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Egregious munchkinnery!


PhilHibbs

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21 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

That seems harsh - you were probably initiated at age 15-16, and start at 21. GM Fiat that you screwed up in your cult during that period doesn’t strike me as fair.

What is absolutely fair though is to say ”sorry, there’s no current opening - impress us, though...” It’s like getting a job - meeting the bare formal minimum requirements really isn’t a guarantee.

Slightly... I'd allow (suggest) having 1 more year to go, and overriding the God Talker requirements...

And use the following year of adventures etc to see if they actually *do* perform as an RL should  - the passions, the Rune Affinity (and personality, etc)... Or merely a supercharged murder-hobo. 

Ie, the player is actually showing they can do it - not the character. The player having a character, say, look for ways (or be highly interested in) what should be taboo should rule out the RL status.

Personally, I think Passion (Devotion) should automatically reduce if you do something that diametrically opposes your god's tenets...

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On 3/8/2020 at 9:47 AM, HreshtIronBorne said:

I think Soltakks literally has a whole brand around the Rule of Cool. Stories of a lead boned trolls with shades bound into them and polearm pixies. 

We stretched the rules a little, then took them to the limit, then jumped over the limit and pulled it as far as we could without everythign breaking.

It was fun.

On 3/8/2020 at 10:07 AM, Crel said:

So that's canon for me now. Harrek can catch Sun Spears with his bare hands.

Mello Yello used Yelm's Mirror to do that in our campaign. Who needs Harrek when you have a painted baboon with a mirror on a cart?

 

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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On 3/10/2020 at 12:13 AM, g33k said:

But 1 K / 2 SS Soltak StormSpear.  He turns into Sulky StormSpear otherwise.  

Huh! 🤐 No sulky face icon.

On 3/11/2020 at 8:49 AM, davecake said:

Jar-Eel was the Lunar Kwizatch Haderatch, the creation of a multi-generational magical breeding program. She was never a typical PC for a second. 

That's exactly the kind of thing that PCs should be. None of this "I was a poor farmer's son when nasty broos carried off my livestock" business.

On 3/11/2020 at 3:17 PM, Thaz said:

The rules for heroquesting etc are coming. 

Allegedly. I am waiting for the "This year" announcement.

On 3/11/2020 at 7:33 PM, Akhôrahil said:

Jar-eel helped break the Ban as an infant.

As Hercules strangled snakes in the cradle. Demigods are not to be trifled with.

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Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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4 hours ago, soltakss said:

That's exactly the kind of thing that PCs should be. None of this "I was a poor farmer's son when nasty broos carried off my livestock" business.

Considering that the rules support the latter but not the former...

Good luck statting up Jar-eel in RQ!

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12 hours ago, soltakss said:

Who needs Harrek when you have a painted baboon with a mirror on a cart?

You have no idea how many times I have said just that!

 

6 hours ago, soltakss said:

Been there, done that.

Got the (Jar-Eel Assassin) tee shirt!

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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If you walk around with empty Binding Enchantments and a high-POW adventurer with the Spirit Binding spirit spell, you can instantly get rid of spirit/elemental obstacles. You can keep trying once per round until successful, likely trapping it before it wins in spirit combat against another adventurer.

If you want to empty your Enchantment again, just cast a guaranteed Control (Entity) on it and let it attack other creatures/spirits for you until it loses and is sent back whence it came.

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28 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

For a shaman, the Shaman Power Power Within combined with a simple Heal 1 spirit magic spell, means that you have a limitless supply of Magic Points. You sacrifice 1 HP for 1d6 MP, and then you heal up that HP using one MP. 

Seriously though, this is so obvious and blatant that it needs to be fixed. It’s not like most of the things here that are convoluted and weird. For a minimal investment and no bending of the rules, shamans have infinite free MP. 

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35 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Seriously though, this is so obvious and blatant that it needs to be fixed. It’s not like most of the things here that are convoluted and weird. For a minimal investment and no bending of the rules, shamans have infinite free MP. 

Super for roleplaying though and MGF. Clearly the source of ritual scarification, better still as need to sacrifice points of your characteristics for greater levels. I'd say not healable by magic as you don't want to mess with your cool scars. Not as powerful as you make out as it's then 1d6-1 magic points, with an average of 2.5 (3.5-1). It's the higher levels that are better - level two is much better,  you'd get a better average with 2D6-2 (5). Because you need to contact Greater Entities to get higher levels, these are basically HeroQuest powers.

