Question: How do I blow stuff up?

[The Goat]

I just picked up HQ, I wanted to investigate for myself after hearing all the high praise this system receives.

So far I like it, it is a departure from most of the games I am used to, which is what leads me to my question.

Magic on the whole appears to be mostly a system to increase natural abilities or deal with supernatural threats.  So my question is how do I blow stuff up?  Can Wizards throw raw destructive power akin to a fireball?

If I understand it correctly a Wizard (or whatever appropriate tradition) would have to create a talisman, connect it to a node of Fire, and then spend hero points to buy a spell called Flames of Justice, or Missile of Fire, or Bolt of Flame or whatever seemed appropriate.  Could you then use the spell in the same manner that a warrior uses a sword or spear?  By that I mean enter into combat and use your rating as the basis for the challenge.  If I understand it correctly by modifying the Target Number the caster could also have the spell affect multiple targets, in a classic fireball fashion am I correct?

Are vulgar displays of elemental power outside the style of Glorantha?

[Brand_Robins]

Could you then use the spell in the same manner that a warrior uses a sword or spear?  By that I mean enter into combat and use your rating as the basis for the challenge.  

Yes.

If your magic is concentrated you can use it as an active ability. That means if you have "blow up head of stupid human" as a spell, and you're a wizard (whom I think must be concentrated) then you can blow up the stupid human's head real good.

In Glorantha a lot of folks aren't concentrated magic casters -- they're more generally people that worship gods and have some useful tricks that make their general abilities a bit better. But there are some wizards (and sorcerers) who do blow stuff up real good and real big. Heck, the Char Un blew up a whole forest once.

[Mike Holmes]

What Brand said. It's really as straightforward as it sounds.

For animists, you'd go and get a fire spirit of some sort like one of the Oakfed Spirits, and bind it into a fetish (don't even have to be concentrated, in theory). This would mostly augment doing things like lighting stuff on fire, until such time as you decided to release the spirit. At that point the Spirit's rating adds directly to the character's. So, let's say that the character is wielding a torch using his Pyromaniac 5W ability to try and light up a pile of opponents. He unleashes the spirit, and suddenly he adds a bunch to his mundane ability. Let's say it's a big bonfire spirit rated at 10W2, that makes the character's new rating 15W3. Which will probably do in a fairly large number of folks all at once. Especially since they probably don't have much in the way to resist with (they may have to default to 14). Nasty. Then the spirit has to go away for a while before coming back to the fetish.

For a theist, you'd get a feat that did something like this, probably associated with a fire affinity (meaning you're a devotee, a concentrated theist), or improvise it from such an affinity. I think maybe someone in the solar pantheon would have something appropriate? Anyhow, the rating of the feat is then used directly, just like the spell rating.

The system is very consistent. Get a rating somehow, and then use it in a conflict.

Mike

[Mac Logo]

What Brand and Mike said.

For example, from the Imperial Lunar Handbook Volume 1, p25, Shargash the Destroyer. Affinity: Destruction -  Feats: ... Strike Foe with Sky Bolt ...

A remarkably unambiguous reference compared with most of them (but with just enough "wiggle" room to make it interesting). As an augment it may just be a stray reflection of light in a opponents eye at a crucial moment, but as an active feat - you're calling down the fiery wrath of Shargash to put down the big hurt on your foe at your ability with the feat, plus any appropriate augments. Pillars of flame would not be out of place.

In the HQ book, Destor grants the Flickering Blade feat - passively it may make your own "blade" flicker and be harder to see. Actively... well a blade made of lightning seems appropriate - just like on the cover over the book. Throwing "blades" of lightning is a possibilty I would consider if a persuasive case was made.

Commonly for most folks, at most times they'll just use augments to improve other abilities, but there is often the option - especially at higher degrees of magical power to go active and really do some flashy stuff.

Used as an active ability rather than an augment, HQ magic is as colourful as you want to describe it.

Cheers

Graeme

[Mike Holmes]

In general, even when not active, Gloranthan magic is "flashy." Like the flickering blade example, that Graeme gives. There was an example given in HW that was very clear - if you're using magic, even to augment, you're glowing or something. The section on "visibility" (IIRC) of magic speaks to this.

