Farsee, the gift and the spell question.

[Malin]

The spirit spell halves the distance between the viewer and the target for perception rolls per point.

My questions are:

1: Do you buy Farsee like you do Bladesharp? For example, do you buy Farsee 3? Or do you instead buy Farsee and then cast it with as many magic points as the distance you need to cross?

2: How many points of Farsee do you get from the Yelmalio gift? It only says Farsee, treating it as Catseye, whose cost is not (var)

If the first case of 1 is true and you only get Farsee (1) from Yelmalio, can the gift and spell be combined to make a useful Farsee for longer distances? Or do they override? For example, if you have Farsee from Yelmalio, and casts Farsee (1) as a spirit spell, would that count as 4 times closer or 2 times closer?

 

[Richard S.]

1. It's a variable spell, so yes it's learned the same way as Bladesharp. You can only put as many MP into it as you have points learned.

2. I treat it as Farsee 1, but that might be a Q&A question.

3. They probably stack. The Farsee spell would apply its regular effect of halving the visual distance. It just so happens that it's applying to an already telescoped vision.

[mfbrandi]

16 minutes ago, Malin said:

How many points of Farsee do you get from the Yelmalio gift? It only says Farsee, treating it as Catseye, whose cost is not (var)

Probably a hangover from the Cults of Prax wording for Yelmalio gifts — in RQ2, Farsee was a one-point spell (10× telescopic vision, switched on and off freely for four hours), not variable.

[Malin]

5 minutes ago, mfbrandi said:

Probably a hangover from the Cults of Prax wording for Yelmalio gifts

Yeah, that was what it struck me as. Considering it demands 2 geases, Farsee (1) seems very weak compared to +2 in a stat for the same cost. I have been running it as in Cults of Prax in my game for the gift, but I needed to look up the official wording for a thing I was writing and realized that was not how it was done these days.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Malin

[French Desperate WindChild]

I do like @Richard S.

i just add that as any non binary (true/false)  yelmalion gift, I consider this one as cumulable

Every opportunity to gain a new gift can allow a +1 farsee (with geas)

[mfbrandi]

8 hours ago, Malin said:

Considering it demands 2 geases

Although about a third of them are “mostly harmless,” and some are just common sense:

• never trust a thieving, murdering Orlanth worshipper
   
• celibacy in Fire Season, ’cos it is Too Darn Hot:
   
  • According to the Kinsey Report, ev’ry average man you know
    Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
    When the temperature is low
    But when the thermometer goes 'way up
    And the weather is sizzling hot
    Mr. Gob for his squab
    A marine for his queen
    A G.I. for his cutie-pie is not

They are singing it in the ranks, I swear. And now they have reverse engineered that medicine bundle, there is even a valve trumpet solo.

[Malin]

Agreed on boinking in fire season, it is just that in the past, Farsee was a lot more useful, and right now it is fairly useless  as a gift as it is. It seems more like the spell was changed, and somebody forgot to update Yelmalio. Granted, he is a wee bit conservative... maybe he'll come around once the Sky cults are released!

Oh well, I guess we'll have to rewrite the rules of the farsee competition to take this into account instead...

Edited November 11, 2023 by Malin

[Rodney Dangerduck]

Given that RQ2 Farsee was 10X, the Yelmalio gift should be Farsee 3 or Farsee 4.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

1 hour ago, mfbrandi said:

Although about a third of them are “mostly harmless,” and some are just common sense:

• never trust a thieving, murdering Orlanth worshipper
   
• celibacy in Fire Season, ’cos it is Too Darn Hot:
   
  • According to the Kinsey Report, ev’ry average man you know
    Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
    When the temperature is low
    But when the thermometer goes 'way up
    And the weather is sizzling hot
    Mr. Gob for his squab
    A marine for his queen
    A G.I. for his cutie-pie is not

They are singing it in the ranks, I swear. And now they have reverse engineered that medicine bundle, there is even a valve trumpet solo.

Which are the mostly harmless ones?

