Humakti and Bows

[Andrew M]

 

11 hours ago, JRE said:

n archer, has a heirloom bow as a worthy recipient of the gift, and is known not to be just a cowardly skirmisher, I see no reason not to allow the gift on the bow. 

 

In this case the chaacter in question is a 16 year old who is just finishing her initiation into adulthood and humakt. The heirloom weapon is also an interesting idea I can try out on the player

My own view is that there is a difference between Humakt and the Cult of Humakt within Orlanthi society, IIRC Carmenia's elite warriors also worship Humakt with a somewhat different set of attitudes . The typical Humakti within Orlanthi society has also performed two rituals one the seperation from Kin to become Humakti mirroring Humakt's initial break from Orlanth and then a 'resheathing ceremony' were they are again sworn into society and become the honorable weapon thanes and mercanaries which dominate the view of Humakti, This implies to me a smaller number of Humakti who only sever themselves from society and do not swear themselves back into society these are dangerous killers unbound by rule or tradition and were the sort of Humakti who kills healers as part of the Lead Cross heroquest

Edited November 20, 2022 by Andrew M
Typo

[JRE]

I mentioned the heirloom because I would expect the Sword would want you to have a weapon worthy of the Humakt's gift. Blessing a club with a nail because it is the only weapon you can afford seems lacking in respect. That would also apply for an older initiate, though it is more likely that they can afford good quality equipment, worthy of Humakt's blessing.

[Darius West]

On 11/15/2022 at 10:19 PM, Andrew M said:

Looking for opinions about applying Humakti gifts to weapons other than swords. In particular one of my players is likely to want to use a Bow a lot and it would make sense for her to try and apply gifts to that bow. What is the opinion about applying the double damage after armour to a bow .

I think that it can be applied to any weapon but with the bow the question is should the gift actually need to be applied to the arrow , making it useless or is it mystically appropriate if applied to the Bow

To be fair, the Humakt cult rules only say "bless a specific weapon", not "bless a sword" (p296).  Of course Humakt's rune magic like sword trance and truesword won't work on the bow.  The up-side is that Humakt has access to all common magic, which includes all the missile spells.  The bow skill, once mastered, will count as one of the weapons needed to be mastered to become Rune Level in Humakt.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Darius West

[PhilHibbs]

50 minutes ago, Darius West said:

The up-side is that Humakt has access to all common magic, which includes all the missile spells.

Not sure what you mean by that.

[Andrew M]

The character in quesion does indeed now have an heirloom bow with a spirit magic matrix inherited from an Aunt . She has taken a gift effecting the bow , but has not got access to any of the Rune Magic for Bows.  She may search for a Humakt the archer subcult or try to initiate in an appropriate cult to gain access to bow magic. In the meantime she can learn any spirit magic she needs

[Darius West]

4 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Not sure what you mean by that.

Good call, I misinterpreted the info. I confused Common Magic with Spirit magic. 😬

Edited November 22, 2022 by Darius West

[PhilHibbs]

I don't like the idea of gifts on bows. There are no spells that affect a bow, only the arrows. Bows, or any ranged missile weapon, would become massively OP if they could be boosted with either spells or gifts.

And there is something distinctly un-humakti about missile weapons. It's kind of cheating, not facing your enemy hand-to-hand (but then again, so is Sever Spirit...)

[Mugen]

Hmm...

What if a Humakti tried to use arrows with very long arrowheads, looking like tiny swords ?

Surely those would cost more than standard arrows, and would perhaps be difficult to balance...

[MJ Sadique]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:31 PM, Andrew M said:

The character in quesion does indeed now have an heirloom bow with a spirit magic matrix inherited from an Aunt.

The origin of the bow may solve your problem as there is two fundamental different philosophy of bow :

1. The traditional / Occident style : the bow is your weapon, you are to becoming one with your bow to achieve mastery (Aldryami style "Trance of the Bow", A children of the Forest with a Fanatism spell could do the trick -Despite my thinking, yes fanatism is applicable to bow/crossbow user-)
2. The/One Oriental style : As suggest Mugen, The Arrow is the weapon, you are to becoming one with your arrow to achieve mastery. The bow is just a gauntlet/Atlat/hilt for the arrow (If your character have inherit someone who pratice an oriental style, this may be your best to go)

The difference is more liked to a philosophy/Magical approach of thing; If one firmly believe and was teach that arrow is the weapon then he/she may use arrow as throwing dagger/sword but others who try to imitate he/she could not (the god or spirit will refuse to act).

In term of Glorantha's magicology, it is thz difference between an Illuminated Humakti and a classic Hero/Runelord of Humakt : The first understand the very nature of Death and can use arrows (bows) without breaking any geis but the second cannot.

May you accept that your character have receive such teaching and bow as heir of an oriental_practionner/Illuminate then he/she can use an arrow (bow) as a weapon/sword BUT all his geis about sword/weapon will also apply to arrows (held or used with a bow) ... nothing come without risk

Edited December 1, 2022 by MJ Sadique
some tiny mistake and mispelling :p

[Joerg]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:21 PM, Mugen said:

Hmm...

What if a Humakti tried to use arrows with very long arrowheads, looking like tiny swords ?

Surely those would cost more than standard arrows, and would perhaps be difficult to balance...

I'd rather see "throwing swords" than "sword arrows"... and I am not particularly keen on thrown swords, either.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Joerg

[Baron Wulfraed]

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

I'd rather see "throwing swords" than "sword arrows"... and I am not particularly keen on thrown swords, either.

Make is a long dagger then 🥴

[svensson]

Folks, I think we're kinda complicating the issue on this one. It really boils down to these points:

- Do Humakti use missile weapons? Yes, they certainly do. Almost every trained warrior in Glorantha does. Huamkti focus on the sword by preference, but nothing other than cult geasa forbids them from mastering any other weapon as well.

- Should Humakt have missile spells? Your Glorantha will vary. My version of Humakt doesn't but if MGF at your table does then have at it. I've added Sureshot to Odayla and Elmal to solve the 'archer Orlanthi' issue.

And I honestly think that about covers it.

 

[Bill the barbarian]

On 11/20/2022 at 3:24 AM, soltakss said:

If the whole cult should not use assassinations and ambushes, why is there a need for a geas?

The fact that there is a geas means that the activity geased against is allowed by the cult as a whole.

 

Thank you Soltakss, for cutting to the chase. This seems obvious to me, but...

 

On 11/20/2022 at 1:47 AM, hipsterinspace said:

The writers of the current edition don't seem to give much credence to Storm Tribe, it's no longer part of the canon and for me isn't a compelling case against running with the rules as written. I'll continue to give my players the flexibility within the rules as written in the core book, you're free to do otherwise.

On 11/19/2022 at 10:59 PM, metcalph said:

Props to hipster in space for the obvious but so maligned reminder that each table can interpret the rules to their satisfaction.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Bill the barbarian

[svensson]

1 hour ago, Bill the barbarian said:

 

Thank you Soltakss, for cutting to the chase. This seems obvious to me, but...

 

Props to hipster in space for the obvious but so maligned reminder that each table can interpret the rules to their satisfaction.

YGMV and MGF

We are all Us.