Legendary Abilities

Exubae said:
Apologies DD I didn't mean to pull a part the feats, its the design ethos/concept behind the legendary abilities that riles me. It has the potential to overturn game balance and also pull the focus of play squarley on to combat.

I understand that fear. But I also think what great fun I had playing Herowars/Heroquest with a few unusual abilities. Speakind Auld Wyrmish was rarely handy, but I was always teased for my lisp, so adding in a few quirks to some of the abilities is desireable. Battle Fury folks might be a "little" irritable and lack self control (Needing Persistence rolls to hold off the Fury when hurt or insulted), Duelists will be constantly challenged to fights by cocky newcomers (I hear you think you're good...) who happen to have very well connected kinfolk. Empathic Healers are kidnapped and help prisoner be evil bandits :twisted:. The trick will be for us to find fun abilities to put into play that don't focus on combat. Things like...

Squirrel Grip - Dex 15+, Athletics 90%+ - Your abiltiy to climb and leap is liked to the squirrels themselves. In forested areas you may freely climb and run through the trees at the same pace you move afoot.

Marsh Runner - Dex 15+ Athletics 90%+ - Your tread is so light you may freely move over mud and other soggy ground, even quicksand, while running without danger or sinking or tripping.

Demon Drinker - Con 15+, Resiliance 90%+ - You halve to POT of all intoxicants you drink.

Llama Hearted - Con 15+, Resiliance 90%+, Survival 50%+ - You can easily survive on minimal water and food rations.

Bullseye Acurate Spitting - 8HP - As a CA you may unerringly spit in your opponents eye, costing them their next CA. This may only EVER be used ONCE per opponent. (This is stolen from Burning Wheel RPG http://www.burningwheel.com/ everyone should look at this game, it rocks.) Also handy for shoting down flies.

Wise Words or "What would your parents think?" - CHA 15+, Influence 90%+ - By calling on the names of those whose authority your targets respect or fear you fore them to give pause to consider their actions.

Great idea Max - Cha 15+, Inflence 90%+ - By "subtly" mentioning an idea you can convince a target the idea was theirs all along...

Exubae said:
Code:
Uz don't get any penalties for operating during the day.
Other than sunburn and bad tempered :)
And lack of sleep, like me. I seem to have focused on Enlo and other subspecies flaws rather than the near perfection of Uzdo. Dark Mother forgive me. Uz do however lack to benefit of comforting darkness during the day. ;)

DD
 
simonh said:
Durand Durand said:
Daywalker (for UZ) - Pow 15+, Con 15+, Fire Rune - Walk and act in sunlight without penalty

Neat Feats for the most part, but Uz don't get any penalties for operating during the day. Enlo do, they're automaticaly demoralized when out during the day.

Not true! Their ears get burned by vicious Yelm! What do you think they need ear ointment for? :wink:

SGL.
 
I worry they remove the gritty edge RQ.

If you really want "Grim and Gritty", try Call of Cthulhu: Dark Ages. Or try playing 3rd edition D&D with 1st or 2nd level characters, who can be very fragile.

Myself, I'm looking for something a little more heroic than CoC, but something where everybody has to worry about keeping his head on his shoulders.

Keep in mind that in the RQ system, anybody who can dole out more damage in any way can make just about anybody worried about keeping body and soul together. (Especially if you keep in mind that a Resilience roll to survive a major wound still has at least a 1% chance of failure.) And whatever the PCs can do, the NPCs can do too.

As for Legendary Abilities that fit into the culture and mythos, that's a great idea. But for a general book designed for any setting, a set of more general LAs are needed.

The reason I like Legendary Abilities (and their younger brothers, Advantages and Expert Abilities) is they make it possible to be more than just someone with a set of skills. In CoC, you can be a great knife-fighter, but what else can you do with your knife? With LAs, you can be a great knife-fighter who can do things other great knife-fighters can not do, unless they studied with the same master you did.

Idea for a legendary ability: create legendary ability. I leave the development of this idea to the students.
 
Utgardloki said:
The reason I like Legendary Abilities (and their younger brothers, Advantages and Expert Abilities) is they make it possible to be more than just someone with a set of skills. In CoC, you can be a great knife-fighter, but what else can you do with your knife? With LAs, you can be a great knife-fighter who can do things other great knife-fighters can not do, unless they studied with the same master you did.

