CHA4028 RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha – Chapter 05 Game System Q&A

Official Answers by Chaosium

This covers Chapter 5, pages 137-161

Contents

See also

Ability Use (page 141)

Base skill 00% and Augments

If a skill is base chance 0%, we know category modifiers can’t raise it above 0 until it’s been trained or increased in some way.

Yes

Does the same apply to augments i.e. can I apply a runic augment to a 0% skill to have a chance of success?

No, you have to have a base above zero to add it to.

Same question, but in this case a negative category modifier has reduced my chance of success to 0%. Can I augment it above 0% to give myself a chance to succeed?

No, you have to have a base above zero to add it to.
Don’t forget that that if your base chance is 10% and your category bonus modifier is -15%, you are effectively at -5% which is read as 00%. To get your skill up to 1% you need to train/research 6% to reach +1% (-5+6=1%).
If you managed to augment this, with for example +20%, it would be -5+20= 15%, rather than fiddle with numbers, just say no.
As usual GMs are free to do want they want in their own games.

I thought that that was different to a skill with a 00 base like read/write or martial arts. I always thought that a modified skill of zero could be rolled at 5% chance and learn from experience. Is that wrong?

No. You can certainly give it a go, the other question was about augmenting. I would not let players augment those rolls.

The only context in which the “until the skill rating is increased to above 0%” rule appears also says “Once the skill increases above 0%, the skills category modifier is applied”, so the language heavily implies that this only applies to skills with a base chance of 00% and not to skills modified.

Yes.

Opposed Rolls (page 142)

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Second printing corrections

Page 144: 1st column, 2nd bullet “but roll the same number” removed.

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A tie means that the situation is unresolved. It does say whomever got the better result wins, which is special success > normal success, crit. success > special or normal.

Yes.

So if both opponents have a success, does the best roll win? Is it the higher roll or the lower roll?

The value of the roll is not used only the level of success.

A critical beats a special, a special beats a success.

If both opponents have the same level of success, it’s a tie – nothing new happens. eg critical & critical, special & special, success & success.

Opposed Roll Example (page 144)
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Harmast rolls a 94 for Harmony—indicating a failure and a 12 for Movement—a special success.

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Abilities Above 100% (page 144)

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If the highest rated participant in an opposed roll has an ability rating above 100%, the difference between 100 and their ability rating is subtracted from the ability of everyone in the contest (including themselves).

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Augmenting Abilities (page 144)

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It is the gamemaster’s sole discretion whether a given combination of abilities is allowed.

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Clarification
Clarification

All augments as a combined table:

Augmenting with Passions, Runes, and Skills

ResultExperience check?
CriticalAdd +50% to the abilityYes
SpecialAdd +30% to the abilityYes
SuccessAdd +20% to the abilityYes
FailurePassion: Adventurer is despondent. Subtract –10% from all further rollsNo

Rune: Adventurer is despondent. Subtract –20% from all further rolls using that RuneNo

Skill: Subtract –20% from the desired ability for the roll intended.No
FumblePassion: Adventurer is distraught or wracked with psychic turmoil. Adventurer is incapable of doing anything other than retreating or hiding. Roll on Despair table to determine duration.Immediately subtract –1D10% from the Passion

Rune: Adventurer cannot use Rune, that Rune’s magic, or even act in its accordance. Roll on Psychic Turmoil table to determine duration.Immediately subtract –1D10% from the or Rune.

Skill: Subtract –50% from the desired ability for the roll intended.No

How many Augments per ability?
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Only one augment may be attempted per ability, and an ability can only be used once per session to augment a task being attempted.

Augmenting Abilities, page 144

The “a task being attempted” clause is causing confusion in our group with different interpretations of it.

For example.  If the group is exploring a ruined temple which is flooded to about chest height and the swim skill is being used by one of them to augment their spear attack.  How often can this be allowed?

a). Only once for the entire scenario – the task is spear attack and the session is the entire ruined temple

b). Once for each battle so if the group moves into a new room and fights some more foes the swim skill augmentation can be used again – the task is spear attack but the session is a scene and each battle is a different scene even if played only minutes after the previous battle

c). Once for each foe in the battle – the task is combat against a particular foe so each foe is a different task

d). Once for each attack the adventurer attempts – the task is a particular attack so each melee round’s attack is a different task

Which interpretation is the official one?

