CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 02 Rune Magic Spells Q&A

Official Answers from Chaosium

This covers the second part of Chapter 2, pages 10-104:

It also contains the Q&A for Rune spells in:

• RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 13 Rune Magic Spells Q&A
• RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Q&A

For the Rune Magic rules, see Chapter 02 Rune Magic Q&A

Accelerate Growth

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Alter Creature

Who can be targeted by this spell?

• men & beast from anywhere? No
• only those considered as praxian? No
• what about hunshen? No
• a sundomer from prax? No
• a praxian from other beast tribe? No
• a loskalmi? No
• a sabretooth; a telmori? No
• a frog in prax, a newtling? No
• only those from the impalas/sables/bisons/llamas/rhinoceri tribes? Yes

Does this mean that Waha followers come only from these populations ? none from other praxians community, for example ?

No. Waha is present in nearly all the tribes.

The first time I faced the alter creature, it was from a french casus belli scenario and the victim was a sundomer…

The RQG version of Alter Creature is basically the same as the RQ2 version (See Borderlands classic, page 29)

The RQ3 version is two different spells, Fix & Release Intelligence and not connected to the Covenant.

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Attack Soul

Must a Kyger Litor cultist using Attack Soul roll INTx5 to take other actions besides spirit combat?

Yes, but the INTx5 is situational and maybe changed by the GM. Down could be x4, x3, x2, x1 or even no roll:

It’s a GM call.

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Axe Trance

Does this have any actual “trance” features as per, e.g., Arrow Trance?

Treat them the same. 

Obviously, one would need to modify the exact features…

But will the the Axe Trance’d only be aware of themselves and their foes?  Unaware e.g. of falling allies, larger strategic considerations?  If all the foes are fallen before the spell expires, do they just stand ready for more foes?

If the Tranced character has run out of targets, the spell ends, even if prematurely. Humakt has little interest in his warriors standing around pointlessly when they could be going off to get into more trouble elsewhere. The same could be said for Aldrya or Babeester Gor. The rules don’t specifically spell this out but the gamemaster should be able to interpret the situation that way. 

Similarly, casting Extension on spells like this should only be useful for so long as the spell is useful. If, as a gamemaster, you want to have adventurers running around in a coldblooded murder zone, by all means allow it, but if you don’t, remember that the gods themselves are linked to the Runes that these spells are cast with, the Rune points the spells were cast with were granted by those gods themselves, and the use of the spells should be in service to the god, or at least not wasted on idle tasks.  

Things that fall outside the province of the target/Trance dynamic are ignored, which is why it would be horrible to keep one of these spells going for longer than is absolutely necessary.

Can characters affected by Sword or Axe Trance use other weapons than swords or axes, eg. shields?

Yes, but…

You may parry, but could not use your shield as an attack and gain the (weapon) trance bonus.

Sword Trance also specifically states: 

So if you attacked with your shield while under a (weapon) trance spell, your GM could say that the spell ends.

If someone under the effect of Axe Trance is using a 2H version of the appropriate weapon, then their weapon is destroyed, and they swap to another version of the same weapon they still receive the bonus. But if they swap to a 1H version, e.g. Great Axe swapping to Small Axe, the bonus is lost, because the wording was ‘1H or 2H axe skill’ implying they picked a specific skill at casting. Is that intended?

You have misunderstood the spell. This spell merges the caster’s consciousness with their axe – If their weapon is destroyed, the spell ends, their consciousness is no longer merged.

Weapons in Weapons and Equipment

Weapons and Equipment has a few weapons which are have axe or sword in the name, but are outside of the obvious category: Everything in the Pole-Axe category; Pole-sword and Sword Staff in the Spear, Two-handed category; All Daggers under the reddish divider ‘Swords’ on page 62. How do you determine their spell compatibility?

If it’s not clear from the spell description, use the Weapon Type column to determine spell compatability:

• Cut & Thrust weapons generally use Sword Trance.
• Slashing weapons generally use Axe Trance

Where there is a choice, the player & GM should decide depending on their adventures’ fighting style.

Otherwise it’s up to the GM to decide what they feel is appropriate in their games.

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Axis Mundi

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Bear’s Strength

Using Bear’s Strength and Strength together

If you have, say, a STR of 16, and cast Strength, it goes up to 24.

If you cast Bear’s Strength in the next round, does STR double to 48? Or does it only double the base stat, making 40? Or does Bear’s Strength just supplant Strength, making 32?

Use only the base stat:

• Strength, base +8 for two minutes (10 rounds) = STR 24
• Bear’s Strength, base x 2 for 15 minutes = 32 + 8 = 40

A GM could rule that they are incompatible, or Bear’s Strength displaces Strength, avoiding the fiddley maths.

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Beastmaster

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Berserker

Someone under Berserker receives a 2/4 point Countermagic equivalent. Does this Countermagic get “popped” when penetrated by a spell (as regular Countermagic), or is it a constant protection (more like a Shield spell’s Countermagic equivalent)?

Constant, it’s a Rune spell and the countermagic is part of the effect, just like Shield. The whole spell would need to be eliminated, with for example Dismiss Magic 2.

Strictly, it reads like the former, but is this the intent?

Yes

So, how does this Countermagic-equivalent interact with spells that are normally incompatible with Countermagic? Is this Countermagic-equivalent incompatible with Shimmer / Protection / Spirit Screen?

These spells are incompatible with Berserker (Note that Shield specifically states its compatible with Protection).

Does Fanaticism/Berserk increase the boost from Bladesharp or other bonuses?

No.

If bladesharp was already on their weapon, or was cast on the target’s weapon while under Berserker by someone else. you would add the bonus normally, likewise with passion or rune augments :

In a desperate fight with the Iron Broo, Vasana has Berserker cast on her. Her normal 90% broadsword is now doubled against chaos to 180%. Her existing Bladesharp 4 is added afterwards, bring her attack to 200%. She successfully inspires her broadsword with her Air rune and add another 20% to her ability total, now 220%

Fanaticism works the same way.

Can I cast Dispel Magic on a character in a state of murderous, berserk fury where all but the strongest loyalties are forgotten, and the subject has the effect of Countermagic 2, before the spell ends?”

“Have fun with that!”

Does Berserker increase an adventurers hit points as a result of of adding half again to their effective CON for the duration of the spell. This can increase their CON above species maximum.

Yes. Hit points are derived from CON with modifiers based on SIZ and POW. A human berserk with a CON of 15 would have half again the CON, so 23, giving a base of 23 hit points.

GMs may find it helpful to have this and the hit point locations calculated in advance.

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Binding Enchantment

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Bind Ghost

Is the Bind Ghost spell considered an Enchantment as Humakt may have some slightly-different rules here?

No. 

More specifically, are bound ghosts released with the death of the spell caster?

No. It is not a spirit binding enchantment. 

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Bless Pregnancy

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Chaos Feature

Chaotic Features table (page 25)

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Charisma

Do the additional points increase your capacity for holding Spirit Magic spells and Rune Points? Obviously this isn’t a question without Extension being involved. What happens to those spells or RP if the additional CHA goes away?

The spell’s description on page 28 says it will increase the target’s limit of spirit magic spell holding, so yes. 

If you sacrifice more permanent POW for Rune points while the Charisma spell is in effect, you could temporarily have Rune points up to this new CHA limit, but they will go away when your CHA returns to its normal value. So you will have spent permanent POW to get a temporary supply of Rune points that can be wiped out with Dispel Magic.

Using Charisma and Glamour together

If you have, say, a CHA of 16, and cast Glamour, it goes up to 24.

If you cast Charisma in the next round, does CHA double to 48? Or does it only double the base stat, making 40? Or does Charisma just supplant Glamour, making 32?

Use only the base stat:

• Glamour, base +8 for two minutes (10 rounds) = CHA 24
• Charisma, base x 2 for 15 minutes = 32 + 8 = 40

A GM could rule that they are incompatible, or Charisma displaces Glamour, avoiding the fiddley maths.

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Claws

Can these claws hurt spirits?

No.

Can they be interpreted as magical weapons created by Rune Magic?

They are magically created claws (likely transforming the targets nails’), not magical claws.

I’m running it that they can, it adds something to a super weak spell.

The spell doubles fist damage (1D3) and allows two attacks, and adds 50% to Climb. If you want the attack to affect spirits, you need something else.

Note that, when stacked with all of the correct spells and Transform self:

That would damage spirits.

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Comfort Song

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Command (cult spirit)

If a cult has specific command spells use those, otherwise use the Command Cult Spirit spell. The specific spells are always better.

Command Cult Spirit vs Control (Entity)

The difference between 1 magic point of and 1 Rune point is huge for the many players who would like to use an elemental. It’s too expensive in terms of Rune points, especially new PCs who only have 3 Rune points.

	Command Cult Spirit	Control (Entity)
Cost:	2 Rune points	1 Magic point
Duration:	15 minutes (extendable)	2 minutes
Specificity:	Any cult spirit	Specific to (entity) eg. Control Fire Elemental
Availability:	Common Rune magic	Control spells are not taught by any cult (except Aldrya), so are only available to cults with Shaman. Currently that’s Aldrya, Daka Fal, Kyger Litor, Waha, Yu-Kargzant (ignoring Malia and Thed as they are NPC cults). To learn a specific Control (entity) spell from a shaman, you’d need to find one that’s cult friendly and can find the control spell you want. Just because the rule book say they can teach any spirit magic spell doesn’t mean they actually can.

Starting adventurers are limited to small elementals.

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Command Worshipers

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Consume Mind

What Runes would the evil guy use to cast obtained Rune Magic? In this case, unlike “Create Head”, my assumption is that it’s the evil guy’s own ratings? (but this would severely limit the type of spells that are worth consuming in this way)

Yes, it’s the caster’s runes, a GM may allow the caster to subsume the victims rune abilities per the Knowledge and Magic skills in the spell description. GMs should always allow the substitution of the Chaos rune where appropriate.

