[Rq-rules] Enhancing Divine Magic

[Styopa]

I especially like the benefit for special and critical worship successes -
talk about an incentive to prosytelize.  :)

I had the same problem, I found few people (including myself) that believed
reward=>cost for Divine Magic.  So I spent a lot of time coming up with
rationales for the various magics, to explain why they were different, and
more importantly, how those differences could come through in gameplay.

My rationales:
General Spirit Magics are cantrips; the kind of magics performed by
hedge-wizards and local witches with minor effects like lighting a little
fire or mending a broken pot.  (Game rule: just about anyone could learn
them, but no player could have spirit magics greater than character's
POW/6).
More powerful spirit magics (4+) involve actually trafficking with minor
spirits.  These aren't actually represented in-game i.e. with stats, but the
effects would be described that way: a bladesharp 5 might be a keening
spirit borne on the sharp edge of a sword etc.  Game effects (and
non-canonical spells) would be things that you could have such a creature do
- put out a light, distract someone, find someone, etc...the more powerful
the spell, the more efficacious the spirit.  Works better: on living
creatures; Works worse: against inanimate objects (particularly manufactured
ones like a door) and the undead (unless the undead's spirit itself can be
dominated and controlled)

Sorcery was easy.  I always personally liked RQ3 sorcery, with it's pure
mechanistic effects.  With Sandy's Tekumel spell lists it didn't take much
fluffing.  Works best: in high mana areas (I created a map of Glorantha with
Ley Lines arcing across it) Works worst: in low mana places

Divine magic is a) intrinsically more powerful and b) guided by the hand of
a nearly omniscient god.  So a blast-effect spell can be detonated in the
midst of the party and it would only affect the bad guys.  I tended to give
bonus effects to spells cast on party members that participated in worship
and weren't of an inimical cult.  A healing spell would give precise
feedback about what remained to be healed/fixed.  Works best: in/near
worshippers; Works worst: in enemy temples/consecrated grounds.


On 11/28/06, Jim Bickmeyer <bick10 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I allow initiates to regain Divine spells on holy days.  Whether they were
> low or high holy days don't matter.  The exception is Divine spells that
> state Non-Reusable.  Priests and Rune Lords only need to worship at a holy
> site to regain reusable divine spells.  If you want to increase the magic
> level, then allow the Non-Reusable to be renewed on holy days, or only the
> high holy day.
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