CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Q&A

Official Answers from Chaosium

Introduction (pages 4-11)

Creatures without POW

How do you handle resistance rolls against undead, or an entity without POW?

If a creature has no POW use their magic points.

Undead & Spirit Combat

Can undead be attacked by spirit combat?

• No, If it’s a magically animated dead thing. eg Skeleton, Zombie, Revenant.
• Yes, if specifically stated in the creature description that it can be attacked by spirit combat. eg, vampires (RQB 106), Dancers in the Darkness (Vampiric RQB 97)
• As usual a GM can state otherwise in their games.

Experience gains for Animals & Spirits

Can animals gain an experience check from an adventure or training i.e. herd Alynx, war dogs, cavalry horses, riding horses etc?

Most of this is subsumed into the relevant adventurer skill, but yes if you train them. Your GM may wish to rule that they get experience rolls too.

Can bound spirits or allied spirits?

Bound spirits, skills, and only a 5% POW gain roll if they receive a POW check through normal means per:

Embodied spirits like Allied spirits in animals, can improve skills by experience where appropriate and have a normal POW gain chance if they receive a POW check through normal means.

This is also an MGF question too. If a player has an investment in an animal of some kind that is part of their everyday world then yes of course, play them as a full adventurer. It’s Bert the entertainer and his swearing parrot vs I have a pet mouse in my pocket.

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Weapons (page 8)

Expanded Damage Bonus Table

STR+SIZ	Damage Bonus	Examples
12 or less	-1D4
13-24	–
25-32	+1D4
33-40	+1D6
41-56	+2D6	Ave. Horse
57-72	+3D6	Ave. Bison
73-88	+4D6	Ave. High Llama
89-104	+5D6	Ave. Titanothere
104-120	+6D6	Ave. Triceratops
121-136	+7D6	Ave. Allosaur, Brontosaur
137-152	+8D6
153-168	+9D6
169-184	+10D6
185-200	+11D6
201-216	+12D6	Ave. Tyrannosaur

Questions

As a general rule/guidance is it fair to say that the two-weapon rule is applicable to all creatures (two attacks per melee round) if they have several attack forms listed, and no specific rules/guidance on using them?

Maybe. I suggest looking at the creature and deciding what works best for your table.

Like in the example of the baboon, which has a 1 handed spear plus bite, and claw attacks? – Otherwise a Gm might extrapolate that you could make two claw attacks, and a bite in one round

It does say bite or claw, and the baboon is holding a spear, but it could drop it. It’s up to the GM how they run the encounter.

(not taking into account circumstantial rulings at the table) 

What’s the general limit to number of attacks, if not specified? 

Given the number of creatures, there is no general rule. For example Cwim (page 191) has 10 attacks.

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Creature Hit Points (page 9)

Expanded Hit Point Modifiers Table

Characteristics	SIZ	POW	Examples
01-04	-2	-1
05-08	-1	–
09-12	–	–
13-16	+1	–
17-21	+2	+1
21-24	+3	+2
25-28	+4	+3	Ave. Horse SIZ
29-32	+5	+4
33-36	+6	+5	Ave. Bison SIZ
37-40	+7	+6
41-44	+8	+7	Ave. High Llama SIZ
45-48	+9	+8
49-52	+10	+9	Ave. Allosaur, Titanothere, Triceratops SIZ
53-56	+11	+10
57-60	+12	+11	Ave. Giant Eel SIZ
61-64	+13	+12
65-68	+14	+13
69-72	+15	+14	Ave. Brontosaur SIZ
73-76	+16	+15	Ave. Tyrannosaur SIZ
77-80	+17	+16
81-84	+18	+17
85-88	+19	+18
89-92	+20	+19
93-96	+21	+20
97-100	+22	+21

Questions

A dog is a four legged animal; both hunting dogs and fighting dogs in the Bestiary have an average of 11 hit points. According to the chart on page 10 of the Bestiary they should therefore have 4 hit points in every location except the hind/fore quarters (which should have 5). However, the chart for dogs on page 144 has 3 points in their limbs instead of 4. Which is correct, and if the dog page is correct, then what is the right formula to calculate unusually sized four legged animals?

Use the specific writeup for dogs, and when looking at other four-legged animals, start with the base creature and adjust hit points per location as indicated on page 9.

The charts on page 10-11 are very general, and may not reflect the physiognomy of each individual animal conforming to that broad class.

