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RQG Sorcery


PhilHibbs

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15 minutes ago, oltamy said:

Page 33: "determined By the Occupation table on page 63".

There is no ocuupation table on page 63.

Table has been moved page 28, where there is also a "Roll for your grandparent’s occupation on the Occupation table (page 63)," in first column.

The whole paragraph (p28) could be rewritten I guess...

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6 hours ago, Psullie said:

And knowledge is limited to just two people, Most Respected Elder and High Priestess of the 3 Bean Circus

It's now available to every Ernaldan and Eirithan High Priestess.  There was some indication that the nature of the Three Bean Circus had changed when they showed up alongside Genert in the Green Age in the Eleven Lights Book.

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16 hours ago, Joerg said:

That's if you remove all the air, but as I read the magic, it removes the breathable quality of the air, not the substance itself. This spell doesn't create voids - you would need some Chaos component for that. So basically, think of this like the Gloranthan version of nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

How does this spell interact with air/storm elementals, and how does it work in a storm/strong breeze?

It taps air, I think traditionally tapping takes away something. Air is an element, you breath it and it makes up the Middle Air. You are literally converting the elemental form of air into magic to feed yourself magically. I think you're thinking too literally! If there's no air somewhere, its not a void. Just as when there's no fire, there's no void. There's simply whatever makes up the universe that's not air. Ether, if you will.

Even the description strictly states it converts the air into magic. Meaning, the air is gone.

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1 hour ago, Madrona said:

It taps air, I think traditionally tapping takes away something. Air is an element, you breath it and it makes up the Middle Air. You are literally converting the elemental form of air into magic to feed yourself magically. I think you're thinking too literally! If there's no air somewhere, its not a void. Just as when there's no fire, there's no void. There's simply whatever makes up the universe that's not air. Ether, if you will.

Even the description strictly states it converts the air into magic. Meaning, the air is gone.

It taps the life/breath-giving magic out of the air. If you tap the magic (the hardness?) out of a rock, the rock will crumble to dust, but tapping usually only removes a quality out of something. When the quality is the size (as with those blue-clad diminutive folk of Halkamelem near Sogolotha Mambrolal, Guide p.212), you might argue that a quantity is stolen. 

Let's play around with this. If you tap a house, will it be more prone to collapsing, will you create a hole in the wall, or will it shrink?

If you want a hole in the ground, can you just tap it?

When you tap a flame, can you still burn the fuel? Will the heat of the flame disappear, or its light?

 

Tapping converts an intrinsic quality into one-use magic points. The effect of long-term tapping is described in the Guide in the description of Arolanit (p.414);

Quote

Most travelers to Arolanit complain that everything looks grey, or as according to one merchant from Handra, “like the radiance was taken from the light.

 

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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5 minutes ago, Joerg said:

^^^

Ya know, you're probably right.

I think I got misled by some descriptions I was taking too literally.

But you're right, likely tapping the 'life' from the air makes more sense? The thing that allows breath to be made. (The spell is ridiculous as heck, though. I kinda get the feeling it wasn't written with the duration rules in mind)

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4 hours ago, metcalph said:

It's now available to every Ernaldan and Eirithan High Priestess.  There was some indication that the nature of the Three Bean Circus had changed when they showed up alongside Genert in the Green Age in the Eleven Lights Book.

And every Thanatar cultist that gets an Eirithan rune lord's head.  I can't see *anyone* causing trouble with that, can you?

 

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38 minutes ago, styopa said:

And every Thanatar cultist that gets an Eirithan rune lord's head.  I can't see *anyone* causing trouble with that, can you?

 

1)  High Priestess rather than Rune Lord.

2)  Thanatar has not been revised for RQG.  I have serious doubts about the way their severed heads magic works.

3)  You seem to be under the misunderstanding that I am denying that the rune spell is overpowered.

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9 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

It seems odd to me that sorcerers don't get any benefit from INT to their sorcery spell skills

Actually you do - it sets the level of the number of Runes and Techniques you can master.  High INT means a much greater range of spell options.

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Looking through the Sorcery spells, I notice that there are no examples that use the Separate technique. Can anyone think of a good example of a spell that might use Separate? It also seems weird to me that Logical Clarity involves a dispelling of Truth. That said the new rules seem more playable than the old. Neat!

I am still not entirely happy with the mental load required of the player in setting up a sorcerer character and running it well. I am planning on writing a "a week in the life of a sorcerer" document that walks my players through the basics of using all the bonuses (rituals, items, day) to cast long term defensive spells, as well as how to effectively use sacrifices of POW to create helpful magic items. To do this I need to understand it all myself, which is taking a bit of work. The best strategy seems to shift depending on the starting INT of the sorcerer, for example.

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49 minutes ago, kpmcdona said:

True, but I am having trouble coming up with a figurative reading that doesn't make me roll for illumination! ;)

It dispels the Truth as known to the subject, which is corrupted by madness, confusion, or charisma. Thus freed from the infliction, the subject's natural logic reasserts itself, bringing the true Truth back into their mind.

It's kinda like rebooting your computer. You turn the Truth off and on again, to clear out any problems. Or like a Defibrillator, stopping an arrhythmic heart so it can start again properly.

