Humakt vs other gods

[icebrand]

17 minutes ago, g33k said:

The God of Death is plenty badass in his own right (q.v. Sever Spirit) !  But spells like Heal Body are nothing to do with that.

I would play a Humakti over a B.Gorite (or a B.Gorite over a Humakti) for their different stories/orientations, not to minmax the magic loadout I carry.

If you just want to kill stuff, bab is just better...

Slash > True sword (sure, true sword is better damage/point, but slash gives as much damage as you need, and humakti can't resurrect)

Shield > Shield, because humakti can't resurrect

Earth shield > parry rq2 battle magic? (lol). Not only earth shield is an S tier spell, but humakt doesn't have a defensive spell AND can't resurrect.

Heal Body > Again, S tier vs nothing here, and also they can't resurrect and have geases that may even prevent heals or get you to take more damage

yeah yeah humakt has a cool theme and you can have your edgy raven and morale and whatever, but if i had to choose id much rather have a baby gor than a humakti at my side (and this is from a humakti fanboy that plays humakti and dies gloriously punching hags in the face when outside of the forever gm prison).

Pro tip: never lose your sword when fighting a hag!!!

 

 

[Shiningbrow]

 

 

On 3/23/2022 at 3:52 AM, icebrand said:

Why wouldn't humakt have great party

seriously??? Humakt is the biggest party killer of them all...

"Hey everyone,  come to my place Friday night,  and we can all talk about death, and I'll tell you about this great duel I fought a few years ago... (again)"...

No thanks!

[Godlearner]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:41 PM, icebrand said:

Zorak zorani with 15 rune spells gave the humakti with 150 a run for the money, uz are epic

Not in any game I was in. Reusable Sever Spirit will beat anything else. Even without that 10 to 1 Rune Magic means the Humakti will Dismiss anything the ZZ could possibly cast. 

[Godlearner]

20 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Why wouldn't humakt have great party

Interesting question considering that Humakt was the only cult to have a Parry spell.

[g33k]

2 hours ago, icebrand said:

...

Pro tip: never lose your sword when fighting a hag!!!

Preach the gospel, Brother!

[icebrand]

6 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Not in any game I was in. Reusable Sever Spirit will beat anything else. Even without that 10 to 1 Rune Magic means the Humakti will Dismiss anything the ZZ could possibly cast. 

Not in RQ3 (where that happened) it wouldn't, because back then you had to buy the spells in advance and... Sever spirit isn't that good (i think the guy "only" had 3x (out of 150 pts)

[Godlearner]

4 hours ago, icebrand said:

Not in RQ3 (where that happened) it wouldn't, because back then you had to buy the spells in advance and...

Yeah, and I always carry about 15 points of Dismiss Magic, and 10 points of Shield. So, good luck keeping any spells up on your weapons.

[icebrand]

20 hours ago, Godlearner said:

Not in any game I was in. Reusable Sever Spirit will beat anything else. Even without that 10 to 1 Rune Magic means the Humakti will Dismiss anything the ZZ could possibly cast. 

Sever spirit didn't get used much because worthy targets were usually magically protected and had high pow.

And no, the zorak zorani didn't get anything except seal wound dismissed, otherwise it would have been really poor resource management.

These people ran around with extended shield 10+, zorak zorani were challenging because troll maul + crush 5 + 3d6 damage mod, but they didn't deserve so many resources on them (unless dice rolled wrong)

[Rodney Dangerduck]

1 hour ago, icebrand said:

Sever spirit didn't get used much because worthy targets were usually magically protected and had high pow.

Perhaps not applicable for ZZ opponents, but our GMs, myself included, often put up Reflection to keep the PCs honest (and paranoid).  Puts a big damper on "I just cast Sever Spirit". 

One frequent use of Disruption is to test if the bad guy has up Reflection.

[Monty Lovering]

I’ve always had a fondness for Humakt, but the 16-year-old playing a B. Gor in the campaign I’m currently running has made me think again as she plays it to the hilt. Or maybe haft. Cut a great troll in half recently. What else am going to say when she Crits with Slash and does 36 damage?

Axe is the answer. What was the question?
 

 

 

[JustAnotherVingan]

The only fault with BG's wide range of spells is too many options.

Axe Trance - want to use a 2h axe for lower SR and more attacks a round

Earth Shield - want to use a 1H Axe and Shield obviously

Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each round for 2 attacks a round at a really good attack chance

Whatever style of axe fighting your axe woman wants to go with BG has the spell for it

[JustAnotherVingan]

2 hours ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

The only fault with BG's wide range of spells is too many options.