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Creature Hit locations (page 10)

Creature Hit location bands table

Hit Points	Modify location hit points
4-6	-3
7-9	-2
10-12	-1
13-15	–
16-18	+1
19-21	+2
22-24	+3
25-27	+4
28-30	+5
31-33	+6
34-36	+7
37-39	+8
40-42	+9
43-45	+10
46-48	+11
49-51	+12
52-54	+13
55-57	+14

Centaurs (page 10)

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The Elder Races (pages 16-87)

Aldryami (page 16)

Creating an Elf Adventurer (page 26)

p.19, Brown Elves and p.20, Green Elves, are these just examples of languages that an adult elf might have, or do all elves learn TradeTalk?

The Bestiary says in the Introduction that these are the sort of creatures that adventurers are likely to interact with in a RuneQuest campaign. So all of the creatures are just those sort. The Brown and Green elves are the sort that adventurers may meet and so they have Tradetalk. Elves deep in a forest with no contact with outsiders are unlikely to learn tradetalk, while those who deal with humans, more likely. Look at the Elf patrol in the GM Screen Pack as an example (page 52)

Specifically, should adventurers get these percentages, even though they are not listed under “Creating an Elf Adventurer”?

Yes.

Same applies to centaurs and ducks and minotaurs who speak Tradetalk at various levels despite the “Creating an X Adventurer” not listing it?

Yes.

I appreciate that I can make this call at my table, but I want my character creation tool to present the appropriate default behaviour.

Use the creating an adventurer section first, then backfill with anything missing in the full creature section. The adventurer section should be used if there are any conflicts. (until an appropriate pack is published).

e.g. A Green Elf warrior adventurer would calculate their Dodge as DEX x2 +20%, and not get the 65% in the Green Elf section. Likewise would have Elf Bow at base (30) + manipulation bonus + 30, and not get the 70% in the Green Elf section.

As Tradetalk is not covered in the adventurer section, treat the 15% as a creation bonus, so second language, Tradetalk (00) +communication bonus + 15%

Be aware that the Cults of Glorantha gives packages for adventurer cults at creation, for step 6, eg:

High King Elf Starting Skills

• Cult Lore (Aldrya) +15%
• Elf Bow +15%
• Meditate +10%
• Plant Lore +20%
• Sing +10%
• Worship (Aldrya) +20%

Then

• Cult Spirit Magic: list (usual 5pt choice)

Then

• Passions: list

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Baboons (page 28)

Is it possible for a Baboon to attack with a spear and bite in the same round? Does this fall under the rule of Attacking with both weapons OR Attack with one and Parry with the other in the same round?  Or would the Baboon be able to Attack with a spear, Attack with a bite, then also Parry or Dodge?

Two-weapon combat was further clarified in Rune Fixes 2 – 18th March 2020

Looking at the ranges involved a baboon would use it’s spear and it has a longer reach than claw, then bite, then rush its target to grapple and bite or claw. One attack and as many parry / dodge as available.

Note that a baboon has a singular claw attack as the other hand has a spear in it.

Note that a baboon with a shield and spear can’t claw.

The baboon tactics I use are spear, then knockback, hoping for a knockdown then bite.

Baboon Dex is listed as 3d6+6! It should be 2d6+6

3d6+6 is correct, it is based on the Gloranthan Bestiary (AH 1987), Giant Baboon.

Also what’s the reason for super dextrous baboons?

You would need to ask the writers of the 1987 Gloranthan Bestiary.

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Centaurs (page 30)

Centaur armor

I assume for the portions that cover their equine regions, the same rules apply to determining ENC for the armor based on the Centaur’s size, and for the human bits, things are the same as for other PCs. But I did wonder if the heavy armor restrictions still applied to legs, and if there were any other nuances with centaur armor such as whether or not a centaur can wear armor that is for chest / abdomen, or if they’re restricted only to chest.

Use the Beast Armor section in Weapons & Equipment, page 87, using the body and legs sections. Centaurs would be limited (as horses) to Ring Mail on their legs as the heaviest armor. As well as armor types, this section covers cost, and ENC too.

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Giants (page 45)

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Maidstone Archers (page 47)

Third Arm

What does the Maidstone Archer do with their 3rd arm in melee combat?

Holds the shield.

Does the Maidstone archer use the shield as well as two swords? 

Yes.

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Mostali (page 53)

Dwarf Weapons (page 59)

Dwarf Sorcery (page 61)

Does a Mostali adventurer initially know all three Maker Magic techniques necessary to cast the three example spells, rather than just one technique as a beginning human Lhankor Mhy adventurer?

No, that’s just God Learner theory, treat the magic point costs as mastered.

