Hero Wars
Issaries, Inc. |
Hero Wars FAQVersion 1.2Revised June 5, 2000 Hero Wars (Player's Book)
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| Q: | Should we allow a character to lose an ability as one of his additional traits? Say, a Humakti who loses the relationship to clan because "...He severed his ties with his kin when he became a devotee of Humakt." | |
| A: | Yes. The simplest way to handle it in this case is just to remove his Relationship and note that his kin will never call on him, but if you want to get fancy with "Resist call of Kin" as an ability, that is possible too. | |
| Q: | Can a character who is devoted to a God also be an initiate of another God (within the same pantheon)? | |
| A: | Yes. It is rare, but possible (assuming the gods and temples involved are both amenable, of course!). A Devotee spends 60% of his time in devotion/acts/jobs for his God. An Initiate spends 30% of his time, so you could be a Devotee of one god and an Initiate of another, or an Initiate of three gods at the same time. However, the character may face some serious time management problems if the gods expect worship on the same day! | |
Keywords
| Q: | What happened to Urox? He is not included in the Heortling keywords! |
| A: | Urox is a special case and was kept out to make sure we get his worship right. |
| Q: | What are Rune Lords now in Hero Wars? If I am a devotee of Humakt, does that mean that I am a Sword of Humakt? If so, it seems like the entry requirements are a lot easier nowadays, even if I also have to take the Priest occupational keyword. |
| A: |
A "Rune Lord," generally speaking, is anyone who has acquired a mastery in each
of their cult’s affinities (though there are usually other requirements as well).
A devotee of a deity is not the same as the old rune lord.
A rune lord is a worshipper who so embodies the attributes (i.e., physical skills, mental skills, virtues, and affinities) of the deity that he becomes a living representative of the deity in the Inner World. He gains access to additional powers, and generally spends all of his time doing the deity's work. A rune lord (or rune priest as some were known) is not merely a devotee who spends more time worshipping the deity. Indeed, a rune lord might not spend more time than a communal worshipper in the temple to his god. Instead, he is out in the world, doing the things that his deity did, and exercising his devotion to the deity in everything that he does. Thus, a Sword of Humakt is the embodiment of Humakt in the Inner World. Although he spends about 90% of his time being a Sword of Humakt, this time is not spent in prayer. Instead, the Sword will be a war leader, perhaps a mercenary captain, and his time is devoted to practicing war and combat, either by training his followers, fighting in battles, or performing the heroquests that made his god the greatest warrior in Glorantha. Priest is a term that describes an occupation, not a magical status. Although most temple leaders who are priests will be devotees, it is possible for an initiate to also be a priest, probably a junior priest or the like who assists the more magically powerful priests. On the other hand, a Sword of Humakt certainly will be a War Leader, Mercenary Captain, or the like, and will not have the priest keyword. Priests of Humakt are known; their duties are to lead worship for initiates, to stand in during the communal worship when Humakt has a role, and to tend the administration of a temple. Thus, he has a job of running his god's temple and ensuring the continued worship of the god, but by no means can be said to be "living the life" of his god. |
| Q: | How does a Durbadath initiate use his Claw and Bite Fighting ability? (You have to be a multiple master devotee to learn the Shapeshift to Lion secret.) |
| A: | Claw and Bite is an unarmed fighting technique. Durbadath worshippers commonly tie lion's claws (or metal replicas) to their hands. These claws are a +1 edge weapon when using the Claw and Bite fighting ability. Durbadath fighters often Bite when grappling their opponents. Normal human teeth have no edge, but the Lion's Bite feat can give them fully functional fangs (an edge when used as an augmentation). When a worshipper learns the Shapeshift to Lion secret, any ability rating in the Claw and Bite ability may be used at full effect in either Human or Lion form (much like the description of Telmori talents on page 216). |
| Q: | Does a steed learn Ride Steed if it takes the magic package? |
| A: | No. |
Rules
| Q: |
What exactly is the order of successes when bumping? In particular, do marginal
and minor successes count as separate levels?
To be perfectly clear, could someone please complete these examples for me: 1) We roll a tie, where am I after one bump? After two bumps? 2) I roll a marginal success, where am I after one bump? after two bumps? |
| A: |
Bumps do not affect Victory Level, they affect Degree of Success - a minor point,
but very significant.
