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Jar Eel Statblock ?


Godweyn

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9 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

So, how about... if your PCs were to accompany Kallyr on her short LBQ, would allow for the possibility of her completing it successfully? Or, at the very least, not get mortally wounded?

I mean, yes, especially on the abstract level you're talking about here. I don't think- well, let me back up to Nick's earlier comment that the best outcome of a Close Encounter of the Razoress Kind is getting Beat-Potted. I think that how I prefer to elaborate an extended Kallyr timeline out is via the Fisher King motif, because Jar-eel delivers a Dolorous Stroke to Kallyr and this signals flirting the demigod way that there's a sickness within Sartar, a thing which has gone unconfronted and now strikes back, much like how the Fisher King's own sins (in Malory, perhaps his tolerance of his brother Garlon performing murders while invisible) come back to him as the Holy Lance piercing through his thighs and groin. 

And one way of doing this is to say that Kallyr fails her Stationary Lightbringer's Quest to bring new life to Sartar, and instead receives a bodily reflection of the state's diminished vitality, because she has failed to address matters like the Duck Hunt, the Black Moon Massacre, all the ways in which Sartar's people, when given a choice between solidarity and betrayal, kept making the immoral choice. So the PCs would then be in the position of trying to heal this wounded land and people. And swinging back to Jar-eel, you could use her as a critic of Sartar, a bringer of judgment, or as a tempter, suggesting you stop trying, or as an innocent bludgeon, or as an unveiler who shows up to reveal some new terrible thing and then vanishes. 

But there are of course many different paths to take and many different ways to represent these figures depending on how you play them. 

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Though a Lunar through and through, she is also a human being.

"I just read an article in The Economist by a guy who was riding around with the Sartar rebels, I mean Taliban," -Greg Stafford, January 7th, 2010

Eight Arms and the Mask

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25 minutes ago, Eff said:

I mean, yes, especially on the abstract level you're talking about here. I don't think- well, let me back up to Nick's earlier comment that the best outcome of a Close Encounter of the Razoress Kind is getting Beat-Potted. I think that how I prefer to elaborate an extended Kallyr timeline out is via the Fisher King motif, because Jar-eel delivers a Dolorous Stroke to Kallyr and this signals flirting the demigod way that there's a sickness within Sartar, a thing which has gone unconfronted and now strikes back, much like how the Fisher King's own sins (in Malory, perhaps his tolerance of his brother Garlon performing murders while invisible) come back to him as the Holy Lance piercing through his thighs and groin. 

And one way of doing this is to say that Kallyr fails her Stationary Lightbringer's Quest to bring new life to Sartar, and instead receives a bodily reflection of the state's diminished vitality, because she has failed to address matters like the Duck Hunt, the Black Moon Massacre, all the ways in which Sartar's people, when given a choice between solidarity and betrayal, kept making the immoral choice. So the PCs would then be in the position of trying to heal this wounded land and people. And swinging back to Jar-eel, you could use her as a critic of Sartar, a bringer of judgment, or as a tempter, suggesting you stop trying, or as an innocent bludgeon, or as an unveiler who shows up to reveal some new terrible thing and then vanishes. 

But there are of course many different paths to take and many different ways to represent these figures depending on how you play them. 

That is a way cool interpretation!!

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Kallyr as the Crippled Queen after the failed LBQ is a theme we've been playing around with for quite a while. In Sea Season 1626, Sartar is a haunted land - everyone is nervous and there are ghosts. To quote the feedback from someone wiser than me, "this is like coming into Camelot at the very end, with a crippled king on the throne and the land is sick. If the players are around her, someone needs to figure out how to get her motivated enough to get back out there. She has one scene left . . . let her go out reminiscent of her past glory and everything she could have been if the rolls had gone just a little differently."

 

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On 6/9/2022 at 4:25 AM, Ludovic aka Lordabdul said:

What's that?

It’s a rune spell (or a collection of Rune spells - it’s Cyclical (Characteristic)) from Red Book of Magic. Your attribute follows the cycle of the Moon, it’s 1.5 times it’s value on the Full Moon, and lower on Dark or Dying phases. It’s always Full Moon if you are Jar-Eel. 
The Red Goddess grants it. 

