...it's another hard day on the battlefield, and me and the boyz are giving these Human scum another poundin'. Just as I'm giving the boot to a Humakti, this big blue guy with storm runes all over his loincloth jumps up, shooting lightning bolts from his fingertips, chopping up those who come near, frothing at the mouth, reciting bad poetry in Storm Speech and generally exuding Runelevelness.
Bummer. Crap, and he's got an iron sword, too. So I cuff the trollkin sarge, and say, "Hey! Y'all sling thatbastard till he falls over." I help out by lofting a javelin in myself, as does just about anyone with a MP or ammo to spare. A couple dozen slingstones later, a very surprised looking Wind Lord falls over. So I run over with my buddies, and we loot the body as ol' Windy's panicked followers rout off.
"Hey! Dibs on the liver!" (Yes, yes, exaggeration exists in this fine scenario)
Problem with being a runelevel, is that you're going to scare everyone out of melee range (unless they're looking for a name, natch) while attracting cowardly (or, IMO, _sensible_) missile and magical attacks. This is gonna be a _real_ problem when fighting those (like the Lunars) who are both organized and generally shifty in character ("What! Hey, our Sword of Humakt walked up for ritual combat and you shot him with a ballista! Lunar scum!") As the Aztecs learned, cultural ideas of "combat" can vary quite a bit -- in Glorantha most of the non-Humans, at least, see war pretty differently.
:Skill is all very well but psychology is even more important - one often
:The Rune Level is obvious because they
:emanate such power that deep down in your soul you know you are facing
:someone who is an expert at what they do.
Good point! Although I'd also think runelevels will be targeted,
sometimes, because you hope that if you off the Wind Lord, the Orlanthi
will grow disheartened and you can rout them off the battlefield. I'd not
be surprised if the Lunars initially believe this -- savage barbarians,
kill the leader and the rest flee off -- whether or not it's actually
true.
Sort of a balance for Runelevels -- spreading fear and terror among the ranks also makes you a big, juicy target for the opposing side's leaders. Being obvious in a battle can be a Bad Thing.
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