 

2 hours ago, mfbrandi said:

Although about a third of them are “mostly harmless,” and some are just common sense:

• never trust a thieving, murdering Orlanth worshipper
   
• celibacy in Fire Season, ’cos it is Too Darn Hot:
   
  • According to the Kinsey Report, ev’ry average man you know
    Much prefers his lovey-dovey to court
    When the temperature is low
    But when the thermometer goes 'way up
    And the weather is sizzling hot
    Mr. Gob for his squab
    A marine for his queen
    A G.I. for his cutie-pie is not

They are singing it in the ranks, I swear. And now they have reverse engineered that medicine bundle, there is even a valve trumpet solo.

It seems to be more like a quarter.

[Richard S.]

2 hours ago, Orlanthatemyhamster said:

Which are the mostly harmless ones?

The dietary and celibacy requirements aren't restrictive enough to be actively detrimental, except for maybe total celibacy depending on your point of view. In total they make up 33% of the standard geas list. Several of the armor, shield, and weapon restrictions probably don't affect your average Yelmalian either, though that will vary based on the temple (I imagine Pentans would be pretty annoyed at being denied leather armor, while Vaantar hoplites would prefer to keep their metal).

Edited November 12, 2023 by Richard S.

[Darius West]

Even a permanent Farsee 1 isn't worth the geas.

[Shiningbrow]

I figured that they could use Farsee like the spell, but they had effectively unlimited variability - just depends on how many MPs they'd throw into it each time they activated it. (and, therefore, the ability and the spell don't stack)

If, however, it wasn't like that, and the ability only granted a certain X factor, then I'm not sure if I'd stack it or not... there is some sense in that it further telescopes the vision, like adding another lens... but I'm not sure if I'm convincing myself.

[Joerg]

On the matter of "never trust ...": this basically means "never accept hospitality from ..." as a practical consequence. Obviously there would be ways around this, or a good number of Yelmalians would be barred from entering cities run by an Orlanth Rex city king, but it can result in quite a bit of bad vibes when approaching a place in company of bearers of such a geas.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

11 hours ago, Richard S. said:

The dietary and celibacy requirements aren't restrictive enough to be actively detrimental, except for maybe total celibacy depending on your point of view. In total they make up 33% of the standard geas list. Several of the armor, shield, and weapon restrictions probably don't affect your average Yelmalian either, though that will vary based on the temple (I imagine Pentans would be pretty annoyed at being denied leather armor, while Vaantar hoplites would prefer to keep their metal).

Yeah, I disagree, your qualification is circumspect. What does 'actively' mean? Always? when in an empty house with no one there and plenty of non restricted food? in a season of non sundays?

In that respect none of them are detrimental, if you are not fighting, none of the martial ones are detrimental, if you are, they are [depending]. If you aren't in love or married or having sex, the celibacy ones aren't, but they are, if you are. If you don't have sex perhaps you don't miss it?
I also suppose it depends on how much non-combat, jumpyclimby RPGing you do?
If your horse's leg is broken and you are waiting for someone with enough healing for an hour, they it's detrimental, if you're not, it's not.

Your definition is a bit vague to say the least and very very open to debate.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Orlanthatemyhamster

[French Desperate WindChild]

5 minutes ago, Orlanthatemyhamster said:

Yeah, I disagree, your qualification is circumspect. What does 'actively' mean? Always? when in an empty house with no one there and plenty of non restricted food? in a season of non sundays?

In that respect none of them are detrimental, if you are not fighting, none of the martial ones are detrimental, if you are, they are [depending]. If you aren't in love or married or having sex, the celibacy ones aren't, but they are, if you are. If you don't have sex perhaps you don't miss it?
I also suppose it depends on how much non-combat, jumpyclimby RPGing you do?
If your horse's leg is broken and you are waiting for someone with enough healing for an hour, they it's detrimental, if you're not, it's not.

Your definition is a bit vague to say the least and very very open to debate.

let's say that from a game perspective, seeing the scenario we frequently see, the capacity or not to have sex is not the most important.

And even if there is an activity (oups a fantasy activity, don't imagine anything around the table !) during the play, i would be surprised that someone would tell us that this wonderful scene would last more than one or to minute to be described.

