Shadowrun Pub
Shadowrun RPG => Magic and the Planes => Topic started by: kv on June 28, 2006, 02:58:26 PM
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Are there any benefits for learning exclusive spells?
-kv
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Yes, Exclusive spells either take 2 less karma to learn or are considered 2 force below for the purpose of drain (basically lowering the drain power by 1) Unfortunately, exclusion is very nasty when you're trying to sustain some buffs for yourself or your allies.
Some exclusive spells are terribly easy to learn, along with some fetish required spells. For example, if you learn a fetish-required version of powerbolt, you can learn the force 1 version for free if it is fetish-required or you can learn the force 2 version of a spell for free if it is Exclusive. You must however, still have the spell formula and take the time required to study and learn it.
That is, however, my interpretation of the rules, it never specifically says the spell is free, but why would anyone learn a fetish-limited version of a force 1 spell if it didn't have any discount?
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Then again, why would anyone want to learn a Force 1 version of a resisted spell?
K_V: Do you remember my lightning bolt?
Because it was exclusion limited, I couldn't cast it while doing something else, like maintaining another spell.
However, I could cast it at Force 7, while taking drain as if it was Force 5. That meant I didn't take physical drain, and was actually able to gather enough successes to take no drain at all after the dice fell, while at the same time causing a target number my opponent was unable to resist (7-1 for armor was a 6).
That's how you use exclusively limited spells.
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Why would someone want to learn a force 1 spell? Easy, if you throw enough dice at a problem, there's really no way for someone to resist. A force 1 powerbolt with 6 successes behind it is dangerous to most normal people. It's not like learning it at force two will do any better, one way or another the target number to resist is still 2.
Six sorcery dice plus six spell pool with a light damage force 1 manabolt will pretty much maim someone regardless of how many Willpower dice they have. Additionally, this allows a magician to learn a variety of spells right off the Matrix on Magicknet or the Magick Undernet simply in their spare time. They can also design spells in their spare time just to test their effects before blowing 6 karma in designing and learning the higher force version of the spell. I'd much rather save my karma for initiation and raising my skills than on high force spells.
Elemental manipulations do not require high force for their primary usefulness to take effect, which is their ability to do all sorts of other nastiness to a target besides harm them. According to the rules, force doesn't really affect secondary effects but rather the damage level. So resisting a force 2 moderate damage fireball really won't help you if all the ammunition you're carrying explodes anyway. For direct damage you should use combat spells and save the elemental manipulations for special situations, like lightning bolting the guy using his radio to call for backup.
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Cool- thanks to both of you!
-kv
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Retread, I don't remember just where the rules for karma cost for learnign spells is, but I'm pretty sure you HAVE to spend a minimum of 1 karma to do ANYTHING. If you learn it, it costs you. If you have a Force 2 Exclusive Stealth spell, it will still cost you 1 point of Karma to learn. If it didn't , you would have to assume the EVERY AWAKENED PC would know ALL spells at a Force 2 Exclusive or Force 1 Fetish Limited. Game balance has to be observed at all times, and free spells will throw the entire game off kilter.
Gabriel
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Nowhere in canon does it say that karma is a requirement for learning a spell. However, the rules are left to the GM and players to interpret. Keep in mind it still takes time and money to learn new spells. It's not as if people who design spells do it for free. To hire an instructor it would take at least 1,000 nuyen per force not to mention a bonus for the teacher's Instruction active skill. Also, it takes one full day to learn a force 1 spell. A training day in Shadowrun is roughly 8 hours. So, you'd have to pore over the formula for 8 hours before you could learn it on top of spending 50+ nuyen per formula and then another 50-200 nuyen simply for the fetish. The average magician doesn't necessarily have these resources, let alone would the exact formula be available with the right kind of fetish for that formula.
Addtionally, if you follow standard character creation rules, you can still get 30+ different force 1 spells if you wanted to, so I don't really see much difference in paying 1 karma for an un-limited spell and spending no karma for a spell which requires you show off the fact that you're a magician by fiddling with some gewgaw before you throw the mojo, have to pay extra for, and simply have to find available.
Again, interpret how you will, but nowhere in any canon that I find does it elaborate on the cost of force 1 spells with limits.
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That's basic GM'ing, chummer. No one gets anything for free. And yeah, if you want to spend your 25 force points buying 25 Force 1 spells at creation, you could, but the thing is that you have to spend them. Money and time are nothing in a game like this. I'll give you an example. You hav a mage that graduated MIT&T. He then moved on into the corprate world since his scholoarship was sponsered by (let's just say) NovaTech. Since he went to a university, he spent a minimum of 2 years, but probably ,more like 4 or 6, learnign his trade. Without spending any Karma, you could concievably have a PC who knew every spell in the book at Force 1 for no cost at all. You can't honestly tell me you think that is a fair interpretation of the rules.