It’s worth remembering that Thanatar NPCs are dangerous chaos monsters that should be carefully crafted, and are likely to have rule bending abilities commensurate with that role. More information will be available in the Thanatar cult, in the upcoming cults of Glorantha. 

And… If it’s the evil guys own ratings, then shouldn’t the evil guy also have mastered the Runes and Techniques before being able to cast sorcery?

They have absorbed that knowledge from the mind of the victim.

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Counter Chaos

Does Counter Chaos work against illuminated chaos things?

Yes. See Anti-Chaos spells and Illumination

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Create Fissure

Are all dimensions multiplied by the number of Rune points in the spell, or just the depth? If you create it underneath a target do you have to overcome their POW or does it just work? Why DEX x 3 rather than Dodge to not fall in?

The spell’s overall dimension (5x1x5 meters) is multiplied by the Rune points. So with two rune points you could make it longer, wider, or deeper.

It just works. No need for a resistance roll. The spell would say so if it were the case. 

DEXx3 is easier to keep track of for creatures that may not have Dodge skills defined. If you want, substitute Dodge.

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Create Head

Create Head lets the creator cast spirit, Rune, and sorcery magic known by the victim. What ability would be used to cast this magic?

The key phrase in the description is All spirit magic, Rune magic, and sorcery spells the victim knows are usable by the head’s creator. Usable not known. So it’s the head’s magic points, rune points and rune abilities. This is the same as Spell Trading – Rune rating of the person who provided the spell, even if it is lower than their own. 

What about manipulating sorcery spells… which Free INT would we use?

The head’s. GMs may wish to simplify this for ease in managing NPC Thanatar cultists, by using POW x5 (like rune enchantments) to replace a list of rune abilities. With sorcery spells GMs are advised to calculate spell needs and record them in advance, based on the Head’s free INT.

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Create Market (Create Neutral Ground)

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Create Shadow

Can it be cast on a target and move with the target (earlier versions were immobile AFAIK?). If One point is enough to allow Dark Walk – does that mean I can cast both and become invisible and soundless for 15 minutes while moving around even in daylight (well there will be a bit of haze)?

It can move with the target, as it has a Movement Rate. 

You can cast Dark Walk and Create Shadow simultaneously. You may be a bit conspicuous, though, with a blurry darkish haze surrounding you.

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Create Wildfire

The description references the Fire rules on p.157, but it talks about increasing “intensity by one level”. This sounds like a rules reference but I can see nothing about intensity levels in the fire rules, so this seems confusing.

An intensity 1 fire does does 1D6 damage, an intensity 2 fire does does 2D6 damage.

Here’s an equivalent table for clarification, note that sorcery damage is  based on sorcery intensity and so does not match up exactly with descriptions.

Combined Fire Intensity table for clarification, note that sorcery damage is based on sorcery intensity and so does not match up exactly with descriptions.

Fire intensity	Damage	Heat Metal (RBM 115)	Conflagration (RQG 392)
n/a	1D3	–	1-3 Candle
1	1D6	Too hot to hold	4-7 Torch
2	2D6	Tin melts	8–11 Raging fire, hot enough to melt tin
3	3D6	Lead becomes soft
4	4D6	Lead melts.	12–15 Intense fire hot enough to melt lead
5	5D6	Copper, gold, silver, aluminum, bronze, and iron become soft for hammering and smithing.
6	6D6	Copper, gold, silver, aluminum, bronze, and iron melt	16-19 Hot enough to melt bronze, copper, gold, or silver

It also describes the affected fire burning out much sooner, but there are no rules on how soon a fire burns out, so this seems a bit confusing.

This is a situational call by the GM, but having burn time halving each level is not unreasonable. For example a wicker torch may burn for 10 minutes and cause 1D6 damage. Casting Create Wildfire 1 on it would cause it to flare to 2D6 damage and half its burn time to 5 minutes. Casting Create Wildfire 4 on it would cause it to flare to 5D6 damage and reduce its burn time to 30 seconds (hopefully the holder has thrown it!). For larger fires the GM will need to determine how long the fire would normally burn, for example a barn full of grain may burn for hours.

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Crack

Defining Magical items

What is a magical object?

Items that have a permanent magical effect on them, no matter how simple.

• Enchanted items (they cost permanent POW to make)
• Blessed items (from gods, spirits, etc)
• Magic Crystals (noted in the spell description)
• Spell matrices (noted in the spell description), these are enchantments
• Elf Bows (noted in the spell description), these have their own POW and are living, not magical objects

If the effect is time related (spells, etc) it’s not a magical object as the effect is not permanent (noted in the spell description). 

Is an unenchanted iron helm seen as a magical object ?

No, it is not enchanted. However note that unenchanted iron reduces the chance of both casting and being affected by a spell by 5% per point of ENC (W&E 14, GMSPA 121).

Is an enchanted iron helm seen as a magical object ?

Is a dagger with Magic Point Enchantment

Yes, these have been enchanted

Is an sword with an Humakt blessing seen as a magical object ?

Yes, it has been blessed to give an effect that is magical. Blessings are magical in nature.

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Cure Chaos Wound

It provides the magic points needed for the spell. Does it take place on SR 1, like most rune spells, take place on the SR of the stacked spells with or without additional SRs for the ‘provided’ magic points?

For example, if Heal Wound is cast, it goes off at SR 1 plus one SR for each magic point after the first. Heal Wound healing 6 damage would go off at SR 6. With CCW stacked, would it take effect on SR 1 or SR 6.

Heal 6 would go off at DX SR +5. With CCW stacked, would it take effect at SR 1 or DX SR +5?

It goes off at SR1. As Cure Chaos Wound provides the magic points there’s no strike rank cost for magic points.

It would make a significant difference in speed for the potential and unlikely Chalana Arroy sorcerer casting a Mend Flesh 12 stacked with CCW.

Sorcery is more complex as there is a minimum casting time of one turn before any magic points are calculated for additional strike ranks. So Mend Flesh would activate on the following melee round.

CCW states ‘This spell is of no use by itself’. A Storm Bull initiate desires to cast it on himself because he has been infected by Cause Shakes cast by a Mallia initiate, and is far from town. Hence, the Storm Bull has no hit point damage. Does he have to stack e.g. Heal 1  with CCW? If he doesn’t have Heal X in his initial spirit spells, would he need to use 2 Rune Points to stack it with Heal Wound (Common Rune Magic, so he would have it available)? Alternately, for diseases and broo impregnation it could be of use by itself.

Heal and Heal Wound have no effect on The Shakes. Cure All disease or Fight Disease would need to be stacked with it. A Kind GM may allow it to be cast with a treat Disease roll.

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Dark Walk

Does the Dark Walk spell make the character undetectable to Second Sight, Soul Sight, Detect enemies, Detect life, Darksense etc.?

Dark Walk vs. 

• Second Sight – ineffective, as the character in darkness is still hidden totally.
• Soul Sight – ineffective, as the character in darkness is still hidden totally.
• Detect Enemies – caster determines roughly where a Dark Walker is, such as “in that patch of shadow” somewhere… but does not see them. 
• Detect Life – as the spell indicates, gives direction and distance, but not actual location. 
• Darksee – The caster is invisible and soundless while in darkness or shadow to those with Darksee.
• Darksense – The caster is invisible and soundless while in darkness or shadow to those with Darksense.
• Earthsense – The caster is invisible and soundless while in darkness or shadow to those with Earthsense (See RBM spell description).

As for others, I generally take the rule of thumb that a Rune spell is almost always more powerful than a spirit magic one (especially if points are equal).

When in doubt, the implied intent of the Rune spell should be weighed versus any exploit or apparent weakness.

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Detect Honor

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Detection Blank

Does Detection Blank works as two points of countermagic against ALL incoming spells? Not just detect spells?

No. See the first sentence of the spell description.

As most detection spells are 1 point (except detect traps), the two equivalent levels of countermagic will block those spells. Stacking Detection Blank will stop increasingly boosted detection spells.

Detection Blank is only available to Cacodemon initiates.

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Dismiss (type) Elemental

Seven Mothers initiates can Summon / Dismiss Elementals (max 1pt) using the Moon rune, but cannot Summon / Dismiss any form of Air Elemental.

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Dismiss Magic

Extension and Dismiss magic

Does Dismiss Magic always take the main spell away or is it drawn between the Extension and the main spell. if there is Earth shield 3 and Extension 3 and an opponent casts Dismiss Magic 3. Which spell is cancelled? 

Extension just increases the duration of the spell, it doesn’t exist separately after casting. See: Extension in the Q&A

The Dismiss Magic 3 eliminates the Earth Shield 3.

What if your opponent notices that there is a spell on a shield because the shield shines and targets the shield with Dismiss Magic. Is it enough to automatically select the Earth Shield and not the Extension

See above.

How come it is irrelevant? There are two spells on that shield, extension and earth shield.

There is one spell, Earth Shield 3, with a duration of a week.

How does Dismiss Magic work on Rune spells with extension?

As normal.

Does extension make the main spell bigger and harder to dismiss?

No. Extension makes the spell last longer. That’s all it does.

How do you calculate the intensity of a Sorcery spell for the purposes of countermagic / dispel? As far as I can figure, the total intensity is 1 + the levels of intensity purchased, is that right?

That’s correct.

Why wouldn’t Extension make a Runespell more powerful?  For example, an opponent casts Charisma and Extension III, Charisma is now cast with 4 RPs, and you should need a Dismiss Magic of at least 4 pts (or 8 pts Dispel Magic) to dismiss it.

You’re not making the spell more effective or more powerful, you’re just making it last longer.

Can a powerful Dismiss Magic remove multiple spells at once?

Yes. But it must completely overcome each of them.

A Dismiss Magic 2 against Protection 3 and Shield 1, would only knock out the Protection 3. 

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Divination

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Earthpower

What’s to stop a priestess of Ernalda from using Earthpower repeatedly to draw POW from Earth? Say she makes a binding enchantment costing 3 POW. She then uses her mps to zero, falls to ground and uses 5 RPs to Earthpower, drawing 3 POW from Earth. She then sacrifices the POW she gained to whatever she fancies, prays her rune points back, and does it again. The spell isn’t one use or temporal, so this seems possible.

