Loving latest edition - but have some questions

[Dano_13]

Hi there,

I just got Runequest 2 and am making my way through it. So far I really think this latest edition is great. I used to play Runequest 2nd edition, and although it seemed very realistic, the realistic lethality made it difficult to run long term campaigns. I think this edition does a great job of balancing realism, with campaign-playability. Also the optional rules on how to run an encounter with tons of enemies but not have to keep track of a thousand hit locations was brilliant!

However I have a few questions that I hope some kind soul can help me out with.

1) In old style RQ there were slashing weapons and impaling ones. Slashing did knockbacks on criticals, and impaling weapons did impales on criticals (pretty much insta-kill or incapacitations). But on page 91 it looks like any weapon does the same kind of knockback. Is this correct? A war-axe does as much knockback as an arrow?

2) Am I right in regarding Sunspear as pretty much an insta-kill spell to any human sized character that blows its evade roll?

3) Can the initiator of spirit combat break off combat, or once started does it continue until one beats the other?

4) What is to stop a PC shaman from single handedly defeating any major npc that doesn't have a lot of magic points (i.e. warriors and priests)? It seems once they are forced onto the spirit plane, they are done for.

5) Smother used to be a Concentration spell. Now it seems its an autonomous spell. Doesn't this pretty much mean its a slow-death spell to anyone that fails their Resilience roll? Unless they can dispel magic, they are done for. Even killing the original caster won't stop it. Also - it seems it would be an Insta-win spell when used successfully against any magic user that needs to speak (since you are being smothered, I would assume that you can't invoke the words of power). Is this interpretation correct?

6) Phantom sense - It looks like when it comes to Odour, Taste, Sound or Sight (if its in context) illusion, a novice is just as good as a master in terms of illusions. I.e. as long as people were expecting a vast army, someone only able to cast a magnitude 3 spell would be able to make an illusion of said army (I am assuming that the size of the illusion couldn't exceed the range of the spell). Is this correct? Also, why can opponents be incpacitated with odours and tastes, but not sound?

7) Are there no more rules for enchantments? (spell matrixes, etc)

8) When a shaman uses a spirit to gain some ability (fire touch for example), can he use this ability indefinitely? If he unleashes a spirit that incapacitates an enemy is the spirit free, or can it be commanded back into the fetish? Since commanding a spirit requires a Spirit Binding skill, is giving items with bound spirits in them useless to people unless they have spirit binding?

9) When a bane spirit strips off magic points, this stripping is permanent? Without a way of gaining such lost points - doesn't this make Bane spirits only useable by sadistic GMs? I mean most likely you are going to lose a FEW magic points in any spirit combat.

10) Are curse spirits and sickness spirits absolutely identical other than where they congregate?

I'll probably have more questions later - but thanks in advance

Dan

 

[Dan True]

1) In old style RQ there were slashing weapons and impaling ones. Slashing did knockbacks on criticals, and impaling weapons did impales on criticals (pretty much insta-kill or incapacitations). But on page 91 it looks like any weapon does the same kind of knockback. Is this correct? A war-axe does as much knockback as an arrow?

If they do the same damage, then yes. However, you have to do more damage than the SIZ of the creature to do knockback - so an arrow or a battleaxe will probably only do about 1 metre knockback, and then only on goblins or halflings or similar small creatures. To do more than 1 metre knockback on human-sized creatures (SIZ 10+) you will probably need to charge them with a lance on horseback or some such.

That said it doesn't seem that stupid. A bolt from a crossbow or longbow does hit with a lot of force - so being pushed back a metre, doesn't seem that far fetched to me.

2) Am I right in regarding Sunspear as pretty much an insta-kill spell to any human sized character that blows its evade roll?

Well, 2D6 averages 7 - so if all rolls are around average the person till suffer serious wounds on all locations. Not enough to instantly kill, but the victim properly won't win the miss Virginia price anytime soon. There is a great danger of a major wound though, so it is enough to render one target completely useless yes.

