Some data on sorcey spells

[Manu]

Some of my player may want to play a sorcerer (In Umathela, there is plenty)

 

Well, the I looked at the existing spell (in RPG)

I thought that some sects could focus more on some runes. The very classic 'fire mage'. But for instance, a sect of sorcerer more focus on Truth (like Lankor Mhy) or illusion, or any other rune

When I do the math, the most described spells runes are Truth and fire (10 and 11 occurences). From the elemental runes point of view, I have 8 water, 5 air, 4 darkness and 3 for moon and earth (with the common spells)

On the other runes, I have 7 for illusion Runes, all the rest are 4 or less

 

I know that we can easily create spells ourselves. But why are those spells focused on Truth and fire (and water) and not the other runes?

[styopa]

Understand that RQG is 90% RQ2, with some other stuff bolted on.  Sorcery didn't even exist in RQ2, it was invented in RQ3 in a set of mechanics that some people like, some people dislike, the RQG authors largely falling toward the latter source of the scale.  This meant that for RQG they had a lot of things they wanted to fix.

My point is that sorcery is the least developed of any of the magic systems.  In fact, RQG is the first (I think? I didn't play Heroquest, so I don't know what that introduced to canon) to make an explicit connection in the Orlanthi pantheon and sorcery in LM (ie making it belong in Dragon Pass ), previous works anathemizing sorcery as that "godless bunch from the west".  LMs sole and unique connection would certainly explain the Truth Rune bias.  So there just isn't much material yet, but most certainly will come with Western campaign expansions.

[RosenMcStern]

34 minutes ago, styopa said:

In fact, RQG is the first (I think? I didn't play Heroquest, so I don't know what that introduced to canon) to make an explicit connection in the Orlanthi pantheon and sorcery in LM (ie making it belong in Dragon Pass ), previous works anathemizing sorcery as that "godless bunch from the west".

LM usage of sorcery was introduced in Sartar:KoH, a HeroQuest publication, in 2009. And the fact that there was an Aeolian sect of Malkionism was already known, although it was not clear how their magic worked, at least in official sources.

[metcalph]

7 hours ago, Manu said:

I know that we can easily create spells ourselves. But why are those spells focused on Truth and fire (and water) and not the other runes?

Because the sorcery spells in RQG are the most common sorcery spells known in Dragon Pass.  Truth (and fire) is because of Lhankor Mhy while water magic is from the Holy Country.

[Manu]

It make sense...

For Sedalpist, one really missing is Palsy. It can easily be converted from RQ3 to RQG.

Command and Man

Same description.

 

Meanwhile, I'll try to create the needed sorcery spell while I wait for more from Chaosium

[PhilHibbs]

50 minutes ago, Manu said:

It make sense...

For Sedalpist, one really missing is Palsy. It can easily be converted from RQ3 to RQG.

Command and Man

Same description.

 

Meanwhile, I'll try to create the needed sorcery spell while I wait for more from Chaosium

The problem is that there are several possible options for a lot of spells. Palsy could be Dispel Movement, Tap Movement, Summon Stasis, Combine Stasis Man, etc.

Another thing to think about from a game balance perspective is, what runes are more or less useful than others - until a rune has enough of a variety of spells for it to make it a worthwhile choice, it's dead end for a player to choose.

Has anyone made a spreadsheet of sorcery spell rune usage?

Edited October 14, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[Manu]

11 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

The problem is that there are several possible options for a lot of spells. Palsy could be Dispel Movement, Tap Movement, Summon Stasis, Combine Stasis Man, etc.

Another thing to think about from a game balance perspective is, what runes are more or less useful than others - until a rune has enough of a variety of spells for it to make it a worthwhile choice, it's dead end for a player to choose.

Has anyone made a spreadsheet of sorcery spell rune usage?

I did.

Sorcery.xls

And this is exactly why I did it. I don't want my player to select sorcery, select his rune from his background or from the way he sees his character, and then come to me frustrated as there is nearly no spell he could use (knowing that Sorcery is very long and mp consuming).

They know it is a a difficult path, to be a sorcerer. But it must be fun also.

Edited October 14, 2018 by Manu

[PhilHibbs]

25 minutes ago, Manu said:

I did.

Sorcery.xls

Great! There's a few discrepancies, possible due to changes to the PDF since you did this:

Create Wall of Flames is Summon, not Command
Logical Clarity is Illusion, not Truth
Geomancy is Earth, not Fire
Rogue Wave has Water

Also, I remembered I probably did this myself as well a while back, so I found (and updated) this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1u6ElhqAs2JEUjNzVDnC02mFNXCulTNS2hy0qSqSeeAE/edit?usp=sharing

Edited October 14, 2018 by PhilHibbs

[Manu]

16 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

Great! There's a few discrepancies, possible due to changes to the PDF since you did this:

Create Wall of Flames is Summon, not Command
Logical Clarity is Illusion, not Truth
Geomancy is Earth, not Fire
Rogue Wave has Water
 

How can I see the 'version' of the pdf I have?

[PhilHibbs]

Just now, Manu said:

How can I see the 'version' of the pdf I have?

Ctrl-D shows you the modification date, latest one is 10/10/2018.

[Manu]

Thanks..

[styopa]

Here's a Google Sheets mass list of the runes, all possible combinations of 

	Elements:			Powers			Forms			Condition
0	No Element		0	No Power		0	No Form		0	No Condition
1	Darkness		1	Harmony		1	Beast		1	Mastery
2	Water		2	Disorder		2	Man		2	Magic
3	Earth		3	Stasis		3	Plant		3	Infinity
4	Air		4	Movement		4	Dragonewt		4	Luck
5	Fire/Sky		5	Truth		5	Spirit		5	Fate
6	Moon		6	Illusion		6	Chaos
			7	Life
			8	Death

Ergo, spell 3835 is Earth+Death+Plant+Fate....maybe a necrotic vampiric vine grows in a 1sqm area that drains 1hp from each limb moving through the area (armor protects) and that reduces movement through that 1sqm by 1, for each point of intensity, you can:

- increase the area by 1sqm, or

- increase the damage die from 1 per limb, to 1d2 per limb, to 1d3, etc.

- increase the slowing effect by 1.

So, having a 5 sqm area, doing 1d6, and slowing by 3 would be 4+5+2 = 11 intensity.

There are 2646 possibilities.

Let's keep those Sorcery spells ORGANIZED people, this isn't SPIRIT magic or some arbitrary "god" doing this.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Qcu2APJR0T_qGAUx2OCBJEf8IOxsYDdKFY7nJO4q5p4/edit?usp=sharing

 

[Joerg]

9 minutes ago, styopa said:

There are 2646 possibilities.

That needs to be multiplied by the six techniques and options for a second technique.

 

[styopa]

30 minutes ago, Joerg said:

That needs to be multiplied by the six techniques and options for a second technique.

 

Absolutely.  My number is just combinations of SINGLE runes without duplications, you could also have a spell theoretically that's earth+earth, for example.