This one is open to gamemaster interpretation, but I tend to go with answer b. The task is “fighting with my spear in this battle” so the Swim augment applies throughout that combat, but would end with it. Most combats resolve within a minute or two (five to ten combat rounds), which feels about right.  

For answer a, you could spend days in the temple and use many different skills in between, which makes a one-use augment too powerful AND too restrictive at the same time. 

For answer c, you’re still using the same spear and using it to fight. 

For answer d, this is far too fiddly.

The first part seems clear – only one augment per ability – but the second part would mean that you could only use e.g. Swim as an augment once per session, so you couldn’t move into a new room, start a new fight and reuse the Swim augment, unless they were over separate sessions. You could use a different skill to augment though.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Augmenting long term activities

I need some guidelines for informing players to estimate availability of Augment by skills (some of these often take long-term). 

If an activity is taking a long time, the gamemaster should consider whether it’s worth breaking up into multiple skill rolls, in which case each roll could be augmented separately (perhaps even with different abilities). 

Alternately, for a long-term activity where one skill roll covers the whole enterprise, the gamemaster might consider a single augment roll (from a Rune, Passion, or appropriate skill) as representing many such rolls performed over the duration of the activity. 

Why is the Skill Augments section missing?

On page 202, “Using Passions and Runes in combat”: Skill augments (that is: using a skill to augment an ability) are absent from this section.

Yes, this is the Passions and Runes section.

Does this mean that you cannot get a combat-long augment from a skill? (only from a Rune or Passion?)

No, my emphasis:

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The abilities being combined should be clearly relevant to the task at hand. It is the gamemaster’s sole discretion whether a combination of abilities is allowed.

[…]

At the gamemaster’s discretion, an adventurer can use one ability to augment another adventurer’s ability, such as using one skill to bolster another, working cooperatively or in support of another. This should only apply to situations where the augmenting is clearly possible. 

RQG, Augmenting Abilities, page 144 & 145

Examples of augmenting a combat related skill with another skill include, sing, dance, and intimidation. The player would need to provide convincing details of what and how the adventurer is doing this in the Statement of intent. As soon as the augment is no longer possible, it ends. For dance, it might be that they are knocked to the ground, for intimidate and sing, they might have fallen in water and need to grab a breath. The GM is the final arbiter of situations like this.

One Rune or Passion augment for a given scene?

Also, pages 229 and 236 (Runic and Passion inspiration, respectively) have this text that says that you can only have one Rune or Passion augment for a given scene. They then add the precision that this scene-long augment “cannot be combined with an augment from another skill”. So let’s say I have an Adventurer who is having a tense meeting with members of a feuding clan. She has augmented her Intimidation skill with “Hate(Other Clan)” for the duration of the scene:

So they cannot try to augment their weapon skill with a Rune or Passion for that scene?

Yes they can. There is no prohibition on Rune or Passion inspiration and skill augmenting at the same time. They cannot add a skill augment to a Runic and Passion inspired ability.

But they can augment their weapon skill with Dance, and can they augment their Fast-Talk with Charm, all during the same scene? (only one Rune or Passion augment in the scene, but no limit on skill augments?)

There is no limit on skill augments, except only one augment per ability per session, and you cannot augment those already under the effects of Rune or Passion inspiration.

Do these skill augments (weapon through Dance, Fast-Talk through Charm) last for only one roll, or for the whole scene?

GMs should be have the player describe how their augment works. A continued bonus may be possible if described as possible. This is a GM call. For example:

A player wishes to augment their Manage Household roll in the Sacred time (page 424). The time for using this skill is a year, so players would need to demonstrate what they did, how this would work and how the relevant skill would work. Adventurers who’s occupations are Farmer or Herder should have little difficulty is describing how their Farm or Herd skills provide an augment. 

Can an Adventurer have, say, 2 different Passions augmenting 2 different abilities during the same scene?

No. One passion / rune per scene. No limit on skills augmenting skills.

The Resistance Table (page 145)

General Use (page 145)
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Generally, it is best to have let an adventurer’s characteristic be the active one, or a living being’s characteristic (such as STR or CON) be active in opposing an unliving object’s or substance’s characteristic (such as a door to be moved or toxin to be overcome).

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The formula is correct, this is a simplified version:

% success = 50% + ((active minus passive) × 5%)

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Specific Uses (page 145)
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Example

Per the resistance table, Sorala has a 65% chance of avoiding the effects of the gas. Sorala’s player rolls a 24, indicating success. As a result, Sorala coughs a few times and is slightly nauseated by the gas, but suffers no further ill effects.