If the caster is not in mortal or existential peril, then the spell doesn’t work. Your GM is the adjudicator on this. Your above example is neither.

Note that when your adventurer’s POW reaches zero, they die. When your adventurer’s magic points reach zero, they become unconscious. 

If your POW has not been depleted, you won’t get any more back, this is not a loophole to increase your adventurer’s POW.

Plus 1 POW and 1d8 mps per stacked rune point. Some mortal perils seem to be worse than others, since you can draw max 19 POW if you have 21 rune points.

There is nothing preventing the stacked spell using as many Rune points as wanted by the player. If you have reached zero POW, that is a serious situation. Likewise reaching zero magic points would render the adventurer unconscious, getting an excess of magic points may save the day.

In the theoretical scenario of your human adventurer having 21 rune points (assuming species max CHA), they can regain up to 19 points of their POW. They would also receive 19D8 magic points.

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Enchant (metal)

Broken weapons

When you create an enchanted rune metal weapon, like a sword, and it gets broken, then you have to re-enchant it after you fix it?

What about spears and suchlike weapons where the most likely part to get broken is the shaft? Do you still have to re-enchant it after you put the head on another stick?

The rules don’t differentiate the HP of the various components of weapons. So the answer is yes you have to re-enchant it.

Alternatives include:

• Assume that the entire weapon is made out of the enchanted material, retaining the bronze equivalent ENC.
• Your GM can always introduce more complexity into their game, so it would not be unreasonable to allow hafted weapons to track damage to the head and shaft separately, although we give no guidelines on how to do so. Be aware in this case with iron weapons, that only the head will have the increased HP.

What is the production sequence. Do you enchant the metal and then forge the weapon? Or do you forge the weapon and then enchant it? 

Enchanting multiple items

Can multiple items be enchanted, e.g. 10 swords of 1 ENC each, in a single ritual for one point of POW? Do enchanters save up broken items to be re-enchanted in a batch for greater efficiency?

Yes. It’s not prohibited in the spell description and specifically says One point of POW must be sacrificed for each 10 ENC (or fraction thereof) of the metal enchanted.

With broken items, a temple may just do that. As they may have replacements.

I suspect that the most common way additional enchantments are made is when enchanting a suit of armour, where the ENC is 11 and so made up to 20 with repairs, weapons and other items. As usual, all the items would need crafting.

If you want to gain favour with your thanes, spend some resources and give them each an enchanted silver broadsword…

The biggest limitation to enchanting is metal, smiths and time.

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Enchant Iron

Associated Rune

The spell description says the Rune used varies with the metal, but I can’t find any information on what Rune is associated with iron.

It’s the Death Rune.

Some earlier edition imply that the knowledge of the Enchant Iron spell was limited to Rune levels [Lords and Priests] as a way of enforcing the cultural prohibition that those who were ‘unworthy’ should not have access to the Metal of Death. Is that still the case?

I cannot not comment on earlier editions as this is the RQG Q&A.

Enchantments as a whole are only available to Rune Levels, Gustbran is the only exception. As such Enchant Iron is only available to Rune Levels. Craft (Iron) is only available to Initiates of Humakt, Yanafal Tarnils (full cult) and dwarves.

The Yanafal Tarnil info comes from the upcoming Gods book and is not the Seven Mothers subcult, but the standalone full cult.

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Extension

Extension and Dismiss magic

Does Dismiss Magic always take the main spell away or is it drawn between the Extension and the main spell. if there is Earth shield 3 and Extension 3 and an opponent casts Dismiss Magic 3. Which spell is cancelled? 

Extension just increases the duration of the spell, it doesn’t exist separately after casting.

So the answer is none of them. The Dismiss Magic 3 eliminates the Earth Shield 3.

What if your opponent notices that there is a spell on a shield because the shield shines and targets the shield with Dismiss Magic. Is it enough to automatically select the Earth Shield and not the Extension

See above.

How come it is irrelevant? There are two spells on that shield, extension and earth shield.

There is one spell, Earth Shield 3, with a duration of a week.

Why wouldn’t Extension make a Runespell more powerful?  For example, an opponent casts Charisma and Extension 3, Charisma is now cast with 4 RPs, and you should need a Dismiss Magic of at least 4 pts (or 8 pts Dispel Magic) to dismiss it.

You’re not making the spell more effective or more powerful, you’re just making it last longer.

For reusable spells, can the RPs be regained while the spell is still in effect?

Yes, unless the spell description says otherwise (Extension for example).

Extension allows spells to last for extended periods.  If a spell (Shield for example) was extended for a season, could the RPs used for the Shield spell be regained via a worship ceremony before the Shield spell expires?

No. Extension specifically states:

If you don’t have the Red Book of Magic see Extension in the Q&A 

Can you cast Extension on a spell in a matrix or truestone?

No, unless the matrix or truestone contains Extension.

Extension & Lunar Cyclical Magic

If you’re subject to Lunar Cyclical Magic (RQG p. 303) and you cast a temporal spell during Full Moon (“Temporal spells have double the normal duration”) and with Extension, does it double the extended duration of the spell? E.g., does it make a temporal spell cast with a 3-point Extension last two weeks, or is it still just one week?

Yes It would double the extension, so a 3 point extension would be 2 weeks. To recap:

• Black, Dying, No extension possible
• Crescent-come and -go, 1pt extension possible (2 hours)
• Empty and Full Half Moons, no Extension limit
• Full Moon, Extension time doubled.

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Fireshield

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Float

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Free Ghost

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Gnome to Gargoyle

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Group Dance

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Group Laughter

Our clan was hosting a major Sacred Time ceremony when a trickster cast a powerful Group Laughter spell that covered several hundred people. We think it must have been around 20 points, and also suspect that a lot of Extension was also used. Obviously we see the funny side of all this, even a few days later, but in all seriousness we need to do something about it.

My question is: when we muster enough points of Dismiss Magic, will one casting be sufficient to dispel the effects of the entire spell on everyone, or will we need to cast it on each victim individually? If the latter, then we will need to enlist the aid of our wyter?

As the spell is centred on the caster one a single Dismiss Magic would work. However as Eurmal’s magic is clearly MGF,  you would need to cast it on each victim…

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Hallucinate

Is this intended to imply that this spell alone can create all these effects and combine them

Yes.

or that it must be cast as well as the other spells?

No.

Just to note that Create Hallucination is only on a individual, where the illusion spells are grander affairs perceived by all.

Can a Trickster casting Hallucinate see a door in a wall for example that nobody else can see, and walk through it? I’m hoping the answer is yes, as that sort of thing was a favorite of my old RQ2 Trickster. I called it “the roadrunner spell.”

That would be an extraordinarily powerful 1-pt spell. 

As a gamemaster, I’d rule that yes, they could cast the spell and open that illusory door. What’s on the other side of that door, if anything… that’s the chance the trickster takes. 

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Heal Body

Yes

Shouldn’t this be tagged as Permanent?

No. It’s healing a variable (hit points), we don’t want give the impression that those hit points are now permanent, but the regenerate limb (Regrow LImb) part is permanent.

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Heal Wound

Do the extra MPs added to Heal Wound count towards boosting the spell? Eg, if I cast heal wound and spent 5mp on it , would it count as a 2 point spell or a 7 point spell for the purposes of countermagic?

Yes, just like other spells where magic points are spent.

Shouldn’t this be tagged as Permanent?

No. It’s healing a variable (hit points), we don’t want give the impression that those hit points are now permanent, but the regenerate limb (Regrow LImb) part is permanent.

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Hide Fire

The description refers to the “intensity” of a fire as if it’s a rule mechanic, which it isn’t.

See the Combined Fire Intensity table for clarification

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Illusory Motion

The wording around movement could IMHO be clearer. It says that each additional point moves at a rate of 3m/round which taken literally could be taken to mean it doesn’t move at all with the basic 1 point but only animated. I assume it’s intended to move at 3m/round per point, and it would be clearer if the wording said that, not per additional point.

The first point gives it motion, so an illusionary dog with 1pt could sit up, beg, rollover. etc. Each point after the first lets it walk or run about.

It’s not clear to me what the last sentence about manipulating the illusion on a DEX x3 really means. For example, if this roll fails does it mean the illusion is totally static if it’s been cast on a stationary object? Or it moves but in an unintended way (as chosen by the GM)? If the illusion has been cast on moving object then can this spell move both the object and illusion covering it together? Or is this spell only useful on an already-moving object just to control what the illusion appears to do whilst being tied to moving with however the object is moving? Is this roll made at first casting and then each round, or at some other interval?

Back to the illusionary dog, ultimately this is a GM call, but if the dog was sitting and the caster wanted it to get up and chase someone, they would need to manipulate the illusion into standing up and running. Likewise getting it to attack a target. If they fail it just sits there, doesn’t stop running or fails to attack.

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Illusory Odor

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Illusory Substance

Can Illusory Substance be used alone to create a solid, invisible substance? For 4 points, could I wield an invisible weapon that deals 2D6 damage?

No, re-read Illusory Substance on RQG 332 / RBM 59. You would need to cast Illusory Motion in tandem with it to be able to move and manipulate your 2D6 invisible weapon. You could create a stationary illusory spike under someone to fall on, but both spells would be needed for something you’d wield in combat.

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Impede Chaos

How does Impede Chaos actually work? The spell talks about a penalty to “attack skill”, but there are no longer any attack skills. Should it be read as inflicting a -20% penalty to all attack rolls, or a -20% penalty to all weapon (including Unarmed) skills?

Any skill a Chaos creature is using to attack is penalized by -20% per point.

Every creature in the Bestiary and all existing publications has a section in their description for their weapons or attacks. You can also apply this penalty to spells, unarmed combat, and Spirit Combat that target an adventurer. 

Is the Chaos creature attacking an adventurer? Modify the skill it is using. 

Does Impede Chaos work against illuminated chaos things?