Degree of Success is the outcome of the die roll - it results in Fumbles, Failures, Successes and Criticals. Victory (or Defeat) Level is the comparison of the Degree of Success to the appropriate table, resulting in Marginal, Minor, Major or Complete Victory.
Rolling rules: Bumps take a Fumble to Failure, Failure to Success, and Success to Critical Success. Then you check your Degree of Success against the appropriate table to determine the Victory Level (Marginal, Minor, Major, Complete). In an Ability Test the roll directly equates to the Victory Level, but in Simple and Extended contests, you have to compare your roll result against your opponent's to get the final result. |
| Q: | How do I know what bid is commensurate with a described action? Could someone show me some examples of what would be appropriate? |
| A: | The size of the bid depends partly on the action stated, and partly on how many AP the character has to lose. A "defensive" action is generally a low bid - The hero is playing it safe, not giving his opponent an opening. An action that will either win or lose the contest is a high bid, where the hero goes all out in a make-or-break effort. A low bid is 1/3 or less of the hero's current AP - even if he loses big (3x forfeit) he will still be in the fight. A High bid is 2/3 or more of the hero's current AP (remember, the Hero can bid up to his Starting AP, allowing him to bid more AP than he currently has). A best-case defeat will see the hero down to a few AP, while a 2x forfeit will see him defeated. |
| Q: | Shouldn't the bid be some percentage of the present AP, rather than a fixed amount? After all, the risks you take with a x points bid depend on how many AP you have. A 3 points standard bid does not entail a standard risk if you have less than 3 AP, or if you have as many as 30! |
| A: | The bid should be made in a fixed amount (otherwise you'll just have to translate "1/3 of 25 AP"). The "Standard bid" of 3 AP is a "default" bid for when the player forgets to bid - if the group wishes to change it to suit their own style, that is perfectly acceptable. One proposal we've seen is 3+(3xMastery), so that each mastery level sees +3 added to the default bid (i.e., a default bid for a 0-mastery hero is 3 points, for a 1-mastery hero is 6, etc.). |
| Q: | I'm a bit confused by the combat rules. They state that when a contestant is reduced to 0 or fewer APs, they are out of the contest, yet the ordinary consequences chart has 0 through -10 as being dazed, -11 through -20 as being hurt, -21 through -30 as being injured, and -31 or more as dying. How exactly is the fight over when the loser is only dazed? |
| A: | Real living creatures rarely fight to the death as a matter of course. At 0 APs the loser has lost the will to continue the contest, even if he hasn't received any major wounds (to his body or his pride). |
| Q: |
It is not clear in the rules how specific combat abilities (such as Sword and Shield
Combat) apply to Close Combat and Ranged Combat. I had thought they were separate
abilities with their own Target Rating, but another person who is reading the rules
thinks they are simply ways to specify abilities that don't require an improvisational
modifier.
While I have no problem with this latter model, it does raise one question, which may or may not be a problem -- if I am really good with Sword and Shield, and have some training with Spear and Shield, there is no way to distinguish between these two abilities if both simply use Close Combat without any modifiers. Also, if this type of Affinity/Feat relationship applies to Combat Abilities, what about other types of abilities -- would it apply to other classes of abilities, such as Stealth Abilities, Languages, etc.? I can see this type of classification getting out of hand. |
| A: |
The differences between core abilities and specific abilities is key to understanding
the game.