Are there relations between the Maker Magic techniques (similar to the relations between human sorcery techniques)?

Maybe, there are three different answers from the text on page 61. But you don’t need them to cast the spells.

Can Maker Magic spells be manipulated the same way human sorcery can?

Yes, Strength, Range, but duration is is usually Temporal, so treat that as the base to extend duration.

Does the Mostali adventurer’s Free INT limit the adventurer’s ability to manipulate a Maker Magic spell?

Yes, but they no doubt have methods that don’t limit this, that makes multiple units work together.

How would a Mostali adventurer gain POW? POW is used when casting Mostali sorcery spells.

They likely tap resources, dependant on cast. The examples are a very limited sampling of maker magic.

In dwarf society spent dwarfs (no POW) are just recycled.

True Mostali not Dwarfs can likely regenerate their own POW.

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Tusk Riders (page 68)

Charisma

Using the charisma rule as your max number of spell point breaks down with tusk riders and their 1D6 CHA.  Is the rulebook trying to tell me they are “less”? I’m thinking of house ruling INT with CHA as your suppressed spells Ala RQ2?

Tusk Riders were not statted up for, and are not generally suitable as, player characters. 

In RQ1 and 2 they had CHA 1-6, and generally had two spells. Their writeup in RQG reflects this. 

If you think they should have more spirit magic than up to 6 or 7 points, then you can easily assign more CHA to them on a one-off basis, or as a race.  

If you want to have them use a different rules paradigm for their spirit magic than every other race, then by all means do so.

Runes

Tusk Rider Runes: Beast 60%, Darkness 60%

Given the Runes of the Cult of the Bloody Tusk are Death, Earth, Beast, would it not make more sense for the default Elemental rune for Tusk Riders in the Bestiary for GM’s to be Earth? Only one of the eight Tusk Rider NPC’s in the GM Pack has Darkness > Earth.

The default runes for Tusk Riders come from their origin (trolls) not from the cult they worship. Nearly all will approach the cult with their Beast rune, with most increasing their Death rune as the rune spells use Death or Beast. Appease Earth can use Earth due to its inherent link but Tusk riders have no need as they use Beast.

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Uz (trolls) (page 71)

Dark Trolls (Uzko) (page 73)

Is the characteristic bonus for their Darkness rune (always their highest elemental Rune) already included in the statistic for trolls? 

So is a Dark Trolls Siz actually 3d6+6 for males, 3d6+10 for females, or is it 3d6+8 for males and 3d6+12 for females?

It is not considered.

Rune modifiers for characteristics are explicitly intended for human player character adventurers as generated using the rules in the core book. It is reasonable to assume that they also apply to human NPCs from similar cultures, but this is solely at the gamemaster’s discretion.

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Troll Cults (page 80)

Kyger Litor (page 80)

Summon Ancestor

Daka Fal is an associate god who gives Summon Specific Ancestor, but Kyger Litor herself doesn’t provide the required Summon Ancestor that needs to go with it.

Correct. Two things:

• Kyger Litor priestesses are encouraged to join the cult of Daka Fal to gain access to the other summoning spells.
• Kyger Litor priestesses can use Summon Cult spirit (1) to summon ancestors per summon ancestor. They are in the unique position that Kyger Litor is the direct ancestor of all trolls.

I’m also surprised that KL doesn’t provide Summon Spirit Teacher, which I would have thought to be important for that type of cult.

That’s why they are encouraged to join Daka Fal.

That’s less “encouraged” and more “have no choice”, given that Summon Specific requires the Summon general.

If you are a Kyger Litor initiate, you can use summon cult spirit (1) instead. We cannot publish every small permutation of the rules for individual spells.

This is not clearly stated (or even obscurely & subtly hinted at) anywhere in the current publications

No. However as it states Kyger Litor is the Ancestress of all trolls and as such forms the root of their being. So Initiates can summon troll spirits using Summon Cult Spirit.

Generally speaking, if you have situation where an individual spell cannot be cast as a prerequisite spell is unavailable or cannot be obtained, assume that there is an alternative method implied. If you can’t see how it’s done, just increase the cost of the Rune spell by what is missing. In this case you could reasonably decide that to summon a Specific Ancestor would cost 2 rune points.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just grant KL a Summon Ancestor spell, in this case?

No. This shows the relationship Kyger Litor has with Daka Fal as the source of the Man rune.

Which cults can summon ancestors as part of their Summon Cult Spirit rune spells? I could imagine “ancestor-adjacent” cults like Yinkin and Waha, but I honestly have no idea here. 