Yes. See Anti-Chaos spells and Illumination

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Inviolable

Does Inviolable only work to calm down those it affects,

Yes.

but not the non-associated cult members?

Yes, Ernalda and associate cult members only (currently 15). You may also include in that members of the relevant Husband-Protector where appropriate. So for a Sartarite caster, Orlanth, Grazelander, Yelm, etc.

Does Inviolable also affect the caster

Only if she gets above 50% in the POW vs POW roll. The caster needs to get a POW vs POW result above their own POW for it to affect them.

and potentially prevent them from being violent?

Yes.

Do lay members count for the Inviolable Spell?  Does ‘Member’ generally mean initiate?

Yes, my emphasis:

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Invisibility

Invisibility isn’t an actual visual change, but merely a distraction, so how does the spell hide you and your spirit from creatures that have different senses (i.e darksense, heat vision, spirits/shaman/second sight, etc. )?

Yes to those abilities using conventional vision (darksense, heat vision, etc.), as the spell is magic invisibility, not tied to conventional real-Earth physics. 

Second Sight I would also say no to also, because the spell specifically eludes the viewer’s notice, so someone would have to know where the invisible character were to see their POW.

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Lava Spear

How often can you use the lava spear ?

Practically you are limited by strike ranks. eg with a 2mp volley and a DEX SR 3 (reaction time, aiming, change targets, etc):

• SR 2 (1+2mps-1) + roll to hit, 1D damage
• SR 6 (+DEX SR 3+2mps-1) + roll to hit, 1D damage
• SR 10 (+DEX SR 3+2mps-1) + roll to hit, 1D damage

and with a 4mp volley

• SR 4 (1+4mps-1) + roll to hit, 2D damage
• SR 10 (+DEX SR 3+4mps-1) + roll to hit, 2D damage

Note that Lava Spear is only available to the Lodril subcult of the Spear, found only in great temples.

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Leap

How often a character can actually leap using the Leap spell. The spell description says a fully encumbered person can jump 6 meters high, or away, for the spells duration.  I assume that’s not just once during the spell’s duration. I’m going with once per melee round( plus you get your normal movement in that round ), but I could see arguments for once every DEX SRM.

Outside of combat, any reasonable number of times in 15 minutes.

In combat maybe DEX SR + 1SR per 1m so a character with a DEX SR of 2 would jump on SR 2 travel 6m, land on SR 8, not really enough time for another jump. Very quickly they would be disengaged, so apply the outside of combat version above.

Ultimately what ever seems reasonable for the activity required.

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Lie

Is the limitation of “one full melee round” correct? This seems like a very short time. Is it perhaps meant to be “one full turn”?

It is correct, it’s the minimum amount of time.

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Lightning

One Rune point gets me a single lightning stroke for 1d6 damage? Or do I have 15 minutes of 1d6 damage? I realize the effects are instant, but does the ability to shoot lightning last for 15 minutes?

The effect is instant, which replaces the default duration of Temporal, see Spell Durations, RQG page page 248 or RBM page 6.

The text for Lightning says it damages “a single hit location”. No use of the word “random”. Do you get to pick the hit location?

All spells are random location:

See also Disruption in the Q&A.

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Lock

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Madness

When the Madness wears off it leave trace effects, and we are referred to the table. These effects seem severe: in the case of 3, 5 and 6 the character becomes unplayable. Is there any way of treating these effects? madness seems to be the only thing that has no remedy.

To clarify, if a caster overcomes the adventurer’s POW with a critical success, they become insane:

For the average character with an POW of 11 it’s only going to be 19 days, just under three weeks. Not that long at all. With the recommended adventure being seasonal, and hopefully it not affecting the their Occupation Income Roll, there’s plenty of time to be mad in an 8 week season.

The INT can be restored using Restore Health (page 337) from Chalana Arroy, Daka Fal, Ernalda, Lhankor Mhy, Orlanth, Yelm, at the standard 20L/pt, or using standard natural healing: see RuneQuest Glorantha Corrections and Q&A, Chapter 05 Game System Q&A, Healing (page 149-150), Natural Healing (page 149):

GMs may realise that adventurers slowly dying in their bed’s by failing their Natural Healing rolls may not be considered a dramatic circumstance, and are reminded that if this is the case, no roll is required as it’s an automatic success:

What about a Magic Point Enchantments? Do these also need to be attuned in a similar fashion to crystals?

No. The week long crystal investigation is to determining the nature of the crystal (powered or not). It either results in an attuning attempt or storing a magic point (See GM Screen Pack, Adventure book, Determining the Nature of a Crystal, page 121).

Magic point Enchantments just need identifying before use (Analyze Magic, Knowledge, etc). There may also be User Conditions on use as part of the enchantment (RQG page 251)

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Matrix Creation

Is it meaningful to create a Rune Magic Matrix of a stackable spell with more than the POW for the basic casting invested in it? i.e. If you create a Shield 4 matrix for the sacrifice of 4 POW, does it mean you can cast Shield 4 using the Matrix without spending Rune Points at the time of casting? Or is the intent that you create a Shield matrix which allows you to spend your Rune Points to cast Shield even if you don't have access to the spell (making Rune Magic matrices something you make for others)? If the latter, what is meant by the section on 'recharging' them? Do they automatically recharge to full if involved in a (presumably successful, based on the officiating Priest's roll) Worship ceremony?

For your example, you would need to spend the Rune points to cast Shield 4 with the spell matrix. The matrix's virtue is that it allows someone without the spell to cast it using their POWx5 chance, regardless of their rating in the associated Rune. Yes, a successful Worship ceremony will re-ready the matrix for use.

If I want to store a one use spell in a matrix, how do I do this?

You cannot put a one use spell into a matrix.

If they even exist, they are likely to be rare cult objects, recovered on heroquests.

Is this a mistake and should the character use the correct Rune percentage instead?

No.

If the person who made the matrix was using it, a GM could rule that they could use their appropriate rune ability. 

Can you cast Extension on a spell in a matrix?

No, unless the matrix contains Extension.

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Multispell

Casting Disruption with Multispell:

do all the Disruptions strike the same location

Yes, the single multispelled Disruption strikes a single location.

And do you roll to overcome the target's POW for every Disruption spell or only once?

Once, it's a single attack.

or only a maximum of two Disruptions?

Multispell	Disruption Damage	Magic Point Cost	SR
1	2D3	2	1
2	3D3	3	1
3	4D3	4	1
4	5D3	5	1
5	6D3	6	1
6	7D3	7	1
7	8D3	8	1
8	9D3	9	1
9	10D3	10	1

Casting Multimissile with Multispell:

An adventurer is using a 1pt Multispell to prep arrows in advance with Multimissile (touch, temporal, passive which I interpret to mean that the spell can be cast on an arrow to be used up to 10 rounds later)

Yes - This spell can be cast onto a missile: the spell works (once only) if the missile is used any time within the spell’s duration.

If my adventurer has an arrow and casts multimissile with 5 mps, it goes off at SR1 + 4 (5-1).

Now with Multispell 1

If my adventurer has an two arrows and casts two multimissiles with with 5 mps, both go off at SR1 + 4 (5-1).

Does he, on the same strike rank:

• make two Spirit Magic casting rolls to cast the two Multimissile spells on the two arrows, or

Yes. Each spell is separate and you need to cast multispell (three rolls in total) 

• One Spirit Magic roll because it is now considered to be a single spell action affecting two arrows?

No.

In my example it be worth casting multimissile with (12-DEX SR) mps, it goes off at 12, but only one roll.

As in all cases GMs may make their own rulings, some may rule that only the Multispell roll is needed (plus attack rolls), others may rule that all the spirit magic if identical is one roll only - however there is only one specific example of this (disruption).

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Oath

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Passage

Now that this works on non-magical doors etc, does this mean that after the designated person passes through, the door always re-locks/re-bars itself?

Yes.

Seems a bit weird for a non-magical door to re-lock itself, unlike a door with Lock where it makes more sense, but ok if that's the intention. (Edit - the spell says specifically that it opens the door, not just that you pass through)

The spell closes the door. Under the spell, the door is effectively magical. 

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Pathwatch

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Peace

Who counts as a "person" for purposes of the Peace rune spell? Having the Man rune? Are Dragonewts and Dwarves people?

Anyone the GM wishes to include for the purposes of the situation, as per this part of the dictionary definition:

"Person - a character in a play or story".

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Rain

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Reflection

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Remove (body part)

What happens to a separated body part after the spell ends?

Most casters realise it's in their interest to have the body part to hand when the spell ends, so they can reattach it!

Does it continue to sense and can it still be controlled?

No.

So is it only the rejoining ability that is lost until the spell is cast again? Or does it become inanimate until the spell is recast?

There are quite a few options, such as the GM could rule that it just reappears attached, or devoid of a body to support it, the part starts to starve and will slowly die... (GM's call here, go for MGF)

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Restore Health

The core rules have no Tapping spell in sorcery. Will it available in a future supplement?

For Tapping, see Tap on RQG page 384, and the sorcery spell Tap Body on RQG page 400

Can Restore Health be cast upon a person to allow them to recover the POW lost due to Divine Intervention? The spell description does say, "This spell restores characteristic points that have been lost to disease, to the effects of the sorcery spell Tapping, or to other sources." (pg. 337, emphasis mine), and the description of Divine Intervention (pg. 272) does use the words, "The adventurer then loses POW equal to the number rolled in return for the divine intervention."

No. Divine Intervention is not a health crisis.

does the effect of this spell "stack" in the sense that seven separate castings of Restore Health, each of 1 Rune point, are exactly the same as one casting with seven Rune points?

Yes.

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Resurrection

Resurrection & Seal Soul

In the description of Resurrection:
"Each day after the first that the dead adventurer stays dead…"

in the description of Seal Soul:
"Each day after death that the adventurer has been dead…"

I think the characteristic loss effect should be same. Thus, the description of Seal Soul should be modified as that of Resurrection. How would you feel?

The text in the rule book is correct. Resurrection is a better spell.

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Safe

The final sentence in the CR description about defensive magic is not present in the RBoM version. Is this intentional?