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Augments to the Resistance Table (page 146)
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An adventurer may try to augment the characteristic used in the resistance table with an appropriate skill, Rune, Passion, or even with the Meditate skill or ritual.

Augments to the Resistance Table, page 146

Using Meditation to Augment the Resistance Table

The rules proceed to direct the reader to page 244 for Meditation, but makes no mention of the method used to augment using other abilities. Would the successful augment gained from anything except Meditation be +50/+30/+20

Augmenting the resistance table is treated like any other augment, see Augmenting Abilities, page 144-145. passions, page 236 and Runes on page 229.

Remember that there is a combined table for all three on the GM Screen, a single page in the GM Reference, and the same page in the Players Pack for ease of reference.

Damage (page 146-149)

Hit Location Clarification
Hit Location Overview

One easy way to think about the whole hit location system is this:

I have a 5-point arm hit location.

  • 1-5 hit points in my 5-point arm. I can use the arm freely until it is reduced below 1 hit point. My total hit points are also also reduced by up to 4 hit points damage.
  • 0 to -4 hit points in my 5-point arm. I can’t use the arm any more. My total hit points are also reduced by up to 9 hit points damage (5 initially + up to 4).
  • At -5 to -9 hit points in my 5-point arm. My arm is broken, seriously chopped up, etc. My total hit points are reduced by 10+ now (5 initial + 5-9 more). Any further hits to this arm come out of my total hit points. I am in shock, can’t fight, etc. but I can try to heal myself.
  • At -10 hit points in my 5-point arm, through a fall or some other means. My arm is simply gone. It’s been pulverized, severed, bones shattered, horribly mutilated, etc. Any further attacks that hit my arm instead hit me somewhere else (see top of page, 2nd paragraph, page 150).
Results of Damage (page 146)
Statements of Intent are not set in stone
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When an adventurer has taken enough damage to reduce their total hit points to 0 or less, then the adventurer dies at the end of the current melee round unless healed or otherwise brought to positive hit points.

Results of Damage, pages 146-147

This seems like a good way to allow for last-second healing. However, this might not provide any benefit, since the healer would need to declare their actions during their Statement of Intent (p.192), before the damage occurs.

Only an adventurer who spends their time proactively preparing to heal will be able to heal their ally before the end of the current melee round.

I am wondering if this rule might instead mean the adventurer dies the end of the NEXT melee round, which would provide an opportunity to heal?

Alternatively, is there some way to change actions to heal instead during a melee round? This might not help either, especially in the case of damage on Strike Rank 12. This could occur with Aimed Blows (p.197), multiple attacks, or slow combatants.

A statement of intent can certainly be changed based on events transpiring during the round. Sometimes you state that you’ll attack a foe, but they run away or die before you can strike them, or you end up getting hurt and need to spend your turn healing yourself quickly instead of attacking.

I suggest going with whatever SR is higher between the original stated action and the SR of the new course of action attempted.

Recording damage on the sheet

Given the way the adventurer sheet looks, I originally thought you just subtract damage from whatever hit location, and that’s it — glossing over the quick “…and to keep track of each separate injury!” sentence on p.146 at the end of the “Damage” chapter introduction. But it looks like, indeed, if you get hit twice in the left arm, you need to keep track of the damage for each of those two wounds? Is that correct? If so, how do people typically track that? Do you find there’s enough room in the hit location boxes on the character sheet?

Yes, you keep track of each separate injury and thus you can apply Heal spells and First Aid rolls separately.

As for bookkeeping, I’ve seen people write little -Xs next to the hit location diagram entries, make notes in the Combat Notes section, or use a piece of scratch paper so they’re not marking up their character sheet too much.

Damage Equal to or More Than the Location’s Hit Points (page 147)
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• Chest: The adventurer falls and is too busy coughing blood to do anything. The adventurer bleeds to death in ten minutes unless the bleeding is stopped by First Aid or healing, and the adventurer cannot take any action, including healing themselves.

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If you get hit in a location for more than the hp in that location, do you go to negative hp or to 0? (With regard to healing)

Negative, up to triple the location’s hit point total. (See pages 147-149 of the RQ rulebook.)

if you heal a location to 1+, are all debilitating effects gone?

Yes, unless the hit location has been severed or otherwise destroyed. See page 149, as above.