Gabriel
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Trust me Retread.
As far as mages are concerned, money is nothing, Karma is the limit on the skies. The only limit.
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Right, two years not including those in which you need to learn Sorcery, Conjuring, Spell Design, Magic Background, and a myriad of other knowledge skills related to the school. The number of study days required to learn all of that stuff would well encompass more than two years even without studying spells.
I'm simply saying that by basic math 1 - 1 is zero. So a force 1 spell limited by fetish costs 0 karma. Of course, 1-2 is -1 so you're not going to get free karma for learning an exclusive force 1 spell. Besides, if you were to learn your fetish limited spell and upgrade it to force 2 it would simply cost 1 karma anyway, there really isn't any difference.
ROOTless, I know that karma is desperately important to magicians, but saying that money isn't important is sort of relative, most especially if allow players to purchase karma with money. Additionally, have you ever seen the price on a Power focus? Crimeny.
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But since the Focus Addiction rules were introduced, I've seen very few foci in actual use, power or otherwise. Mind you, I didn't see a lot of them before either,because of Bonding karma cost.
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Yeah, that karma binding cost really makes things difficult for new characters.
-kv
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Heh, anyone wanna make some house rules for Limited Foci?
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I'm simply saying that by basic math 1 - 1 is zero. So a force 1 spell limited by fetish costs 0 karma. Of course, 1-2 is -1 so you're not going to get free karma for learning an exclusive force 1 spell. Besides, if you were to learn your fetish limited spell and upgrade it to force 2 it would simply cost 1 karma anyway, there really isn't any difference.
That still doesn't work. To get an advantage in a game, you have to pay a price for that advantage, and money is no limiting factor when you want to learn a new spell at such low levels. But to put it another way, you MUST spend at least 1 Point of Karma to learn any skill in the game, no matter what. It is never free. So, learning a spell would be the same thing. There's no way you should be able to learn a spell for no other cost than some "down time" that can be explained away by saying, "Well, he studied it for a month between that last game and this one."
Gabriel
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The karma point would be spent if they attemtped to upgrade the spell. Otherwise the existence of a fetish limited force 1 spell is null. The rule is there for a reason and there is no rule that state's to the contrary. If they upgraded the spell to force 2 it's the same as if they never learned the force 1 spell in the first place.
You don't charge your players karma when they gain new contacts in-game, do you? You don't charge them karma when they learn a new piece of information for free, yeah? How about if they steal that car, I guess they should pay karma for that too? Time and money are just as important investments as karma to anyone and a force one limited spell is not terribly useful. I don't see any problem with players learning them for free if they are willing to spend the time, money and effort required to get them.
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You're comparing apples and oranges. Taking an action like stealing a car is the end result of gaining the skills you learned that enabled you to steal the car in the first place, which you might remember, you had to spend karma to learn. Shooting a gun, same thing. You had to spend karma to get the skill that enabled you to use the weapon proberly. The idea is simple, Reterad, and it is a staple for every gaming system in existence: game balance. Getting every spell for free, especially how you use spells, is a rediculous idea that destroys the very idea of a balanced character. You would, in essence, create a top-level PC right from the beginning with nothing more than a few minor flaws and an unlimited spell repertoire. How can you justify that as a GM?
Gabriel
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You wouldn't be able to do it from the beginning- beginning spells cost spell points. This is something that would require time and money, not karma.
Oh, and force 1 spell are useless - who can't beat a target number of 1? You'd have to bury them with successes- and even with invisibility, with a set target number, you would only be able to hide as long as they didn't get a single success to see through your spell.
Or healing, where you would be able to (maybe) heal a single box of damage. That's just sad.
I probably wouldn't allow this, because although this isn't abuse, the type of player who looks for loopholes like this usually is looking for some game-unbalancing abuses. (No offense intended, Retread- that's just been my experience with players who look for things like this) So if I allowed this, then next he would come at me from out of left field, and have another 'simple request' that would make him uber powerful.
-kv
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Obviously you've never used skillwires in your game:
Rating 3 Chipjack Expert Driver + Dedicated Chipjack + Customized Implant Rating 6 combat skill w/ DIMAP 6 = God
I digress however and still say that the avenue for abuse here is minimal compared to a variety of other situations, like players hauling off dead cyberzombies to get their Betaware ripped and installed.