Yes.

Because it is a useful clarification about how to deal with Defensive magic. Does this mean that it's now the spell's 2 Rune points that are used vs defensive magic? If so this is an important change vs the CR.

This is in keeping with the general rules for boosting magic and doesn't need repeating.

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Sanctify

Can the Rune Point spent on Sanctify in the first place be replenished by worshipping in the sanctified area?

Yes. The point has been spent. (This only becomes an issue with Extension, which isn't needed with this spell.) 

Can they sacrifice POW to gain a Rune Point and a new Rune spell?

No. With Sanctify there is effectively a hidden level in the temple size list:

• Sanctified area -  no magic available.
• Site - no magic available.
• Shrine - single cult rune spell.
• Minor Temple - all cult and subcult (if present) Rune spells
• Major Temple - all cult and subcult (if present) Rune spells, and a single associate cult rune spell.
• Great Temple - everything.

Can the Adventurers doing this personal worship in the sanctified area also sacrifice POW to gain a Rune Point?

Yes.

Note you don't need to sacrifice a rune point to gain a spell, you just need to do exceptional service, pay, or by GM fiat:

At the gamemaster’s discretion, an initiate can gain access to the cult’s special Rune spells in return for exceptional service to the cult, by donating the equivalent of 100 L per point of the spell, or for other reasons that further the cult’s goals and standing. Benefits, page 275

In order to gain access to a new spell you, do need some kind of organisation is need, so the minimum is likely a God Talker at a shrine.

The Red Book of Magic clarified that ceremonies are to be performed by cult members, as opposed to, say, members of associated cults. The Q&A could even further prevent munchkinery by specifying "Cult initiates and rune-level members", in case a lay-member wants to cheat their way into a leading a ceremony.

Lay members cannot cast Sanctify.

FYI, I meant an initiate of another cult (who has Sanctify with that cult) who is member of a given cult. Since Sanctify isn't specialized by cult ("Sanctify (Orlanthi)", "Sanctify (Zorak Zoran)", etc.) I could imagine someone trying to reuse the same spell for other ceremonies or something.

Sanctify is effectively specialised by cult as it's powered by the Rune point pool of the originating cult. Using the example in the spell description, a Darkness cultist could not make the cubic volume of an earth cult. Rune spells have their own sensory effects (per RBM 6), there would be noticeable connections to the originating cult.

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Shattering

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Shield

Is the countermagic/protection provided by Shield incompatible with Shimmer and Spirit Screen like the spirit magic equivalents are?

Yes.

Shield & Countermagic spirit spell

Does the order of casting of Countermagic and Shield matter?

If I cast Countermagic 1 then Shield 2, does the Countermagic get taken down by the shield? If I cast Countermagic 3 then Shield 2, would the Shield 2 be blocked?

No & no. The spell effects are cumulative per the spell.

Do I need to cast them in the other order, with the Countermagic powerful enough to get past the Shield? e.g., if I cast Shield 1, do I need to cast Countermagic 4 in order to get them to stack (as a spell lower than 4 points would normally be countered by the Shield's Countermagic 2)?

No.

Or, do Countermagic and Shield always stack regardless of the order and power of the spells?

They don't stack, effects are cumulative per the spell.

A rule of thumb would be to start with the defender's body as being the closest/last line of defense, and then work outward. 

• Protection 1st
• Shield 2nd
• Countermagic 3rd 

So then from an outside attack, these would be in reverse order, with the attack hitting Countermagic first, then Shield, then Protection.

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Shooting Star

In RQ2, Shooting Star it was Extendible, very handy as you could prepare an arrow in advance. Now it's listed as an "instant" spell, so you can't cast Extension on it. Is that deliberate or accidental?

Deliberate. Normal use would have the arrow fired the round it received the spell.

Or since the spell doesn't trigger till the arrow is fired, does that mean that it just lies fallow till it is fired, therefore theoretically (if Yelorna does not object) available forever, effectively like an arrow *enchanted* with Shooting Star?

Sure, If you can convince your GM to allow arrows once touched to have shooting star "available forever". However It's clearly an attempt to extending the spell. If they did allow this, I'd certainly advise that the rune points are not recoverable until the arrow is used.

This doesn't preclude that this an everlasting shooting star arrow, it would certainly be the object of a Yelorna HeroQuest.

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Slash

Weapons in Weapons and Equipment

Weapons and Equipment has a few weapons which are have axe or sword in the name, but are outside of the obvious category: Everything in the Pole-Axe category; Pole-sword and Sword Staff in the Spear, Two-handed category; All Daggers under the reddish divider 'Swords' on page 62. How do you determine their spell compatibility?

If it's not clear from the spell description, use the Weapon Type column to determine spell compatability:

• Cut & Thrust, and weapons can generally use Sword Trance.
• Slashing weapons can generally use Axe Trance & Slash

Where there is a choice, the player & GM should decide depending on their adventures' fighting style.

Otherwise it's up to the GM to decide what they feel is appropriate in their games.

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Snow

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Soul Sight

Can the caster also tell what cult a person is initiated into?

No. As stated in the spell description: 

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Speak With Herd Beasts

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Speak With Herd Beasts

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Speak With Horses

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Speak With Insects

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Speak With Scorpions

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Speak With Small Animals

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Spell Trading

Note that this corrects the Rune spell, the availability to initiates remains unchanged (per RQG 76 & 298). Initiates may spell trade with other initiates.

When a rune spell relying on stacking a variable amount of magic points (like e.g. Lock) is traded, is the number of magic points pre-set at the time of the trade (as the spell could go off on a roll of 96-100)?

No. If Lock goes off, it won't do anything.

When a traded spell is cast (in a situation other than the Spell Trading ritual), what rune(s) and rune percentage(s) determine the success chance? The runes known by the originator of the spell, and the rune percentage of the originator at the time of trading the spell?

see:

Can an Issaries merchant trade for a rune spell using only an elemental rune that the trader doesn't have any percentiles in?

Yes, see above.

Or should an Issaries trader character have at least one percentile in every element rune in order to be able to theoretically cast any rune spell he encounters?

See above.

In its description, “The original “owners” of the spells can still cast them after trading them, provided that the spell was not a one-use spell and that all other requirements for the spell (Rune points, cult status, etc.) are still met.”

In the case of trading one-use spell, when will the original owner be able to cast the one-use spell?

As soon as desired, as per the rules.

Can a rune spell coming from a spell trade be placed in a matrix?

No. You cannot make what would effectively be a magic item for another cult.

For MGF your GM may allow it in order to further a plot - angry cultists seeking out the adventurer to recover the item.

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Spirit Armor Enchantment

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Spirit Block

The last paragraph refers to "the value of the Spirit Block" being the determining factor in when the current MP of a spirit it too low for it to attack. In the italics example, Sorala has Spirit Block 2. So taken literally a spirit needs its MP to fall to 1 for it not to be able to attack, since the Spirit Block has value 2. Is this correct?

Yes

Or should the reference be to the number of points of spirit armour?

No

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Spirit Guardian

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Spirit Melding

Both descriptions are updated in the WoD to add on the ancestral spirit's MP for spirit combat damage absorption. But it doesn't say how damage to these points are apportioned, e.g. what happens when the subject has taken a number of MP damage in spirit combat and the spell ends and the added MP disappear - what are the subject's MP now? Are the ancestral spirit's add-on points the ones that take the damage first?

Use the ancestral spirits magic points first, when they are gone, the spirit departs.

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Summon Ancestor

It says 'An ancestor can only cast Daka Fal special Rune magic, and cannot cast common Rune spells.' 

Does this also apply to ancestors that you know to have known other rune magic in life?  eg your great-grandfather dies, and you know he was also an initiate of another cult, etc

Daka Fal cannot access magic from other gods. That part of their spirit / soul has gone to their respective god's afterlife, beyond Daka Fal's influence.

How about Trolls who are initiates of Kygor Litor and also Daka Fal as an Associated Cult (or full initiates of both)?

Daka Fal provides Kyger Litor with Summon specific ancestor as an associate. As a Kyger Litor / Daka Fal priest, they would be able to access most troll ancestors and just their Kyger Litor and Daka Fal magics.

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Summon (Cult Spirit)

If a cult has specific Summon spell use those, otherwise use the Summon (Cult Spirit) spell. The specific spells are always better, for example with elementals, you always get the same elemental.

Summon Cult Spirit vs. Summon Elemental:

Vargast is an initiate of Orlanth, but not of Orlanth Thunderous.

An initiate of Orlanth Adventurous.

Can Vargast summon a small air elemental using Summon Cult Spirit?

No. Although the GM at your table may rule otherwise.

Does it matter whether he knows the Summon Elemental spell for it?

• If a cult has a specific summon spell use that, it has a specific set of rules associated with it.

If a cult has elementals, they are cult spirits. Summon Elemental is a specialist version of Summon Cult spirit. Use the specialist spell.

If Vargast instead summons a small air elemental using a Summon Elemental spell, what runes can he use (compare the Mago example from the starter set, where he gets all three runes for the Summon Elemental spell)?

Any of his cult runes: 

As Summon Elemental in this case is a specific version of the common Rune spell, Summon Cult Spirit, Vargast can use Air or Movement.

Can Vargast summon a large air elemental using Summon Cult Spirit (that is, are large air elementals Orlanth cult spirits?

No. 

or are they only cult spirits for Orlanth Thunderous specifically ("subcult spirits"?))?

All Air elementals are Orlanth cult spirits. However:

• Orlanth Thunderous is the specific aspect of Orlanth as the Air / Storm and has the greatest storm powers, so can summon all and sizes types of Air elementals.
• Orlanth Adventurous is the specific aspect of Orlanth as Movement / Change and does not have as much power over Air powers so can only deal with small and medium Air elementals.

Does that mean that he also couldn't command a large air elemental using Command Cult Spirit, since it doesn't count as a cult spirit for him (not being a Thunderous subcult initiate)? 

As Vargast is a member of the Orlanth subcult with lesser air powers, no. But a GM may rule otherwise.

