How do you compare published abilities without numbers?

In peril of breaking the rule against merely agreeing with what other said, I agree with Stew, who said on the World of Glorantha list:

> For myself, I would like to see these HQ keywords and abilities--these
> brief, focused, funny concentrations of authors' ideas--front and centre
> in future supplements.

But I think that we should heed Matthew's warning in response to Stew's comment:

> I think that new people really need keywords and their 'contents' to have an
> idea of where to start. I think they need strong caveats of the type: write
> down the keyword and only add abilities when you bring them into stories.
>
> I think there is a danger that we old hands could see the ability lists as
> unnecessary when newer people might find them necessary.
> . . .
> I would like to say that if I agree with Stew over the details of example
> abilities/Keywords, I do *not* want to see numbers.

I think there is a balancing act here. One of the benefits of describing, say, Kallyr and Argrath White-Bull with actual numbers is that it tells the narrator what people in Glorantha would believe about those characters. For example, they might believe that in a face-to-face sword fight, one if going to kick the other's butt. Without the numbers, we are left with no way to compare the two, unless an author happened to address it in text (which seems really unlikely). It's kind of how prices let buyers compare two things that are not otherwise alike.

I think this question might belong on both lists: how do HQ2 authors help readers compare characters and anything else that would have an ability or keyword, if there are no numbers assigned to them? Feel free to respond wherever you think is more appropriate.

I should also say that I prefer the Pass/Fail Cycle in the HQ2 Continuum pre-publication. But I still struggle with the issue above.

Chris Lemens