atgxtg said:
It should make a big difference, but it doesn't. I read the examples of the Humakti Death special ability, and see the zstuff posted on the HeroQuest mailing list, and for all practical purposes, a character is better off just dumping the XP into Sword. MOst of the augment stystem doesn't work out well from a character design satandpoint. THere isn't much point in taking the Sowrd Combat abilities like decapitate foe, for instance. It is of limited use, is only successful if you can get the foe's AP's down to -31, and for the cost it would have been better just to put the XP right into sword.
I do think the book is not clear on this and that's unfortunate. (Or maybe it is, but it's description doesn't make sense to me, so I assume they meant the way I interpret it!

) The example of killing someone if you reduce their AP to -31 is when you have a general physical conflict with them. It's an example. However, you always have to define the stakes of the conflict before you role, so if you're using death magic, the stakes pretty much have to be death, so reducing someone to -31 AP isn't necessary to result in death. Also, remember that they cannot defend with a typical mundane skill if you're using death magic directly against them, unlike if you used a sword. That's a big thing. Force Joe Swordsman from his Sword&Shield 10W3 to his Magical Defense 17 is a major advantage. From the other end, using fists is most likely not going to result in death just because -31 AP is reached. It'll most likely result in some unexpected severe wound, but not outright death.
Using the Death Ability should have a better chance of killing someone outright. It doesn't. TO kill someone you need to get thier AP value down to -31 for a "dying" result.
This is apparently a problem with a lot of people's interpretation of HQ. Those AP levels aren't hard and fast. They're examples for you to extrapolate from. -31 AP for a "dying" result is only applicable if you go into a battle with the typical open ended "we want to win" as stakes. Everything changes if they stakes are expressly defined as a dual to the death or something similar to that.
If you get this with the Death ability or with a sword, fist, crossbow, or whatnot, makes little difference. Yeah, killing someone wiith a blanket is probably going to get a big imporisational modifier, but doing so with most weapons would not.
True, but attempting to defend against death magic with a sword skill is going to get a large modifier. See above. Trying to defend against a sword with a brawling skill is going to get a large modifier. Trying to defend against a sword with orate or basket weaving is going to get a huge modifier if allowed at all, though HQ certain supports that the someone can engage your character with their orate and convince him not to attack them, before he pulls his sword. I actually like that, though obviously others are not fond of it. It does result in some interesting conflicts, like a Lunar official attempting to convine the PC Uroxi of something using Orate vs. Obstinate as the conflicting skills.
Special abilities in most games don't nexcessarily break the rules (ala feats), but they do give difference effects that are not all the same. In HQ it is the rating of the abilty (or augment) that is important, rather than what the actual ability is. Since most abilities are going to be used as augments, it means that it doesn't matter if that 13 is a enchanted swrd, battlemagic spell, personality trait, follower or whatever.
It's just a turn of phrase, but basically what things like feats, magic in most games, etc. do is allow the character to do something not supported elsewhere by the rules. It's a special case. That was my point there. There are no special cases in HQ.
The ability itself is quite important, I'd argue. You're correct that any ability can be attempted for any contest, but unless it's an ability that's directly applicable, then it will be at a negative. It's very common to have players lack the ability they need to address a situation. This is no different than RQ/BRP. Having a high Orate ability in either game doesn't help your Sword skill, which doesn't help your ability to case magic, etc.
Overall, I find the system mechanics dry and lifeless. I buy the HQ books, however, becusse the setting is anything but.
That I'd agree with for the most part. HQ is extremely rules light and requires lots of interpretation from the GM and players. It supports a certain style of play very well, but it does a horrible job of providing atmosphere. That has to come from the players in the game. The irony is that many people here will say that one of the beauties of BRP is that it "gets out of the way", and I'd agree. HQ just does that to the extreme. BRP still imparts some of it's own flavor on a game world, but not as much as most games.