Could a Summon Cult Spirit 4+ be used to summon larger, more powerful, etc, elementals?

No. Summon cult spirit only goes to 3 points maximum. Beyond this there are rarer specific summon spells for larger more powerful cult spirits.

As usual, your GM may rule that Summon Cult Spirit go to 4, 5 or even unlimited points.

There is also a group of specific Summon cult spirit spells that allow you to stack on top of the initial summon, beyond three points:

• Flash Flood 3pts, but you can stack an additional 4 points on top of it. (RBM 52)
• Mountain leap, 2pts, but you can stack on top of it, effectively summoning a larger wind / ram. (RBM 66)

Cult summons spells over 3 points include:

• Summon Snake Daughter, 4pts (RBM 94)
• Summon Thunder Brother, 4pts (RQB 185)
• Call Founder, 6pts (RBM 21)

It's also possible that there are [little known / regional / secretive] [subcults / hero cults / spirit cults] that can summon more powerful specific Cult Spirits. Spells like these may also be be HeroQuest prizes and so unique to individuals.

Controlling a summoned elemental (entity)

In a game, an adventurer cast Summon Cult Spirit (Air Elemental), then Command Cult Spirit, succeeded in the control roll (POW vs POW.), and commanded it to attack some of the NPCs.

One of the a shaman NPCs engaged the elemental in spirit combat and reduced its magic points to zero, then cast Control (entity) on it, and sent it back at the adventurer.

As long as it was Control (Air Elemental)

The PC still has Command Cult Spirit, so I made them re-roll a POW v POW roll to wrestle control back.

Basically the elemental ping ponged back and forth - is this right or is it that once you have control of it it cant be "stolen"

Yes, the shaman has wrestled control from the controlling summoner and has forced it back on its caster. The Command Cult Spirit is still active so they need to wrest control from the shaman. Shaman are the Master of Spirits, and this is a perfect demonstration of that. Note that Command Cult spirit lasts 15 mins and costs 2 rune points, while Control (Air Elemental) costs 1 magic point and lasts two minutes.

In common rune magic if you cast Summon Cult Spirit do you need to follow up with casting Command Cult Spirit (The description of Summon Cult Spirit on page 342 is not clear about it but it doesn't specifically states that a Command Cult spirit should be used to command the summoned spirit.)

Yes. Summon Cult Spirit may be cast simultaneously with Command Cult Spirit.

Is Command Cult Spirit can be considered as a spirit attack, IF the spirit is under control of another player/NPC/present in the wilderness therefore the process can be augmented with spirit combat ?

No. A cult spirit is sent by the adventurer's god. If a Zorak Zorani has a fire elemental and you are a Yelm cultist, the ZZ's fire elemental is not sent by Yelm. Command cult spirit will not work. Commanding a cult spirit is like negotiating with an allied spirit, the magic is normally good enough to persuade it to do what you want, but other times the spirit has its own agenda.

Can I summon a specific known entity with the summon spells, or more precisely the Rune magic summon spells?

Yes, if your GM agrees that your adventurer has the correct information to do so. 

When a Chalana Arroy casts Summon Healing Spirit, can the priestess pick a specific healing spirit she summoned sometime in the past? Can a Wind Lord summon a specific Flint Slinger using Summon Cult Spirit? Can an Engizi priest summon a specific naiad from the Creekstream River, or just a random one?

Yes, if your GM agrees that your adventurer has the correct information to do so. 

Spirit Magic Summon (entity) specifically says random.

The first should be random. The spirit however may not give or be able to give you the information needed to summon it specifically again. If it is a spirit of place, you would likely need to be in the same place.

I see one can Summon Cult Spirits, and it is part of the Common Rune magic. Some cults have all common Rune Magic, and thus the spirit isn’t specified, despite the description in the spell. For example Foundchild. But Chalana Arroy says that it has all Common Rune Magic but Warding, but under special Rune Magic it has Summon Cult Spirit (Healing Spirit). With CA, given Summon Cult Spirit is also mentioned in the table p. 317, does that mean it has another, general, version of it also?

No, look at the examples in the spell itself, they are examples of it, another Chalana Arroy version would be to summon the spirit of retribution.

And what does that summon? If not, what does Foundchild summon with it?

Foundchild can summon Brother Dog spirits to bind into dogs, or the spirit of retribution. Or whatever hunting spirit you feel would be appropriate.

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Summon (type) Elemental

See also Summon Cult Spirit vs. Summon Elemental

How does this work for initiates of the Seven Mothers? Vostor doesn't have the Fire rune, so can't cast his Summon Fire Elemental (small) spell.

Seven Mothers initiates can Summon / Dismiss Elementals (max 1pt) using the Moon rune, but cannot Summon / Dismiss any form of Air Elemental.

Can I summon an Elemental directly on someone within Range? Do I need a POW vs POW roll to do so? How much Create Shadow do I need to summon or maintain a darkness elemental in daytime: one pointt, two, or more? I'm guessing two from the Create Shadow write up since that blocks daylight on Cave Trolls and Trollkin, or maybe one since that's enough for Dark Walk to work?

Generally speaking, you can't summon an elemental directly onto someone. An elemental is a living spirit which existed prior, and is manifesting cloaked in the element of its nature.

You would not need to make a resistance roll because you're not attacking another entity (the target) by summoning a third entity (the elemental), though you may direct that elemental at the intended target. 

I would say 2 points to maintain a darkness elemental in daytime (as it needs to be darkness, not just shadow) but the GM should be the one making that call. Is it noon with the sun directly overhead? Is it morning or evening with long, stark shadows? This is where a common sense call should be made vs deriving situation guidelines and modifiers for every conceivable situation.

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Summon Household Guardian

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Summon Insect Swarm

How does the 'Summon Insect Swarm' spell work exactly? I have no trouble understanding the text, but is it an area effect or just against one person? What if the original target (targets?) die, can you redirect the swarm?

This is situational. I'd suggest the maximum number affected be the same as the rune point level, depending on adjacency. A single beehive swarm is a bar will affect a lot more people than outside. Command Cult Spirit works on the insects, or a rare control (insect type), the occasional Gorakikki shaman- priest might teach this.

Does redirecting the swarm takes one's action for a melee round?

That's an at your table call. The swarm has to move, so depending on the type of insect may be quick (flying) or slow (crawling).

Can wind magic (or sylphs) could be used to disperse the swarm at least temporarily?

Yes.

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Summon Spirit Teacher

How long does the spell take to cast?

Summon Spirit Teacher must be stacked with the 1-point Summon Ancestor spell which is a 1 point Ritual. Summon Spirit Teacher is a 2 point instant spell so doesn't add to the (1 hour) Ritual length:

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Summons of Evil

I've got some questions about the Summons of Evil. Well, lots of them actually. Apologies in advance, but I'm very much stumped by this thing (I don't think I'm the only one).

As a starting point, the Summons of Evil first appeared in King of Sartar in 1992, and has appeared in many publications since then. You can find the original text and a list of references to other publications that describe the ritual in use in context of an adventure or detail from Gloranthan history here:

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/home/gloranthan-documents/glorantha-2/the-summons-of-evil

The effigy stuff

You do a ritual (generally as part of an Orlanthi worship ritual, but not necessarily) involving some effigy of some enemy (Chaos creature, Lunars, werewolves, the tribe next door, whatever). The spell summons a spirit of that enemy into the effigy (Chaos spirit, Lunar spirit, wolf spirit, ancestor spirit of the tribe next door, etc). That spirit animates the effigy and you now have to fight that. Does the spirit arrive at the beginning of the ritual?

Yes.

You now have to destroy the effigy?

Yes, but you delay it if you don't want the physical summoning to end. You might want to keep it alive for days to make sure your enemy appears. Then destroy it. You then have a double problem, destroying the effigy and the enemy nearby!

Does that typically involve beating the spirit in Spirit Combat?

No.

It has STR and Hit points, so it's an embodied spirit, manifest inside the effigy.

It does however have spirit powers. Given the power of the enemy summoned (4D6+6 and 5D6+6, or more...). Give it representative powers depending on the form the summoners made: Bite, Chaos, Rune Magic, Spirit Dart, Spirit Weapon are all good candidates. The GM should craft an appropriate powerful embodied spirit.

Or does that involve physically fighting an animated effigy?

Yes. The spirit is trapped in the effigy. You might want to restrain it if you want the full summons to continue.

For instance, what prevents the players from immediately shooting a flaming arrow at the wicker effigy, and standing back while it burns down?

Nothing, although you now have a burning effigy charging you. It's likely to have 20 hit points or more...

When the effigy is destroyed, the participants gain some bonuses against the enemy represented by the effigy. These bonuses last "for the duration of the ceremony". What is "the ceremony" in this case?

If it's a Worship ceremony, that. It takes all day so hopefully anything you've summoned arrives by the end. If it's the start of a HeroQuest (real world or other), until the end of the quest. If it's a Crown test, until the end of the test, etc.

Is it the ritual itself?

No.

If so, does that mean that the bonuses are effectively only valid against the "summoned representative"?

No.

The representative

In addition to summoning a spirit in the effigy, it seems like the spell also summons a "real" version of this enemy to you?

Yes.

So if you had a Telmori effigy, in addition to having some wolf spirit animate the effigy,

Depending on the form of the effigy it could be a telmori or a wolf spirit. There's a lot of room for creativity here. Wolf-headed person or wolf. 

you would also see a Telmori raiding party showing up at some point?

Yes if you run the ritual long enough.

The summoned enemy representative comes from a distance that is proportional to the time the ritual lasted until the effigy was destroyed. The first example mentions a one-day ritual summoning an enemy that would take a one-day trip to get there.

Yes.

So the cosmos knows ahead of time how long you're going to make the ritual last, and finds some appropriate enemy that would show up roughly at the end of this ritual?

Yes. If you have a heroquest enemy they will arrive too... 

What is the advantage of performing a longer ritual (apart from the Ritual Practice gains of casting the spell) ?  Would it summon a stronger enemy, so you do it for more glory/Reputation?