7) Are there no more rules for enchantments? (spell matrixes, etc)

There are - in the Arms & Equipment book.

- Dan

 

[ThatGuy]

1) In old style RQ there were slashing weapons and impaling ones. Slashing did knockbacks on criticals, and impaling weapons did impales on criticals (pretty much insta-kill or incapacitations). But on page 91 it looks like any weapon does the same kind of knockback. Is this correct? A war-axe does as much knockback as an arrow?

Blunt weapons also have the "Bash" CM which does extra knockback. I don't think slashing and impaling weapons have the CM available.

4) What is to stop a PC shaman from single handedly defeating any major npc that doesn't have a lot of magic points (i.e. warriors and priests)? It seems once they are forced onto the spirit plane, they are done for.

Shamans are mean. No two ways about it. But they can only discorporate one enemy at a time- and their body is vulnerable when they do it. A risky endeavor. If it is a one on one situation, chances are they will kick *** (alhough dice DO play a factor), but if one thing goes wrong, it can get very hairy for the shaman, very fast.

When a shaman uses a spirit to gain some ability (fire touch for example), can he use this ability indefinitely?

Yes. But the spirit is released and vulnerable to attack.

If he unleashes a spirit that incapacitates an enemy is the spirit free, or can it be commanded back into the fetish?

The spirit can be commanded back into the fetish as a free action.

Since commanding a spirit requires a Spirit Binding skill, is giving items with bound spirits in them useless to people unless they have spirit binding?

Yup. It's actually kinda dangerous, depending on the spirit. I just thought of a great plot twist in a scenario...

 

[Mongoose Pete]

Greetings Dan,

However I have a few questions that I hope some kind soul can help me out with.

1) In old style RQ there were slashing weapons and impaling ones. Slashing did knockbacks on criticals, and impaling weapons did impales on criticals (pretty much insta-kill or incapacitations). But on page 91 it looks like any weapon does the same kind of knockback. Is this correct? A war-axe does as much knockback as an arrow?

Yes its correct. Knockback is supposed to represent overwhelming force. We simply use the abstract model where the damage of the blow represents the force of the blow.

Against a prepared human opponent the chance of accidentally knocking them back with a single handed weapon or arrow is pretty much negligible. Deliberately knocking them off balance is a different matter and is covered by the Bash CM.

2) Am I right in regarding Sunspear as pretty much an insta-kill spell to any human sized character that blows its evade roll?

No its not insta-kill, but is usually insta-incapacitating. To explain this a little better, the average damage is likely to inflict Serious Wounds rather than a Major Wound on an undamaged opponent. Even then the target is still permitted a Resilience test to see if that location is incapacitated or not, but otherwise the victim is still functional.

If a Major Wound is inflicted it will immediately incapacitate the victim. This is more likely to occur on a limb rather than the torso. However the head and abdomen are potentially vulnerable on an average human (1/6 and 1/36 chance respectively). With slightly above average humans and most big creatures, the chance rapidly vanishes. Even so there is still a Resilience check to avoid instant death.

So in conclusion, chances are in favour that you'll take the victim out of the fight, but its unlikely you'll instantly kill them.

3) Can the initiator of spirit combat break off combat, or once started does it continue until one beats the other?

If they have the Spirit Walking skill yes. If they are a spirit, in most cases yes (depends on whether that spirit is tied to that location for some reason).

4) What is to stop a PC shaman from single handedly defeating any major npc that doesn't have a lot of magic points (i.e. warriors and priests)? It seems once they are forced onto the spirit plane, they are done for.

If the (high) shaman is discorporating the victim himself, bear in mind it takes him minutes to enter the spirit world, so its not something which can be done in a combat situation.

If you are talking about sending spirits to do the discorporation for him, then there is nothing, save:
1) Having a high Persistence skill to resist the discorporation.
2) Using Spirit Bane, Spirit Block, Banish and Spirit Resistance or other similar spells.

