Sword Trance and the Humakti Duel

[French Desperate WindChild]

3 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

However, you're now bringing in a whole big kettle of extra fish, as now you've decided that gods can actively participate in decision-making within the middle world. That would have quite a few repercussions you may not want.

It would also mean that the god would know that the Ogre is an Ogre, and thus Chaotic....

not excatly

the god doesn't decide what to do, the god decides only if it meets positively or negatively to the mortal's demand. The mortal is the source of the request. From my understanding, a god breaks the compromise if it acts by itself, without any mundane "trigger"

Same for the Ogre: the god would know that the Ogre is an Ogre only if mundane worshippers (or spirits,or .. anything mundane) have convinced the God  of it.

I say "convince" :

- it may be a wrong assumption => in reality the guy is not an Ogre, but the worshipper believes he is an Ogre

- or a lie => the worshipper, (illuminate or not, depends on devotion), knows the guy is not an Ogre but he wants to use the god's magic against him so the worshipper is lying.

[davecake]

On 3/24/2022 at 4:20 AM, Kloster said:

As I am using RQ3 combat rules, sword trance has never been a problem: You may have 450% sword attack, but you still have your normal chance to parry,

It stands to reason that if you are using very different rules, you will also have very different house rules. 
And as Humakt doesn’t have sword trance in RQ3, you only need to worry about axes. 

I still find, even if it doesn’t have as great a practical effect, that the best swordsman will be the one with most access to magic points rather than the one with the best skill, a but odd. 

[davecake]

On 3/24/2022 at 4:20 AM, Kloster said:

A 450% sword attack will make you killed by 10 normal trollkin with 1H spear.

Actually now I think about, in RQ3 rules the value of Sword Trance is splitting your attack. So you get to hit those trollkin 4.5 times a round. You’ll need more than 10.

(or wait until the end of the round and hit two of them in the head) 

[davecake]

On 3/24/2022 at 4:45 AM, SevenSistersOfVinga said:

Sure, but then since he can't cast light we can say that Shadow Walk (or a bow) negates Sword Trance too

Nah. invisibility or blindness is only a mere -75% to hit. Shadow Walkers better stay out of weapon reach. They might get one surprise attack if the Humakti is unaware of them, but they would want to be very certain it worked. 

And even in Sword Trance, you can still use shields passively and charge, so bows aren’t foolproof - but they are an effective tactic, just as they are against berserks. 

[davecake]

On 3/24/2022 at 10:38 PM, Akhôrahil said:

In a Humakti duel in particular, whoever has the most MPs will cast the bigger Sword Trance, and then dominate the duel as Sword Trance completely overshadows differences in the sword skill. This does not seem like MGF.

Exactly one of the reasons I limit it to doubling skill. So if two Humakti both have access to lots of magic points and both go full Sword Trance, the better swordsman wins. That seems MGF enough - in that it makes it less likely the lesser swordsman will take that route, and will try different tactics. 

Though I think it would also be perfectly fine to say that Humakti duels only allows magic cast after the start of the duel (making huge Sword Trances a ridiculously risky tactic, as you’d usually have lost the duel by the time you have finished casting), or at least don’t allow you to start a duel tranced. 

[davecake]

On 3/25/2022 at 12:17 AM, JustAnotherVingan said:

less than 100 MP, and anything the party can do their opponent can do.

In this particular instance, not quite. Anything the party can do their opponentS can do, but combining magic to buff one of them is still a good tactic by which the party can tackle someone that could beat any of them singularly. 

[JustAnotherVingan]

9 hours ago, davecake said:

In this particular instance, not quite. Anything the party can do their opponentS can do, but combining magic to buff one of them is still a good tactic by which the party can tackle someone that could beat any of them singularly. 

What, only the party are allowed to work with other people?

If its within the rules of a Humakti duel to have your friends buff you you can bet the players won't be the only people to have thought of this.

[davecake]

32 minutes ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

What, only the party are allowed to work with other people?

No, the post I was quoting used the singular. 

[Kloster]

10 hours ago, davecake said:

Actually now I think about, in RQ3 rules the value of Sword Trance is splitting your attack. So you get to hit those trollkin 4.5 times a round. You’ll need more than 10.

(or wait until the end of the round and hit two of them in the head) 

No, because you still need 3 SR between each attack. You can do 2, perhaps 3 attacks per round, but not more. But of course, that would mean 2 225% attacks or 3 150% attacks, but you will still parry only once (max twice).

[DreadDomain]

On 3/23/2022 at 3:58 PM, davecake said:

I have now settled on a house rule that <melee weapon> Trance can have a maximum effect of doubling base skill, thus making its maximum effect on parity with Berserk and Arrow Trance.

Very sensible. Consider it stolen.