From: David Cake (davidc@cs.uwa.edu.au)
Date: Tue 30 Aug 1994 - 23:19:09 EEST
Someone recently mentioned that Annilla was the only cult to get a spell resembling invisibility.
Annilla is the only cult (so far) to get Invisibility the spirit magic spell, but Conceal is available to the trickster Thief aspect.
May I also take this opportunity to lament the lack of a decently developed PC thief cult in RQ3?
Krarsht is to chaotic to use as a PC cult. In any case the short form version from GoG is a lot less interesting than the Cults of Terror version - hopefully some of the fun stuff wil be restored in Lords of Terror? It seems to be still valid, as Polybius from Sun County has pratzim, Conceal, Krarshtkids, Sense Order, and poison brewing, all absent from the GoG write up. I like it all, as it made Krarsht a really resourceful and interesting enemy cult, while the GoG Krarsht seems to be a lot less subtle. I think that all these abilities should return, and Impede Law, Face Law, Krarshtides, and teeth of Krarsht. I am not sure about the spell Image Creation, though, as it made disguise far too easy, and there are no other spirit magic illusion spells. Perhaps as a Divine spell? Maybe even a sub-cult divine spell?
Trickster has too many other connotations, as while trickster is a thief, many thieves consider themselves part of society, not outcasts. The many other connotations of trickster may only be appropriate for some characters - the humour, the selfish murderer, the glutton.
So that leaves thief cults only, most of which are extremely small, and the fact that most can only maintain shrines mean that most thieves are limited to a single divine spell, in many cases one that is not even directly useful in thievery. The thief cults are also woefully underdeveloped.
I would like a more detailed writeup of something like Lanbril, complete with a few more magics for those thieves that can manage more than a shrine, and with more effort put into describing what other benefits the cult offers, perhaps even a few spirit magics available. While I admit that Lanbril was overdeveloped in RQ2 (with all their skills and gadgets they became sort of Orlanthi ninja) but a few skills and gadgets, and minor spells, would be nice.
In my game the one thief character has joined Lanbril, and I have basically been winging it, using the RQ2 writeup as a potential list of all that might be available, and then vetoing anything I don't like (which is a lot). However, very few people are lucky enough to have access to the RQ2 Lanbril write up (from Pavis).
For those interested, I have vetoed Forget, Invisibility, and Conceal (I may allow Conceal eventually, possibly as 1-use to priests), but I have allowed Divination Block (currently being used to stop Duke Raus discovering the location of his stolen wand of the Red Moon), and the special spirit magic spell Face of Lanbril (I consider this is not exactly an illusion, but an attention affecting spell like Conceal. It does not divert attention entirely, like Conceal, but it does make it very hard to recall details). I also assume that Black Fang has some access to Conceal, in addition to Shattering.
Cheers
Dave Cake
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