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Agreed. Force 1 is just not enough to do much with, even with a pile of dice.
Do it thrice, and your GM is going to get the badguys some magic defence, if they really need it.
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There are no 1 Target Numbers in Shadowrun. You always have a minimum TN of 2, no exceptions. Again, I won't quote page number because I can't remember and I'm not going to bother looking for it, but that is a tenant of the game. Every single roll, no matter how easy, will always have a chance of failure, albeit if you have a TN of 2, the only way you can fail is by rolling all 1's, meaning you have fumbled, but hey, there you go.
Gabriel
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I realize this, I'm pretty sure we all do, and it changes things very little.
Rolling against a 2 is just... unimpressive, unless you have to get more successes than you have dice (as mentioned already above).
Further more, in the 3rd edition, some effort was made to make the Force of a spell more important, just so that you wouldn't want to have that stack of Force 1 or 2 spells, because of their low usefulness.
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I can see it. Of course, there's really no way to roll a 6, 12, 81, etc. in SR either. So a TN of a multiple of 6 is pretty useless. I think that's one of the biggest glitches in the game, but pretty unavoidable. Go figure.
Gabriel
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We do what we can.
Okay, I have some very theoretical questions about magic.
I have a group with two (both aspected casters) mages and two adepts (one with a sword, one with pistols), none of which have any focuses.
What can I throw at them that will target them instead of the other runners? This group also has a rigger and a street sam (both of which have had characters die recently, so I'm hoping to take it easy on them)
So I need some sort of critter or spirit, (or reason to send said critter or spirit) to target the magical characters.
-kv
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focuses.
Foci.
Now, as to your actual question.
How many of them are astrally perceptive? Both of the aspected ones are, have either of the adepts bought that power?
Anything present only in the astral (such as a projecting magician or an unmanifested spirit) would automatically target characters using astral perception. This includes non-flesh form bug spirits.
Or how about letting them steal a powerful focus/framing them for the disappearance of said focus? It only boosts magicians (or adepts or whomever you'd like to target), so hte owners will assume one of the magicians (/adepts/...) has it, and target them for preferance.
Perhaps a spirit (maybe even a free one) that's most effeciently fought through banishing?
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Have them encounter a gang who has a reason to hate the magically awakened. Either they are a magical gang, or they are afraid of it, whatever.
Remember the street motto "Geek the Mage, first"?
Most Gangers and Sammies do. Fighters kill what they recognize as a greater threat, or an easier kill.
Here's a thought. Aztlan has been abducting Awakened folk for use in some mojo (sacrifices), so they send "recruitment squads" around town.
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Hee, once again, here's one for you. Tempt your adepts with the Dark Side of the Force. Whenever the adepts kill something and they do so with bloodlust, offer them a chance to go with that bloodlust. Tell them they feel stronger and that their rage brings them focus, raising their powers temporarily. You can raise the level on their powers temporarily, whatever. However, every time the players do this, tally it down. Whenever the players abuse this power, they may lose control, going into a murderous powertrip. Tell the players that they feel angry in a particular situation, or whatever random thoughts go through their heads. How they grow to hate some of their contacts or even minor annoyances. If the characters don't see the link between this newfound power and their developing psychosis, then they deserve what's next.
Remember those tally marks? Each tally mark is now the target number for a willpower test to avoid going berserk like a bear shaman whenever "threatened" not hurt. This threat can be as small as a drunk bar patron wanting to fight or even a threat by the police. In this rage, the character attacks the threatening character or object mindlessly until they kill the offending character or are incapacitated in some way.
The source of this rage? A new form of Florescing Astral Bacteria III hybrid with the Human Metahuman Vampiric Virus. This bacterial agent is more like a virus. Instead of preying on and feeding on magic, this bacterial colony bonds with a magic-user forming a symbiotic relationship, adding it's relative "Force" to its host's Magic rating, this becoming the basis for new powers or intense magical prowess. However, these symbiotes are not benign in any way. Being bred with HMHVV, the bacteria must feed on Essence or die. It induces its host into a psychotic rage in order attain its food. Piggybacking on the emotional link between the host and their victim it feeds on the essence of either the dying victim or the dying host. Once the bacteria consumes twice its force worth of essence, it becomes stronger, raising in force.
However, once the force of the bacterial colony becomes greater than the magic rating of the host the host must make a final Willpower test. If this test fails, the host becomes suicidal and immediately makes a move to kill themselves in some grotesque manner. If the host manages to sucessfully kill themselves the bacteria absorbs the final amount of essence from its host and all the Magic that the host had. This causes the bacteria to reproduce into two bacterial clouds with half the force of the original.
