Summons of Evil Spell RQG

[ChrisJ]

Hi,

Anyone have any experiences with the Summons of Evil spell in RQG?

The rules says the spirit is bound to the effigy, and that the spirit must be defeated at the end of the ritual, and that all participating in the ritual gain the benefit.  Additionally the spirit/ritual summons an enemy to the location of the ritual.

Firstly what Spirits/Spirit powers have people used, and what enemies have being summoned?  Any fun actual play stories?

Secondly, who participates in the defeating of the spirit?  It seems a bit lopsided (for the benefit) if any participant in the ritual can attack the Spirit (can this be half the clan?)  but then again limiting it to just the caster or a designated champion also seems a bit too difficult?  Basically, I worried as a GM on making this either too easy or too hard!  Most of my PCs have access to at least 1 magical weapon (Iron/Truesword/etc), and so allowing them all to attack is going to take down the spirit in short order.

Any other thoughts on the spell is also appreciated.

Chris

[Lordabdul]

I asked a whole lot of questions not too long ago, and the answers were compiled in the RQG Q&A. Check them out!

Also check out previous discussion on it, and some Orlanthi story about the ritual.

4 hours ago, ChrisJ said:

Firstly what Spirits/Spirit powers have people used, and what enemies have being summoned?

Generally it's a Chaos spirit. See the examples in the links above. I personally like to be vague and gross -- oozing, tentacles, teeth and fingers and eyes and spider legs and whatever else sounds ugly. So it's not any particular spirit, but just "some weird ass Chaotic stuff". In some cases, however, it can be something more mundane, such as a rival clan, some Lunars, some Telmori, some trolls, etc. Whatever is the PCs' community's particular main enemy is, or the enemy the PCs need to fight immediately after (more or less as part of an extended ritual... see my questions about Vasana's saga in the Q&A).

4 hours ago, ChrisJ said:

Secondly, who participates in the defeating of the spirit? 

IMHO, as many people as you want -- as long as the effigy is still fighting, and as long as there's enough space and time to involve all these people. I would personally rule that anybody who got one hit against the effigy qualifies as being a "participant" for the bonuses given in the outcome of the ritual. It will *sound* easy at first but, especially with Chaotic stuff that always has some weird ability, the GM can easily turn it around and make it hard when the effigy starts regrowing twice as many tentacles as the PCs cut (again, see Vasana's example explained in the Q&A). But generally yes: making things not too easy and not too hard is always tricky in skill based systems like RQ 🙂

[Akhôrahil]

16 hours ago, ChrisJ said:

Firstly what Spirits/Spirit powers have people used, and what enemies have being summoned?

Famously, Hakon the Swimmer accidentally summoned Hahlgrim, who proceded to kill him (making Hakon the first out of two Kings of the Bilini that Hahlgrim killed).

[soltakss]

12 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Famously, Hakon the Swimmer accidentally summoned Hahlgrim, who proceded to kill him (making Hakon the first out of two Kings of the Bilini that Hahlgrim killed).

I didn't know that, many thanks.

[Akhôrahil]

28 minutes ago, soltakss said:

I didn't know that, many thanks.

No known Bilini king has died of old age. 🙂

I really like the passage in Lords of Terror (crucial source, IMO better than Cults) that there's initially tension when Hahlgrim arrives at Fort Hazard as he killed Renekot's dad, but then he pays oversize wergild and they become pals. In my campaign, I plan to have this as when Hahlgrim wants to pick up local Dorastor guides like oh, I don't know, the PCs? 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Akhôrahil

[ChrisJ]

Thanks for all the suggestions and other threads to check.

 

The session for the summons of Evil went down tonight.  Spirit taken care of quite effectively - first round it cast Multispell3 in an attempt to Befuddle-lock the party (and take them down one at a time) - but before it was able to cast its spirit magic on round two, the Orlanthi let loose with a Lightning that wiped out the remaining HP before it could act.

 

The Lunar Sorcerers that were summoned by the Spell were also eliminated quickly a little time later, as "Ward against Weapons" doesn't protect against falling damage - and the same said Orlanthi opened his "bag of winds", and his Large Air Elemental bounced the weak Sorcerors up and down till they yielded!

 

Still it was a fun session - and the main course of the "Battle of Old Top" starts next week 🙂

 

Chris