One thing that I do comment on about this - if magic is such that a light display and whatnot would make it pointless, then my interpretation is that it doesn't happen. That is, if the ability is sneak in shadows, the character becomes blackish, he doesn't glow as he's trying to sneak in the shadows. If the spell is to convince someone of something, then there's no telltale - otherwise the person being convinced would know that magic was being used  on them automatically, and the question of how they would react long-term becomes very complicated.

But, in general, if your Bladesharp charm is working on your sword, the edge should glow, or maybe give off those anime flashes of light. If you're augmenting with a feat of strength, you might shimmer with a color appropriate for your god. Etc, etc. And, yeah, when the magic is "active" then it's really flashy. A "Smite Foe" feat might manifest as a giant glowing fist to slam your opponent. An Ancestor Spirit of Battle would form as a ghostly apparition to fight by your side. A spell of Throw Lightning? Well, we've all know what that looks like.

Fortunately for me, Shadow World has about precisely the same rules for visibility on magic (in fact the SW texts go to long lengths to talk about the colors given off by displays of magic), so it's the same in the game I run as Glorantha. So far, one of the neatest effects that's been described is this ability that this priestess PC (Aysha) has called Whirlwind of Death (or somesuch). As an augment, it made her into a scarlet whirling, dagger wielding storm of slashing. As an active ability it created a scarlet whirlwind of cutting sand and such that wreaked havok on her opponents - not to mention being part of the general mayhem that destroyed her best desert tent (OK, sure, Brand's character stampeding around on a horse in the tent didn't help either). :-)

Mike

[The Goat]

Thanks for all the replies.  I had a feeling that it was possible, or if at least would be possible as house rule.  It's just the book is a bit much to wade through, and since the magic section is intentionally vague ( i am assuming as it seems to want to stimulate ones own creation of magical effects) I couldn't figure out how it would be done.

So in order to use an ability as an active ability you have to be concentrated, is that it?

[Mike Holmes]

So in order to use an ability as an active ability you have to be concentrated, is that it?

Not precisely. That wasn't what he was trying to say. Concentration is required by some sorts of magic users to make the effects active, but not all. For instance, a Practitioner can bind spirits without being concentrated, and release them to create active effects. Initiates do not have to be concentrated, and can create an active effect by improvising a feat from an affinity, (though this means they'll be penalized by definition). And I think that some sorts of Orderlies have magic that can be used actively without concentration.

So it all depends on the sort of magic that you're using. For instance, normally you can't use common magic actively, but if you concentrate in it (by SelfRock or something similar), then you can use all of your common magic actively. Also, if you concentrate, then common magic of the appropriate types becomes possible to use actively. For instance, if you're an Animist, and you concentrate in that, you can use your Common Magic Charms actively - though not your trradition charms, interestingly, as those are specilized.

It's complex, and generally it's best to be sure of a character's abilities on a case by case basis.

Mike

[Mike Holmes]

So in order to use an ability as an active ability you have to be concentrated, is that it?

Not precisely. That wasn't what he was trying to say. Concentration is required by some sorts of magic users to make the effects active, but not all. For instance, a Practitioner can bind spirits without being concentrated, and release them to create active effects. Initiates do not have to be concentrated, and can create an active effect by improvising a feat from an affinity, (though this means they'll be penalized by definition). And I think that some sorts of Orderlies have magic that can be used actively without concentration.

So it all depends on the sort of magic that you're using. For instance, normally you can't use common magic actively, but if you concentrate in it (by SelfRock or something similar), then you can use all of your common magic actively. Also, if you concentrate, then common magic of the appropriate types becomes possible to use actively. For instance, if you're an Animist, and you concentrate in that, you can use your Common Magic Charms actively - though not your trradition charms, interestingly, as those are specilized.

It's complex, and generally it's best to be sure of a character's abilities on a case by case basis.

Mike

[epweissengruber]

The mastery rating system also helps put oooomf into magic.

If a village Earth-Mother Worshiper has "shield my children" at a rating of 5W3, she will have no trouble deflecting a spell with a badass name -- say "Screaming cloud of lethal poison bees" with a meagre rating of 19.

Reverse the ratings to see truly wicked carnage.