Sword and Shield Fighting or Spear and Shield Fighting are specific abilities; subsets of the core ability, so no Improvisational Penalties are applied when using that particular weapon or style. Sometimes multiple weapons are included under a single ability, such at Hoplite Tactics or Weaponthane Hand to Hand. However, if they pick up some strange weapon, an improvisational modifier must be applied. If a hero has only the "Close Combat" ability, then all attempts to use it suffer the Improvisational Penalty. A -5 is minimal, a -10 ordinary, and larger if they are using weird stuff like chairs or dead fish. The narrator may, at her option, apply modifiers to any ability - stealth, reading, etc. On the other hand, she can forbid it just as easily. Partly it is up to the player when creating his character - if he writes "Move Quietly in Forest" as an ability, then the narrator may give him a Improvisation Penalty if he tries to move Quietly in the City, or may allow him to use the "Move Quietly" aspect at full value. It depends on the Narrator and the Players. |
| Q: | How do you kill something there and then, completely and instantly? Particularly in the situation when the opponent is in negative APs. |
| A: | Assuming you have already defeated your opponent (driven him to 0 or negative AP) in combat, you can perform the Coup de Grâce, which basically is a Parting Shot that is intended to kill your opponent. Some secrets (such as Humakt's Death secret) can kill just by driving the opponent to 0 AP. |
| Q: | The rules say that a Final Action is part of a Group Contest. Is this the case, or can it be used in any extended contest? |
| A: |
Final Actions occur only in Group Extended contests. This is because defeat in a
(two person) Extended Contest happens as soon as one person drops to 0 AP. He is no
longer able to make any action to continue the contest. In a Group Extended contest,
the victorious fighter may turn to attack someone else, ignoring his "defeated"
opponent. Thus we have the following restrictions on a Final Action: 1. He must be unengaged for a round. 2. He must make an appropriate roll to gain his breath, collect his thoughts, or otherwise get back to positive AP. If you want to be sure that your defeated opponent stays down, either keep an eye on him or perform a Coup de Grâce. |
| Q: | What penalty is imposed on a character who tries to resist a parting shot, beside the wound penalty? |
| A: | None. |
| Q: | Ranged Combat. What happens if they don't have anything to throw back at us? How can they get AP from me when they're helpless? |
| A: | AP do not represent physical wounds, but how close one side is to victory or defeat. The Narrator must decide exactly what both sides are trying to do. The Archers are obviously trying to harm the targets, but what are the targets trying to do? Are they trying to close to hand to hand range? If so, then a transfer of AP means that they have managed to get closer to the archers. Are they trying to get out of range? Then the transfer means that they have moved away, etc. If the target is defeated, it will suffer the physical injuries as indicate don the Consequence chart. The archers are in no physical danger, so what happens in the case of a defeat? Well, first off, the target achieves what it set out to do. The archers may be penalized in their self-confidence, their reputation or some other non-physical ability. |
| Q: | If a great-troll is charging at me with a pole-axe I can 'defend' against this with my 'diplomacy' skill, or maybe my 'confuse stupid creature' skill, assuming I can speak darktongue (maybe I take the lowest of darktongue and 'whatever' ability). If I win the encounter then I've pacified the troll, if he wins he chops my head off. |
| A: | Correct. Note that there is no physical risk to the troll - if you get a Complete Victory he may be shamed, shunned, contrite, your sworn slave, etc., but he will not be physically harmed in any way. The change in AP represents you doing what you want to do, and the troll doing what he wants to do, and the relative success thereof. |
| Q: | What happens when I have 3 mutually hostile opponents? |
| A: | It is a Group Extended Contest with three sides. Each participant in the contest can attack either of his two opponents when it comes time for his action. This type of contest is called a free-for-all. |
| Q: |
Have I understood this correctly? Against, say, 3 attackers: My first defense would be normal My second at -3 My third at -6 |
| A: | Correct. |
| Q: | If I was making 3 attacks, however, all three attacks would be at -6. Is that right? |
| A: | No, you only get to make one "attack" per round (but as many defense rolls as you need, with appropriate penalties). In this particular case you make one attack roll with a -6 penalty. Each of your opponents makes an action roll to defend; only the best result of any of the opponents is used. So, each additional opponent significantly increases the chance that one of the opposing rolls will be better than yours. If you succeed against all your opponents, you divide the AP loss up between your targets as you wish. If you fail and must transfer points, the opponent who rolled lowest gets the benefit of the transfer. |
| Q: |
Now followers can reduce these penalties, however I'm not sure that this rule is a
good idea. Let me give an example: Jrrrz the great troll has skill 10w2 with a Pole
Axe ('tickler', with an extra +5 edge - who said there were no +1 swords in
Glorantha:-)) and wears lead plate mail also enchanted to +5. His skill is therefore
10w2 ^10.