Aldrya, Basmol, Kyger Litor, Mralota, Pralor, Rathor, Telmor, Triolina, Waha (likely a few others).

Again relationships are important:

• Rathor receives Summon Specific Ancestor from Daka Fal.
• Triolina receives Summon Specific and Incarnate Ancestor from her son Phargon (not Daka Fal).

Other cults have specialist summon cult spirit spells to summon ancestors. Magasta can use Call Monster (RBM 21).

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Wolfbrothers (page 84)

Runes

Telmori Wolfbrothers are described in the RQG Bestiary (p86) as having Beast 75% and Chaos 20%.

So Telmori adventurers have Man 25% / Beast 75% and Chaos separately at 20%.

Since Chaos is described in the Sourcebook and Guide as a Form Rune, is it opposed to anything, like Man vs Beast?

Mechanically in RuneQuest it’s tracked as a separate rune and represents chaos corruption. The 20% is the taint, but they receive no chaos features.

So would a Telmori Wolfbrother have Man 25% (100 – 75), or 5% (100 – 75 – 20) ?

Man 25% / Beast 75% and Chaos separately at 20%.

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Chaos Monsters (pages 88-107)

Chaotic Features Table (page 89)

Spits acid

D100	Chaotic Feature
19-20	Spits acid of 2D10 POT 1D6 times per day with 6-meter range.

How do we handle the effect of this acid?

Use these rules based on Vomit Acid in the Red Book of Magic:

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Broo (pages 90-96)

Cause (Disease) (page 93)

Crack (page 94)

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Ghouls (page 98)

Ghoul venom antidote

Ghouls have a nasty venomous bite which paralyzes the victim until they die by losing 1 CON per day.

However it can counteracted by an antidote (spider venom is half effective).

Can you take an antidote to purge venom from your system even if you are not paralyzed? 

For example: If an adventurer with a CON of 12 has been bitten and currently has venom POT 10, then takes an antidote of POT 6 (12 before being halved), presumably that drops their current venom to POT 4?

Yes.

Can the POT affecting the adventurer exceed their CON or is it capped at their CON?

For example: If an adventurer with a CON of 12 is bitten and their accumulated POT is 14, is the POT that needs to be reduced by the antidote 14 (the POT of the venom) or 12 (their CON value)?

Yes. It can exceed their CON.

If an adventurer is paralyzed, do they need to be given enough antidote to bring the POT down to 0, or is it sufficient to merely bring it to below their CON?

Below their CON is okay, but they are still poisoned, note that natural Healing means that per page 200, An adventurer cannot engage in strenuous activity—rest is necessary for healing! 

Regarding their howl, the bestiary mentions that Countermagic, Shield and Neutralize do not protect. 

Can spells which remove magic, such as Dispel Magic, Dismiss Magic and possibly Neutralize Magic remove the effect?

No. It’s a magical effect, not a spell. However the effect of the Demoralize can be cancelled by casting Fanaticism spirit magic or can be countered by Harmony, Fearless, Inviolable, etc.

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Krarshtkids (page 102)

Multiple attacks

Do you have any advice for the multiple attacks of Krashtkids?

After reading Weapons on page 8, look at the creature and decide what works best for your table.

Spit, glue, tongue.  Can’t spit and tongue in the same round. I wouldn’t have them close unless adventurers do. With six legs, I’d let them attack with two at a time, and spit or tongue. Some GMs might like to have them attack with three legs if backed into a corner or desperate situation.

Tongue and Spit ranges

What are the ranges for the Krarshtkid Tongue and Spit?

We suggest 3-5m for the tongue. It is not a thrown weapon (as it has to retract). Treat Spit as a thrown rock.

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Lesser Hydras (page 103)

Multiple attacks

Do you have any advice for the multiple attacks of the Lesser Hydra?

After reading Weapons on page 8, look at the creature and decide what works best for your table.

As a chaos horror, I’d have all heads attack. Clearly if it has 12 heads, not all can attack one target (unless all heads can breath fire / acic /poison). Look at how the targets are arranged and take into account any chaos features.

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Vampires (page 105)

Restisting magic

Spells are resisted with POW vs POW . A vampire has no POW. Do they then have no chance of resisting spells? No chance of overcoming other people’s POW? 

When in doubt, use current magic points instead of POW for creatures without POW.

Other weaknesses

On page 106, it notes that ‘Vampires have several weaknesses’, and then only talks about the Death rune. What about the others

The Death rune is the major one. The elemental weaknesses are covered in the Cult of Vivamort in the approaching Cults of Glorantha. In the meantime, if You have access to Classic Cults of Terror, or older publications the details are very similar.

