boosting Spirit magic

[mikuel]

Can all spirit magic spells be boosted to increase their power?  Can a player/npc put 6 points into disruption to cause 6d3 points of damage to an enemy?  Or cast protection to have 6 points of armor added to their heavy scale of 5, equaling to a total of 11pts. of total armor?  Spells such as Bladesharp and Bludgeon mention this boosting, but other spells such as Disruption does not.   

I am in the process of reading RQG and have not run a combat, but spirit magic seems to make the players powerhouses.  How does combat play out with game masters who have run games?

Edited April 19, 2020 by mikuel
added content

[ChrisJ]

In runequest there are fixed point spirit magic spells and variable point spirit magic spells.  Variable spells can be learnt at many different point levels (typical values are 1 to 6), a variable spell learnt at the 4pt level can be cast at any level from 1-4 (e.g. if the player knows Heal 4 and only wants to heal 3hp damage they can cast heal 3 - but that player character can't cast heal 5).  The spell disuption is an example of a fixed point spell with a fixed point of 1, other spells such as demoralize have a fixed point of 2 and the spell lightwall has a fixed point of 4 - these spells cost their fixed point when cast. 

Now Glorantha is a magical place and there are some exceptions - one exception is the Rune Magic Spell "Multi-spell", which allows(in RQG) multiple spirit magic spells to be cast at the same time - there is a special text in the spell description that describes how this affects disruption.  Another exception is to enable a spell to overcome magical defenses, in which addition MP may need to be spent to overcome the defenses of the target - this is described in the defensive spells such as countermagic or the Rune spell "Shield".  There are probably other examples where some exceptions to the basic rules occur - but these will be special circumstances.

Hope this helps and welcome to the game.

[HreshtIronBorne]

Much as Chris has said above. Spells are Variable Spells are learned at a specific number which "caps" your ability to cast massive spells, also limited by CHA and other factors, such as price and availability. 

[mikuel]

Ahhhh...Ok.  I get it now.  If a spirit magic spell says variable, you can put more magic points into it to increase its power.  Thanks.  

[HreshtIronBorne]

In Our Glorantha most Spirit Spells are between 2 and 6 points. Spells 7 or more are rare but, possible. Spells over 14 are like, legendary powerful, found on artifacts, items returned from HeroQuests, or known by crazy powerful Spirits or Rune-Lords, Priests, or Shaman. An 18 point spirit spell, protection for example, known by someone with CHA 18 would be the only spell they could possibly know. They could cast any size Protection 1-18 but, that is the only spell he can know in his head/heart. 

[David Scott]

2 hours ago, mikuel said:

Can all spirit magic spells be boosted to increase their power?

Sort of, but not the way you are thinking.

2 hours ago, mikuel said:

Can a player/npc put 6 points into disruption to cause 6d3 points of damage to an enemy?

No, Disruption is fixed at 1 point, but using your example, yes you can add more magic points to help get the spell through magical defences. It still only does 1D3 damage though and more magic points mean it takes longer to cast. But this is not an unusual example.

2 hours ago, mikuel said:

Or cast protection to have 6 points of armor added to their heavy scale of 5, equaling to a total of 11pts. of total armor?  Spells such as Bladesharp and Bludgeon mention this boosting, but other spells such as Disruption does not.

As others have mentioned, it depends on what level you bought eg. Protection 4 cost 4 mps to cast.

• Protection 1 = 50L
• Protectionl 2 = 100L (or 150L if buying for the first time) 
• Protectionl 3 = 150L (or 300L if buying for the first time) 
• etc. 

Higher levels quickly become expensive in money and magic points.

2 hours ago, mikuel said:

I am in the process of reading RQG and have not run a combat, but spirit magic seems to make the players powerhouses.  How does combat play out with game masters who have run games?

Spirit magic is limited by the adventurer's CHA. With a CHA of 11, you could have Bladesharp 4, Protection 4, Heal 2 and Disruption. It's also limited by your magic points. 

Combat is often fatal to players.

[soltakss]

2 hours ago, mikuel said:

Can a player/npc put 6 points into disruption to cause 6d3 points of damage to an enemy?

No, but someone could use Multispell 5 to cast Disruption to do 6D3 damage.

[mikuel]

Ok.  I thought you just purchased the spell protection and then put as many magic points in it as you had CHA.  This is not correct.  

So you, for example, could  buy protection 3 at 300L or whatever, then you could put up to 3 magic points into it if you wish.  

So if spells were like songs, protection 1 would be Hot Crossed Buns and protection 5 would be one of Beethoven's symphony's.  Each spell is a different entity.  

Is this correct?  

[g33k]

5 hours ago, mikuel said:

Ahhhh...Ok.  I get it now.  If a spirit magic spell says variable, you can put more magic points into it to increase its power.  Thanks.  

If it says Variable, you can  LEARN IT  at a variable level.  If you learned it at level 3, you  cannot cast it at level 4  or higher.

You can only CAST at up-to the level you have already learned it.

But if you know it at level 3, you can cast it at level 1 or level 2, also.

 

One other use for extra MP's in casting -- they can provide extra penetration, to get past Countermagic & Shield type spells.  This can be a very important use, too!

 

[g33k]

5 hours ago, David Scott said:

... 

Combat is often fatal to players.

shhhh David!  Don't scare him away!

 

 

In most RPG's, combat is only fatal to characters...