KIng Bryon uses it to summon the Lunar army for the Battle of Auroch Hills in 1622.

Does making the ritual last longer mean having to fight the spirit trapped in the effigy for longer too?

Possibly. Depending on it's abilities.

Or could you have a 1-day-long ceremony during which you destroyed the effigy in the first 5 minutes? If the latter, is it correct to assume that the fastest you destroyed the effigy, the less "committed" the representative was (e.g. they only prepared for 5 minute until they realized "wait, I've got better things to do" and so they don't show up).

If the effigy is destroyed quickly, there is still a chance that the enemy will show:

In terms of gameability, how do you not end up with the effigy *always* being destroyed within minutes? (by virtue of how combat rounds work)

Preparation. See also grappling, subduing and disarming.

How would you play something where the effigy is not destroyed even after a full day, and so the "representative" has time to show up in force?

Depending on what the effigy is: tying it up, throwing it into a pit, time to be creative and hope it's ranged magic is poor and it doesn't have a devastating chaos feature.

Vasana's Summons of Evil

Vasana's Saga gives us a glimpse of how the Summons of Evil is used in practice (RQG p270). She and her companions perform it on the cliffs above Snakepipe Hollow, at the beginning of their quest to find the legendary Snake Pipe. I'm confused about a few things:

What was the point of doing a Summons of Evil?  If the ritual only gives bonuses against Chaos (in this case) for the duration of the ceremony, then it's of no help for later going inside the caves. Worse, it makes them go in the caves with less magic, less ammo, and maybe even a few missing HPs. I don't understand Vasana's reasoning here.

You are correct in saying Vasana's Saga gives us a glimpse of how the Summons of Evil is used in practice. The full circumstance isn't there. It reads like she is doing a real world heroquest.

It says that the summoned Chaos horror "emerged from the effigy before we could destroy the polluted idol". Was this walktapus the "representative", meaning that the characters were also fighting some spirit in the effigy?

The ritual is taking place right by Snake Pipe Hollow. Chaos is always nearby. They make weave a torso from handy flexible poles (cut from hazel or willow) and add half a dozen branches for arms and add a few for legs, they then carve some chaos runes on it. It looks crude - but it's chaos. They then do the summons and a huge chaos spirit embodies the effigy which starts whacking the group. Each time they cut off an animated branch - another grows back - this time real, perhaps the spirit has a chaos feature of regeneration, but much faster than a real walktapus has. This gets out of hand and suddenly the spirit is a real walktapus.

Summoning Chaos on top of Snake Pipe Hollow isn't the most sensible thing to do, and in this case they got a real chaos horror. But the benefit of everyone who participated having a +20% bonus in overcoming the magic resistance of or defending against spells cast by the enemy represented by the effigy is well worth it.

Just to be clear, the +20% bonus applies to their entire mission later when they go into the caves, because somehow the players and GM framed this dungeon delve as a "real world heroquest" or similar "ceremonial test of strength"?

Yes. The +20% bonus only applies in overcoming the magic resistance of or defending against spells cast by the enemy represented by the effigy. 

So it sounds like the Summons of Evil can be used mainly with two goals in mind:

1. You want some bonuses against an enemy that you'll fight as part of some extended ceremony (Vasana's Snakepipe Hollow trial)
2. You want to actively draw an enemy to you so you can fight it with some home advantage (Battle of Auroch Hills)

Yes, and the third most common one:

3. Holy days where the true nature of chaos is revealed to remind good Orlanth worshippers what the problem with chaos is.

When King Bryon uses it to summon the Lunar army for the Battle of Auroch Hills in 1622, would that have included the entire Lunar Army or just one individual, or...?

Given the text, the effigy in this instance was the general of the Lunar army (a specific individual can be targeted per the spell). He was drawn to attack so his army followed. Any bonus was about him only.

Ie, what if the effigy is a generic enemy, and thus, you summon multiple generic enemies?

The spell result is specific: +20% bonus in overcoming the magic resistance of or defending against spells cast by the enemy. So if you summon Dark trolls, it works against those trolls summoned, no matter the number.

The description says that the effigy "will fight back". Does it not attack by default and it just sits there otherwise? The WoD references to restraining it seem to indicate that it will try and attack. So "will fight back" seems to give the wrong impression.

The summoned spirit is hostile. If it has relevant spirit abilities it will try and attack. Likewise it has a STR equal to its POW, so it could have an average STR of 20 to 24, so could break bonds and attack using whatever the effigy is made of.

What happens at the end of the ritual if the effigy hasn't been destroyed by then - does it discorporate and attack, or disappear, or something else? This doesn't seem to be specified.

Firstly if the ritual isn't completed, no bonus. The real issue is that as above, you have a double problem, destroying the effigy and the enemy nearby. In a worse case scenario, I'd suggest having the animated effigy join the side of the enemy summoned.

What if the adventurers successfully complete the ritual and a couple of nearby broo answer the call:

A) How do the adventurers know that the ritual was successful, if the coming chaos creatures are a couple of days away? Are they supposed to just sit there waiting and hoping?

They are not just waiting, they are keeping the effigy in check. Generally I use the bigger the spirit, the faster the enemy gets there (I use a simple a 4D+6 spirit is a week, and for each dice more, subtract a day. for an 8 or 9D+6 spirit (on high holy days or sacred time) the ritual can pull an enemy heroquester into the ritual).

B) What's to stop anyone else from attacking/killing the summoned evil, while it's on its way to the site of the effigy?

MGF.

If some hunters see a couple of broo seemingly on a walkabout, why wouldn't they try to kill them (either right then and there or after getting some backup)?

It's magic, use MGF.

Is there something that indicates that summoned foes are part of a ritual and shouldn't be touched?

See above. 

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Sunspear

intended to mean that defensive magic such as Protection, Shield, Woad and similar that grants armour points is ineffective? Or is it intended to mean that Sunspear is not stopped by Countermagic and similar?

Any spells offering magical armor protection (increasing armor points) are ineffective.

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Suppress Lodril

It says that if centred on an unwilling target then their POW must be overcome. Knowing this, wouldn't the caster just choose to centre it a fraction off from their target, achieving pretty much the same effect but not requiring the roll?

Yes, but then it's not mobile.

If centred on a target (cast on a person), does it move with them?

Yes.

For the spell's Counterrmagic effects, does that mean that this aspect stops working if a sufficiently powerful spell goes through it, just like Countermagic?

No it's like Shield, it's not knocked down, but the spell get through The whole spell would need dispelling to break it.

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Sureshot

Does Sureshot let you chose the location struck by the missile? I imagine it would, or else it wouldn't really help someone who is already good (96%+)?

No, you still roll hit location.

The benefit of Sureshot that it automatically hits. That means it can't be parried (with a shield) or dodged. You'll hit someone hiding behind a wall or moving or in the middle of melee. You can hit them in the dark. These are huge advantages.

You can, however, make an aimed blow at strike rank 12 (see page 197), cast Sureshot and use half your skill to determine whether it is a special or critical.

Temporal doesn't seem quite right. At least, not without clarification. Is the intention that once cast, the user has until the spell expires to use this single auto-hit? And they can't save this one shot forever? I am assuming they get only one such auto-hit due to it saying "the adventurer's next missile attack". It's the clash between Temporal (fixed duration) and single shot that raises the question for me.

The caster has a 15 minute (temporal) window to get a shot off. In practice this usually only lasts until the DEX SR of the caster, allows a shot.

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Swallow

This spell has no range. How will the caster swallow the target?

The range is Self.

Is he engaged in the target?

Does he need to some attack roll?

Attacking the target can be a Grapple roll or DEXx5, or if the target isn't Dodging it can be automatic.

How long will the item survive in the caster?

This one is by necessity up to the gamemaster to rule on, as there are way too many variables.

If the casting is successful and the target is failed to Dodge, is the living target automatically dead?

As for survival, recovery, etc., the spell says "Any living being swallowed by the caster dies immediately." If you really want to have someone still alive after being swallowed, then most living things can survive a short while. Use the rules for Drowning and Asphyxiation (page 156) if you don't want it to be an instant kill. You might treat stomach acid as a minor type of fire or acid, assigning it a POT and having it do a low amount of total hit point damage per round.

Basically it's an instant Swallow, if the item is living. it's now dead. GMs may use MGF to alter the deadly effects of this spell. 

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Sword Trance

If my Humakti adventurer casts Sword Trance and stacks 20 magic points in it, they gain 200% to hit.

Correct.

If I have 100% to hit with my Greatsword normally I would go to 300%. If this Humakti decides to split his attacks against ambushing Lunars, he can hit 3 in a round at 100 each, correct?

Incorrect.

If his skill was 101% naturally, then he could split his attack 50/51%, and as a GM I'd rule that the bonus would be split evenly, for two attacks at 150% and 151%.

What % would he parry with his greatsword at for the round?

300% for the first, -20% for each additional parry.

If he decides not to split his attack then he would be at 300 and reduce his opponents chance to parry by 200 percentiles, leaving the Humakti at 100%, but with what % critical or hit?

The special and critical ranges are based on the modified chance, so if your Humakti's skill was at 100% because he was reducing other attackers' chances to hit, then he'd hit/special/crit as if his skill was 100%.

This Humakti in particular has a DEX SR 1, SIZ SR 1, and swings an iron greatsword, so SR 1 weapon.

His strike rank is 3 for his first attack, and 6 if he is able to attack again. 

Don't forget the strike ranks for casting the spells, in the initial rounds they're being cast. Unless he's casting Sword Trance before the battle, it's going to take 1 strike rank for the Rune spell + 19 strike ranks for the magic points. So that spell takes him a full combat round and an additional six strike ranks into the next. He'll need to cast Bladesharp for even more strike ranks. Hopefully an opportunistic foe won't see what he's up to and attempt to disrupt him or throw off his concentration. 

Can a Humakti use Extension to have Sword Trance up for a year? 

I've said no because a) I don't want that degree of power to last that long and b) it's a trance and the Humakti is totally focussed on his weapon and on fighting while it is active and even the most Death oriented character needs to eat, sleep and crap from time to time. 

