For anyone who has seen the Companion: Sorcery/Divine Magic?

[Decurio]

Anyone who has seen/has the Companion, how are the other magic systems? I always thought there was the core of a damn interesting magic system in RQ 3 Sorcery, but it needed further development...and what else has been added to the existing Rune Magic rules/spell lists?

Thanks!

 

[Halfbat]

Sorcery seems fairly similar to RQ3 BUT has some important changes and, to my mind, seems much simpler (but I haven't played it yet, so beware!).

The spells are skills and the Manipulation() Advanced skills such as (Magnitude), (Duration), (Range), etc, must each be learnt and the score controls how much can be done to the spell. Duration and ranges are less than RQ3, but the spells are _much_ cheaper to cast, and the Free INT needs are gone - the limit to the spells known is INT. Basic time and range is based on POW.

Enchantment has been simplified, too with the skill Enchanting (pun not intended :wink to replace the Ritual magic. A number of sample items have been provided with costs and needs of Rune/Divine/Sorcery spells, as well as difficulty. Permanent POW is still expended. Spellcharged items can be created to replace the old Matrices, as can Wardings, Weaponblessings (bonus to weapon skills and damage). Overall I can see the enchantments being used, the only issue being the incredible drain on POW....

I can see POW improvement rolls to bring a character's POW back up to starting levels being regular occurrences!

 

[King Amenjar]

Enchantment has been simplified, too with the skill Enchanting (pun not intended :wink to replace the Ritual magic. A number of sample items have been provided with costs and needs of Rune/Divine/Sorcery spells, as well as difficulty. Permanent POW is still expended. Spellcharged items can be created to replace the old Matrices, as can Wardings, Weaponblessings (bonus to weapon skills and damage). Overall I can see the enchantments being used, the only issue being the incredible drain on POW....

I can see POW improvement rolls to bring a character's POW back up to starting levels being regular occurrences!

Surely only if you want to go down the D&D3 route of Every Man His Own Magick Shoppe? Permanently magical stuff was extremely rare even in otherwise high-magic Glorantha.

 

[Vadrus]

Enchantment has been simplified, too with the skill Enchanting (pun not intended :wink to replace the Ritual magic. A number of sample items have been provided with costs and needs of Rune/Divine/Sorcery spells, as well as difficulty. Permanent POW is still expended. Spellcharged items can be created to replace the old Matrices, as can Wardings, Weaponblessings (bonus to weapon skills and damage). Overall I can see the enchantments being used, the only issue being the incredible drain on POW....

Actually I hope the POW costs are high, enchanting was far to powerfull in RQ3. Given the ease of regaining the lost power a Shaman with a few enchanting spells could become virtually unstoppable in a relatively short time frame.

On a side note about the remaining books, have their release dates slipped? The website I order them from has suddenly changed all the specific release dates in august to vague dates as early sept etc.


Vadrus

 

[simonh]

It seems to me that Rune Magic is a direct replacement for RQ3 Spirit Magic (Battle Magic in RQ2) - it's described in the rulebook as being the most common type of Magic in Glroantha and that description fits Spirit Magic, the mechanics and spell names are also very close to the RQ3 versions.

Sorcery and Divine Magic in the Companion seem, from the preview PDFs and brief description in the main rules to be slightly simplified versions of these from RQ3 as well. All of which is very sensible IMHO. What is now called Spirit Magic in MRQ is realy just the rules for Shamanic abilities such as summoning and binding spirits, or travelling to the spirit world.

In all, the changes from RQ3 seem to be considerably less than many of us orriginaly suspected.

Simon Hibbs

 

[waiwode]

It seems to me that Rune Magic is a direct replacement for RQ3 Spirit Magic (Battle Magic in RQ2)

Except it isn't.

Every cultist (and everybody was a cultist) had some spirit magic (or sorcery) in RQ3. Everyone you met, walking down the street, served their god(s), and had some spirit magic. Although for redsmiths, artisans, and farmers Repair, Glue, and the various utility spells were more useful than the battle-ready spells, you couldn't tell who may have served as an initiate of a more militant god in their youth and might be packing a Speed-dart.

In MRQ Runes must be earned, they don't seem to be sold by temples, and they're physical objects. No object in hand, no spell. Very few occupations or backgrounds offer a character (PC or NPC) a chance to possess a Rune. Therefore we can safely presume, unlike RQ3 spirit magic, rune magic isn't common. Just the most common. That's different.

Additionally, each Rune is a separate skill, and integration of the Rune has its own 'kewl power.'

In all, the changes from RQ3 seem to be considerably less than many of us orriginaly suspected.

Simon Hibbs

When it comes to rune magic vs. spirit magic you may be surprised.

There are other differences. For instance, in RQ3, if you knew Bladesharp 4 you could chose to cast Bladesharp 1, 2, 3, or 4. In MRQ each is a separate spell.

Doug.

 

[mthomason]

In MRQ Runes must be earned, they don't seem to be sold by temples, and they're physical objects. No object in hand, no spell. Very few occupations or backgrounds offer a character (PC or NPC) a chance to possess a Rune. Therefore we can safely presume, unlike RQ3 spirit magic, rune magic isn't common. Just the most common. That's different.

Although things may be different in the Glorantha book. Matthew has already said on here that the core rules were written with a number of settings in mind, and hinted that there will be changes/clarifications in the use of Runes in the Glorantha setting (most notably the way the Chaos rune is handled)

 

[waiwode]

Surely only if you want to go down the D&D3 route of Every Man His Own Magick Shoppe? Permanently magical stuff was extremely rare even in otherwise high-magic Glorantha.

Well, matrix, imbedded, and bound spirit items were always pretty common. And what beginning Sorceror didn't try to pull in and bind an Int 5 Spirit (for the Free Int) and a Pow 5 Spirit (for fuel, and to offset the POW loss of binding the two spirits)?

 

[SteveMND]

Although things may be different in the Glorantha book. Matthew has already said on here that the core rules were written with a number of settings in mind,

Which is kind of odd, in a way. I would have thought a system more like the old RQ Spirit Magic would have been a far more adaptable approach to a 'generic' magic sytem than the current implementation of Runes is.

 

[mthomason]

Which is kind of odd, in a way. I would have thought a system more like the old RQ Spirit Magic would have been a far more adaptable approach to a 'generic' magic sytem than the current implementation of Runes is.

I'm guessing they just had to have something to warrant the "Rune" bit of the title

 

[simonh]

In MRQ Runes must be earned, they don't seem to be sold by temples, and they're physical objects. No object in hand, no spell. Very few occupations or backgrounds offer a character (PC or NPC) a chance to possess a Rune. Therefore we can safely presume, unlike RQ3 spirit magic, rune magic isn't common. Just the most common. That's different.

The rules for more experienced starting characters, in the main rulebook, dish out runes like candy to everybody.

Simon Hibbs

 

[Halfbat]

[....]Therefore we can safely presume, unlike RQ3 spirit magic, rune magic isn't common. Just the most common. That's different.

The rules for more experienced starting characters, in the main rulebook, dish out runes like candy to everybody.

Absolutely, which shows it cna be common in a magic-rich environment and will be rare (controlled by Runes) in a magic-poor environment.

Other than the need for runes, and the fact it's a bit cheaper, Rune magic is very similar to Battle Magic except for minor changes (such as, as waiwode mentioned) variable point spells being changed to varying magnitude).