Axe Trance - want to use a 2h axe for lower SR and more attacks a round

Earth Shield - want to use a 1H Axe and Shield obviously

Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each round for 2 attacks a round at a really good attack chance

Whatever style of axe fighting your axe woman wants to go with BG has the spell for it

edit: Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each hand for 2 attacks a round at6 a really good attack chance

[JustAnotherVingan]

2 minutes ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

 

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by JustAnotherVingan
Unnecessary post

[JustAnotherVingan]

3 hours ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

The only fault with BG's wide range of spells is too many options.

Axe Trance - want to use a 2h axe for lower SR and more attacks a round

Earth Shield - want to use a 1H Axe and Shield obviously

Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each hand for 2 attacks a round at a really good attack chance

Whatever style of axe fighting your axe woman wants to go with BG has the spell for it

 

[JustAnotherVingan]

3 hours ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

The only fault with BG's wide range of spells is too many options.

Axe Trance - want to use a 2h axe for lower SR and more attacks a round

Earth Shield - want to use a 1H Axe and Shield obviously

Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each handfor 2 attacks a round at a really good attack chance

Whatever style of axe fighting your axe woman wants to go with BG has the spell for it

 

[JustAnotherVingan]

3 minutes ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

 

And this one too, wish this forum had an easy way to edit posts (that I'm not missing)

[Baron Wulfraed]

18 hours ago, JustAnotherVingan said:

And this one too, wish this forum had an easy way to edit posts (that I'm not missing)

It's hidden... see the three dots on the upper right of the post? If the post is yours, there is an edit option in the pop-up menu.

 

[icebrand]

On 4/1/2022 at 10:24 PM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

Perhaps not applicable for ZZ opponents, but our GMs, myself included, often put up Reflection to keep the PCs honest (and paranoid).  Puts a big damper on "I just cast Sever Spirit". 

One frequent use of Disruption is to test if the bad guy has up Reflection.

Reflection... What's up with that anyway?

Like, noone with any SAN left would use that over shield or absorption, right? Like, heck, countermagic beats it so hard lol... 

I would actually take shield 1/absorption 1/countermagic whatever over reflection-500. Its a "win harder" spell that doesnt even do anything against like half (or less) the spells they could throw at you, and even when it does work its only a chance...

[PhilHibbs]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:24 AM, Rodney Dangerduck said:

One frequent use of Disruption is to test if the bad guy has up Reflection.

 

2 hours ago, icebrand said:

Reflection... What's up with that anyway?

I would actually take shield 1/absorption 1/countermagic whatever over reflection-500... 

Yeah it's not great, but the Disrupt test is useful against the chaotic feature that works regardless of the POW v POW roll. I gave my group a freebie on that by having the humakti-standing-next-to-them cast Sever Spirit on the Cacodemon and drop down dead on the spot.

[icebrand]

1 minute ago, PhilHibbs said:

 

Yeah it's not great, but the Disrupt test is useful against the chaotic feature that works regardless of the POW v POW roll. I gave my group a freebie on that by having the humakti-standing-next-to-them cast Sever Spirit on the Cacodemon and drop down dead on the spot.

Yeah, the chaos feature is *mucho* better (and i run reflect like that at my tables, if your cast is =< reflect, then it comes back and its YOUR pow vs your pow to see if you eat the spell.

[ShovelingBS]Optionally, chatacters with reflect casting on chatacters with reflect will create a feedback loop (example: 

) That will last for 2 min / 15 min / until someone goes out of range / dies.

After the 1st round every listen check is at -10, then -20, then half skill, then you roll CONx5 or lose your actions!

[/ShovelingBS]

[davecake]

On 4/25/2022 at 6:37 AM, JustAnotherVingan said:

The only fault with BG's wide range of spells is too many options.

Axe Trance - want to use a 2h axe for lower SR and more attacks a round

Earth Shield - want to use a 1H Axe and Shield obviously

Berserker - want to use a 1H Axe in each round for 2 attacks a round at a really good attack chance

Whatever style of axe fighting your axe woman wants to go with BG has the spell for it

Yes, BG is very versatile, more so than any other fighting cult I think. 
Axe Trance is great with 2H axe. You can also parry with the boosted axe. It’s a very potent tactic as long as your opponents are engageable in melee combat. 

Earth Shield with 1H axe is a very potent defensive combination. BGs probably are more able to take on very high damage opponents like ZZers than Humakt is (though Orlanth has an edge here, he loses on weapon enhancement magic). The Axe can be boosted with Slash if needed. And it doesn’t restrict other combat options at all, so still has the full range of magic etc available, which makes it more flexible and able to deal with the unexpected, as well as do things like cast Demoralise.

And Berserk is great. Unless outnumbered, often the Berserk will take out their opponent before they have to take a hit themselves. It’s a really good idea to cast Shield before berserking though! And also works great with Shield. Though in practice, only real specialists will go for the dual axe option - the majority will not have a very high off hand axe skill, as it takes a lot of effort to raise it, normally is not likely to be gained at character creation, and a low base chance. It alsohas the normal dual wielder issue of not being the best defensive option. So only someone that really wants to be a nasty Berserk and concentrate on savage attacks, at the expense of survivability, is likely to for it. Under RQG, most are likely to find that the already high skill with a shield makes it the most attractive option, despite the lower damage. And it gives us shield-chewing berserks, in the best viking tradition. 

True Sword is better than Slash point for point, but Slash seems a better spell to have due to its stackability. 
And yeah, BG has great healing too. 
BG is probably the best fighting cult, and easily the most flexible. 

I’ve never found the lack of Sever Spirit a huge problem, though - so often adventurers die in circumstances that wouldn’t allow for it anyway. Like the ZZ Death Lord kills them, then eats them. 

ZZ is a good fighting cult, but lacks defensive options. It only becomes truly terrifying because its followers tend to be huge trolls. And to hang around in military gangs with zombies etc. But they do have good options for offensive magic (Fear, elementals). Crush vs Slash is a bit of an even comparison, but Crush is better for a typical ZZer who is already doing a heap of damage. A Berserk ZZer often has plenty of hit points and is hard to quickly take down, so even scarier than BG berserks. 
Their big trump card though is the combination of Seal Wound and heaps of damage. Often Rune level fighters heavily rely on healing during combat. 
Zz isn’t the most flexible cult, but makes for very dangerous opponents for Humakt (who needs a lot of defences to counter the huge damage a big troll with Crush etc can dish out that might blow through a parry) or BG (Earth Shield is great, but Berserk plus Blugeon and Crush can make for a very high attack % that is hard to parry, and Seal Wound sure counters their healing advantage). 
 

Orlanth has great survivability due to Woad, Earth Shield, etc and a lot of ways to get out of trouble fast (or close with ranged opponents), and powerful offensive magic, but lacks much damage enhancement. Their real trump card is a friendly Ernalda with Bless Champion though.

Storm Bull is a bit of a one trick pony. Berserk is pretty much their one great tactic. Unless they are fighting Chaos, of course. 

Kaargs Sons are a bit like ZZ - the most scary thing about them is they are big trolls - but just don’t match up for combat magic. But you don’t want to mess with their mothers. 

I haven’t really looked at cults like Wachaza (Fang of Wachaza is an amazing spell, but very expensive, and needs to get through armour to work), or Shargash in as much detail, but I don’t think any really match up to Humakt, BG and ZZ as the big three contenders for most frighteningly effective warrior cult. 

 

[Darius West]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:46 PM, Shiningbrow said:

seriously??? Humakt is the biggest party killer of them all...

"Hey everyone,  come to my place Friday night,  and we can all talk about death, and I'll tell you about this great duel I fought a few years ago... (again)"...

No thanks!

I think you mean buzz-killer, as a party killer can mean something quite different (TPK terminology). 

On the other hand, the notion that Humakti can't party completely ignores their gothic self destructiveness.  While dueling is preferable within Humakt, it is possible to drink oneself "to Death".

Compare that to little miss axe castration fetish in the corner and I know who I'd rather party with.

[icebrand]

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

On the other hand, the notion that Humakti can't party completely ignores their gothic self destructiveness.  While dueling is preferable within Humakt, it is possible to drink oneself "to Death".

Indrodar Greydog dude! Pick up your Sword and lets meet at tourney altar, let me beat those sacrilegial thoughs out of your -clearly not blessed by humakt- mind.

1 hour ago, Darius West said:

Compare that to little miss axe castration fetish in the corner and I know who I'd rather party with.

"NOW WITH D10 DI AND MAGIC RESISTANCE"!!!

why Jeff, whyyyyy

[Shiningbrow]

14 hours ago, Darius West said:

Compare that to little miss axe castration fetish in the corner and I know who I'd rather party with.

 

12 hours ago, icebrand said:

"NOW WITH D10 DI AND MAGIC RESISTANCE"!!!

The fun bit is going be... When she casts her DI, deciding what the most appropriate response from her goddess should be...

[Darius West]

21 hours ago, icebrand said:

Indrodar Greydog dude! Pick up your Sword and lets meet at tourney altar, let me beat those sacrilegious thoughts out of your -clearly not blessed by humakt- mind.

It's a long walk from Lismelder to Tourney Altar for such a frivolous duel, and for what Indrodar?  Your tribe is more famous for its beer and its inn than for your unsuccessful efforts at clearing the swamp of zombies.  Does that irk you?  Truth rune speaks truth, and you know it to be so.  At least a fellow Humakti can appreciate your brave failure, let me buy you a drink for your sorrows.