From: JARDINE@RMCS.CRANFIELD.AC.UK
Date: Wed 25 May 1994 - 18:01:00 EEST
Hi All and especially Joerg
Joerg slags off Cloud Call pointing out that you need 53 points of divine magic to cast a thunderbolt on a clear day... TRUE in so far as it goes...
Cloud Call is much more useful as communal magic (like bless crops) than for an individual adventurer. With this spell a community can pretty much ensure that they get vitally needed rain at the right time.
Cloud Call is very powerful in groups. Imagine the scenario when the Lunars try to break up an Orlanthi religious ceremony on a bright sunny day. Lets face it the Lunars are unlikely to try it during a thunderstorm when Orlanth is Obviously manifesting. Say about a half of the initiates have a SINGLE POINT of Cloud Call then suddenly the attacking troops find the sun clouded over and EVERY Thunderbolt in the congregation becomes useable! Say only 1 in five of the congregation (heads of families maybe) have this spell. This means that the attackers are facing 20+ thunderbolts, each virtually automatically taking out (if not actually killing) a normal human! Suddenly an attack by well trained, well armed professional soldiers against an equal number of poorly equiped villagers becomes an outnumbered, demoralized, disordered force being attacked by a horde of fanatics who have just seen their god's might blast down on their attackers. This is 110 points of divine magic to take out 20 soldiers! Roughly the same as Sever Spirit (although successful uses of SS get round the healing). I have not heard Sever Spirit being described as useless.
Finally have you tried casting 50 to 100 points of Cloud Call on an already Cloudy and Stromy day (100% cloud cover to start)! I would rule that if the notional cloud cover reached 200% it would recreat the conditions found in the Storm Age which might be a good way to initiate a HeroQuest. It would certainly scare the living daylights out of any non-Orlanthi!
Lewis
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