Gunda the Guilty

From: Sandy Petersen <SPetersen_at_ensemblestudios.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 13:28:30 -0600


A friend from Finland recently asked me just how tough Argrath, Harrek, et al would be in RuneQuest terms. I looked through my notes and found that I had actually written up Gunda the Guilty in such stats. Thinking that some Digesters would find my version of her interesting, here goes. Note that she uses Petersen's sorcery rules. (Duh.)

GUNDA THE GUILTY

STR		15+30 = 45	fatigue 90
CON		45		hit points 29 (Note: Resist Death 21)
SIZ		13		magic points 78 + pool of 10,000 (app.)
INT		19
POW		78		Note: Resist Damage 20
DEX		24			Castback 30
APP		9			Resist Magic 20
					Boost Attack 20 (+50)
					Boost Parry 20 (+50)
					Boost Stealth 40 (+100)
hit location		armor/pts
r leg			18/10
l leg			18/10
abdomen		18/10
chest			24/12
r arm			18/8
l arm			18/8
head			18/10

weapon		sr	attk/parr	damage		pts
Spear of Solace	2	374/292	1d100+3d6		40
Spear of Solace, thrown 1/5/9   339/--	1d100			40
Shield			5	194/320	1d6+3d6		24 (plus Break
Blade)

Note: against mortals, typically splits her spear attack into 3 separate attacks at SRs 2, 5, & 8, with an attack percentage of 124 each. She also splits her parry into up to three separate parries (106 each) when fighting multiple foes. Uses attack spells when facing an enemy of whom she does not want to acquire the sins. (See Spear of Solace, below.) The shield attack is normally only used if the spear is currently at 0 or fewer hit points.

Personality: brave/cowardly 100/0; chaste/promiscuous 100/0; energetic/lazy 80/20; forgiving/vengeful 50/50; generous/selfish 90/10; honest/deceitful 100/0; honorable/dishonorable 100/0; just/partial 25/75; loyal/independent 50/50; merciful/cruel 50/50; modest/proud 100/0; temperate/indulgent 100/0; trusting/suspicious 10/90;

Runes: Darkness 50; Ocean 15; Earth 0; Sky 0; Storm 35; Lunar 0

        Man 70
Change/Stasis 40/45; Harmony/Disorder 3/75; Life/Death 25/65 Truth/Illusion 85/15

MAGIC: While her magic is excellent by normal standards, it is insufficient to qualify her as a magician in Dragon Pass terms. She is an autotheist -- spells enhancing her own stats and skills receive her Specialty bonus. She knows all Arts.         

Presence: 241 High Vow +77; Vessel +19; Lore Mastery +15 (Enchant, Summon, Animal Lore, Glorantha Lore, Mineral Lore, Plant Lore, World Lore, Read Brithini, Read Orlanthi, Read Pelorian, super-Ceremony = +5); abjure Rune magic +2; abjure spirit magic +2; shun immortality +1; shun tap +2; undergo the Kiss +36; Ogre King Doom +24; wield Spear of Solace +49; abjure servitude +6 (including familiars, riding animals, bound spirits, etc.); abjure all worship +8

        Maintains -- Boost STR 30, Boost Attack 20 (+50), Boost Parry 20
(+50), Boost Stealth 40 (+100), Break Blade 7, Castback 30, Resist
Damage 20, Resist Death 21, Resist Magic 20 (note: her Ceremony permits her to get such high Intensities). All skills listed include the aforementioned skill bonuses from spells.

        Remaining Presence = 34.

Specialty Spells (the number of levels she can use for each spell is in parentheses): Boost STR 200 (40), Boost CON 140 (28), Boost SIZ 90 (18), Boost DEX 180 (36), Boost Agility 130 (26), Boost Attack 200 (40), Boost Manipulation 100 (20), Boost Parry 150 (30), Boost Perception 120 (24), Boost Stealth 170 (34), Diminish SIZ 190 (38), Haste 150 (30), Project Hearing 100 (20), Project Touch 160 (32), Project Vision 110 (22), Regenerate 90 (18), Skin of Life 190 (38)

        Note: these only receive her specialty bonus when cast on herself. Otherwise divide levels by 4.

Other Spells (the number of levels she can use is in parentheses): Attract Magic 90 (5), Attract Missiles 140 (7), Boost Armor 100 (5), Boost Damage 110 (6), Break Blade 200 (10), Castback 90 (5), Diminish STR 160 (8), Drain 160 (8), Evoke Cold 150 (8), Identify Spell 120 (6), Locate Object 120 (6), Neutralize Magic 170 (9), Protective Circle 200
(10), Resist Damage 180 (9), Resist Death 130 (7), Resist Magic 140 (7),
Resist Poison 110 (6), Telepathy 200 (10), Treat Wounds 190 (10), Venom 180 (9)

        Note: her Break Blade spell is unique to her & her minions. It must be cast upon a shield, and requires Intensity equal to the shield's ENC. When the shield successfully parries, compare its AP to the attacking weapon's AP. If its APs are higher than the attacking weapon's APs, the latter loses 1 AP. If its APs are at least twice as high as the attacking weapon's APs, the latter instantly shatters. Thus, her 24-point shield shatters 12-point or weaker weapons, damages 13-23 pt weapons, and does nothing to 24-pt or higher weapons.

        Her Resist Death spell will be new to many readers. it works as follows: per Intensity, the target can go 1 HP beyond normal death without actually dying (she is still unconscious, though). It also works in the normal Resist manner when trying to block Death magic; that is, any spell which causes death directly, such as Sever Spirit, Fang of Wachaza, etc.

Ritual Spells: Enchant 130, Summon 110, Ceremony is infinite -- the longer she spends at a ceremony, the greater her spell percentage becomes, with no limit to how large a ceremony bonus can be added; Curse, Enchant Iron, Magic Pt Matrix, Open Seas, Spell Matrix

Skills: Boat 190, Climb 120, Dodge 220, Jump 100, Ride 0, Swim 95, Throw 120; Fast Talk 50, Orate 35, Speak Old Brithini 90, Speak Orlanthi
(Fronelan) 110, Speak New Pelorian 70, Speak Tradetalk 85; Animal Lore
140, Glorantha Lore 200, Mineral Lore 90, Plant Lore 130, World Lore 110, Read Brithini 105, read Orlanthi (Fronelan) 90, Read New Pelorian 110; Shiphandling 100; Conceal 100, Devise 60, Sleight 110, Listen 120, Scan 110, Search 100, Track 140; Hide 200, Sneak 220

Abilities: her automatic abilities are always in effect. Gunda cannot "turn them off".

        Queen of the Kiss (automatic): no emotion or mind-affecting spells or powers affect Gunda. A shade can kill her, or a lune could damage her INT, but they cannot drive her mad or frighten her. This includes benign or beneficial spells such as Berserker or Erotocomatose Lucidity.

        Spirit Drain (automatic): each attacking spirit loses 1d10+10 MP each round. If Gunda bothers to fight back and overcomes it, it loses an additional 1d3 MP. When she is in spirit combat, she need not make Concentration rolls to go about her business. The MPs drained by this are added to Gunda's Pool.

        Ogre King's Glance: by willing it so (she cannot use other non-automatic abilities while using this), when she looks at another individual within 100m, she can force that person's STR to drop by 14 per MP she spends, to a minimum of 1. She must be able to see some part of that person's bare skin, hair, or blood to use this. She can only invoke this against one individual per strike rank, and cannot attack in the same SR she uses the Glance (but she could glance in SR 1, strike in SR 2, and glance again in SR 3). A given victim's STR may only be dropped once. Lost STR recovers at the rate of 2 pts/day, and she cannot repeat a Glance at a person until he has fully recovered.

        Spear of Solace: the Spear of Solace ignores all armor except adamantium and does equal damage to HP and MP. Anyone wounded by it receives the instant knowledge that, should he (or she) be slain by the Spear, all his her mortal sins will be removed from his soul, and placed upon Gunda's. All MPs drained by the Spear are immediately added to Gunda's MP Pool. The Spear is permanently attuned to Gunda, and counts as part of her body for purposes of touch spells, etc. She always knows its whereabouts and vice versa. The Spear can instantly summon itself to Gunda's hand at any distance or place.

        The Spear heals from damage taken at the rate of 1 pt / SR. It can continue to heal, even from negative damage, so long as Gunda is still alive. It can transfer its own HP to Gunda at any range, and then regenerate this damage at its usual rate.

        The Spear's damage can be stopped by magic defenses -- it strikes as a Rune spell equal to the number of damage points rolled on the d100 part of its attack. Thus, on a roll of 42, it hits defending magic as if it were a 42-point Rune spell. Adamantium stops the spear's entire attack, after which the adamantium shield, piece of armor, etc. shatters into fragments and the spear takes 3d6 damage.

Curses: Queen of the Kiss: may never know love.

        APP remains fixed at 9, regardless of spells, illusions, makeup, etc. Illusions or spells which alter one's visage do not affect her -- her clothing can be altered, but not her form or face. Even invisibility does not affect her.

        Bears the load of sins of hundreds of sinners, plus the knowledge that many of her worst enemies died shrived of sin, certain of a destination in Solace in Bliss.

Magic Items: she wears enchanted iron armor made in the Brithini style, and carries an iron-bound shield. The interior surface of her shield contains matrices for all her "Other" spells, and her hair has tied into it separate decorative matrices for all her specialty spells.

        Her plate is designed by a master Horali armorer, and takes half-again as much damage as normal iron plate, except for her breastplate, which is enchanted to take double damage. Remember the Break Blade spell on her shield!

Notes on Fighting Gunda:

Starting on SR 1, she uses her Ogre King Glance to lower the STR of her most imposing opponent. She keeps Glancing once per SR vs. each opponent until all are affected. Then, 1 SR later, she attacks with her spear. If she has enough SRs in that round, she splits her attack to attack again 3 SRs later. She is very hip to using her spells, and will readily resort to spell use to enhance her abilities, diminish her opponent's chances, etc. if she is given any reason to suspect that simple attacking via the Spear will not be sufficient to win the day.

        She can throw her spear up to 3 times in a combat round by hurling it, then willing it back into her hand. Her chance to hit is not as good this way, and it does slightly less damage, so she prefers melee, but not by much. She also only has normal javelin range when throwing her spear.

        Note that she is a terrific scout, with excellent stealth skills & extremely good sensory magic. She will normally scout out an enemy position personally before taking any action, and it is unlikely that she or her minions could be taken unawares.

Gunda's Minions: Gunda is normally accompanied by some or all of the handpicked crew of her Wolf Pirate ship, consisting of 20-100 dangerous folk -- bout a fourth of them are the equivalents of rune lords, another fourth are at least journeyman sorcerers, and the rest are skilled weapon masters. All have iron blades, at least some iron armor, and know significant sorcery, including Break Blade. The crew is all fanatically loyal, of course.

        And naturally should you kill Gunda, you have an angry Harrek to deal with.


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