Smoke form

A vampire can become a cloud of smoke, and does so automatically if reduced to zero HP. What happens if a well-briefed attacker summons an air elemental? Does that further damage the vampire by dissipating the smoke?

The smoke form of a vampire is its regeneration form, an air elemental just slows down its coalescence, with no damage. The air elemental is expended in the process (blows itself out):

This is essentially unchanged since Cults of Terror.

And about summoning Air effects, I seem to recall an Orlanth spell in previous edition that summoned a wind… useful for fanning large fires, blowing gasses out of the combat area and so forth. Is my memory faulty on that one?

Without trawling through old editions, the following would do that:

• Bind Wind (RBM 17, also as Bag of Winds in the GM Screen Pack Adventure Book 108)
• Increase Wind (RBM 60, RQG 332)

Learning magic

How do vampires learn new runes or techniques without a POW stat?

The Vivamort worship ritual of Ecstatic Communion drains POW from victims. The POW needed to master sorcerous techniques and Runes can be provided through Ecstatic Communion. More details on Vampiric Magic are in the cult of Vivamort in the upcoming Gods book.

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Monsters (pages 108-129)

Dream Dragon (page 118)

Multiple attacks

Ignoring breath, how many attacks can a Dream Dragon make in a melee round? Can it attack with bite, two claws, and tail in the same melee round? Four attacks? In the same melee round? Or does it have to pick one of those?

Two-weapon combat was further clarified in Rune Fixes 2 – 18th March 2020

Dream Dragon have no special notes regarding combat, so normally two attacks per round. The GM is free to alter this given circumstances. Looking at the picture of a Dream Dragon (RQB page 118) should answer a lot of questions regarding tactics. For example, I would allow:

If flying, a tail sweep of the ground and a breath attack would be reasonable on SR3 then SR7. Clearly it couldn’t bite or claw. 

A landing hind claw attack on SR7, wouldn’t allow a breath, bite or tail attack.

On the ground, outside it would use breath attacks and tail sweeps on anything behind it.

On the ground, inside it would likely be unable to use it’s breath attack. So could bite and tail sweep. If it has room to rear, it can use its claws and bite, but no tail sweep.

Don’t forget Dragon Magic, if it has Soul Blast or Terrify will be game changers.

Overall, with creatures with multiple weapons, look at the way they work when fighting, rather than focussing on the weapons and numbers.

Revenants (page 123)

Spirit combat

Can a Revenant be attacked by spirit combat?

No. the general entry on revenants does not mention they can engage in spirit combat. Note that there is more than one way to make a revenant, so more than one type.

But the Bestiary says : “This ritual binds the soul of a departed Zorak Zoran Death Lord back into their specially prepared body”.

The specific Zorak Zoran rune spell does say binds their soul, so GMs could consider them attackable by spirit combat.

Magic

So there’s a soul, and they have access to Rune Magic

They cannot regain their rune points though.

and Sorcery.

Yes. Sorcerously created revenants will clearly learn sorcery.

This seems fundamentally different from zombies and skeletons.

As usual a GM can state otherwise in their games.

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Giant  Arthropods (pages 130-139)

Giant Honeybees (page 134-135)

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Animals (pages 140-163)

Bears (page 140-141)

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Spirits (pages 164-187)

Creating a Spirit (page 164)

Disease (page 166)

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Disease Spirits (page 169)

Steal POW

Is the chance to steal POW from a disease spirit limited to someone who has been successfully attacked by the spirit who then throws them out? The use of the word ‘victim’ in the rule seems to indicate that and that’s how I ruled but it isn’t really clear. 

Yes.

The victim has the disease and if they successfully drive it out themselves, they gain immunity and a POW reward. Casting Fight disease on a victim really helps. A shaman does not gain the benefits when driving the spirit out of a victim.

Spirit combat

Would the usual rules for spirit combat, allowing the use of a magical weapon and weapon skill, instead of spirit combat roll, apply against Disease Spirits?

Yes. It’s just normal spirit combat. The only difference with disease spirits is that they don’t diminish your magic points.

However against a Humakti with truesword, I’m not so sure. 

As per:

With an average disease spirit having 16-17 magic points, you would likely need use bladesharp as well (and win every round). Hopefully you are not fighting more that one.

Disease & Disease spirits

The Bestiary entry for disease spirits provides:

The disease spirit power entry from the Bestiary provides:

In the spirit power version, there is no mention of the follow-up POW vs. POW roll to resist the infection. Is this intentional?

