From: owner-runequest-rules@ (RuneQuest Rules Digest) To: runequest-rules-digest@lists.MPGN.COM Subject: RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #154 Reply-To: runequest-rules@mpgn.com Sender: owner-runequest-rules@ Errors-To: owner-runequest-rules@ Precedence: bulk RuneQuest Rules Digest Thursday, September 17 1998 Volume 01 : Number 154 RuneQuest is a trademark of Avalon Hill Games. All Rights Reserved. TABLE OF CONTENTS Re: [RQ-RULES] New spell Re: [RQ-RULES] New spell [RQ-RULES] Full Throw, Missile Damage [RQ-RULES] Missile Damage [RQ-RULES] Devastating Archers [RQ-RULES] DMD - Elder Elemental God for RQ/Greyhawk RULES OF THE ROAD 1. Do not include large sections of a message in your reply. Especially not to add "Yeah, I agree" or "No, I disagree." Or be excoriated. If someone writes something good and you want to say "good show" please do. But don't include the whole message you praise. 2. Use an appropriate Subject line. 3. Learn the art of paraphrasing: Don't just quote and comment on a point-by-point basis. 4. No anonymous posting, please. Don't say something unless you're ready to stand by it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 14:24:49 -0700 From: "Jarold Davis" Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] New spell >You might as well drop all magic from the game on the same basis. Gee, there's a thought. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 18:00:54 -0400 From: Richard Ohlson Subject: Re: [RQ-RULES] New spell Leon Kirshtein wrote: > >> An elf in our campaign seems to roll a lot of impales > >>with her bow, making it deadly enough without magic. > > > Several of my characters are almost impale immune with armor + > >protection > 14AP. A common statement from the toughest players is > >"don't bother rolling damage unless you have a crit". There needs to > be > >an equalizer for arrows, after all, they were decisive at places like > >Agincourt. > Another option, btw, is to have bad guys handy with dismiss and dispell magics handy. Having one's Shield or Prot 4 go away in the middle of a fight is very disheartening. And if you want to rely on criticals, make sure that there are elves around with Arrow trance and say forty extraneous magic points. Criticals come much easier when you are at +40% to hit. Not to mention any bonuses for the first round shot from ambush and the "+10" for spending a whole round aiming. You might want to give out Really Cool yet not very protective armor also. Something like a silver crown that gives +20 to scan, but can not be worn with other head armor. One problem that I'm sure you've encountred allready with overly armored PC's is that it requires SOOOOOOOO much damage to penetrate, that when a critical comes through it really pounds 'em. And if it's in the Head, Chest, or Abdoman, there is a good chance that they'll die from massive damage. (i.e. not healable, go directly to ressurection, pay through the nose.) Now, if you're still looking for a way to "punch through armor", you could allways try to invent a "strength bow" i.e. one that allows you to add part or all of your damage bonus. Personally, I've found that Huge and Strong Lizard men with Javelins and 2d6 damage modifier (halved for missiles, of course) can butcher mediumly armored PC's in a couple of volleys. Heck, if you want 'em to be REALLY nasty, get atlatls which add to the damage, and throw speeddart on top. Plus, if the bad guys don't get a 2d6 damage modifier (i.e. normal humans) give 'em Strength 4. That's +12 to strengh, and if the guys are allready big and strong, you've got some nasty javelins. Oh, and put 'em in a swamp or on boats where the players won't WANT to wear heavy armor for fear of fallin' to the bottem.... I don't know if there are rules in RQ for "Firing into a group", but I would think it would be much easier. Perhaps a lesser chance to Crit or Special, but the base chance to hit would go up. This might not mean much to armored types, until their mounts start falling on them. And who is going to lug around full plate mail when they have to WALK? I guess, if you don't want to play around with the rules too much, the secret to "winning" with archers is quantity, not quality. Double the attackers and halve their skill. Sooner or later, somebody will crit, ignore the armor, and do impaling damage somewhere. Even if it just disables an armor, that's one last parry or attack...a leg will drop em to the ground and I don't think anybody let's archers fire from the ground. Head, Chest, Abdoman....and they'll probably drop unconsious. And if the players aren't sure HOW MANY people are firing, five guys with Multimissile 4, and ten guys with speed dart FEEL like 30 guys with jazzed up arrows. (Though only half the arrows can impale.) One last trick, trolkin and elves can attack while in total darkness. Nothing drives PC's more insane than a bow attack at night while they are in their jammies. And lets face it, a naked PC is an archers dream target. So, no, I don't think archers can REALLY take on Knights, unless the Knights are idiots and get their horses bogged down in mud and the archers can take their time turning them into pin-cushions. Rich Ohlson *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 09:59:53 +0000 From: "Simon Phipp" Subject: [RQ-RULES] Full Throw, Missile Damage Jim Bickmeyer gives an excellent spell - Fulthrow. I would happily steal this as a 2 point Divine Spell allowing people to use their full DB for thrown weapons and would stick it in the Hurler cult of the Trolls. As it stands, the spell is good but I don't like 1D6 + 1D3 splits, so I would say each point affects up to 1D6 per point, allowing the RQ2 Fullthrow 4 affect trolls etc., but there again I prefer a higher powered game. As to game balance, this has precious little effect, only adding a few points of damage but looking nice, so no-one can complain :-) As to the Spirit Cult, stick in in the Hurler or as a Spirit Friend of certain Hunter deities. I would not make it readily avaialable to all Peltasts simply because not everyone has access to the best spells. Bob Stancliffe in reply to my points: > RU>Do you allow Fireblade and Bladesharp to stack together (to do > 3D6 + RU>1D4 + 4, for instance)? If so, you should allow Woundart > and RU>FireArrow to stack. > I know I don't. I think the designer was right not to let the > blade > spells stack. Adding strength damage is usually enough. > > RU>Similarly, if you allow FireArrow and Speedart to > RU>stack then so should Woundart and Speedart. > If you allow these to stack then you don't need Woundart, it > would be > redundant with Speedart, and if you made Speedart variable, it would > be the missile equivalent to Bladesharp. Exactly, that is why no sane person would allow these spells to stack. > RU>For high level characters, give them sorcery or Lunar Manipulates > and RU>watch the armour turn to butter. > I play a Pavis game, killing a Lunar can get you crucified so > players > avoid fighting them. Besides, the only people able to throw Lunar > manipulations are elite Lunar magicians who are 7 Mothers priests > already. So, join the Lunars or steal their matrices. Anyway, you only get crucified if you get caught or if you don't blame someone else. > RU>Regarding the comparison with Agincourt, they used longbows > RU>(1D10 + 1 damage). > RQ longbows do 1d8+1 so you are refering to, or suggesting, a > modified rule? RQ Dragonewts use a longbow which does 1D10 + 1 and always have. They are the bows I use since they should do more damage than a normal bow. > If you allow missile bonus to be added to strengthened > RU>bows (which I do) then they do 1D10 + 1 + 1D4, an average of 9 on > a RU>normal hit or 20 on an impale. > Bows that add missile damage from strength is another suggested > modification? Whoops! That is what I meant, some typos slipped in there. You only add Missile DB to modified bows. > I have Impales do double damage, not normal + max as you seem to > run. I use the RQ2 Imapling/Slashing/Crushing except that crushing adds the DB twice, rather than adding the Max DB. In RQ2, Impales did Max weapon damage + rolled weapon damage. Firearrows did 3D6 + Max weapon damage. It actually worked really well. > > RU>A normal hit would therefore penetrate > RU>normal armour, on average, an impale would destroy a location. > With > Normal armor without Protection, yes. My players run 14AP+ which > bounces your normal hit and stings when you impale. Absolutely, but a good impale can still do up to 23 HP damage with speedart - enough to shatter a limb or vital location. > Is MultiMissile supposed to get the strength bonus for each arrow > with your new bow? These are the kind of missile enhancing rules I > suggested the game needs. Yes, in my opinion Multimissile gets all the non-magical damage of the normal missile. So, if my bow does 1D8 + 1 + 1D2 then so would the multis. If I had a magical arrow which did 2D8 + 2 damage then the multis would only do 1D8 + 1 + 1D2, but the first one does 2D8 + 2 + 1D2. > 7AP is Cuirbouilli and Prot 4, I consider that light. Seven hits > to > kill someone is bad, but at least the arrow is going to do some > damage now instead of bouncing. If Protection was not used then a shower of arrows would turn the target intop a pin cushion. Using defensive magic requires the use of offensive magic to do damage. > RU>But, a bad rule is a bad rule. FireArrow always impaled in RQ2 > and RU>should still impale, a composite bow doing 3D6 + 9 for an > impale, > Did FireArrow impale in RQ2? I thought the restriction rule was > there too. Where did 3d6+9 come from, it doesn't match any of your > examples. I guess this is 3d6 from FireArrow plus 9 for max comp > bow arrow instead of 3d6+18 which would be FireArrow damage plus max > FireArrow damage. Exactly, this is the RQ2 damage. > I think that the important concept that has been overlooked is > that > all spells intended for missile enhancement give a moderate bonus at > a large MP cost since they only work once and disipate. I don't > mind the players having a variable Speedart 4 spell if they are > burning 4MP each time they get +8 and +40% (per my spell > suggestion). It gives them one chance to be deadly and then they > have to try something else. Missile damage is a freebie with absolutely no risk to the person shooting. Therefore magic gives a reduced affect (one-shot spells). Melee combat has high risk (you can be killed each round) so magic gives a better return (temporal stackable spells). > In an extended