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On 6/9/2022 at 12:39 AM, Jeff said:

In MY RUNEQUEST games, anyone going up against Jar-eel, Harrek, Androgeus, a True Dragon, etc., in direct physical combat is going to get probably maimed or killed. The best case scenario is to just last a few rounds without getting maimed or killed (with a really great roll, maybe draw some blood - but that carries its own dangers!). Maybe the point is to delay things a round or two, but unless they have carefully quested to find or create weaknesses (which should be a major theme of the campaign), they aren"t going to beat them in combat or spell casting

I think that’s quite generous. 

It’s worth remembering (as I’m sure Jeff does) that killing a Superhero is just an opening gambit. Even a great shaman, with the Self-Resurrection ability at the top rank, 8, can return from mere physical death in a single Strike Rank. Jar-Eel might be able to do something similar, as a divine mistress of Life and Death? Plus of course she can expect Divine Intervention. If you managed to kill her, prevent her self-resurrecting, prevent all her allies and spiritual allies and divine companions, etc from saving her - well, she is probably just in the underworld, where she has been many times before. She can return even from darker fates, emulating the Goddess, on occasion. Jar-Eel transcended that whole life, death and depending on a physical body thing as a child. More importantly, though, it’s such a dull way to use a character like Jar-Eel. If you fight her, you better have a good reason - it allows an ally a momentary chance to sneak something past her when she is distracted, or makes a moral point, or let’s you take on a later heroquest role, or something. 

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On 6/9/2022 at 6:02 PM, JRE said:

That makes Sandy Petersen's Lore Auction probably the most influential factor, as he is easier to follow than Greg. And I remember some discussion of Superheroes and how each Superhero in WBRM had a main rune besides infinity (Death, Harmony and Man). 

FWIW, I don’t buy that theory of Sandy’s myself. It’s one of those ideas that gets thrown about, sounds cool, but doesn’t really work on close examination. And if each Superhero did have a single rune, I don’t think hers would be Harmony. 
But that’s just me. Lore Auctions put people on the spot, and sometimes stuff that would come out was stuff that wasn’t in other published material for a reason. 

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6 minutes ago, davecake said:

FWIW, I don’t buy that theory of Sandy’s myself. It’s one of those ideas that gets thrown about, sounds cool, but doesn’t really work on close examination. And if each Superhero did have a single rune, I don’t think hers would be Harmony. 

I agree that a single rune for a superhero is nonsense. But that made me develop a whole set of heroquest benefits based in progressive mastery of each rune.

I suppose you are familiar with the old complaint (fortunately put to rest with RQ:G) that where was the questing for Runes in Runequest. So, associated at the other old complaint, where are the heroquest rules? I built my own set mainly around increasing mastery of runes.

In my case I still hold Jar Eel as strongly Harmony, but maybe the harp misleads me. But she has more. I do not want to spend too much time in a house rule from 1996, but I have mentioned some effects from Mastery (the first rune to master if you want to call yourself a Hero / Heroine), Infinity and Harmony.

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30 minutes ago, davecake said:

FWIW, I don’t buy that theory of Sandy’s myself. It’s one of those ideas that gets thrown about, sounds cool, but doesn’t really work on close examination. And if each Superhero did have a single rune, I don’t think hers would be Harmony. 
But that’s just me. Lore Auctions put people on the spot, and sometimes stuff that would come out was stuff that wasn’t in other published material for a reason. 

A lot of Sandy's Gloranthan theories don't really work. 

And Lore Auctions are totally unreliable, having done many myself.

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12 hours ago, JRE said:

i suppose you are familiar with the old complaint (fortunately put to rest with RQ:G) that where was the questing for Runes in Runequest

I don't think it's been put to rest in RQG. Yes, they've been incorporated a lot more, but Runes aren't really a thing one can quest after still. Not something you can find ir integrate into yourself - like in MRQ's Runetouched (although the idea that Runes just lie about all over the place in the mundane world was a bit silly).

 

As I said before,  I hope Runic connections & "Mastery" is addressed in the upcoming book on Heroquesting,  as I think those two things go hand in hand.

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