He has three followers, all trollkin, stark-bollock naked, wielding sticks. They
have a skill of 6 and 6 AP. If Jrrrz and his trollkin were treated as individuals,
the encounter would have: |
| A: | Not necessarily. You only make a defense roll if someone attacks you - the opponents could decide to whittle down his trollkin first. Or they might decide to all attack Jrrrz, getting multiple attacker mods. |
| Q: |
If Jrrrz used his trollkin as followers, then the encounter would present you with: a) Four 'attacks' at 10w2^10 b) Four 'defenses' at 10w2^10 |
| A: | Nope, he'd get *one* attack at 10w2^5, with 50+(3x6)=68AP. He can fight up to 4 opponents with no penalties (either for attack or defense). However, if he gets hit for a 6 AP loss, he loses one follower, at 12 AP he loses another, and at 18 the last, possibly getting penalties for multiple attack/defense as his trollkin are "worn away". |
| Q: | How do I judge it when a third person enters an Extended contest already in process? Do the APs of the two already-engaged participants "reset" when the third person steps in? |
| A: | If a third character enters an extended contest between two characters already in progress, he does so with his usual starting AP value. The contest becomes a Group Extended contest. APs of contestants already involved do not change. |
| Q: | Can you explain the Multiple Attacker penalty? Do I have to defend against each and every person who attacks me? |
| A: | A character faces the Multiple Attacker penalty when he has to make more than one defense in a round. Each defense after the first has a cumulative -3 penalty, so if Joe is faced by three Lunar skirmishers, he will defend once at his normal ability rating, once at -3, and once at -6. His attack ability is not impaired. |
| Q: | So, what happens if you don't defend? A straight 14 resistance by the lucky attacker? |
| A: | Let the lucky attacker roll an Ability test (with no AP loss if he fails). If he succeeds, then the defender is driven to whatever level of defeat is indicated by the die roll. |
| Q: | Regarding the combat example: first thing is, the Trollkin are supposed to have a skill of 6 with their club, yet they are given 12 APs. Is this a mistake or have I misunderstood something? |
| A: | They augmented before the ambush. |
| Q: | Secondly, why aren't the Trollkin simply treated as followers of the Dark Troll? Wouldn't this be the way you would normally deal with these sort of encounters? |
| A: | That would be as valid a way to play it, but as a general rule, it is better to have a separate opponent for each of the Heroes than let them all attack one target. |
| Q: | In fact, say you were attacked by a pack of (anything - e.g. zombies), would you make them all individuals or would you nominate a leader and have the rest as followers? I like the idea of the latter because it makes encounters quicker to resolve (can you remember how long this sort of thing took with RQ). |
| A: | HW will let you do it however you want - in this particular example you can have 1 dark troll with trollkin followers who just give APs (total: 1 opponent); 1 dark troll with a "composite" trollkin band (total: 2 opponents); 1 dark troll with two "composite" trollkin bands of 2 trollkin each (total: 3 opponents); or 1 dark troll with individual trollkin acting on their own (total: five opponents). It depends on how important the scene is to your story, how much dice rolling you want to do, and how many player characters you have. |
| Q: | When it comes to hurling a dozen underlings at the players - I would actually do it like this if I were worried about AP carryovers. I'd assign all five trollkin per player a single rating and then use that rating as the basis for the extended contest. E.g. Trollkin mob 3w2, or Pack of dogs 12w2, or Trusty henchmen squad 10w3. |
| A: |
When creating "composite" groups like this, the Ability ratings are not added
together, but the APs are: Trollkin mob 12 (60AP) - the mob won't hit any better, but it can make larger bids, and absorb more "hits". Also note that this slightly favors the Player hero, since the entire mob makes 1 attack, thus the trollkin do not get the multiple attacker benefits. This is good for those scenes of heroes wading through foes and slaughtering them right & left. If you want to show the heroes getting plowed under by a mob of enraged trollkin, then roll separate attacks and apply the multiple attacker effect. Each individual trollkin is now easier to kill, but they just keep coming and biting and stabbing and biting and clubbing... |
| Q: | I thought they could multiply attack - at least, would you not treat them as 1 trollkin with a bunch of followers? |
| A: | There is no "right way" - it all depends on the situation and the needs of the story. The difference between one-with-followers and a mob is that if you defeat the mob, they all suffer the same level of defeat. If you defeat one-with-followers, he suffers the stated level of defeat, and his followers all suffer one level worse. If you don't care what happens to the opponents once they are defeated, then the two ways of running it are identical (one attack with a single ability rating and many AP). |
| Q: | Are the pairs of bids/attacks simultaneous? Can the outcome of a HW combat be mutual destruction? Like Arthur and Mordred both going down with mortal wounds (ala the movie "Excalibur"). Or is there a dying blow rule? |
| A: |
In an Extended contest the Actor and Opponent trade off doing the bids - in the first
exchange the Actor makes a bid, in the second exchange the opponent makes a bid, etc.