 

but I agree that I would avoid any geas like that for my own life 🙂 (And yes I don't care to be able or not to wear an armor on my left arm)

 

[Malin]

And we've got an official answer now in the QnA thread, it is Farsee 1 for 2 geases, with the option to take it again for 2 more geases if your gm allows. 😞

1 pt of a spirit magic spell costing 50L for 2 geases. Compared to Catseye which is a 1pt rune spell for 3 geases. (my glorantha will vary from this)

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Malin

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

2 hours ago, Joerg said:

On the matter of "never trust ...": this basically means "never accept hospitality from ..." as a practical consequence. Obviously there would be ways around this, or a good number of Yelmalians would be barred from entering cities run by an Orlanth Rex city king, but it can result in quite a bit of bad vibes when approaching a place in company of bearers of such a geas.

The city bit is a bit tenuous, if you had to go to his palace then, yes. City? Probably not.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

7 minutes ago, French Desperate WindChild said:

let's say that from a game perspective, seeing the scenario we frequently see, the capacity or not to have sex is not the most important.

And even if there is an activity (oups a fantasy activity, don't imagine anything around the table !) during the play, i would be surprised that someone would tell us that this wonderful scene would last more than one or to minute to be described.

 

but I agree that I would avoid any geas like that for my own life 🙂 (And yes I don't care to be able or not to wear an armor on my left arm)

 

Let's say, alternatively, someone is trying to build a family.

And let's get away from the Murder Munchkin.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

4 minutes ago, Malin said:

And we've got an official answer now in the QnA thread, it is Farsee 1 for 2 geases, with the option to take it again for 2 more geases if your gm allows. 😞

 

Yeah, sometimes people make mistakes, sometimes big ones.

[Shiningbrow]

20 hours ago, Malin said:

And we've got an official answer now in the QnA thread, it is Farsee 1 for 2 geases, with the option to take it again for 2 more geases if your gm allows. 😞

1 pt of a spirit magic spell costing 50L for 2 geases. Compared to Catseye which is a 1pt rune spell for 3 geases. (my glorantha will vary from this)

 

I cannot imagine a single player taking that Gift then.... a 1pt spell for 50L - or the possibility of being  hit with zero armour AND no shield! (Catseye I can see may be worth it - if the character is very anti-troll.)

[Malin]

Catseye is super worth it, we have a character with it in our campaign and it is very handy while traveling and keeping watch

[Shiningbrow]

45 minutes ago, Malin said:

Catseye is super worth it, we have a character with it in our campaign and it is very handy while traveling and keeping watch

Q: Would it be worth no armour or shields? (just wondering relevant values here)

What would (or wouldn't) it be worth?? (well, ok, there's lots I suspect many wouldn't blink an eye at - don't eat the flesh of birds - HA!!! No sex once per season- HA! No flail or whips - HA HA HA!!! (who even takes those??? Oh, yeah, ok... they live in slave territories!)

[Akhôrahil]

On 11/12/2023 at 12:43 PM, Joerg said:

On the matter of "never trust ...": this basically means "never accept hospitality from ..." as a practical consequence. Obviously there would be ways around this, or a good number of Yelmalians would be barred from entering cities run by an Orlanth Rex city king, but it can result in quite a bit of bad vibes when approaching a place in company of bearers of such a geas.

The larger downside is that you can’t really be in an adventuring party with such a person, unless perhaps utterly forced into it by circumstances.

[French Desperate WindChild]

On 11/12/2023 at 12:43 PM, Joerg said:

On the matter of "never trust ...": this basically means "never accept hospitality from ..." as a practical consequence.

or just "don't consider that these ... when they "offer" hospitality may all the same betray their words and do something against you. So you don't sleep quiet, you keep some "innocent" activity secret, etc...

so you keep one (cats) eye during the night, you don't socialize innocently (but you can play a role and manipulate those who try to manipulate you, of course they try when they are nice with you, you can'y trust them)

For me, "don't trust" does not mean avoid contact (except fighting them). That means you are in an hostile place but you have to live among them.

[Orlanthatemyhamster]

3 hours ago, Malin said:

Catseye is super worth it, we have a character with it in our campaign and it is very handy while traveling and keeping watch

How does it help with travelling?