battle, a Bladesharp 4 > would do far more damage per MP because it would be used several > times. Firearrow is a damage equalizer for wimps, normal Speedart > isn't good enough to be decisive, and MultiMissile is a joke for > anything smaller than a Medium Crossbow or Javelin. Don't you believe it - a good skill turns Multimissile into a Criticalling-machine and devastates even tough opponents - I have seen it happen on many occasions. > Try this combat example: take your 2H Spear with Bladesharp 4 and > 2d6 > strength bonus and castMultiMissile 4, throw it for Javelin damage > (1d10 per the errata) and get five attacks at 1d10+4+2d3. Then go > pick it up and you still have the Bladesharp. The Bladesharp would > not affect the hit% for the throw but it would add the damage > (perhaps to only the first missile). This can incapacitate someone > in a medium level game. Absolutely, I play the same effects for Bladesharp on spears. However, if the person picks it up and throws it back at you .... *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 13:16:44 -0500 From: stancliff@commnections.com Subject: [RQ-RULES] Missile Damage RU>Jim Bickmeyer gives an excellent spell - Fulthrow. RU>As to the Spirit Cult, stick in in the Hurler or as a Spirit Friend RU>of certain Hunter deities. I would not make it readily avaialable to RU>all Peltasts simply because not everyone has access to the best RU>spells. I guess it's OK as a Special Rune spell, especially with your modification to smooth the effect, basically convert 1d3 of throw bonus per point.. RU>Bob Stancliffe in reply to my points: Please, that's Stancliff (no -e). RU>> If you allow these to stack then you don't need Woundart, it RU>> would be redundant with Speedart, RU>> and if you made Speedart variable, it would RU>> be the missile equivalent to Bladesharp. RU>Exactly, that is why no sane person would allow these spells to RU>stack. Then I take it you were opposed to the Woundart spell, since you don't want any missile spells to stack. A variable Speedart doesn't unbalance the whole campaign, it just gives you one chance to make an arrow do sword damage at a high MP cost. A one shot bonus is only meaningful in small engagements where you have spare MP's to throw away. It can be useful for that important target, but can drain you in any extended engagements. RU>So, join the Lunars or steal their matrices. Anyway, you only get RU>crucified if you get caught or if you don't blame someone else. This is unrealistic in Gloranthan terms. Most characters could never remain undetected if the item was valuable or the victim was important. The light of Truth is not easily blocked, it merely requires money. RU>RQ Dragonewts use a longbow which does 1D10 + 1 and always have. They RU>are the bows I use since they should do more damage than a normal RU>bow. I am not necessarily opposed to all LongBows doing d10+1. The errata raised Javelins to d10 and they are thrown. I don't think that it is culturally right for there to be easy access to Dragonnewt weapons, but it isn't impossible to get them if you know about them. They should certainly have harsher stat requirements. IMG I allowed the PC who killed Krang the Dream Dragon to take some of the parts to a bow master who made a couple of Dragon Comp. Bows: 2d6 (17 str) range between Longbow and Med Crowsbow. Much later they killed a couple of small giants and tried the same thing. Lower grade parts made them 2d6-1 (16 str). The moderate increase in damage has certainly made them a little more effective. Simply allowing all specially made Comp and Long bows (or all missile weapons) to get strength bonus would go quite a way toward relieving the damage problem and would be rather realistic. After all, people today commonly shop for a bow with the right pull strength so that they can increase their effectiveness. RU>If Protection was not used then a shower of arrows would turn the RU>target intop a pin cushion. Using defensive magic requires the use of RU>offensive magic to do damage. Personal observation... very few battles are fought with equal technology. Opponents tend to have slightly better skill and players tend to have much better magic. RU>> In an extended battle, a Bladesharp 4 RU>> would do far more damage per MP because it would be used several RU>> times. Firearrow is a damage equalizer for wimps, normal Speedart RU>> isn't good enough to be decisive, and MultiMissile is a joke for RU>> anything smaller than a Medium Crossbow or Javelin. RU>Don't you believe it - a good skill turns Multimissile into a RU>Criticalling-machine and devastates even tough opponents - I have RU>seen it happen on many occasions. Edit that to read 'exceptionally good skill', I have tried it on several occasions to no effect... the cost in MP's was never justified by the damage results. Even at 100%, the 5% critical doesn't happen very often. If it does, you have a consistently lucky player or one who traps dice. At 200% you are starting to see a decent number of criticals that can win a battle. While this is certainly possible, the spells that allow it are Rare (can you say Aldrya?). Bob Stancliff (Stancliff@commnections.com) (http://commnections.com/upgrades) to: INT:runequest-rules@MPGN.COM cc: INT:lackey@gator.net INT:afn50803@afn.org INT:twobears@commnections.