Damage Equals or Exceeds Double the Location’s Hit Points (page 148)
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An adventurer cannot take more than twice the possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a single blow.

Damage Equals or Exceeds Double the Location’s Hit Points, page 148

This rule implies that an adventurer can take more than twice the possible points of damage in an arm or leg from multiple blows. Is it right?

Yes. If you have 4 hit points in the right arm and a sword hits it for 9 points, your arm takes 8 points of damage, which is also considered in your total hit point damage.

But if your right arm is hit again for 2 points, you (not your arm) take 2 more points of total hit point damage.

Before maiming, is this rule applied to the blow against the limb?

When the damage is applied to the total hit points in this case, will the damage in a single blow be limited to double of the location’s hit points?

Yes.

Damage is per blow

A character with a 6HP leg was already wounded and on 1HP there.  He was hit there again (through armour) for 14 damage.

So… there are 1+6 = 7HP left until he reaches ‘damage equals or exceeds double the location’s hit points’. p.148 states, ‘An adventurer cannot take more than twice the possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a single blow’.

Be aware that the rules are per blow.

So in your adventurers case the thresholds are

Normal HP = 6 

Damage equals or exceeds double the location’s hit points = 12

So the first single blow injures the leg for 5 points, the adventurer is wounded, but conscious and functional, the leg is nearing failure.

The second single blow injures the leg for 14 points.

An adventurer cannot take more than twice the possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a single blow.

So the maximum amount the adventurer takes from the second blow is 12 as it’s a single blow.

Note that further blows to the leg only affect total HP not the leg HP (per page 148)

The leg has taken 5 + 12 points = 17. (The adventurer is likely dead or at least unconscious).

(A GM could rule in this case that the leg only takes 12 HP and the excess is still applied to the total. However that doesn’t change the overall HP loss, see Q&A below)

Should this be interpreted as :

a) having already lost 5HP in the limb, the maximum damage the limb can take in one blow is +1 -> -6 = 7HP therefore taking him to twice the possible HP in the limb; or

No. It’s per single blow.

b) irrespective of the current HP in the limb, he can take twice its capacity from a single blow and therefore takes 12HP damage (i.e. 2 x 6) which takes the limb to -11HP in the limb

Yes. Although the limb has already been damaged, it’s still there and the already damaged part can be further damaged. A weapon does not just hit the undamaged part of a limb.

In either case the PC does not take the full 14HP of damage to Total HP; they take 7HP, or 12HP?

12 HP (plus the 5 previously = 17)

Damage Equals or Exceeds Triple the Location’s Hit Points (page 148)
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A limb hit for three times more points than it can take in a single blow is severed or irrevocably maimed.

Damage Equals or Exceeds Triple the Location’s Hit Points, page 148

Is this limited by maximum double damage?

It seems to mean that “A limb hit for three times more points than the Location’s Hit Points in a single blow is severed or irrevocably maimed.”

Because maximum damage that it can take in a single blow is double of the location’s hit points, according to “Damage Equals or Exceeds Double the Location’s Hit Points”.

Is it right?

The text is correct. Some means of taking damage, such as falling (see page 156) can exceed the limit of twice hit points to a specific limb in a single impact.

Can an adventurer this damaged, still cast spells?

Can an adventurer that has taken more than three times the damage than the locations hit points, still cast spells?

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Limb: […] However, an adventurer so damaged from a single blow is functionally incapacitated: they can no longer fight until healed and are in shock. They may try to heal themselves.

Damage Equals or Exceeds Double the Location’s Hit Points, page 148

Head/abdomen/chest… they’re almost definitely dead.

Adventurers this damaged, should still be able to cast spells?

In my opinion a character should be able to cast spells when functionally incapacitated even with damage triple or more locations hit points, because it is stated with double or more damage that healing can be attempted. However, a person from our group argues that since it is not specifically stated with triple or more damage that healing can be attempted, the character can do nothing. Which way it is?

More than twice but less than three times = can cast spells and attempt healing.

More than three times = the adventurer is functionally incapacitated. 

You can certainly allow it in your game if you’re the gamemaster (YGMV), but at the very least I would require a concentration roll (INTx3) to be able to focus enough to actually do something other than lie on the ground in shock and/or screaming. 

Further Damage to already damaged limbs

If someone has already received x2 damage to an arm, further damage to the arm goes towards main hit points and not the arm. What happens if the same arm is then hit for x3 damage? Is the arm maimed/severed or does this not count as the x2 threshold has already been reached?

