In a simulation game system, yes. The rating of an ability would correspond to some objective measure of the strength or intensity. But for a narrative game system it instead represents something like "plot importance": how strong it is in influencing the outcome of the story.
The two need not correspond. A barely qualified Space Cadet would have little ability to captain a starship. In a simulation game, their Command Starship skill would be low. But in a narrative game that focused on our Cadet taking emergency control of a starship and thereby defeating the Bad Guy, the Cadet would have a high rating in Command Starship.
Despite its history, HeroQuest is trying to be a narrative game system. That would suggest the rating in a rune magic ability represents how important that rune magic will be in the plot.
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