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 00:39:59 +0100 From: Nikk Effingham Subject: [RQ-RULES] Devastating Archers I have but this to add: One bow. One Humakti. One "wear no leg armour geas" Add an aimed blow and you soon have one seriously, seriously injured character. Nikk E. _______________________________________________________ Nikk Effingham E-mail: nikk@MailAndNews.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/7556/ "If absolute power corrupts absolutely where does that leave god?" --George Daacon _______________________________________________________ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 17:25:56 -0400 From: Tal Meta Subject: [RQ-RULES] DMD - Elder Elemental God for RQ/Greyhawk Purely as an aside, my wife and I had a baby boy back on the 8th (Corwin Robert). I should eventually get back to this project on a regular basis... Gods of the Drow GHAUNADAUR (The Elder Elemental God) Runes: Chaos, Slavery, and Inner Planes Known in ancient texts as Vilp-akf'cho Rentaq, but more commonly known as either the Elder Elemental God, or That-Which-Lurks, Ghaunadaur is the god of Slavery, Chaos, and the Elemental Planes. Cult in the World Ghaundaur's origins are lost to modern scholars, even among the drow. It is believed that he was originally worshipped by several amorphous intelligent races of the underworld, among them ropers, and various sentient slimes or jellies, all of whom fell to ruin in his service. Though this caused his power to wane, his worship continued and grew among those wanderers of the underworld who found his abandoned altars and understood their purpose. Ghaundaur has no High Holy Days, though services and the accompanying sacrifices are expected daily. Altars to Ghaundaur are always located underground, usually in forgotten or lightly travelled tunnels or caverns. Ghaundaur's priesthood wear a wide variety of robes, but shades of orange, purple, red and black re most common. Silver and copper jewelry often denote rank, as well. Lay Membership Requirements: Ghaunadaur will accept worship from anyone or anything, though rebels, hunters, and loners of any stripe most often turn to this god for power. Skills are not commonly taught to lay members of this cult, who in many cases might not even have a priesthood to teach them in any case. Initiate Membership Requirements: Standard, though it requires a sacrifice of 2 POW to join Ghaundaur's initiates (commonly known as the Procurers of the Sacred Eye). As a mark of their devotion, the eye color of a Procurer takes on a slight lavender tinge, and they henceforth will have 6 points of automatic resistance to poison. (However, the points of poison successfully blocked must be noted, see below). Skills taught to inititaes include Dodge, Intimidate, Orate, Evaluate, Mineral Lore, Plant Lore, Poison Lore, Conceal, Track, Hide, Sneak, Ceremony, and Staff attack/parry. Spirit Magic: Befuddle, Demoralize, False Healing, Silence, Torture. Acolyte Membership Requirements: As per priests. Acolytes of Ghaundaur (known as the Lesser Eyes) see their eyes turn a deeper shade, nearly plum, and gain 6 AP worth of armor against acids (again, all points of acid damage resisted must be kept track of), in addition to their continued resistace to poison. Priesthood Requirements: Standard, though like initiates and acolytes, a sacrifice of 2 points of POW is required. Known as the Eyes of Servitude, the final ceremonies investing them with their Lord's power and authority turns their eyes a translucent amethyst color, and they gain 6 points worth of resistance (either AP or Countermagic, as appropriate), to spells linked to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire or Water. Priests of Ghaundaur are charged with converting new worshippers to Ghaundaur, killing the priests of other cults (unless they can be converted, as above), punishing those who transgress against the precepts taught by the cult, and carrying out whatever acts the Great Eye bids them to do through dreams or omens. Failure to make the daily sacrifice of a sentient being to their Lord carries harsh penalties; normally, a sacrifice of food, burned in oil can be made in place of a living sacrifice, but if even that is unavailable, the priest must pray while holding his own hand inside the temple's flame. If the prayer is acceptable, (POW x3 chance), Ghaundaur will heal the priest of all but 1 point of damage sustained in that act. Otherwise the priest is maimed. If the priest fumbles his roll, Tzolktal takes his soul. Virtues for Ghaundaur include Cruel, Destructive, Manipulative, and Vengeful. Common Divine Magic: all Special Divine Magic: Blood Offering, Chaos Spawn, Consume, Spawnvenom, Sweat Acid, Wither. Associated Gods None. - -- talmeta@bellatlantic.net - I *am* one of the Chosen Few! ICQ - 12594453 AIM - talmeta1 TANJ Lives! - Alternate Homepage - *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of RuneQuest Rules Digest V1 #154 ************************************* *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the line 'unsubscribe runequest-rules' as the body of the message. RuneQuest is a Trademark of Avalon Hill Games. 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