"danhalberd" <dan_at_...> wrote:
>
> I was wondering if anyone can help me with how certain magical
> abilities are supposed to work in HeroQuest?
It would be a pleasure to offer my opinion. As those who know me can attest, I am not backward in offering up my opinion!! :^)
>
> In the HeroQuest book p144 Yu-Kargzant has a spirit called Gallop
> Through Sky with a strength of 10 to 1w2. What does anyone think
> this might do as an active ability? It reads as though you can fly
> on your horse but that would be a pretty amazing ability
(especially
> for people who are horse archers!)
Yes, great isn't it. In Heroquest you wager one ability against another. So in your combat example, the rider must come within some sort of range to engage. Look up the section on ranged combat for how it might work mechanically. But riding a horse through the air/ sky is something Gagarthi do anyway.
The real question is if YOU and YOUR players feel the ability shouldn't have such a grand effect. You may like a more gritty, less high fantasy game, as many do. In that case you can asume that the ability gives a more mundane effecet riding like 'ride across the sky' ie, very fast, giving an auto augment to the steeds fast skill, or some other such effect the GM and players agree.
> as most enemies couldn't do much
> to you as you gallop around in the air shooting a bow at them -
they
> would have to be able to fly themselves, have stronger bows or
> ranged magic. Is 10 to 1w2 powerful enough to do this?
Many other cultures have magic that can make this more of an even contest, so the point is moot.
>It also seems
> better than the specific flying feats of some of the Orlanth
> subcults which don't seem to be able to lift much weight and
> certainly not a horse. I also note that it says 'Sky' not 'Air'.
Now
> as I understand it the Sky is above the Air so is it actually
> something to do with the Sky dome (again this sounds pretty
amazing).
>
Well, I would refer you to the Gargarthi, and the feats can mean whatever your players can convince you is reasonable. I for example allowed a helering devotee to improvise simple flight techniques off the cloud affinity as it has a feat 'fly up to clouds'. Its what you feel is acceptable.
> Also in Orlanth is Dead p31 Benyafil's Birds can make gliding
leaps
> up to 100 yards long or 20 yards up. They are only initiates of
> Tholm so I guess they have no active abilities (not that Tholm
seems
> to have this as a feat anyway). So how do they do this? It written
> down as though it is a mundane ability as 13w but even jumping up
> your height in the HeroQuest book (p275) has a difficulty of 10w2
so
> they aren't going to succeed very often when they try to jump up
20
> yards! Frankly it sounds like magic but as it isn't a feat and it
> isn't a power of their guardian entity how do they do it?
>
Again, I don't play it so hard and fast. If the book say they can do that stuff, then they can. If it helps, think of it as a 'cult ability' or innate type magic the followers of that deity seem to have. The thing is, the player characters wont know the in depth reasoning of how other folks exotic magic works (although I allow its usually preferable that the GM has this info).
Regards
Rob
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