Is it fair or balanced? That is up to the GM. The PC Shaman could conversely be taken out by a dozen different Divine or Sorcery spells which likewise have a single resistance roll, or be hit in the head once.

5) Smother used to be a Concentration spell. Now it seems its an autonomous spell. Doesn't this pretty much mean its a slow-death spell to anyone that fails their Resilience roll? Unless they can dispel magic, they are done for. Even killing the original caster won't stop it. Also - it seems it would be an Insta-win spell when used successfully against any magic user that needs to speak (since you are being smothered, I would assume that you can't invoke the words of power). Is this interpretation correct?

It is a slow death spell if used in that manner. It doesn't have to kill, but if used for that purpose then in a combat situation it is very, very slow. Friends and allies of the victim should have plenty of time to rescue the victim by utilising a number of tactics. Dispelling the magic (sorcery is usually very vulnerable to being countered), dragging the victim out of range, threatening the caster, and so on.

The rules do not specifically say that killing the caster will or won't stop the spell, so you are free to apply that interpretation either way.

Again it is dangerous, but there are plenty of other spells which can kill or incapacitate faster.

6) Phantom sense - It looks like when it comes to Odour, Taste, Sound or Sight (if its in context) illusion, a novice is just as good as a master in terms of illusions. I.e. as long as people were expecting a vast army, someone only able to cast a magnitude 3 spell would be able to make an illusion of said army (I am assuming that the size of the illusion couldn't exceed the range of the spell). Is this correct? Also, why can opponents be incpacitated with odours and tastes, but not sound?

In effects yes, since its very tough to apply graduations to something which is limited only by creative imagination. However the novice will have a far smaller chance of affecting a target.

7) Are there no more rules for enchantments? (spell matrixes, etc)

There are some in Arms & Equipment II and there are alternative enchantment rules in other books too, dependant on the setting.

8 ) When a shaman uses a spirit to gain some ability (fire touch for example), can he use this ability indefinitely? If he unleashes a spirit that incapacitates an enemy is the spirit free, or can it be commanded back into the fetish? Since commanding a spirit requires a Spirit Binding skill, is giving items with bound spirits in them useless to people unless they have spirit binding?

The effect of the spirit can continue indefinitely until it is recalled to its fetish. In the case of a fire elemental spirit this could be detrimental as everything he touches will burn - his clothes, his friends, the grass he walks upon...

A spirit which is used to attack a target in Spirit Combat has to be able to reach the spirit plane. It cannot do this if bound to a fetish, so a shaman must either break the fetish or unbind the binding. Either way the spirit gains its freedom.

Fetishes are normally useless to non-spirit magic users.

9) When a bane spirit strips off magic points, this stripping is permanent? Without a way of gaining such lost points - doesn't this make Bane spirits only useable by sadistic GMs? I mean most likely you are going to lose a FEW magic points in any spirit combat.

Like Chaotic Features in RQ2, the Tap spell in RQ3 and undead in AD&D they are supposed to be a horrific deterrent. But a nice GM could always have an in-game method of reversing such damage, particularly if the willingly PCs sacrificed themselves to defeat them. On the other hand you could always call for a Miracle or use Hero Points to try and avoid any losses. :wink:

10) Are curse spirits and sickness spirits absolutely identical other than where they congregate?

Pretty much yes. More detailed differences can be introduced according to setting.

 

[jarulf]

Yup. It's actually kinda dangerous, depending on the spirit. I just thought of a great plot twist in a scenario...

No, you didn't :evil: Not if it involves Varg.

 

[vitalis6969]

That said it doesn't seem that stupid. A bolt from a crossbow or longbow does hit with a lot of force - so being pushed back a metre, doesn't seem that far fetched to me.

- Dan

The laws of physics completely and totally disagree with you. Much like a bullet, an arrow or bolt does not have the mass to move a body. That is the pure and simple truth.

