David Dunham wrote:
>
> Philip asked
>
> > How should taunting during combat work?
>
> One possibility is that it's an augmentation, except that it's in the
> negative direction. (Failure of course makes the enemy mad at you in
> a focused way, giving a bonus.)
That's how we treat it. Either an augment (encouraging us by taunting them) or a negative augment resisted by their own boasting/willpower/restistancetomonytpythonisms.
> Jonas claimed
>
> > Few cults have what I'd call ranged attack magic. Among heortlings, only
> > Hedkoranth has a lot of it. The others that can be interpreted this way
> > are also warrior cults (except Rufelza for the lunars), and their
> > devotees are likely to have better physical fighting abilities anyway.
>
> Just about every cult has ranged magic that can take you out of a
> combat. I'm only bothering to list the Heortling deities:
Yep.
> Babeester Gor (Shout of Pain), Bevara (Earsplitting Scream), Chalana
> Arroy (Sleep), Ernalda (Make Person Heavy), Hedkoranth, Humakt
> (Visage of Fear), Orlanth (Snatch Breath),
> Issaries, Lhankor Mhy, Vanganth don't have any relevant magic (though
> Vanganth's secret counts). Odayla's Arrow Sureshot is probably an
> augmentation. Vinga's throwing feats may be augmentations too (though
> my playtest character has the Twirling Blade Feat she uses for ranged
> attack). Yinkin's Paralyzing Bite is probably an augmentation.
We treat the Mile Throw Javelin as something that negates range penalties.
> > Nothing in the rules implies that beaning someone with a Thunderstone is
> > in any way more effective than putting an arrow through them.
>
> Correct. They are equally effective.
Both can kill you. It depends on the power of the attacker. But some have other effects -- its hard to kill a bunch of folks with a sureshot arrow but a sufficently large lightning bolt will hurt a bunch of folks (use multiple target modifieres, etc, etc, etc)
> > I haven't found
> > anything that says magical attacks get any kind of edge to compare with
> > weapon ranks either.
>
> This is one reason I think the ranks should remain an optional
> rule... I find edges slow things down, so the more ways to avoid
> them, the better.
We don't use edges in magical combat except in the case of pre-enchanted thunderstones.
> > Anyway, I assume that as long as you get no worse than a marginal defeat,
> > you can try [augmenting] over and over again until you get it right.
>
> I don't allow it, and seeing as how most failures give you a penalty...
Nope. One test to augment. But someone else can try to cover your gaffe, I *suppose*. Think of it as 'straining a muscle' and overdoing the magic.
> > P.S. About enhancements that give edges. They're a _lot_ more efficient
> > than bonuses, but among the theist keywords I've only found two feats
> > that would seem to do this, both protective in nature.
>
> I tend to prefer using bonuses, since they work for simple contests
> too, but it seems to me that Bear's Strength, Great Blow, Slashing
> Blow, Swordhelp, Thunder Sling could all be interpreted as doing more
> damage. Be creative when describing feats! And yes, a feat can be
> used more than one way.
I leave it up to the player. Some use more edge, some want more skill. Why railroad?
> Tim answered me
>
> > Even if you mean that players can use
> > "death" or "combat" affinities to deduct Action points as feats, is
> > this really more common than hte "Disruption" spell?
>
> I do mean this, and unlike the RuneQuest Disruption spell, you can
> actually kill someone using the ranged magic I mention above (just
> drive them to a big negative AP total). OK, Sleep probably doesn't
> kill you (but you might be in an effectively permanent coma at -31
> AP).
Very true. And 'disrupt' might be an improvsised combat feat, if you want but there are much more interesting ways to blow folks apart. Its a different game, with more options. I'd like to see folks try to use them and explore them and try to think for themselves rather than rely on 'what they did in RQII.' Its kinda apples and oranges, IMO.
Jeff
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