RQII Characteristic limit

[Morgan d'Barganfore]

RQII says that with the exception of CHA, human characteristics cannot naturally exceed 21.
Any thoughts on how any of them could unnaturally exceed 21?

 

[Big Orc]

Magic ,GM discression?

 

[Morgan d'Barganfore]

Well to be honest we're playing Deus Vult, and there's been relatively little magic knocking around. I think there was one elemental type beastie that could paralyze you and that's pretty much it. I've been trying to get Religious Fervour up and running (it's the campaign setting equivalent of PACT(God)) but as I didn't start with it, I can't seen to get it. (I didn't start with it as I joined a group and rolled a char up on the fly without knowing the rules at all). Discussion with GM is a little opaque - "religious fervour is quite rare". I've tried to roll play it, including self dedication (offering 1/4 POW and saving a bunch of Improvement rolls). Maybe I'm missing something. Any ideas?

 

[PhilHibbs]

HeroQuests are probably the main route, if you have HeroQuests in your setting, Rune Touched can give stat bonuses as well. Also divine gifts, some gods give gifts and impose compulsions on worshippers. Magic mushrooms, blessed springs, all kinds of supernatural stuff could raise stats.

But if your GM wants to run a low-magic game, maybe superhuman abilities aren't going to happen.

 

[Morgan d'Barganfore]

Well it's Deus Vult, set in crusades time, (in Europe only, so far). I bit of Ocult moggie bashing, but not a whistle of a chance of getting a PACT(God) skill..
and I have been trying.
Okm, sorry to be really dumb, but what is a Hero-quest?
(And please nobody give the obvious but uninformative answer.)

I meant it as in "differentiated from a "normal" adventure exactly how?

Thanks!

 

[PhilHibbs]

Okm, sorry to be really dumb, but what is a Hero-quest?
(And please nobody give the obvious but uninformative answer.)
I meant it as in "differentiated from a "normal" adventure exactly how?

It's an excursion into the world of the gods - stylistically, it can be run either like a straight scenario, or exaggerated and compressed. An entire encounter might be resolved with a single skill roll. "The village is being attacked by the blue demons. Roll your combat skill to defeat them." Some stages have to be failed or completed in a specific manner, depending on the myth that is being explored. To take a real world example, Jesus has to be betrayed by Judas and crucified before he can rise again and save mankind. Killing or confronting Judas before he can betray isn't a good idea, it messes up the whole thing, invalidates your beliefs, and weakens your magic.

It's mostly a Gloranthan thing, but can be used in other settings if you want that kind of cosmology.

 

[Morgan d'Barganfore]

Ok, that helps - thanks v much!

 

[Simulacrum]

Based on various previous editions of RQ as well as MRQ2 my rule has always been (and is certainly embedded in Age of Treason) that 21 is the Max human limit - so Characteristics have a dice roll range of 3-18 or, for INT and SIZ, 8-18, and can be trained/enhanced up to 21. If playing for a touch more realism, limit the increase also by + 33% or +50% of original rolled.

If a characteristic is forced below minimum (ie to less than 3 or less than 8 for SIZ and INT) the character is disabled. If it hits 0 he is dead.

The same logic applies to non-humans, so maximum is Max rollable plus number of dice, treating each +6 or fraction thereof in fixed addition as one dice (Hence a creature with a characteristic of 2D6+12 has a species max of 28).

Human Characteristics can be increased above 21 temporarily through magical enhancement - but can only achieve this only permanently through an actual change in the individual that makes them more than human (this is a fundamental in AoT setting) - ie becoming some sort of hero or god. If you were running a Heroic Greek campaign, you would, under this system, allow heroes one or more stats in excess of 21 to reflect their status as demigods.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Based on various previous editions of RQ as well as MRQ2 my rule has always been (and is certainly embedded in Age of Treason) that 21 is the Max human limit

The only characteristic that had 21 as a maximum in Avalon Hill RuneQuest was POW, and that's only because the POW gain roll was figured based max + min minus current value. DEX and APP were limited to 1.5 times their original value, and STR and CON were limited to the highest of STR, SIZ, and CON. There was never any mechanism given for increasing INT or SIZ, and no rule for figuring the maximum for those. The unpublished RuneQuest IV had max+min as species maximum for all stats.

At least, that's how I remember it... I've found an online scan of Chaosium RQ2 that gives the "highes of STR, CON, SIZ" rule, and another online summary of RQIII that says 1.5x for all of STR, CON, DEX and APP, so I might be mis-remembering. In any case, I don't think any previously published edition of RuneQuest ever had 21 as the maximum for any characteristic other than POW.

 

[Morgan d'Barganfore]

As a point for discussion, the max of 21 on attribute could be allowed to drift up but make it more expensive, e.g. 22 to 26 costs x2 improvement points (so 21 to 22 costs 42 points), and 27 to 31 costs x3 etc.
Thoughts?