[Rq-rules] Enhancing Divine Magic

[Steve Perrin]

My current approach to Divine Magic for Initiates and Acolytes is to make it renewable. They are just limited on how many spells they can sacrifice for and may have a problem with how they renew them (Holy days are good, or returning to the shrine they got the spell from...)

Steve Perrin
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Styopa 
  To: Discussion of RuneQuest rules. 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:46 AM
  Subject: Re: [Rq-rules] Enhancing Divine Magic


  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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