This sinister symbiote was created and designed by Ordo Maximus, a technological and magical vampiric initiatory group. Having attained a sample of the bacteria that Ares used against the bug spirits in Chicago (at great risk to themselves) they managed to manipulate the bacteria using the same techniques they use to hold a cybermantic individuals aura inside their dying body. Having sucessfully engineered this bacteria however, caused it to mutate beyond the original concept of a symbiote to aid vampires and it took on a predatory feeding and reproduction ability. Unlike normal FAB III the this mutant strain is nearly undetectable when it occupies its host as the bacteria, a wholly astral construct, becomes one with the aura of the host. However, the bacteria becomes easier to detect once it grows. The base target number to detect the bacteria is 12 minus its force. So a rating 7 bacteria is still hard to spot but a rating 1 is nearly impossible to spot when it occupies a host. Furthermore, as the host becomes more and more addicted to the power given by the symbiotic bacteria their aura becomes darker and more twisted, attracting all sorts of bad luck and spirits.
Whaddaya think? I came up with that all just now :P
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Those are very cool, but I was hoping for a paranormal animal (or spirit) who targets magical characters. Although any creature who can be a hassle for magic users would be helpful.
-kv
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Any spirit (or initiate magician) with Possession (metamagic or critter power) is fun.
They can posses projecting magician, or attack an astrally percieving magician, defeat him/her in astral combat (for stun damage), and then posses the body. Plenty of fun ensues.
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ROOTless has the seeds of a good idea there, Kid_Vid. So let's go with that. You and your team are hired for a run (It makes no difference at all what kind of run) and you are brought up against a street gang. This particular gang is new to the sprawl, say they just got in from the Carribean League, and looking to make a name for itself, but so far hasn't really hit the street cred in a big way. Your team ends up having to go up against them and when they get geeked (as they are supposed to) one or two of your PC's loots the bodies and walks off with some new foci or fetishes, hell even trophies if your PC's are into that sort of thing.
Now, as it turns out, this wasn't the entire gang that you fought, and there is one cobber left, and he's the one who was running things. This guy is an initiated houngan. When he find out about the rest of his gang getting geeked, he decides to take his revenge. Since the PC's have taken some of the gang's gear (and this is when the foci come into play) the houngan will begin to track the PC's astrally based on the auras of the stolen items. This isn't like ritual sorcery or anything, the houngan is just very familiar with the gear since he probably made the foci or at least observed them astrally at close range for a while.
Anyway, a little time passes and then the houngan strikes. When one of your mages is astral, he jumps into the body, using his Possession Metamagic. When he does this, he starts causing all kinds of trouble along the lines of say killing innocent people at random, sending the mage's personal info to the public datanets, "self" mutilation of the possessed body, actually attacking other PC's. You get the idea. And if your adepts have taken astral projection (although I doubt it at such low level) then they can be targeted as well.
The houngan's goal may not be to kill the PC's outright as he may not be strong enough, but if he can get them killed or fighting each other, or even weakened enough, then he could strike. Just check out MiTS for the appropriate Loa spirit for this guy to worship and put in a bit of "evil voodoo man" feel to the campaign (maybe having it all culminate with the houngan being in some candle lit, body part strewn room under the barrens or something) and you've got it made.
Gabriel
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Huh... not a bad thought.
Here's the idea I was going through for the Run, though.
The runners are contacted by thier fixer, MFI, who sends them a plane ticket to Morocco, and landing them in Casa Blanca. It's a corp retreat for the super-elite, and Mister Johnson meets them just outside of it. He has heard these runners can handle themselves around magic, and that they're not too bad in a firefight, so he wants to hire them to go into a compoud in Amazonia and get something for him. I haven't decided what the 'something' is going to be, but I was thinking something small and delicate, like a flower.
Anyway, the flower is the part he's going to tell them about. The part he's not going to tell them about is that they are the third team he's sent into the jungle, that he suspects that a high level initiate mage might be protecting the blossom, and perchance... there might be a dragon interested in this thing. On top of all of that, they have to trek into the jungle, where they can stumble on all manner of amazonian critters who will make thier lives miserable. So I need critters to do such.
I love that plotline, so I think I'll save it for a later day. Thanks ROOTless, Retread and Gabe.
-kv
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Null sheen.
Gabriel
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So, what good paranormal animals can I throw at my runners? (now that you have a basic synopsis of my intended plotline)
I wanted to do something dire (like a dire tiger or something) and then have the mage protecting the flower hit them with like 3 force 4 spirits all at the same time. Mages would be good against them, but they might not survive to enjoy it.
