Re: Magic

From: David Dunham <david_at_...>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2000 07:51:34 -0700

James answered Mikko

> >Barumar the great Orlanthi warrior wants to strike his enemy with
> >thunderbolt in the middle of extended contest. His affinity skill is
> >17. His close combat (sword&shield) skill is 5W (25 AP:s). He bids 15
> >AP:s. Thunderbolt is physical efect, enemy resists with his tough 17.
> >Question: Does Barumar roll fo close combat or magic affinity? My
> >guess would be for affinity...
>
> Just to add an alternative way of doing things.
>
> He could take an unrelated action and use a simple contest of affinity
> versus tough.

That would be a bad idea, and I believe the rules state as much. The reason being, it's the same contest. Barumar still wants to physically defeat his enemy. Thunderbolt is not an all-or-nothing feat*, so you'd expect it to do AP -- and there's already an extended contest going on.

To state that more positively, this is a simple case of switching abilities. Barumar switches to Thunderbolt (affinity or feat depending on his degree of religious affiliation). His opponent switches to Tough.

• If indeed the mystic strike-like secret were intended, then you CANNOT use it in a simple contest [HW.225]. But like Nick, I interpreted "thunderbolt" as some as yet undefined feat.

David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html> Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein