A key thing to playing a Lunar character is remembering that the phase of the Red Moon matters a LOT.
- On the Black and Dying Moon days, only 1 point Rune magic is available and nothing is stackable.
- Crescent-Come and Crescent-Go is a bit better – up to 2 point Rune spells are available, and 1 point stackable spells can be stacked to 2 points.
- Empty and Full Half Moon days work like normal.
- On the Full Moon, all Rune spells have double their normal duration.
So three days out of the week, your Rune magic works like normal or better. But four days out of the week, your Rune magic is inferior.
Now to make that work in a game, the day of the week is going to matter. Few Lunars like to do anything on the Black and Dying Moon days (aka Waterday and Clayday). But Wildday is great for you. So as a GM, if Lunars are present, always remember to work out the day of the week beforehand.
Unless of course you are within the Glowline. WIthin the Glowline, your Rune spells work normally every day of the week.
Spirit magic is a Lunar cultist’s friend and the Seven Mothers provides access to all commonly available spirit magic but at twice the normal price. So save up those Ls and spend spend spend! Do favors for your Seven Mothers temple, and get your CHA worth of spirit magic as quickly as you can. Alternatively, you can learn sorcery as Irrippi Ontor has quite an interesting range of Moon-related spells.
Try to become Illuminated and a Rune Master. Then you can initiate directly to the Red Goddess and that’s where the real fun stuff takes place. Not only do you get spells that let you link a characteristic to the Lunar Cycle, plus a ton of associated cults, but you get special Lunar magic that lets you manipulate all those spirit magic spells you should already have.
But still try to avoid Black and Dying Moon day, as they just suck.
That’s the Lunar cycle – the defining feature of the Lunar Way. Honestly, a lot of the abstract debate and discussion of Lunar stuff is really secondary compared the concrete reality that Lunar magic is worse than other Rune spells four days a week, but one day a week it is much better.
So the Lunars attack on Wildday. And so if you are the Orlanthi, avoid being where they are on Wildday!
With a few possible exceptions, double duration rune spells don’t strike me as that much of an advantage. Real battle takes much longer than 15 minutes…
Which rune spells would be enhanced by being double duration? Shield, Command Cult Spirit, Absorption, Inviolable, Flight, Earth Shield, – pretty much any temporal spell. Remember, an actual battle is composed of multiple phases, and whatever Rune magic you cast in one phase is usually over in the next.
And during the Cradle scenario, my players would have killed to have spells that didn’t expire in fifteen minutes. Thirty minutes would be great, and damn right they’d be willing to add a point of Extension for it to last an hour. My players use a lot of Extension.
Also explains why the fabled Moon Boats are so rarely seen outside the Glowline, as they travel on and are propelled by special beams of moonlight, focussed from the Red Moon itself. Inside the Glowline where the moon is always full, moon boats are reliable and very fast; outside the Glowline Moon Boats are less effective, as their motive power depends on the strength of the moon.
During the full moon period, a Moon Boat beyond the Glowline can travel at the same speed it does inside the border. But as the moon begins its phases this speed progressively drops until the Black Moon when the moonbeam is extinguished altogether. During this period the Moon Boat is forced to land and must wait until the Red Moon turns its face again the following night. With the crew and passengers magically weaker at this time too, Moon Boats are particularly vulnerable during the Black Phase, hence they do not often cross the magical border.