The character is most likely dead at that point, having taken 5 times their arm hit location’s hit points to their total hit points.

In one of the great loopholes in RuneQuest (pointed out in Murphy’s Rules a long, long time ago), only a character with with a normal maximum of 6 total hit points can survive this, as their arm hit location is 1 point, and taking 5×1 hit points in damage still gives them 1 hit point remaining.

Harmast Example (page 148)

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It knocks him out. Harmast is now unconscious, with 1 total hit point remaining and will lose 1 hit points each melee round until First Aid or healing magic is applied.

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Severed and Maimed Limbs (page 149)
Does this also refer to injured limbs?
Quote

If an adventurer no longer has part of a limb, they lose 1 hit point in that location.

Severed and Maimed Limbs, page 149

Does this sentence refer to an adventurer whose limb is injured or permanently impaired but not “severed” or “maimed” as these terms are used in the game?

It refers to adventurers who have Severed and Maimed Limbs per Damage Equals or Exceeds Triple the Location’s Hit Points (page 148). The Severed and Maimed Limbs section (149 leads on from this.

Degree of limb loss

If one finger of the hand was cut of. If their arm (their hand ?) had been mutilated or severed, they wouldn’t have lost just 1 HP, but all of them in this location, and, according to page 150, this “hit location [would have been] lost and should [have been] crossed off the adventurer’s sheet”

There is no degree of limb loss in the damage system, only in the regrow spell. If a limb isn’t regrown, It is assumed that the stump has been hit.

Healing Severed and Maimed Limbs
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Only a 6-point Heal spell (or its equivalent, such as Heal Wound stacked with 6 magic points) applied within ten minutes can restore a severed limb, assuming all parts are available

Severed and Maimed Limbs, page 149

Do you need a Heal 6 applied all at once or just enough total healing over 10 minutes? as the text makes a difference between severing and maiming. However, the rule on page 148 doesn’t provide any means of making such a distinction. What’s the answer?

  • There is no difference mechanically between a maimed and severed limb (it’s just how it was damaged).
  • You have ten minutes to restore magically the hit points of a maimed or severed limb.
  • It does not state what healing magic you can use to restore the limb.

Separately

  • Heal states: 6 points of Heal will restore a severed limb to the body if both parts are available. (page 262)
  • Heal Wound: The caster must simultaneously spend magic points equal to the points to be healed. (page 330)
  • Heal Body: Any severed limbs are reattached if available, or regenerate as if new. (page 330)

Note

  • If you have a limb with more that seven hit points, and apply Heal 6, you will need to apply more magical healing to bring it up to its maximum
  • Healing Trance will not work as it will take longer than 10 minutes.
  • A Healing Spirit will not work as it will take longer than 10 minutes.

So, when page 149 states “Only a 6-point Heal spell (or its equivalent” (emphasis mine) will restore a severed limb, that’s an error?

No, there is also an or that states or its equivalent. The magical equivalents are Heal Wound or Heal body.

So you can actually just heal it up 1 point at a time, as long as you do it within 10 minutes?

Not with Heal spirit magic, as that specifically says Heal 6. But with Heal Wound you could in theory cast multiple Rune spells within ten minutes and build up to completely healing the limb (although I’ve only ever seen players use Heal Wound to completely heal adventurers). Note that Heal Body needs no magic points so a single casting will reattach limbs. 

What you can’t do is use non-magical techniques to reattach limbs, no matter how well you roll on First Aid.

Healing (pages 149-150)

First Aid (page 149)
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Rather than the normal 1D3 for a success, Sorala heals 2D3 hit points. Rolling 2D3 for the healing attempt, she gets a 2 and a 3, restoring 5 hit points to her arm.

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Natural Healing (page 149)
Healing Total Hit Points

How will the damage to the total hit points heal naturally?

If the damage is against total hit points and not a specific hit location through something like poison, fire, etc., natural healing works there too. Each location gets its natural healing each week, as does any damage to total hit points.

Recovering Lost Characteristic Points

Is the Restore Health rune spell intended to be the only way of recovering lost characteristic points? The Core rulebook doesn’t seem to list any way of naturally recovering from disease and other things that cause characteristic loss.