You can have a simultaneous defeat - if both characters roll failures/fumbles they both lose AP. |
| Q: | Are handicaps added to the stake before multiplication, as are edges? |
| A: | Handicaps use all the same rules as edges, except that they subtract from the bid, rather than adding. |
Basic Magic
| Q: | Difficult Magics (D+x). What does the D+x mean exactly? Does D+80 mean that the resistance is someone's Target points +4w or just 4w? |
| A: | The "x" is added to any other resistance. If you try to teleport to a line-of-sight location (a D+20 difficulty), you need to beat a resistance of 14w (20 + the normal 14 resistance of "the world"). If you try to transform your opponent into a frog you need to beat his resistance to magic + 40. |
Theistic Magic
| Q: | The sections about 'Devotion to a great god', are you talking about say Orlanth or any of his aspects. So if you were a Orlanth Rex Devotee and you learned the Secret would you then be taken from play as the last paragraph in that chapter seems to indicate? |
| A: |
Orlanth Rex's Secret is Command Storm People. You would not be removed from play
for learning it. The Secret of Orlanth the Great God is Become Air, which would
remove you from play.
As a general note, if you learn the secret of an aspect of a god you won't get hit by the "removed from play" type secrets. If you worship the Great God directly, his (or her) secret will usually remove the character from play. |
| Q: | Spirit of Reprisal. Are there going to be rules about these? |
| A: | Not in the basic rules. More specific books such as She Guards Us and Thunder Rebels will present more complete cultic information. Note that for most gods, the "Spirit of Reprisal" is really a minor god, not a spirit (i.e., the being comes from the God Plane, not the Spirit Plane). |
| Q: | What OTHER subcults/traditions can I join and what can I do about getting more feats? |
| A: | We have not even begun to scratch the surface of the cults in Dragon Pass in the basic rules. Books like She Guards Us and Thunder Rebels will have more cults and subcults, affinities and feats. However, you are encouraged to make up your own cults, affinities, feats, etc. Even the feats listed for each god in the basic book are not all the feats available for that affinity. Make up more, change them, have a ball! |
| Q: | I may not be able to join one of those little cults but what about me joining all those Thunder Brother cults. That looks confusing. |
| A: |
The Thunder Brothers are the younger sons and brothers of the main gods of the
Storm pantheon. They can be worshipped directly, or as subcults of a Storm God
(not all storm gods have the same relationship to the Thunder Brothers). They can
be worshipped as a collective by being a member of the religion without initiating
to any deity.