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On 4/10/2020 at 8:31 AM, Akhôrahil said:

Seriously though, this is so obvious and blatant that it needs to be fixed. It’s not like most of the things here that are convoluted and weird. For a minimal investment and no bending of the rules, shamans have infinite free MP. 

Why so? The balance is fine. Shamans having to sacrifice 1+ statistic for Power Within, spending a round, and hurting themselves, doesn't sound out of balance to me. It only restores their own magic points. Which means they cannot restore their bound spirit's MPs. Priests/Rune Lords on the other hand don't use magic points for most of their more powerful (Rune) spells. Sorcerers have two spells that give them a source of infinite free MP: Steal Breath and Tap Body. So all the big guys are running with their personal magic points at full.

This is a post for egregious munchkinery. So lets talk one of OP Sorcery spells: Steal Breath. For a mere 2 MPs, you can restore 1d6 MPs. For strength 4, the wizard can restore 2d6 MPs. You just destroy a little air. So don't cast it in an air-tight space.

But wait, there is more. You get to grab that d6 roll, every round. It may take a little more than a round to start it, but at 4 strength, you restore 2d6 MPs every round all for that initial 4 (or maybe 6 MPs if you only have insight into the Rune/Technique).

But wait, there is more. You get to cast it offensively. If your opponent fails the initial POWx5 roll, they will go unconscious pretty fast. If they succeed, it just takes longer. No statement of whether destroying the 3 cubic meters of air around the opponent requires a resistance roll. As GM, I would rule it does not, unless the wizard wants the effect to move with the opponent (as they likely would). 

But wait, there's more. You get to keep MPs above your current maximum until the spell ends. So pull MPs until you have 100 MPs over maximum or more. It specifically says these improve your resistance to spells. Actually it says "add to the sorcerer’s chances of their spells overcoming a target’s resistance", though not many Sorcery spells use MP vs MP, so it is more resisting spells cast at the wizard.

Now, the spell is Active, so you have to keep concentration. If you cast another spell it requires INTx3 or you drop the Steal Breath. But that is fine for powering up before casting the Summon or other ritual spell. If you fail the INTx3, just abort the really big spell, recast Steal Breath to gain 100 or so MPs and start the really big spell again until you make your INTx3. Unless your GM says you cannot maintain an Active spell while performing a ritual (which is not RAW, but reasonable). Now, if the local Wind Lord/Voice hears you are destroying that much air, he may be miffed...

I have a question in the Core Rules thread on whether Tap Body also taps every round. No answer last time I checked. But so much of it is the exact mechanic as Steal Breath that it should.

 

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Tapping is indeed a spell that keeps giving and giving - until you take a step back and take a look at how you have changed the world around you.

In the Gods War, the Brithini tapped the world around them until the mighty, land-invading "current" Neliom became a powerless and listless stretch of water, long before all the energies of the seas were called into containing the Chaos Void that had replaced the root of the Cosmic Mountain in the center of the world. Arolanit and parts of Fornoar still are regularly subject to Tapping, and the effects are tangible.

The cycles of Time - the seasons and years, and the Sacred Time renewal - somehow counteract the overall effect of Tapping. The Neliomi Sea somehow recovered from being tapped out completely, possibly through the mutual annihilation of much of the Brithini and Vadeli populations. Tapping the cycles of Time in Arolanit may be a deliberate decision on part of the Brithini there who are still struggling with the concept of entropic Time, although they do seem attuned to a cycle of seeding and harvest anyway. No idea whether their concept of meeting cosmic entropy with selfish entropy helps them maintain their existence and culture.

The two "Tap" spells in RQG are just examples. There are bound to be Tap spells for all runes. They all can be assumed to be active in terms of the transformation of some aspect of the world into magical power, and passive temporal for keeping all that excess of magical energy bound to the aura of the tapping sorcerer. By the time the spell's duration has petered out, the sorcerer is expected to have spent the magic, whether in spells or putting it into storage.

Tapping is pretty much the diametrically opposite magic of Mostali bestowal sorcery. The Brithini and Vadeli have low regard for the material world and seek to liberate all the energy contained therein to serve their needs and whims. The Mostali value matter above energies, and their goal is a world machine of vibrant matter, ,mostly self-sufficient and very much in control of whatever new stuff leaks into it. All that Growth should be consumed, but all that consuming of the trolls needs to be contained, too.