Unless contradicted in the rules, assume one characteristic point is restored each season a successful CONx5 roll is made. If the characteristic point loss lasts beyond a year, it is not recovered. See the rules for recovering from Blotches (page 155) for a specific instance of this recovery rate.

Note that this only applies to STR, CON, DEX, INT, CHA, and not POW or SIZ.

Striking Severed and Maimed Limbs (page 150)

A player successfully rolls to hit, but the hit location’s limb has been severed or maimed in a previous round of combat. Is this a hit, or a miss?

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A hit location that has been maimed or severed […] that hit location is lost and should be crossed off the adventurer sheet. Any further blows to that hit location are re-rolled, or pass on to an adjacent hit location, such as the abdomen or other leg for a leg, or the chest for a severed arm.

RQG, Natural Healing, page 150

The GM should decide whether to:

  • reroll the location, or
  • pass on to an adjacent hit location

Encumbrance (page 150)

Maximum ENC (page 151)
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• –5% from all skills in the Agility, Manipulation (including weapons), and, Stealth , and Weapon skill categories

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ENC values for equipment

There are encumbrance rules, and ENC values for armor and weapons, but no ENC values for equipment. Will these be found in the GM’s book or another supplement?

See the Weapons & Equipment supplement.

Chases (page 151)

Range Categories (page 152)
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As such, advancing from one range category to another might be greater than a participant’s normal MOV rate and can reflect a variety of circumstances and activities in the chase.

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Side-by-Side: (page 152)

Those on horseback may be limited to what actions they can take, based on the side of the mount their opponent is on, such as being unable to parry with a shield if it is being held on the opposite side to the attacker.

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Two Lengths: (page 152)

For a boat, it’s twice the tip of the bow to the hindmost point of the stern.

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Close: (page 152)

Melee combat is impossible, and range modifiers for ranged weapons are applied as above.

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In Sight: (page 152)

The gamemaster may choose to change the time scale from melee rounds to full turns, if desired.

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Second printing correction

The gamemaster may choose to change the time scale from melee rounds to combat turns, if desired.

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Out of Sight: (page 152)

If the pursued party can moves into this range increment, the chase is effectively over.

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I have a small doubt regarding chases: in a chase in which all participants are running, is the opposed DEX roll…

A: an opposed roll of DEXx5? (everyone involved in the chase just rolls DEXx5 once)

or

B: a DEX vs DEX roll on the Resistance table between every chaser and every chased? (the character being chased rolls on the Resistance table once for every character that is chasing him, or viceversa, the chasing characters roll once on the table against the DEX of every character they are chasing).

I’d say A, since it is much easier, but I wonder what was the original intent of the rules, or how other people do it.

On page 151, it says “If in doubt, the gamemaster determines which party is the pursuer and which is the pursued”, page 153 says “each involved party”. How you decide who is the pursued, pursuer and each involved party is up to you. You should also have an idea of what outcomes are possible if a chase.

In a race competition of eight, where four are adventurers, I’d say all are involved (the GM only has to run 4 NPCs)

In a race competition of 30, where four are adventurers, I’d select 4 main rivals (the GM only has to run 4 NPCs)

In a chase of a dozen Lunar antelope skirmishers, running down one player, I’d treat one as the main adversary and group the others into a single party (who I would narrate, and roll only to see if anyone fumbles). (the GM only has to run 2 NPCs)

How complex you want to make the chase is up to you.

In a recent game all my players were being chased by Redeye the boar, all but one were faster than the boar, so only Hateful Khalama and Redeye were involved. I allowed the others to escape on a riding roll, one fumbled and fell off, but was ignored as now not part of the chase. So I had only two involved parties.

So which is the right way, DEX vs DEX or DEXx5?

Quote

To determine which party moves ahead, the gamemaster has each involved party make an opposed roll of an appropriate skill roll each melee round (Ride, Drive) or DEX vs. DEX.

RQG page 153

put another way:

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To determine which party moves ahead, the gamemaster has each involved party make an opposed roll of an appropriate ability each melee round (Ride, Drive) or DEXx5.

An opposed roll of DEX vs DEX would need DEXx5 vs DEXx5 to make them percentiles.

It might be clearer in this example for you:

eg if in a chase where both participants have the same speed but one is running and the other riding. Unless the runner has run skill or other ability, I’d use DEXx5 against the ride of the other opponent. So a light cavalry Daron (Move: 12) vs a Giant or Allosaur (Move: 12), the Daron rider could use their ride skill, while the other two DEXx5.