Correct. You can't keep a Sword Trance active for a year, unless you can for some reason keep fighting without sleep, eating, self-care, conversation, travel, etc. for that year. 

Though the "as-written" mechanics of the spell and Extension seem to indicate it's possible, the gamemaster should interpret the purpose of the spell and its use within the mythic framework of Glorantha. If it makes no sense to remain active, then it should end when it feels appropriate.

Does this have any actual "trance" features as per, e.g., Arrow Trance?

Treat them the same. 

Obviously, one would need to modify the exact features... e.g. Humakti will not "Heal" their iron swords, and will be free to parry!

But will the the Sword Trance'd only be aware of themselves and their foes?  Unaware e.g. of falling allies, larger strategic considerations?  If all the foes are fallen before the spell expires, do they just stand ready for more foes?

If the Tranced character has run out of targets, the spell ends, even if prematurely. Humakt has little interest in his warriors standing around pointlessly when they could be going off to get into more trouble elsewhere. The same could be said for Aldrya or Babeester Gor. The rules don't specifically spell this out but the gamemaster should interpret the situation that way. 

Similarly, casting Extension on spells like this should only be useful for so long as the spell is useful. If, as a gamemaster, you want to have adventurers running around in a coldblooded murder zone, by all means allow it, but if you don't, remember that the gods themselves are linked to the Runes that these spells are cast with, the Rune points the spells were cast with were granted by those gods themselves, and the use of the spells should be in service to the god, or at least not wasted on idle tasks.  

Things that fall outside the province of the target/Trance dynamic are ignored, which is why it would be horrible to keep one of these spells going for longer than is absolutely necessary. 

Sword Trance and Bladesharp

Also, where in all this do we factor Bladesharp? Pre or post splitting or reducing for over 100%?

You would add it in with the modifiers for Sword Trance, until either expires. Generally speaking, you can't pick and choose when magical modifiers come into play if they're both cast on the same item at the same time.

Can characters affected by Sword or Axe Trance use other weapons than swords or axes, eg. shields?

Yes, but...

You may parry, but could not use your shield as an attack and gain the (weapon) trance bonus.

Sword Trance also specifically states: 

So if you attacked with your shield while under a (weapon) trance spell, your GM could say that the spell ends.

If someone under the effect of Sword Trance is using a 2H version of the appropriate weapon, then their weapon is destroyed, and they swap to another version of the same weapon they still receive the bonus. But if they swap to a 1H version, e.g. Greatsword swapping to Broadsword, the bonus is lost, because the wording was '1H or 2H sword skill' implying they picked a specific skill at casting. Is that intended?

You have misunderstood the spell. This spell merges the caster’s consciousness with their sword - If their weapon is destroyed, the spell ends, their consciousness is no longer merged.

Weapons in Weapons and Equipment

Weapons and Equipment has a few weapons which are have axe or sword in the name, but are outside of the obvious category: Everything in the Pole-Axe category; Pole-sword and Sword Staff in the Spear, Two-handed category; All Daggers under the reddish divider 'Swords' on page 62. How do you determine their spell compatibility?

If it's not clear from the spell description, use the Weapon Type column to determine spell compatability:

• Cut & Thrust, and weapons can generally use Sword Trance.
• Slashing weapons can generally use Axe Trance & Slash

Where there is a choice, the player & GM should decide depending on their adventures' fighting style.

Otherwise it's up to the GM to decide what they feel is appropriate in their games.

I also presume that daggers do not count as a sword for Sword Trance

Yes they count as a sword for Sword Trance.

Likewise 'pole-sword' and 'sword staff' are not affected by Sword Trance?

A pole sword as a Cut & Thrust weapon could use Sword Trance

A sword staff as a Cut & Thrust weapon could use Sword Trance

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Teleportation

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Thunderbolt

If you blast 8 Lunars with a 10p Thunderbolt how much Countermagic do they need against it? Is each Lunar hit by a 3p runespell or a 10p?

You're casting a 3-pt spell and spending 1 point per additional target, for a total of 10 points for eight targets.  

Nowhere in the wording of the spell does it say that the additional points are added to the relative power of the spell.

Each target is hit with a 3 pt. Thunderbolt spell.

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Translate

Can the rune magic spell translate be used to help the caster learn a language, or is the impression of meaning it gives too vague for that?

For general use, I'd say no (you don't get an experience check), but if someone is using the spell specifically for an educational purpose, perhaps it offers some sort of small bonus to the skill increase roll, if successful.

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Truespeak

Because each question requires the target's POW to be overcome. Does the caster know definitively that the spell was successful or resisted?

There are three pieces to take into consideration:

• Magic that is cast at a target must be resisted
• Spells almost always have some sort of sensory effect.
• GM style

so

• So the target feels the spell and resists (even if reflexive), and the attacker feels the resistance.
• How does the sensory effect manifest itself for the given spell, it could be obvious.
• Is this a situation where the GM wants to further their game by providing accurate / ambiguous / incorrect information. 

Targets can always feel a spell to resist it, conversely the attacker can feel the resistance and if it overcomes / punches through that resistance. If there is a visual effect, it hits the target. Using Lightning as an example. On a success the the bolt punches through to the body of the target. On a fail, the bolt is deflect harmlessly or just stops (depending on your description). The caster feels the resistance.

Example: lets say a Sage casts Truespeak on a target and asks twenty questions. The subject resists e.g. 11 of the questions. Thus for those 11 questions the target gets to lie.

If they wish or they can say nothing (they can remain silent).

If the caster doesn't have feedback of some sort, they could still rephrase the question and try again.

They would know they have not penetrated their target's POW, the blue tendrils emanating from their hands don't go into the target's head as usual.

If the target has consistent responses to each one, the caster is quite likely to expect at least one of them was not resisted and was the truth. If the caster does have definitive feedback he knows exactly which questions were truthful and which are suspect.

Yes. But the target may also tell the truth, half truths, or lie on a failure. This the GM's call. A broo when asked "where is your camp", may resist the spell, but still tell the truth - knowing that a broo army awaits the adventurers...

I suspect there is no definitive feedback, because the spell states the "Combined with Mind Read (page 65), this spell makes the Lhankor Mhy sage a potent inquisitor." If there was definitive feedback, the sage would be a potent inquisitor even without Mind Read, except in the rare case the target will answer no questions at all.

Mind Read gets round the not speaking part. The not speaking part is not a rare response.

By that I suspect Glorantha doesn't have a 5th Amendment (or equivalent in many modern countries) and most targets will want to express their innocence.

It depends if that is what the questioning is about. This is a "public spell" so others can still talk to the target (intimidate, threaten, badger, etc) It can also be used for public statements. The subject doesn't have to make the POW vs POW roll if they accept the spell and want to tell the truth. An innocent person would just allow the spell to succeed.

Another example: let's say there could be tactical advantages to acting as though you were Befuddled. If your character is on guard duty and senses the approach of someone, then feels a magical attack fail, could you Act (the skill) Befuddled until the perpetrator was closer and then surprise them? Of course, if they actually cast Disrupt and see you acting Befuddled, they will know you are playing along.

They would know if they had succeeded or not. Only a few cults have undetectable magic, see Detection Blank.

As usual you can play this differently at your table if your GM agrees.

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True (Weapon)

Do Bladesharp and True Sword stack?

Yes. Neither spells' description forbids it.

How does Truesword combine with special success for damage?

Both Truesword and Special say "double", so the total damage would be 4x. On the other hand Special also says, that "Any magical addition to the damage is only added once." That again technically Truesword isn't "magical addition" but "magical multiplier".

True (Weapon) doubles the normal damage, letting you roll twice and adding the results together (then adding damage bonus).

A special success doubles the damage normally done, so you would double that when using True (Weapon), as per the rules for specials on page 203 of the core rules. 

If I have a sword with Fireblade on it, and someone casts Truesword on that sword, is it now doing 6D6 damage?

No. Truesword doubles the weapon’s normal damage (RBM 100), Fireblade replaces the normal damage done by the weapon (RBM 114). The True sword would either just not work or more likely would knockdown the Fireblade.

As usual GMs may rule, otherwise at their own table. At my table when a Humakt initiate using Fireblade, wanted to use Truesword, I said the Truesword supplants the Fireblade as Humakt is a sword-wielding death god (even if he does teach Fireblade). His godly deathness, trumps the fire aspect of spirit magic. If for example, a Yelm initiate using Fireblade on a spear wanted to cast truespear as well, I'd say sure Yelm is the premier fire god. 

If I have a normal broadsword and I cast Truesword on it, how much damage will I inflict on a Telmori wolf? 1D8+1 (the additional damage) or 2D8+2 (the total damage)?

• If it's a bronze sword - None
• If it's an enchanted or unenchanted silver sword - 2D8+2+db
• If it's an Iron sword 2D8+2+db

Note that only Bladesharp, Bludgeon, Ironhand and Speedart affect enchanted creatures

Enchant (Silver) is one of Orlanth's most popular Enchantments for those tribes that border the Telmori. A single point of POW can enchant 10 broadswords (and silver is 14x cheaper than iron).

Note that the additional damage of Truesword will affect spirits in spirit combat.

As usual GMs may rule, otherwise at their own table.

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Turn Undead

If a caster successfully casts Turn Undead in a battle situation, do they get a POW check even if the caster wins a POW vs MP contest (instead of a POW vs POW contest)?

Yes, per Increasing POW Through Spell Use or Spirit Combat, page 418. Although the results table gives benefits on a fail, to gain a check it should be a success.

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Warding

Clarification by Steve Perrin

Can the RPs used for Warding can be regained while the spell is in effect, wouldn't temples and important buildings eventually become infested with dozens or hundreds of Warding spells?

Yes. See Temple Defenses, RQG, page 288.

Related Pages

• CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 01 Introduction Q&A
• CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 02 Rune Magic Q&A
• CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 03 Spirit Magic Q&A
• CHA4034 Red Book of Magic – Chapter 03 Spirit Magic Spells Q&A