Remember that initiation takes up 30% of your time and energy. If you want to be initiated to, say, Orlanth Adventurous and Vanganth, that is no problem. Most people, however, will just worship Vanganth as a subcult of Orlanth Adventurous to get his magic. |
| Q: | I'm a Humakti devotee and I don't want to be an initiate of Orlanth but I still want to join the subcults. |
| A: | Join a subcult of Humakt. Devotees shouldn't be looking at other God's subcults - though anything is possible if you can convince the priests (and the narrator). Devotion to a god is meant to represent major identification with the deity under question. Humakt doesn't fly or throw thunderstones. A devotee of Humakt shouldn't want to do those things. If a god has a flight aspect, then he will have his own subcult that teaches it. Maybe a Humakti hero 'way back when' learned the Flight affinity and is now worshipped for it, or your character might actually be the first one to do it - which may allow him to become a worshipped hero! |
| Q: | If Initiates cannot buy the feats of their god but can get the feats of a subcult, that seems... weird, especially if one treats something like Hedkoranth as a Subcult of Orlanth. Or is Orlanth Adventurous considered a subcult as well? I admit, it seemed simple until I started thinking about the matter.... |
| A: | Orlanth is a Great God. Great gods can't be worshipped as a whole entity (well, they can, but you get less in the short run, and out of the game in the long run). Orlanth Adventurous is an Aspect of Orlanth - a bit of the great god that people can get their minds around. Aspects are about the same "level" as the gods of a pantheon. The "role" of aspects and gods can be described in one or two words - Humakt is the god of Death (or Death and Truth), Orlanth Adventurous is the god of Adventurers (or warriors), etc. If you get more than a couple words of "role", you are probably looking at a great god. (Orlanth is the god of storms, rulership, command, warriors, seasons). Subcults worship smaller gods or larger heroes (the line between the two is tenuous, at best). These beings don't have a lot of powers that they can give their followers (while we included three affinities for gods & aspects, and only one for heroes & subgods, there is no reason you can't give them more or less), but they are more easily approached than a god or aspect. |
| Q: | Are the +5 With Sword Skill gifts stackable? Or is +5 with Sword and Shield, +5 with Sword, +5 With Sword and Dagger, +5 with Greatsword... or are they stackable and specific? |
| A: |
The intent of the +5 Sword gift is that you must specify the type of sword ability
in the gift - +5 Sword & Shield, +5 Greatsword, etc. and the type of non-sword skill
in the geas - all maces (that includes maces, batons, mauls, etc), all axes (hatchets,
hand axes, battle axes, great axes, glaive-guisarm-voulges...) etc.
Don't allow two +5's to a particular skill without a much nastier geas - in the specific case of Humakt's +5 sword skill, if the narrator allows a +10 bonus then the character should be unable to use any non-sword skill, not just two non-sword skills (note that he would not be able to take a different +5 Sword gift, since there aren't any non-sword skills left to "never use"). |
| Q: | If a subcult only teaches a single feat (e.g., the Whirlwind Combat feat of the Hidden Gale warband), does it get added to a character's existing affinity of the parent cult (Orlanth Adveturous's Combat affinity)? |
| A: | No. It is a one-off ability, and must be learned and raised seperately from any other affinities or feats. |
Sorcerous Magic
No questions yet.Animist Magic
| Q: |
Are Fetishes specific to the type of spirit that you are placing in them? I'm guessing that the answer ought to be yes - For example a Fly spirit fetish might include a feather, while a Combat fetish includes a predators tooth. |
| A: |
I'd say that it depends on your play style and players. In Gloranthan Reality,
yes, it matters very much. Tradition Knowledge helps you determine that you
need a primary flight feather from the left wing of a Spotted Hawk when making
a fetish for a "Fly high" spirit of the Long Man spirit tradition.
Now, in Hero Wars, you can drive your plots by making the heroes get the absolute correct items for their fetishes, or you can ignore it. One way can be a lot of fun and lead to many strange adventures, but it can also be a lot of work if the narrator is the only one making up "ingredient lists". The other way leads to "lessened Gloranthan immersion" but runs a heck of a lot faster. As far as "refilling" fetishes, what is meant is that your "fetish quota" may be "refilled" between adventures, not that the physical fetish is "refilled". Some 1-use fetishes may be destroyed by the act of invoking the spirit within - "throw this packet into the fire to summon the spirit", "smash this gourd", "eat this leaf"... |
| Q: |
How many "parts" of Hsunchen-ness are there, anyway? I don't get a sense for this from
the tiny bit on Telmor in the example. There seems to be sight, smell, & "legs."
What I'm after is whether or not there's a "set" number, or (argh!) if you have to
try and encapsulate the beast entirely. For example, for Bee, I can think of: This still leaves out the body, really. Plus I might be missing some aspects of bee-ness. I guess "puke honey" could be there, but... |
| A: | There is no set number -- there can be dozens of talents gained from the animal. The key is that you simply have to have three of them. For a Telmori, all three could be about legs -- Overbear Foe, Walk Silently, and Run Quickly, for example. Once you have learned those three talents to the correct level, you can learn the Shapechange secret, even though you do not have any talent to represent the wolf's other abilities. For a Gorakiki-Bee worshipper, you could have Fly, Hover, and Speak With My Wings as my talents. And from those three talents, even without anything dealing with my body, legs, arms, or head, I am eligible to learn the secret. |
| Q: | Also confusing: is the Transform ability transforming you into the shape without the integrated spirits, or it's allowing you to use the integrated spirits to transform? |
| A: |
It is a Secret -- it is independent of the integrated spirits. Since all Telmori
are, at their core, wolves with the spirits of wolves, they can learn how to take
the physical shape of their own spirit.
