description of each Illusory spell either. So, each GM will have to add limits as they wish.

Ah the difference between RQG and RBM. Is this a case of newer rule (RBM) overriding the older Core Rule? Not in my pay grade.

I have had two Eurmalis in different groups where no player from one group was a player in the other.

Yes, I did go a touch off topic of Hallucinations to other illusions used as the base. I understand where you are going with that, but that is not the interpretation that I get from the two Illusory spells (Motion and Substance). Keep in mind Substance allows 1 SIZ, stated as 5 kg, and a Great Sword is really just under 4 kg (generally between 8 lb and 8lb 8 oz from history). Clearly within 1 RP of Substance. From Illusory Substance (RBM): "For an illusion with substance to do damage the target must either strike themselves with the illusion (such as walking into an illusionary fire), be hit with the illusion (such as being hit with an illusory sword), or Illusory Motion must be combined with the substance to give the caster fine control. The illusion does damage equivalent to the item (and size) of the subject of the illusion." Hence, if I make an illusory sword (specific statement) I can wield it myself (second example in the first quoted sentence). Otherwise that 'or' before the third clause makes no sense. If I add Illusory Motion, I can make the sword float out and attack other people without me wielding it in my hands. The Motion makes it so people don't know its me (well I would be incarnating Eurmal at the time, but unless Soul Sight or something similar was cast, the observers don't really connect that to how that guy's leg was just chopped off). (Now, if I make a floating sword of Substance/Motion and I cannot even see it, that would make aiming it much harder - so a little Illusory Sight would make sense in real combat.) Note: If I wield it myself, it uses my skill. If I wield it via Motion, it uses DEX x3. The first is the implication from "be hit with the illusion" and the latter specifically written in Illusory Motion. And the last sentence clearly states I can do great sword like damage within 1 SIZ hence 1 RP. Now, I completely understand why you may use caution for an Illusory Substance Great Sword hitting people for 2d8+DB when they cannot even see the thing. But that is clearly how the RAW state it, given what I just quoted and the minor calculation. This all does bear on Hallucination, as I wondered what would happen if I parried with the Hallucination of a great sword. Would it protect me? I feel it would. And it would totally confuse the attacker. The Hallucination of a great sword could not damage that opponent, but it could save me. YGMV.

I agree that we should be able to cast Disrupt on undead skeletons. Another question is whether we can cast Disrupt on a skeleton - as in the unanimated, nonmagical bones that remain after a vertebrate dies. They do have hit locations. ex: Party sees forty skeletons lying on the floor on the other side of a large room. Expecting a trap, the Humakti casts Disrupt on one of the skeletons. If it reacts differently than an undead animate skeleton, the Disrupt works a bit like a Detect Undead spell, except it also does damage. Hence, I am of the mind that it reacts exactly the same: One random bone snaps.

Yeah, that does call into some limits. We could say a vial of POT 20 anti-venom would only be at most 1 ENC. And 1 ENC is smaller than one size, hence it would not exceed the limits of Illusory Substance. However, that makes for some very dangerous corollaries. A vial of POT 20 blade venom would also fall in that category. Or worse, POT 20 acid vial. As a GM, that is play-balance gone all wrong. I don't want to see the party Eurmali tossing Illusory POT 20 acid vials for a single RP. Worse, they aren't even visible unless you add Illusory Sight. A slightly smarter Eurmali would cast 1 RP for a bag of vials, getting at least a half dozen. Now, the spell gives a sword as an example, and says you could hit someone with it. So imagine an Eurmali who gets into the grand ball where everyone had to check weapons. He has 90 Skill in Great Sword, casts Illusory Substance and now has a great sword. But also remember that he cast no Illusory Sight, so he can feel it in his hands and use it, but no one can see it. The victims will have some negatives on their dodge at the very least. And that is clearly allowed. So, I would probably say the Eurmali needs some serious Skill in Alchemy to be able to replicate anti-venom, venom, or acid in an illusion. The great sword though, should be allowed as is, even as dangerous as it would be.

There is no Mindlink spell in RQG though. The conversion chart states 'Not in the core rules'. There is a mindlink effect with allied spirits called 'continual mind-to-mind communication'. I had thought maybe they would reintroduce it in RBM, but they did not. And RBM is supposed to sort of maybe have all the Rune spells from future rules. Danged if I can find the quote about how inclusive RBM is supposed to be. As for Hallucinate, while the allied spirit link is clearly enough for the 'any in a magical mental link with the caster', I am not sure what else counts. Mindbridge maybe, but that is only conscious thoughts. Speak to Mind maybe, but again not all sensual input. There are enchants which I think are decent which are also not in the Core Rules or RBM, e.g. Armoring, Strengthening. So I am not sure why we haven't seen them yet. But for now, your RQG characters will have a hard time getting the rest of the party to experience the joys of Hallucinate.

I recall a certain skeletal dragon from a certain RQ2 adventure...Turn Undead before it breathes on you would save the day. Of course, those bones had more than one HP. In all truth, I GMed a party who encountered that one. One party member swung a pole axe, critical success (02 iirc), then rolled the Head location (19 iirc) on the very first round! All rolls out in the open. Fastest final boss encounter ever. Turn Undead may have been quicker, as it would be SR1.

That was my point. Another spell exists which specifically includes a Resistance Roll against something with 0 MP. Which also specifically has rules for a special and critical success on said Resistance Roll. Hence a Disrupt cast on something with 0 MP also goes on the same Resistance Roll chart with similar rules. I was following the quoted logic to all corollaries and showing the absurdity in certain situations.

Imagination really is the limit. An Eurmal could Hallucinate a Giant Eagle grabbing him and carrying him to the top of that cliff over yonder. That may take more than one point of Hallucination of course. An Eurmal could Hallucinate an entire feast and it will actually nourish the initiate. At least until the duration ends. An Eurmal could Hallucinate that they have a bubble of air around them while underwater and never drown...until the duration ends. An Eurmal could Hallucinate that the forest has vines hanging from the trees and brachiate from tree to tree like spiderman. Except no one else would see the vines. That would look so funny it would definitely be MGF. As a GM I hesitate to know what roll I would impose to go from one vine to another... They could Hallucinate a weapon in their hands. But that couldn't hurt anyone with it. But could they parry and actually stop damage? Could they Hallucinate that they are in armor and stop damage? Absolutely a fantastic spell in the hands of an imaginative player.

With that interpretation, the corollary is a character cannot cast Disrupt on a living body who went unconscious due to spirit combat. They also have no magic points - currently. That includes the tactic of tossing a ghost at a Gorp until it stops moving, especially one with the Chaos Feature of Reflects spells up to 4 magic points back at caster without harm to itself. Then the party can cast backed up Disrupts with extra magic points until the darn thing actually dies. Wouldn't want to leave it for the next Orlanthi tribemember to battle. And Turn Undead as previously stated could not be cast on Skeletons. Skeletons immune to Turn Undead??? In whose Glorantha would that make sense. I am going to have to go with the overcome the Skeleton as though it has 0 or 1 MP.

Not without heroquesting...and we don't have those rules yet.