>If I have the feat "Knock down tree" and I use it against a tree, as
>long as the tree isn't
>magic in some way, it's resists with 14. It doesn't matter if it is
>Frail 18, Bendy and
>Supple 5W, or Thick and Mighty 8W2.
>
>So why is it that if I have the feet "Knock down foe" and I use it
>against my foe, it now
>DOES matter whether he is Mighty Thewed 19, or Supremely balanced 2W?
>
>Is this just a case of "humans are different"? Is it a
>protagonizing thing? Is it just logical
>inconsistency? Is there some simple point I missed about how magic works?
The difference is that you have an *active* defense. People are active. Rock spirits might not look very active to people, but they still are.
(In my opinion, using the Hero Wars rule may make the game easier to run. The default resistance of the universe was 14, which you'd use if you wanted to levitate or something that had no resistance. But there was never a case when you'd have to decide if the magic was being used "properly." A tree would always resist Tree-Leaping with its Tall.
(HW might not have reflected Glorantha as well -- the average starting hero, with Tree-Leaping 17, wouldn't be able to jump over any trees, which probably have Tall 10W or greater.)
>I don't like magic abilities working exactly the
>same as non-magical ones. It seems very odd to me that it is
>*easier* to resist a love
>potion than the ability Seductive of the same rank. (Since anything
>you have that resists
>magic could also be a viable resistance of the potion, and
>everything that would resist
>normal seduction also resists the potion.)
Very few characters have a Resist Magic ability. If you don't allow them to resist non-magically, they will get hosed big time. If you really feel uncomfortable about being able to resist with any ability, assign a -5 penalty.
Also, it doesn't make sense that a character's major ability can't work. If I'm Achilles, with Rage 20W3, your Reasonable Discussion 20W will have no effect on me. So suddenly your Calm Down feat 17 has a good chance of beating my 14 resistance (since I don't have magic and can't use my defining skill)?
(We've found that even if you do allow anything appropriate to be used, there are still plenty of situations where otherwise strong characters are quite vulnerable to magic.)
-- David Dunham Glorantha/HQ/RQ page: http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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