When you integrate a spirit, it is a permanent part of you -- it is not like possession. A shaman can't come up and exorcise the integrated spirits, any more than he could exorcise an affinity or sorcerous spell. When you die, the spirits are part of your spirit, and go to the afterlife with you. There ARE a few rare circumstances where the integrated spirit could be separated from you, but they are uncommon, and basically are exceptions to the rule. Telmor himself could do it, if you met him on the Spirit Plane and he didn't think you were a very good Telmori, for example. Basically, the hsunchen Secrets act like affinities, but that is not what they are, merely a game mechanic. You transform into a Wolf, and as such you can use any ability that a wolf could. But, you are not used to being in a wolf's body, so the abilities start out at a rather low level. After learning the secret, you can continue to integrate new wolf talents, and those talents will be used at their normal level in wolf form. |
| Q: | Change Own Form is D+20, but on p. 216 its resistance is the normal 14. |
| A: | This is addressed in the errata - Hsunchen do not suffer the D+20 modifier when changing their own shape. |
| Q: | Do fetishes need to be cemented? |
| A: | Yes. |
| Q: | An integrated passion spirit starts at a ridiculously small target number... |
| A: | Passion spirits do not provide the normal "add an ability and AP" like Skill Spirits. Passion Spirits give a bonus (1/10th their might) to all skills used in certain circumstances (fighting chaos, fight light, etc). |
| Q: | What level of use (i.e. once/day) do purchased fetishes have? |
| A: |
The default usage for fetishes purchased by non-shamans is 1 use. The
default usage of fetishes purchased by shamans (or others with the Spirit
Combat ability) is 1/day. However, the narrator may allow the player a roll
to determine the Success level of the Spirit combat. We include two
suggestions:
Ability test against Spirit Combat (no bumps allowed):
Simple test of Spirit Combat vrs Might |
Mystic Magic
No questions yet.Advanced Magic
| Q: | Does the loss of points for a strike apply to theistic secrets that work like strikes? |
| A: | Yes. |
Narrator's Book
Moderating the Game
No questions yet.Otherworld Magic
| Q: | Is it possible that a single deity would have more than one door to a single age? For example, Orlanth was very, very active in the Storm Age. Might he have several doors to different "time periods" of the Storm Age, or at least one for the early time and one for the late? How does this kind of thing work? |
| A: |
No, the Storm Age is just the Storm Age. Remember that there is no Time to keep
everything from happening at the same time (even the various ages - Green, Golden,
Storm, Darkness - should really be squished together, but that would make it a bit
tougher to understand).
It works because the traveler must prepare the way while they are in their own temple, then enter their god's inner temple, and they exit into the right moment to start the events that they prepared for. |
Relationships
No questions yet.Hero Bands
No questions yet.Creatures
| Q: | The Walktapus has Poison Gas Cloud 18w, but its poison gas has a potency of 20. Which is used? |
| A: | The walktapus may use the PGC ability as an augmentation to it's normal attacks. In this case, the "poison" is not lethal. If the narrator introduces a scenario where a hero is actually poisoned with Walktapus gas (fighting in an enclosed space or having a bag full of gas pressed to his face, for example) then the potency of the gas is used. |
| Q: | Why does the trollkin (a slave or a warrior?) have Close Combat 6? This is the default... |
| A: | Because Trollkin are weedy little monsters. Warrior trollkin have a Close Combat of 14. |
Glorantha
No questions yet.The Rising Dark
| Q: | Does a Fire worshipper see a path in the Grotto of Despair? |
| A: | No. Parties that have no Earth, Air, Water or Darkness followers are at a great disadvantage in this particular underworld. They wander lost for a long time, encountering the denizens of the Grotto until the narrator feels pity for them and allows them to encounter the Thatched skull. Alternatively, a submissive Saranakt will fly, walk or swim the appropriate path with only minimal encouragement from the whip. |