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9 hours ago, kpmcdona said:

True, but I am having trouble coming up with a figurative reading that doesn't make me roll for illumination! ;)

It's not verb-noun Dispelling Truth. It's using power over Truth to Dispel something. I agree it's arguable.

Check out the Runequest Glorantha Wiki for RQ links and resources. Any updates or contributions welcome!

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16 minutes ago, simonh said:

It's not verb-noun Dispelling Truth. It's using power over Truth to Dispel something. I agree it's arguable.

I'm not so sure.

That would make this the only spell where you're not dispelling the rune associated with the spell, and the description of the dispel technique says you are dispelling a specific manifestation of the rune.

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10 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

Runes and Techniques aren't just nouns and verbs to be read literally! :D

This is very true. The spells listed were exemplars of how Runes and Techniques might be combined to create effects.

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12 hours ago, kpmcdona said:

I am still not entirely happy with the mental load required of the player in setting up a sorcerer character and running it well.

I realise players and groups vary, however I just printed out the sorcery chapter for my player who wanted to play a lunar sorcerer. He's new to Glorantha and RQ, but managed to create an excellent Lunar sorcery school (school of creeping death, or something similar) and sorcerer adventurer. His adventurer is now on a caravan to Pavis, to find new magical secrets from a sorcerous town.

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-----

Search the Glorantha Resource Site: https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com. Search the Glorantha mailing list archives: https://glorantha.steff.in/digests/

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33 minutes ago, Tindalos said:

I'm not so sure.

That would make this the only spell where you're not dispelling the rune associated with the spell, and the description of the dispel technique says you are dispelling a specific manifestation of the rune.

OK, but how does being an expert in Illusion and deception help you clear your mind and become more keenly focused on the Truth? Shouldn't knowledge of the power of Truth help you do that? It would be a bit weird if being a master illusionist made you a clearer and more logical thinker.

Maybe it should be Command Truth, but it seems clear to me that Truth should be in there.

Check out the Runequest Glorantha Wiki for RQ links and resources. Any updates or contributions welcome!

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12 hours ago, kpmcdona said:

I am still not entirely happy with the mental load required of the player in setting up a sorcerer character and running it well.

I agree, but every BRP sorcery system I've come across has had this problem. I think RQG is simpler in some ways, the removal of the extra skills is a big step in that direction, the only real complication is figuring out the MP cost based on what techniques and runes you know. I'm sure it's easy to get it wrong, especially if you're running games at 4 in the morning. (Sorry! 😜)

3 minutes ago, simonh said:

Maybe it should be Command Truth, but it seems clear to me that Truth should be in there.

Or Truth and Summon. Any of the three would be fine by me, Truth and Dispel is ok.

Edited by PhilHibbs
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On 6/2/2018 at 11:20 AM, styopa said:

I don't think so?

Here's the relevant bits of the spell, important parts highlighted: it's temporal, it's not just an effect but has a DURATION.  5min unbuffed.  And while otherwise  I'd agree with you, the PER ROUND makes it clear that's...every round.

Steal Breath
2 Points
Ranged, Active, Temporal

This spell allows the caster to convert 3 cubic meters of air into 1D6 magic points per round. Every 2 levels of strength added to the spell add another 3 cubic meters of air to be
converted into 1D6 more magic points. 

I would send that to the devs as a typo.  I'd say the correction needed is the per round be removed from the description.  I don't think that is what they intended.  Once you remove the magical breathability from that 3cm of air, it is gone, hence the need for extra points to affect extra area.  The duration was only meant to detail for how long until the air there was breathable again.

If the devs get back that yes, indeed, you get 1d6 magic points per round for the duration, then I'd suggest hooking up vacuums to their vents and draining the Chaosium offices out of air supply until they relent.  ;)

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6 minutes ago, Pentallion said:

I would send that to the devs as a typo.  I'd say the correction needed is the per round be removed from the description.  I don't think that is what they intended.  Once you remove the magical breathability from that 3cm of air, it is gone, hence the need for extra points to affect extra area.  The duration was only meant to detail for how long until the air there was breathable again.

If the devs get back that yes, indeed, you get 1d6 magic points per round for the duration, then I'd suggest hooking up vacuums to their vents and draining the Chaosium offices out of air supply until they relent.  ;)

I did raise it on the corrections thread shortly after it was posted here.

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On 6/3/2018 at 10:31 AM, Psullie said:

And knowledge is limited to just two people, Most Respected Elder and High Priestess of the 3 Bean Circus

In RQG it's available to any priest of Ernalda or Eiritha, I believe.  So pretty common, as I'd figure there are more of them together than Orlanthi RL's?

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It was suggested in another thread that RQ3 sorcery was not very like the one you see in fiction. But, what exactly makes RQG sorcery more "gloranthan" than RQ3 one ?

Obviously, the integration of runes as a limitation to spell casting is gloranthan, but is there something else I don't see ? Everything else is very similar to RQ3 to my eyes.

I'm speaking of mechanisms here. Calling a spell "boon of Babeester Gor" instead of Enhance damage sure helps making it less bland, but it's still the same spell anyway.

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