Re: Improvised Feats

From: Greg Stafford <Greg_at_...>
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 09:46:26 -0800


At 03:37 PM 1/18/2001 -0000, you wrote:
>> Not in my game, for what its worth.
>> For initiates, using the affinity magic is the norm.
>>
>Now I'm really confused! My impression was that you couldn't use the
>affinity itself for anything. That for initiates that score
>effectively translated to "use listed feats at affinity -3, improvise
>other feats at affinity -5, -6, or more."
>> Not in my game, for what its worth.
>> For initiates, using the affinity magic is the norm.
>>
>Now I'm really confused! My impression was that you couldn't use the
>affinity itself for anything. That for initiates that score
>effectively translated to "use listed feats at affinity -3, improvise
>other feats at affinity -5, -6, or more."

The rules give the wrong impression. I apologize for that.

Start with the Pantheon Worship, or Community Worship or whatever you wish to call it for someone who is a member of the religion but not an initiate of anyone. They can ask for divine help, basically "Anyone who is out there, help!" they can expect to get about as much help from the many gods as they have put into it, which is very little.

Note that this is a way that even a devotee can get help for somethign that is outside of his god's domain. For instance, an Orlanthi worshipper may need help in tunneling out of a hold and would ask for Ernalda or Maran Gor for help in this same manner.

Now they initiate to a god. They are in trouble and say, "Help me Orlanth!" They can expect as much help from him as they put in, which is to say a decent chance for it for their 30% of their time. Orlanth assists them in whatever manner he can at that time, and it's up to the narrator to decide how. I just let the players roll on their Relationship versus the standard resitance (14). If successful, they get some help. How much? As much as seems appropriate for the character, the situation and the story at hand. My default is to just treat it as an augment bonus. And it is always a type of help that is appropriate to the deity. A wind, a squall, an alynx happenign by, a bonus to their sword and spear, whatever. This gets no modifiers, just the relationship versus the resistance.

An initiate can certainly ask for somethig that is specific like, "Orlanth, give me a big wind here," or "Orlanth, help me run across the mud here." But he gets an Improvisational Modifier (and not the wimpy -3, but at least -5 and often more) because he is being specific, which is the same as asking for a Feat. A devotee, on the other hand, can ask for the wind because it is a feat, without the modifiers.



Greg Stafford
Issaries, Inc. 900 Murmansk St., Suite 5; Oakland, CA 94607 Phone: (510) 452 1648 Fax: (510) 302 0385 Publisher of Hero Wars, Roleplaying in Glorantha See our site at: <www.glorantha.com>

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