You summon me and I am here....
> 1. I assumed that starting spirit-talkers had the same fetishes as
starting
> animist culture members and I see that that was a good assumption, but the
> player wanted to list integrated spirits in his list of ten things during
> character creation.
>
> 1a. Since an integrated spirit is worth two fetishes, do you think that
> each line in the ten items list counts as 1 integrated spirit or 2
> fetishes, 1/2 integrated spirit or 1 fetish, or something else?
In a list method I'd make either Fetish or Integrated spirit take one "slot" out of the 10 - the 2-1 cost is for the (normally) 5 "free" fetishes.
> 1b. Does it seem logical that a starting shaman will only have one-use
> fetishes? I allowed one to be 3/day and another to be 1/day.
You could have the shaman's player roll a Simple contest for each fetish he has of Spirit Combat vrs. the spirit's Might: any Defeat or a marginal victory equals a 1-use fetish, minor vcitory=1 use/day, major victory=3 uses/day, Complete victory= complete integration, the spirit can't leave the fetish no matter how many times you use it.
> 1c. Are there any guidelines for the starting might of fetishes/integrated
> spirits gotten as a result of being in list of ten things? I used the
value
> of 13 in this case.
13 is the "starting value" of the sideline abilities (those that aren't in a keyword). If you want to take the time, you can roll randomly or assign numbers for the spirit's Might. 13 is the default, you can always put more effort into it...
> 1d. It seems that integrated spirit abilities are a lot less useful if
> using Might/10 (1.3 for the ones in 1c. above). Does this seem right? My
> solution was to allow integrated spirit abilities to be bought at target
> number 13 during list of ten character creation, just like any other
listed
> abilities. Any comments?
Might/10 is for Passion spirits (ones that give you +x in certain sircumstances, like "Fight Darkness" spirits that give you +x to *all abilities* used in a fight against darkness). Normal integration gives a talent starting at the spirit's Might.
A player can spend Hero Points to increase a talent given by an integrated spirit , which he *cannot* do on a fetish.
> 2. Is it appropriate for characters to list feats from other keywords in
> their list of ten things? I tend to say no, but what about the Bevara
> devotee who wants to magically cure disease a la Chalana Arroy? Any
> suggestions?
It depends on the ability the player asks for - if it is a mundane skill (your Bevara player wants CA's treat Poison) I'd normally give it to him (make him explain why he has it...). If it is magical feat/spell/out-of-tradition spirit, then I get a lot more picky. In this particular case, Bevara is the paramedic of the Heortlings, while CA is more like a long-term care health provider. Make the player explain how his character got the ability. If you're feeling generous, let him have it. If you're not, or his explanation is bogus, don't. And, of course, if it is against the magical keyword (A CA player that want Combat magic, frex), you can forbid it.
There are a couple other things you can do - make the player take a second
initiate (in this case to CA), or make him join a subcult of Bevara that
treats disease.
(you have to make up the subcult at this point).
> 3. What is the Hero Wars canonical availability of iron items? The Humakti
> player listed iron weapons and armor and I let him, but I was unsure of
how
> "kosher" this was.
Each item should count as a line item in the List method. It also depends on what level of game you're playing.
> 3a. Is this iron unenchanted? Is unenchanted iron currently part of the
> Glorantha setting?
It's probably enchanted (unless he specifies otherwise...), since he probably wants the nifty Iron bonuses.
> 3b. Is there any thought given to the ability of unenchanted iron to more
> easily penetrate lesser armor, etc.?
Not by me. Iron (and gold, copper, lead, etc). needs to be enchanted to get the bonuses (in the Advanced Magic chapter)
> 4. If a player lists Initiate of (Second God) in the list of ten things,
> does this mean that he gains those affinities as well? The example is a
> Devotee of Humakt who also wants to be an Initiate of Orlanth Adventurous.
He gets the affinites, but not the feats. Tell him that he is spending 90% of his time on "god business", and that he may face time or resource problems due to demands of the two cults.
> 5. (More a comment) The Kolating player pointed out that the Spirit-Talker
> keyword almost completely overlapped the Kolat keyword in terms of
> abilities. (I think that he felt shortchanged.) I theorized that the
> general Spirit-Talker keyword would also fit with other animistic Keywords
> that didn't overlap so much. What is the true explanation for this
overlap?
I blew it.
Spirit Talker should have Craft fetish and Draw summoning circle (physical), and Shamanic Escape, Spirit Combat, Spirit Sight, Spirit World Travel (mental).
Kolat should have Build with snow and Leaping (Physical), and Kolat tradition knowledge, Mythology of Kolat, Sense Change in Weather (mental).
Basically, Shaman keywords should not have tradition-specific abilities, but should have the basic Shamanic abilities. This became more formalized when we were working on the Grazers, and didn't get back to the Spirit talker.
RR
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