[Rq-rules] *** JUNK MAIL ***Re: Lions and Midgets/Orc Campaign/Enhancing Divine Magic

[Simon Phipp]

Lev Lafayette:
>>   Really? We've always played Claw/Claw/Bite with
>> the two claws hitting simultaneously followed by the
>> Bite later on. It makes them fairly nasty opponents.
>
> Claw/Claw/Bite is a AD&D convention ;-)

And a damn good one, too.

> In RQ III the default is one claw at SR 5, one bite at
> SR 8 followed by a rake at SR 5 and another bite the
> next round at SR 8 if both hit.

Was it? We always played RH Claw SR5 LH Claw SR5 Bite SR8, then next round if both claws had hit, Rake SR5, Bite SR8 (with a bonus becuase the lion was hanging on). Of course, it rarely got that far.

Gianni:
> This is a great post I'm gonna keep. Reminds me of my first ever AD&D2
> campaign. There was a human kingdom that had conquered some orcish lands and
> had converted the Orcs there to the worship of the 'good' gods. One of the
> characters was a paladin and he was so disappointed when he got to that part
> of the country and saw that he just couldn't kill scores of orcs, contrary to
> what he was used to. Guess it also made him think (the player, not the
> character).

Thanks. That just goes to show that is isn't the game or the rules that convey the game atmosphere, but the setting.

So, good Orcs in AD&D is entirely possible.

But, the only good orc is a .....

tiggermb:
> I am sure this has been talked about before, but I figured I would bring up the following topic:

Why not, we've nothing better to do :-)

> When I look at the RQ III magic rules, sometimes I think – “Why would anyone want to use 
> certain one use divine magic spells?”  For Example, sacrificing one point of POW for 2 points of 
> healing ONE TIME ONLY seems a poor trade when one considers that the Spirit Magic spell of 
> the same ability can be used as long as one has the MP to spare. 

Yes, Heal Wound/Heal Area isn't that great a spell on a one-use basis, except that it allows unlimited healing of a location for a point of POW. So, if you have Heal 3 and a one-use Heal Wound and someone has hit your friend for 13 points in the chest, so he's about to die, then it would take 5 castings of Heal 3 to get him fully healed, but only one Heal Wound with 13 MPs to heal him completely. As an emergency measure, it is great.

I'm not sure which spell gives you 2 points of healing for 1 POW, but I don;t have my rulebooks with me.

> Does anyone allow initiates to have multiple use spells? I would think that tithing, prayer, and spell 
> regeneration limitations (need to be at a temple) would be enough of a limitation on the power of 
> Divine spells. I was thinking of allowing initiates multiple use spells, and having certain spells be 
> “Priest Only” like Worship, Excommunication, Sanctify, and some of the very “Powerful” spells. 

No, because initiates are initiates and are not powerful enough or advanced enough to be granted reusable spells. That's an honour and a privilege that only Acolytes, Priests and some Lords get.

In RQ2, we used one-use spells all the while, as it made surviving easier until we qualified for Associate Priest/Priests status. I remember using a one-use Teleport spell and not begrudging the 3 point cost at all.

In RQ3, of course, you needed 10 points of Divine Magic to become a Priest, so you tended to save them up, but I still used them when I needed to. In fact, with 15 POW it was worth spending 3 points on a spell on the assumption that you'd get the POW back sooner or later anyway.

> I was just wondering what other’s thoughts on Divine magic have been, and how they have made it 
> more appealing for characters to use in their campaigns

Currently, we use a Divine Pool system where people can get Divine Magic as normal but can also sacrifice POW into a Divine Pool. They can use points from the Divine Pool to power the spells they have. If they are initiates, they lose the Pool points but keep the spell. If they are acolytes or above, they can repray the Pool points.

So, Tigger is an initiate of the Tiger God and sacrifices for one-use spells Bounce and Claw2, he also has sacrificed 5 POW into his Divine Pool. He is being chased by guardsmen and needs to get over the city wall quickly, so he casts Bounce but uses a point from the Divine Pool to fuel the spell. His Divine Pool goes down to 4, he keeps the Bounce spell and bounces over the wall. 

He then becomes an acolyte of the cult and meets the same guardsmen in a dark alley, this time he casts Claw2 to turn his hands into claws, using 2 points from the Divine Pool. Later that day he is ambushed by the surviving guardsmen and casts Claw2 again using the last 2 points in hs Divine Pool. He is losing, so he casts Bounce and jumps over the wall. He has used up his Divine Pool (2+2) and has cast Bounce, so he needs to repray them at the temple, but he hasn't used up his Claw2 spell and can cast that.

Robert Hoffman:

> I agree completely; when using RQ3 character generation the players that
> roll divine magic for beginning characters feel gypped compared to the
> players who get a practical spirit spell.  That in turn provides little
> motivation to sacrifice for these spells later on.  

Don't forget that cult members also get access to Spirit Magic. So, they have a mixture of Spirit and Divine Magic. They can take small Spirit Magic spells at first and get Divine Magic for the more unusual cult powers. So, a healer could get Heal 3 from the cult and Heal Body, she would use Heal 3 for minor healing and Heal Body in emergencies.

We never had a problem with sacrificing for spells, as long as we could get the POW back later. We used spell barrages all the time, so getting POW ticks was never really a problem. Even if we went to low POW, the GM would throw in a couple of zombies or skeletons to give them a chance.

> Shouldn't these spells
> be more epic like Mass Heal (Heals all allied characters in 20' radius 4
> points), or Lightning Storm (damages target plus 1D4 adjacent targets).
> These power should be erupting from the character with god like fury,...
> Bless Crop doesn't quite have that feel.

Maybe there is a need for stronger or mass effect spells. For normal use the individual scope of spells is fine, but I can see where a Lightning Storm spell could be useful. If you are the GM, then make one up. If you are a player then talk to your GM about it and maybe it will happen in your campaign. Or write them up and post them here.

Bless Crops is fine if you want to bless a field. It works on a one-spell-per-small-farm basis, anyway, so does what it is meant to. 

See Ya

Simon

Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.thinbits.net/pipermail/rq-rules/attachments/20061129/d0e41d3a/attachment.html