Don’t forget the Mount Speeds table in the Bestiary (page 147)

Movement in a Chase (page 153)
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If there is no clear winner, the range category remains unchanged.

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Natural Conditions and Damage (page 153)

Acids

I didn’t see any rule concerning acid damages. Could you please explain how they work?

The Gamemaster Sourcebook (in development) covers alchemy and acids as something you can buy and use. For creatures with some form of acidic quality, the descriptions are in the Bestiary.

Generally, it works like poison, with a potency (POT) value that does damage over time, depending on the quality/nature of the acid. 

Lighting the Darkness (page 153)

Lanterns: (page 153)

Change
Corrections

These latter will not go out except in a major gale, but also have a danger if they are dropped.

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71–85Lamp breaks. Oil lamps spread oil over the floor, leaving a very slick surface.
86–00Lamp breaks. Oil lamps spread burning oil over floor; treat flames as a small fire (see below).

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Disease (page 154)
Degree of Illness Table (page 154)
Change
FailuresDegree of IllnessEffect
4+TerminalLose 1 characteristic point every five minutes (one full turn).

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The Degrees of Illness table says the four degrees are Mild, Acute, Serious, Terminal.

Yes. Acute was mistakenly mixed up with serious used, and Chronic used instead of Acute. This revealed a few more corrections (see thunder lung below and in the Bestiary Cause (Disease) page 93 and Disease page 166)

Clarification of degrees of Illness
Mallia
Rune spell Level
RQG / RQ3
Degree of Illness 		RQ2 / Classic
Degree of Illness		Notes
1MildMild
2AcuteChronic
3SeriousAcuteDisease spirit initial infection level
(RQG / RQ2 / Classic)
4TerminalTerminal

Note that Avalon Hill’s RuneQuest (RQ3) used a different method of disease spirit infection.

Sneezing (page 155)
Change
Corrections

Sneezing: This disease does not remove characteristics, the victim sneezes instead. An adventurer with this disease sneezes loudly and uncontrollably 1D6 times every five minutes.

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Thunder Lung (page 155)
Change
Corrections

These sneezing and coughing attacks are violent enough to cause damage to the victim. Find the severity of the disease by normal CON×5 resistance rolls. A mild form causes 1D6 attacks; acute form causes 2D6 attacks; the serious form causes 3D6 attacks; terminal form causes 4D6 attacks. 

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Randomly roll the POT of each attack and then try to overcome with that number with the afflicted adventurer’s CON. If the roll fails, the POT of the attack is done as damage to the victim’s total hit points.

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According to the disease description, the severity of the disease determines how many attacks the character suffers due to the disease. How does the number of attacks relate to time? For example, if the disease is Serious, does the character suffer 3D6 attacks hourly, immediately when the disease contracts, or should the GM spread the attacks evenly over the whole recovery time?

Yes, that’s per hour. It’s a horrible, horrible disease that can literally cause the sufferer to explode.

Randomly roll the POT of each attack and then…

What dice should be used to randomize the POT? Or should the dice rolls to determine number of attacks be actually the POT of the disease at each time interval determined by the Degrees of Illness table?

Use the number of attacks as the POT for those attacks. “Terminal” is pretty much exactly what it says on the label.

“Randomly roll the POT of each attack and then try to overcome that number with the afflicted adventurer’s CON. If successful, the POT of the attack is done as damage to the victim’s hit points.”

I am not entirely sure what I am supposed to roll here.

Roll to determine the POT of the attack. Make a resistance roll of the victim’s CON vs. POT. If the roll fails, the disease wins, and the POT is done as damage to total HP. 

Fire (page 157)
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 intensityDamageHeat Metal (RBM 115)Conflagration (RQG 392)
n/a1D3–1-3 Candle
11D6Too hot to hold4-7 Torch
22D6Tin melts8–11 Raging fire, hot enough to melt tin
33D6Lead becomes soft
44D6Lead melts.12–15 Intense fire hot enough to melt lead
55D6Copper, gold, silver, aluminum, bronze, and iron become soft for hammering and smithing.
66D6Copper, gold, silver, aluminum, bronze, and iron melt16-19 Hot enough to melt bronze, copper, gold, or silver
Poison (page 157)

What are the adventurer’s healing rate and the adventurer heals at the usual rate for poison?

Use the natural healing rate (page 149).

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Page Last updated: 2025-04-18 14:05:49