You can do things as you like, but my impression was things were magical or not based on teh primary ability. So if you use sling or throw rock skill augmented by your thunderstone ability, it is a mundane attack. If you use one of your thunderstone feats augmented by your sling or throw rock skill, it is a magical attack.
> > I would also rule that dodge would also work and be used as a
> > primary defence.
> >
>
> If you are allowing "Dodge" as a suitable skill to defend then I
> think you'd find it hard to disallow other mundane abilities on the
> grounds that it is a "magical" attack. Why, for instance, should I
> be allowed to dodge it but not parry it with my regulation issue
> Sundome Templar large shield? or just stand there and "Take it
like
> a Man"?
It seems crazy to say that these _couldn't_ be used against a rock flying through the air at you.
BUT, to me there is a very crucial difference between Harvar pitching a rock at you, no matter how good he is at it, and Harvar using magic to do the same thing.
In the former case, it is fundamentally subject to "physics" (although physics as such doesn't exist in Glorantha). If you augment magically it is still a matter of being stronger, having better aim, etc.
In the latter case, it is something completely different. When you use a god's feat, to me you are essentially chanelling the god to a small degree (much more minor and temporary than hero forming, but not totally divorced from it). It is not just you and it is not just a rock. Your ability with that feat shows how well you become like Hedkoranth who never missed, and how well that rock becomes like great weighty, that always flew to its target and could damage even giants. Could any mortal have dodged Great Weighty flung by Hedkoranth? No, of course not. So the best defense is to call upon your god or spirit or saint, and avoid the attack as they would have.
Still, it is happening in the mortal plane, the world of mixed magic*. Even if you could perfectly channel Hedkoranth, this isn't the storm realm, and not everything works smoothly. So a mundane defense seems like it should be possible. i.e. In the mortal world, post-compromise, a sufficiently skilled mortal should be able to dodge, block, or withstand Great Weighty. But it should be HARD, clearly harder than withstanding a skilled mundane attack.
How much harder seems to me that it should be an issue of balance, enough of a penalty so that buying up magic is a reasonable choice, but not so high that buying up your magic is the only reasonable choice. -10? -20? I don't know the answer, I just know the effect I want to see, that of magic being the usual defense against magic, but that a magical attack against someone's mundane strong suit cannot just ignore it.
--Bryan
Powered by hypermail