Spirit combat question

[superc0ntra]

I'm running an old school campaign (Balastor's Axe etc.) set in around the big rubble and I want some ideas regarding spirit combat.
I am under the assumption that in Legend/MRQ2 spirit combat is a shaman only business but in old school Glorantha you frequently run into ghosts so I have given all my players the spirit binding skill for defense only.

If someone is attacked by a ghost they use their MP as HP, so far so good. But should this include dedicated power to their cult and what happens to divine spells that occupy the dedicated power?

If dedicated power is not included, rune level characters are at a serious disadvantage since they probably are down to a few MP undedicated.
Come to think of it, would MP also include stored MP in for example crystals?

 

[soltakss]

I normally ignore Dedicated POW anyway - horrible rule. So, use the person's full POW in all cases.

MPs in crystals and other MP stores should not be included, in my opinion.

The POW of a Spirit Enhancer Crystal should probably be added, as this was designed to boost POW in Spirit Combat. I'm not sure how many people use them nowadays, though.

 

[superc0ntra]

How do you handle rune spells w.o dedicated POW?
Edit: That is divine spells for you youngsters out there

 

[babayaga]

If someone is attacked by a ghost they use their MP as HP, so far so good. But should this include dedicated power to their cult and what happens to divine spells that occupy the dedicated power?

If dedicated power is not included, rune level characters are at a serious disadvantage since they probably are down to a few MP undedicated.

By the rules, MP "tied up" in POW dedications or temporary enchantments etc. are not available when defending in spirit combat. Yes, this makes characters who have given up almost their entire soul to a god more vulnerable in spirit combat, all else being equal. This is perceived by many as a flaw in the Legend system, and in fact Runequest 6 no longer has dedicated POW. I think it's ok; it just means that highly dedicated characters probably want to get from their divine magic and/or heroic abilities some means of resisting spirits (e.g. the extremely powerful Spirit Block).

 

[Olaus Petrus]

I think this makes the dedicated POW issue bit more balanced:

Page 25 of Legend Spirit Magic

Characters who have Dedicated a large amount of their POW can be very vulnerable to spirit
combat. One option is to rule the cost to discorporate a character with Dedicated POW is
one Magic Point plus one Magic Point for each point of Dedicated POW of the target. A
spirit wishing to discorporate a character who has 4 points of Dedicated POW would have
to spend 5 Magic Points to make the attempt. This represents the difficulty of transferring
the Dedicated element of a person’s soul to the spirit plane. Discorporating a character with
a large amount of Dedicated POW may also draw the attention of spiritual guardians tasked
to protect the faithful.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

I think this makes the dedicated POW issue bit more balanced:

Page 25 of Legend Spirit Magic

Characters who have Dedicated a large amount of their POW can be very vulnerable to spirit
combat. One option is to rule the cost to discorporate a character with Dedicated POW is
one Magic Point plus one Magic Point for each point of Dedicated POW of the target. A
spirit wishing to discorporate a character who has 4 points of Dedicated POW would have
to spend 5 Magic Points to make the attempt. This represents the difficulty of transferring
the Dedicated element of a person’s soul to the spirit plane. Discorporating a character with
a large amount of Dedicated POW may also draw the attention of spiritual guardians tasked
to protect the faithful.

This is an option that I have used in the past. It does tend to "solve" the issue, and in my mind at least, is at least logical within a setting such as Glorantha.

 

[skoll]

We are using the Tenancy optional rule from RQ6. In other words, the magical HP always starts from POW, and is separate from mana.

 

[alex_greene]

A solution does exist, but it involves Sorcery.

If a character can use Tap (any characteristic but POW) and Restoration, with sufficient duration for the spell a character could drain his own STR, say, for Magic Points, store the surplus in one's POW, Restore his STR, and then dedicate the surplus Magic Points to his deity. He would still have full access to his native Magic Points.

Either that, or look at Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic for your guide.

 

[auyl]

My thinking that in the system rules "as is" it's a balance issue in that they tried to make the magic system's more balanced so that you couldn't potentially be overpowered in all magic types and really had to choose what form of magic you would want to pursue.

Don't get me wrong, I get your concerns with it and in my thinking those that deal with Divine magic and the gods could very well be dealing with malignant evil spirits quite often which is why I might allow MP damage to be taken from dedicated POW for those that would intentionally be attacking you because of devotion to a god.