 

Your ultimate sorcerer has minions to keep the material world in check for him, an unlimited supply of magic points, and magical rituals to ward off the detrimental influence of Time. He has inscribed his spells with bits of his essence ad absurdum, has invested other parts of his soul and great chunks of the voluntarily offered souls of his minions into enchantments, and keeps re-growing what once was his soul but which now has become only his uplink into the magical energies of the world. His identity has moved away from this energy conduit and rests solely in his intellect. His spells surround him, termporary magical entities akin to spirits, but created by Man's will and knowledge.

All of this is of temporary nature, and much of the time that the sorcerer has bought for himself needs to be spent for maintaining that status quo, but with every new point of POW put into inscriptions, the duration of those entities gets doubled again. It still remains a Red Queen''s Race, you have to run faster and faster just to maintain your positon.

You start by exploiting lowly spirits. You move on to genii loci, and you may end up treating huge magical entities as your servants. There are always bigger fish.

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Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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10 hours ago, Dragon said:

Why so? The balance is fine. Shamans having to sacrifice 1+ statistic for Power Within, spending a round, and hurting themselves, doesn't sound out of balance to me. It only restores their own magic points. Which means they cannot restore their bound spirit's MPs. Priests/Rune Lords on the other hand don't use magic points for most of their more powerful (Rune) spells. Sorcerers have two spells that give them a source of infinite free MP: Steal Breath and Tap Body. So all the big guys are running with their personal magic points at full.

You can do this for others by swapping around MP crystals. It means that given a very short break, everyone always have full MP. Considering the fairly slow normal MP regen and the fact that there an entire skill devoted to it, this does not seem intentional. This is the kind of thing that gives you 100 MP Sword Trances and the like, now only per combat instead of it being an actual effort. 

And breaking sorcery, isn't that like shooting fish in a barrel? 🙂

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1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

You can do this for others by swapping around MP crystals. It means that given a very short break, everyone always have full MP.

I don't think that that is possible. You can cast a spell using external MP storage, CMIIW but you can't replenish your own MPs from them. I've know that to be a houserule in some games using prior editions, and I've ruled that to be possible myself in some games that I've run, but it's not RAW.

Edited by PhilHibbs
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6 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I don't think that that is possible. You can cast a spell using external MP storage, CMIIW but you can't replenish your own MPs from them. I've know that to be a houserule in some games using prior editions, and I've ruled that to be possible myself in some games that I've run, but it's not RAW.

I play it the way you do, but this nonetheless allow all those who have MP storage to start an event with all the storage full, and when they have enough storage, they almost never use their own MP. This was especially important with RQ3, when the resistance roll was MP vs MP and not POW vs POW.

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8 hours ago, Joerg said:

Tapping is indeed a spell that keeps giving and giving - until you take a step back and take a look at how you have changed the world around you.

(snip!)

I mean, sure, but none of that is in the spell description (shrug). Even in RQ3 there was nothing in the Tap spell that said it was evil - there was a brief mention of the sorcerer in Rurik's party having been told that Tapping was evil, and in Sandy's Sorcery there were various Malkioni groups that did or did not allow Tapping (and it's generally true that the ones that did were bad guys) - but it's still mechanically broken if the only downside to it is the old standby of ancient red dragons swooping down from the sky to express their displeasure.

What might a balanced Tap spell look like? I would suggest one that came with some sort of disadvantage - let's say, a cumulative chance of getting a Chaos Feature from the Curse of Thed table every time you Tap. That would seem to fit both thematically and mechanically. Or something like the old D&D Potions of Longevity, with a cumulative chance every time you Tap that this next Tap will be the one that eats your soul. Or to fit your description, a cumulative chance that "something bad" will happen - perhaps a random Chaos creature will be summoned, or even created. (That still wouldn't bother a lot of Brithini, of course).

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1 hour ago, Kloster said:

I play it the way you do, but this nonetheless allow all those who have MP storage to start an event with all the storage full, and when they have enough storage, they almost never use their own MP. This was especially important with RQ3, when the resistance roll was MP vs MP and not POW vs POW.

I've also seen it houseruled that the attunement process empties the MP from storage, so you can't transfer MP to other characters. In fact I think I used that houserule myself in combination with the ability to draw MP from storage, the two worked quite well together. Flexibility with a constraint to prevent abuse.

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1 hour ago, PhilHibbs said:

I don't think that that is possible. You can cast a spell using external MP storage, CMIIW but you can't replenish your own MPs from them. I've know that to be a houserule in some games using prior editions, and I've ruled that to be possible myself in some games that I've run, but it's not RAW.

Even so, as long as your friends cast from their crystals, they will have all the MPs that they want.

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