I concur, Legendary Abilities are a nice addition to the system, and we've always known that heroes in Glorantha could learn super-human feats, we just haven't had rules in RQ for them before.

I am not a big fan of lower level feats though. MRQ effectively alread has these in the form of Precise Attacks and combat options that are realy only effective for more skilled characters due to the skill penalty that comes with them. Logicaly if you introduced a low level feats system things like Precise Attack to bypass armour should be part of that system. No thanks.

I do think that legendary Abilities should realy be Heroquest Powers though, and I hope that the reason they aren't is due to the generic nature of the basic rules set. If one of the Gloranthan supplements makes it clear that LAs are heroquest powers that are learned through questing on the other side, and gives some support for GMs along those lines, I'll be very happy.
 
The reason why I want Advantages in my game is that some abilities seem to be more of the nature that a person would be born with the advantage instead of gaining it through years of adventuring. An example would be my (controversial) Expanded Intellect advantage, which is conceived as an innate ability.

Some advantages like Photographic Memory are also things that are often alluded to in literature as being possessed by novices.

As for Expert Abilities, it just seems to me that there should be things that characters should be able to do if they have years of practice, even if they've not become "legendary" masters of the art. Although the ancient idea of doubling the effective skill for easy tasks is one way of thinking about this, since someone with 50% would be able to forgo die rolls that less-skilled practicioners would not.

Still, to really become an "expert" in real life typically requires at least 10 years of practice. In Runequest, a character can very easily build most skills up to the 50% level in a fraction of the time. So Expert Abilities with a requirement of 10 years experience is one way to say that a character is "really" an expert and back it up in the rules, as opposed to someone who is just a young wizard at it.
 
Such advantages might be considered the blessings of gods, spirits or nature. You might tell your players they can skip a few points of initial character improvements during PC gen to gain one of the blessings.

DD
 
Exubae said:
Daywalker two minds over this, the first every Zorak Zoran besrker is going to have a fire rune integrated to use the amastan's fire powers so theres potential to have legions of Troll beserker gangs wandering about during the day with no need for obsidian shades or Armburn solver potions.

Setting aside the issue of whether they have any penalties or not, why would they?

Being able to fight at night in the dark is a fantastic advantage that trolls possess. Aside from hampering their non-troll opponents, it makes them even more terrifying and magnifies their combat abilities tremendously (which are generally not too shabby to begin with).

PC trolls might get some game advantage from being at home in the day, simply to let them fit in more easily with the habits of their non-troll companions, but your "troll gangs" etc. would prefer to stage their activities at night not because they have to, but because they can.

Bruce
 
New LA based on ideas I had that seemed to be born out in Legendary Heroes anyway.

RUNE BOND

Req: Runcasting [Rune] 90%+, POW 18+, Runecaster, 8HP

You absorb the powers of a particular rune into your body like you would a legendary rune, thus eliminating the prospect of loosing your runes or having them stolen from you. An added benefit is gaining a second Rune power from the associated rune.

DD
 
Knife Fighter

requirements: Daggers at 90% or higher

Hero Points: 10

You are a master with a knife, either single or in tandem. When using this weapon the following effects take place:

  • If using more than one dagger/knife you gain an extra attack, but not a Reaction.

    You gain a +10% bonus to precise attacks.

    Increase the weapon's damage by +1

Not sure if I like this one... It's based off the Duelist... I wonder if I should bump the damage for both of them to 1d4...
 
Weapon Master

requirements: 1h and 2h of the same class of weapons (like sword) at 90% or higher. Rapier or Dagger is not available (See duelist and Knife Fighter, respectively)

Hero Points: 10

You are a legend with your weapon class of choice, known throughout the land as among the best, if not the best.

  • When ever using one of your favoured weapons you gain an extra attack, but not a Reaction, or vice versa, once per round (Choose which.)

    You gain a +10% bonus to precise attacks, or +10% to Parry or +10% to dual weilding. (Pick each round, can only use one of these options.)

    Increase the weapon's damage by +1

Another one based off the Duelist... I still wonder if I should bump the damage for all of them to 1d4...
 
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