Trying to create a Malkioni priest...

[GianniVacca]

I told my players to create a party of God Learners or of God Learner sponsored adventurers. One of them wants to play a Malkioni priest. Fair enough, I guess that's one of the main attractions of this version of RQ.

Since we still do not have a Players Guide (alas), I am trying to collect the useful bits from the various source books.

From the core book --> Profession Priest, with the following modifications: Cultural background Civilised, Advanced skill one sorcery skill instead of Runecasting;
From the companion --> the Civilised cultural background, with the following modification: Dagger instead of Rapier, and the Sorcery rules;
From MoG --> the God Learner sorcery chapter;
From CoG vol.II --> the Sorcery Orders chapter.

Now since I've asked my players to create veteran level characters as per the RuneQuest book, page 105, the priest could be an 'initiate' of the Malkioni church. Now, I am not sure what rank this translates to: Orderly or Liturgist?

Comments and help are welcome!

 

[gamesmeister]

Judging by the requirements, the sorcerer equivalent of an Initiate is an Orderly, whereas a Liturgist is equivalent to an Acolyte (i.e. Master level)

 

[duncan_disorderly]

Judging by the requirements, the sorcerer equivalent of an Initiate is an Orderly, whereas a Liturgist is equivalent to an Acolyte (i.e. Master level)

A liturgist is a priest who performs Blessings (and maybe curses on special occasions) as part of a regular worship service (because thay is what Liturgy means - cf the Wikipedia entry"A liturgy comprises a prescribed ceremony, according to the traditions of a particular group or event. In religion, it may refer to, or include, an elaborate formal ritual (such as the Catholic Mass), or a daily activity such as the Muslim Salats")
The spells a Liturgist can cast are those contained in the holy texts of his church ("The Abiding Book" for mainstream Malkioni)

An Orderly is a member of a (religious) order - (he may not be responsible for leading public worship). They can cast spells contained in the formualries of their order (Which will be writings by or about the saint they are dedicated too).

In Heroquest an Orderly must have talismans for each spell he wants to cast, and each talisman is effectively good for one casting before needing to be rededicated at a regular worship ceremony lead by a Liturgist. (It is possible to be both a Liturgist and an Orderly, at least in some Orders).

My opinion is that a Liturgist is a poor choice of character for a "traditional" adventuring type group, but a vitally important member of any group which contains Orderlies.

The equivalent of an Acolyte in Sorcery/Wizardry is an Adept (who starts as an apprentice - which is probably the "Initiate" level - Liturgist and Orderly are really side-shoots - there is no direct progression from Liturgist or Orderly to Wizard)

 

[Flaming Gummi Ork]

For the game I just started this weekend I told my players that they could belong to any of the cults they wished but that they could only start as laymembers of the cult and wouldn' be eligible to learn the higher levels of cult magic until they were at least initiates.

However, if they had a starting profession that started with runes I allowed them to add their cult runes to the list of available starting runes. Everyone seemed fairly happy with that and are currently planning on how best to save thier advancement rolls for picking up their respective, divine, spirit, or sorcery skills.
FGO