There is no POW vs. POW for any of them. It’s all Spirit Combat. The if the victim loses the initial attack, the disease spirit does another immediate spirit combat attack to infect. If the victim succeeds, then they are not infected, if they fail they are infected with the disease at serious level (and losing a point of relevant characteristic). If they continue failing spirit combat, the severity increases a level, no recond roll is required.

See above, there is a correction to initial disease level – it’s at serious (same as RQ2 / Classic)

Adventurers become very adept at running away when a disease spirit begins to manifest in the round before it can attack (spirit block & screen have no effect on disease spirits as they do not do magic point damage). 

In the disease spirit entry, there is no mention of the disease spirit withdrawing after inflicting the chronic form of the disease.  Is this intentional?

Yes, we can’t repeat everything. We assume that GMs will read the spirit powers section.

Defeating or driving off a disease spirit provides incredible benefits. It could lead to characters intentionally seeking out disease spirits to defeat them or drive them off. Accordingly, I wish to make sure I am understanding the procedure correctly.

This is a dangerous activity unless a shaman. Note that driving off and defeating are the effectively same thing – the spirit reaches 0 magic points.

Let’s say the disease spirit attacks and wins the first round of spirit combat and then wins the POW vs. POW roll, inflicting the acute form of the disease it carries.

There is no POW vs POW. It just has to win spirit combat. RQG changed the way spirit combat works, using a skill, not POW vs POW. If the adventurer loses the first then second immediate  attack, they have the disease instead of losing magic points as in normal spirit combat. Again note that it’s at serious.

Then, the character wins several rounds of spirit combat and defeats the spirit in spirit combat. Does the character get 1D3 POW? Is the character now immune to the disease and no longer suffering the acute form of the disease?

Yes if they win and if they were infected, they no longer have the disease as they are immune. They don’t regain any characteristics they may have lost though (you lose characteristics when you contract the disease per RQG page 154)

Is the result the same if the disease spirit flees before being completely defeated in spirit combat?

If they are infected, they still have the disease.

What if the disease spirit is defeated after inflicting the chronic form of the disease? Does the character still get the 1D3 POW and immunity?

No, if the spirit has given them the chronic form, they depart. There is no next round for the adventurer to win and gain immunity and POW.

What if the character’s companions assist in defeating or driving off the spirit, perhaps with spells or magic weapons? Does the character that was engaged in spirit combat still get the 1D3 POW and immunity?

No, only if they overcome the spirit themselves.

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Healing Spirits (page 169)

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Wyters (page 174)

Is it intended that a wyter with RP-use spells can cast a Rune Spell for Rune Points and then use POW to target multiple members of the community with it, or should Rune Point use be regarded as separate from community multi-target casting?

Separate. Community multi-target casting is of the priest’s spells using POW.

Kogui (page 174)

Snake Daughters (page 175)

Do Snake Daughters have Rune points?

Roll the dice, then figure out what special Ernaldan spells you want the Guardian to have. Give her enough RPs to cast them (max charisma). 

She That Strikes from Afar (page 176)

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Embodied Spirits (pages 176-187)

Elementals (page 176)

Do all attacks by the various elementals take place on SR 12?

Yes. They have no DEX characteristics so they’ll go last in any round.

Is there an error in Bestiary regarding elemental characteristics?

No.

All of them have the same STR/HP characteristics for Small/Medium/Large except Moon/Selene.

I recognize that a small talosi is much more compact than a small umbroli. That makes some sense.

I seem to recall in every past version, talosi had significantly more STR and HP than dehori or lunes, with umbroli, urzani, and veredthi in the midpoint somewhere.

They seem significantly weaker than I recall them.

STR & HP are identical with RQ2 Classic: Volume has been changed and a standard POW added, movement has been changed for a few.

Now one reasonable swipe with a two handed weapon will destroy any small elemental.

Yes

A small urzani is 1 cubic meter and thus can engulf half a normal size human. Does its attack do anything to a half-engulfed target? I expect that if it cannot fully engulf it gets no attack RAW.

For a human, If the elemetal is covering the head of the target, treat it as a full engulfing attack. If the elemetal is on the ground, the target is standing in a fire, use the Fire rules in RQG page 157. The GM will need to adjudicate for other types of target. 

A small umbroli is 3 cubic meters. It can carry people with a total SIZ equal to its d6+6 STR.

Yes, so an average small elemental (STR 7) could carry 1 child SIZ 7 On 7/7/2021 at 11:33 PM, Dragon said:

The rules seem to indicate it can lift any number of non-resisting targets (those who choose to try to kill it instead).