-V

 

[Dan True]

That said it doesn't seem that stupid. A bolt from a crossbow or longbow does hit with a lot of force - so being pushed back a metre, doesn't seem that far fetched to me.

- Dan

The laws of physics completely and totally disagree with you. Much like a bullet, an arrow or bolt does not have the mass to move a body. That is the pure and simple truth.

-V

You misunderstand me. I have had university physics, so I know that an arrow cannot move a ~100 kg object 1 metre back.

What I do mean is that in a battlefield situation - most people are moving about, some may be caught off balance, some may be charging towards you and so on - that abstraction of moving a target one metre back seems fair to me. If the target is charging you, then the knockback represent that he has slowed his charge a bit (due to being hit) and is therefore 1 metre farther from you, than he would otherwise have been.

If he is moving around, the bolt may have caught him at at the (for you) opportune moment and he may stumble a bit. Then the knockback reflects this.

Even if he is standing still, it is most likely that ordinary human being will not stand still if hit by a bolt dealing max damage (and it needs to, to make a knockback). Most people will either move back with the hit, because of some collision reflex trying to minimise the damage from the impart, some may just move randomly due to the shock or do something third.

Therefore in an abstract sense, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that persons hit with a max-damage dealing bolt or arrow, moves back a bit. Simply to give an abstract sense of "them not being precisely where they were before" or "them halting a bit, due to the force of the impact".

- Dan

 

[vitalis6969]

The laws of physics completely and totally disagree with you. Much like a bullet, an arrow or bolt does not have the mass to move a body. That is the pure and simple truth.

-V

You misunderstand me. I have had university physics, so I know that an arrow cannot move a ~100 kg object 1 metre back.

What I do mean is that in a battlefield situation - most people are moving about, some may be caught off balance, some may be charging towards you and so on - that abstraction of moving a target one metre back seems fair to me. If the target is charging you, then the knockback represent that he has slowed his charge a bit (due to being hit) and is therefore 1 metre farther from you, than he would otherwise have been.

If he is moving around, the bolt may have caught him at at the (for you) opportune moment and he may stumble a bit. Then the knockback reflects this.

Even if he is standing still, it is most likely that ordinary human being will not stand still if hit by a bolt dealing max damage (and it needs to, to make a knockback). Most people will either move back with the hit, because of some collision reflex trying to minimise the damage from the impart, some may just move randomly due to the shock or do something third.

Therefore in an abstract sense, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that persons hit with a max-damage dealing bolt or arrow, moves back a bit. Simply to give an abstract sense of "them not being precisely where they were before" or "them halting a bit, due to the force of the impact".

- Dan

In that case sir, I completely agree with you.... Shock of the nervous system, stumbling, etc can do awesome things.

In our games, we have removed much of the "knockback" because it is just too unrealistic but have added system shock tests whenever somebody is hit to see if their body does something crazy. Accomplishes the same thing, I guess it just comes to wording but in our heads we know an arrow won't knock you down, but failing your Little Susie check and you might drop like a small girl.

-V

 

[Dano_13]

Hey there

Thanks for the detailed responses. Much appreciated.

Does anyone know of any sites with home cooked new spells and monsters etc. Whenever I try an google anything for Runequest I keep getting flooded with hits for Runescape.

 

[Dan True]

Hey there

Thanks for the detailed responses. Much appreciated.

Does anyone know of any sites with home cooked new spells and monsters etc. Whenever I try an google anything for Runequest I keep getting flooded with hits for Runescape.

Depends on what you're into. If you're looking for D&D-ish spells and monsters, take a look at my Eberron conversion:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45877

If you're looking for something more classical RQ, there's a thread somewhere with RuneQuest Blogs - there might be something on there.

- Dan

 

[GianniVacca]

Does anyone know of any sites with home cooked new spells and monsters etc.

You can safely use most material published for fantasy/mediaeval incarnations of the Basic Role-Playing System.

Check http://basicroleplaying.com/content.php