Up to it’s total STR. A very strong large elemental (STR 30) could carry two SIZ 15 people.

And it gets a STR vs STR roll to lift resisting targets, so I might choose to command it to concentrate its strength on just one target.

Yes.

So let’s say my Vinga choose well which one would be bound in her dead crystal and it has STR 12.

in her Spirit Trapping / POW Storing Crystal. Dead crystals have no abilities, and are normal gems.

I want the umbroli to attack a single broo with STR 15 and SIZ 20. According to RAW, it can toss a SIZ 20 target that it could not ‘carry’ under ‘Abilities’. The broo resists, so the umbroli can toss it 35% of the time.

Yes

If the target didn’t resist, the umbroli tosses it regardless of SIZ.

It still falls within the guidance of the Resistance table, see Specific Uses, STR vs. SIZ Comparatively large objects may still require a roll at the extremes of the table.

Hence, a four wheeled wagon loaded with supplies and with no horses yoked doesn’t choose to resist, so a small umbroli could toss it 3 meters in the air. It just couldn’t pick it up nicely and carry it to the top of a nearby cliff.

The GM may reasonably rule that the cart is too heavy for a small elemental to toss or grant an automatic success if the story requires it.

A small dehori on the other hand can simply Fearshock two normal human-sized targets.

If they are adjacent, yes. 

A small lune can attack any number that it can partially engulf (though the MP loss is for fully engulfed). But perhaps it can make some dimensions less than 1 meter. If it could be .5 m x .5 m x4 meters it could strike 8-12 people in a shield wall with Madness.

It has an englobing attack, so any volume that’s globe-ish (i’d allow oblate or prolate spheres). .5 m x .5 m x4 meters is not globe-ish. Partially englobing two adjacent humans is reasonable, maybe three if your GM agrees to the arrangement.

A small talosi can engulf half a human doing no damage and having a small chance the target cannot break free. As the target is waist deep in soil when it resists, can the target move its normal movement rate the next turn

No.

or does it take the entire next round to pull itself out of the pit

There isn’t a pit anymore, it’s filled with earth.

and stand up on the edge? 

As the attack takes place on SR12, The next round would be DEX SR plus getting up from Prone (+5SR). Then movement.

A small veredthi needs to engulf a target on land. If engulfed, the target begins CON rolls at CONx5. However, I cannot locate how many foes it can engulf.

If it rises up to 2m (to be sure of catching the targets’ heads), it would cover about 13.5 metres square. If outside and the victims were static, it could conceivably engulf 13 people. As it’s a SR12 attack, it’s a situational decision based on the statement of intent and the GMs interpretation of the scene. 

After all, a small veredthi is listed as 27 cubic meters. Seems I should be able to engulf at least a dozen human-sized figures (but the rules are unclear)

If it bursts into a bar, that’s a different matter. 

and about half of them will take 1d8 points of damage. Is that to GHP or to the Chest (like Drown spell or the Drowning and Asphyxiation rules)? (Of course, if the veredthi engulfs a dozen, enough should hit the veredthi by SR12 to break it up.)

As it’s pushing water into the lungs, It’s Drowning, so per those rules the Chest.

Elementals seem unbalanced.

There is no intention to balance these, they are different creatures with different abilities.

A small urzani seems particularly unhelpful in combat, except against a small swarm of bunched rats.

Like all the elementals, they are not specifically intended for combat, although they can be. They are often the allied spirits of Yelm cultists, used for setting fires, in the case of Zorak Zoran cultists, a symbol of their power over fire.

Vostor has a small fire elemental (RQG page 93), it says A fire elemental will ignite any flammable object it touches. It can heat metal (and eventually melt it), bake stone, set fires, and, of course, burn people. As an adventurer in many demo games i’ve run, examples I’ve seen used include:

• Setting fire to flammable items on a target: feather or hair headdresses, light clothing (not armor), hay, thatch, carts, fields, stacked spears, quivers full of arrows.
• Causing fires to flare: torches, lamps, candles, enemy campfires.
• Heat metal items: Sword handles are a favourite. Melting metal door hinges.

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Fire Elementals (Page 181)

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Moon Elementals (Lunes) (Page 181)

Can the Madness effects of being engulfed by Lunes be resisted with Countermagic effects?

Only with spells specifically protecting against Madness such as Fearless, Inviolable, and Logical Clarity. (Likewise a Darkness elemental’s Fearshock).

or is it just a resistance roll?

Yes. Resistance rolls can be augmented with an appropriate rune, passion or skill.

In other words, is it simply an automatic Madness spell?

The difference is that you need to be in contact with the Lune, where the spell is ranged and must pass through any magical barriers. It’s not automatic, you still have to roll POW vs POW to produce an effect.

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River Horses (page 184)

Embodied spirits

River Horses are included in the “Embodied Spirits” section, but they are the only kind of spirit in that section to not have any physical characteristics. Are River Horses the exception, here? Do they have a physical body but somehow without STR, CON, SIZ, or DEX?

They are embodied, so you can sit on them when they appear in the Middle World, but They are translucent in appearance, visible but immaterial.

If a GM needs to assign they a SIZ for the few moments they are in the Middle World for mounting up, I’d suggest 4D6+12 and +12 for each extra rune point in summoning.

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Wraith (page 187)

Wraith attacks

“All a wraith’s attacks take place on SR 1”.  Is that an exception to all spirit combat happening at SR 12, or does it only refer to the wraiths “one time per opponent POW vs CON” attack?

It’s all attacks and yes, it’s an exception to spirit combat. There are other exceptions to that rule too, such as using a weapon in Spirit Combat.

1. Does a wraith’s POW vs. CON attack work again against the same victim if the wraith disengages and later attacks her again?

No.

2. When you attack a wraith with magic (eg. Disruption) or an enchanted weapon, does it also lose magic points on top of hit points?

No. As wraiths are embodied spirits, Disruption attacks their hit points (like attacking an elemental). With an enchanted weapon, it too would do physical damage (as the text says).

3. Can a person engaged in spirit combat with a visible spirit attack it both in spirit combat (SR12) and using a magic weapon (another earlier SR)?

Both are spirit combat attacks, so no. However an adventurer able to split their attack with their enchanted weapon and has enough strike ranks could attack twice. Have a read through the spirit combat Q&A.

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Terrors (pages 188-196)

Please note that these are major encounters, so preparation for the GM is important:

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The Crimson Bat (page 188)

Multiple Attacks

Do you have any advice for the multiple attacks of the Crimson Bat?

After reading Weapons on page 8, look at the creature and decide what works best for your table.

Bite & swallow, breath cloud and tongues all seem mutually exclusive to me. So one per round. The three tongues can be used in the same round. Eye spit every round too (alternating), it’s up to the GM to decide if they can fire backwards. I’d look at the situation to determine how the other attacks work. For example, if the bat’s statement of intent is to fly at the town wall (Chaos screaming), hover and attack the rune priests standing on it, I wouldn’t allow a breath cloud and a wing storm (eye spit get blown away too), but I’d allow Three tongues, a wind storm (hovering). Before using the Crimson Bat, I’d make notes on how I would run it’s encounter.

For further details, there is a chapter on the operation of the Crimson Bat in Sartar (1619-1620) in the Sartar Companion.

Can the Crimson Bat tongue targets on its back?

Of course. It’s chaotic

Giant Ticks

How many giant ticks can attack a human sized target at the same time?

Per the RQ Bestiary, page 177, 4D6

Defending against the Scream

What happens if you have Berserk on and the Crimson Bat Chaos Screams?

The Rune spell Berserker provides no defence against the Crimson Bat’s Scream. (Chalana Arroy’s Harmony might work though)

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Cwim (page 191)

Multiple Attacks

Do you have any advice for the multiple attacks of the Cwim?

After reading Weapons on page 8, look at the creature and decide what works best for your table.

It says on page 192 that Cwim gets 10 attacks per round. Cwim is large and effectively circular with six roughly evenly spaced arms. Based on the position of adventurers relative to which arms, decide who is hit by which arm. I’d allow one arm from each body to attack each round, but not the same target and drop a spit monster every round. So I’d give it four if surrounded, and use one other to cast the recommended 18 point variable spirit magic each round.

By the time the adventurers get past the gorp rain, the spit monsters will overrun them.

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Flora (pages 197-201)

Windberry Trees (page 201)

For MGF, assume that the staff has enough points to get the user off the ground.

GMs may alternately assume that 1 ENC of bough equals 1 point of Flight spell, an ENC 1 bough being 1 point of flight, a 3 ENC bough being 3 points of Flight, a crooked bough adding 1 ENC.

• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Rune Spells Q&A

Related Pages

• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Contents
• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Index
• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary – Spell List
• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary Preview 1 (2018)
• CHA4032 RuneQuest Glorantha Bestiary Preview 2 (2018)

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Page Last updated: 2023-09-21 10:01:48