-kv
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If you are in Amazonia, or even Central America in general, you may well run into some free spirits who are fighting in the "Spirit War" that was covered in Year of the Comet (I think). Taking this special flower may well shift the balance of power in one of their struggles. If that is the case, then you will have the spirits of the natural domain fighting the Toxic Spirits who were summoned and then went free in the area. Personally, that's how I would go. Skip the critters and go for spirits. If you still want to toss in some critters, you could have them be toxic versions of normal jungle critters. That shoudl freak the runners out.
Gabriel
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Plenty of toxics around amazonia ways.
What you might want to do, is spend a happy afternoon reading up on local legends and the like. Inspirations galore usually.
Awakened giant crocodiles anyone?
Or toxic lost dinos stolen from some silly SciFi novel?
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Erm. There are toxics in Amazonia? From what I understand the spirit war is going in the Yucatan peninsula (Cancun anyone?) and would be minimal within Amazonia. Also, there would probably be a shaman guarding the flower, not a mage (unless it's some science team, even then, it would probably be a shaman) and the spirits are probably nature spirits.
You could have the players run into a colony of Leshy. I remember giving the link to the online Critters sourcebook. It's free for all to use, the leshy are described in their. The semi-humanoid little things that live in tribes in forested areas.
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You are coorect. I meant Yucatan, not Amazonia.
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Whoops, yep, it is the Yucatan I was thinking of. But it would be nothign to switch the run to that area if Kid_Vid wanted to go with the Spirit War thing. And I agree that it would probably be a shaman guarding the flower if it wasn't a spirit. As for Awakened crocks, check out Afancs in the Critters guide. I think they are indiginous to the nile, but there's no reason they couldn't show up in the jungle. Of course, you could have some of those nasty giant preying mantis things too, or even some SURGEd treess. YotC has some interesting new things you might like for this.
Gabriel
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My runners are pre-YOTC. In fact, they're pre-Super Tuesday too... pre-Corp War... I'm walking them through the history, because it's easier than making sure all of them have read the sourcebooks.
But I like the idea of a dire crocodile or something like that. Wouldn't it be an alligator if it was in the Amazon?
-kv
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No (http://www.greentracks.com/Reptile_List.html).
Oh, and just for fun: Clicky (http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0903-croc.html).
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Wow... so a dire (46 foot long) crocodile it is!
I was also looking at the tiger rat snake, or a crocodile lizard... but I likes this.
What are the stats on dire creatures?
-kv
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You know, if you're doing a pre-Super Tuesday plot, why not stumble into an Insect hive? That woudl be about the right time for the hole Universal Brotherhood thing. I know that a few of those spirits got their start in the jungles and other isolated places. An indian tribe that's been "converted" might be an interesting guard for the flower/
Gabriel
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Oh yeah, that sounds like fun.
Ants, probably.
Army Ant Spirits, hope you brought the big can of Bug-Off ;)
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Ants or Raoches. Either way, your runners are gonna be in for a hell of a fight. And since the Bugs were NOT well known at that point, they would realy, REALLY like to shut the runners, and the mages in particular, up quick and quiet.
Gabriel
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Ooh... you guys are devious, and I like that about you. ;D
Okay, so one tribe of insects coming up! (One of my players was here for when I dropped the team into Chicago, but I don't think she'll be expecting this.) So when I have 30 tribesmen transformed into fleshforms, she'll be scared- scared enough to scare the rest of my players. ;D
-kv
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A few spirit forms too perhaps.
But not really necessary.
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Now see, I always liked the "bug hunt" feel of th einsect spirits. But I do think you should have some of the spirit forms too. After all, if they are protecting this flower (for whatever reason they are) then they will want to have astral security in place as well as dual-natured security. After all, what's the point of being dual natured when you are fighting a PC who can move with an extra +20 to their initiative. You have to have a bit of equalizer there.
OH, and you may want to give the PC's an oppertunity to meet a free spirit while they are down there. Jungles and places far removed from civilizaton are great places for free spirits to make a home. If they are getting their hoops handed to them, it might be worth something to have made freinds with a local free jungle spirit a few days prior.
Gabriel
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Flower, you say? Why not make them Bee spirits? There are no rules for "Bee Spirits" but they can't be much different than Wasp spirits save for their nature of collecting nectar and such.
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Well.. plus a bee spirit would die after stinging you. ;D
Unless they're africanized killer bee spirits!
-kv
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What are the rules for toxic shamans? I wanted to use a toxic shaman with at least one spirit with him, as part of a group of terrorists that are holding hostages (cause you know you always have one terrorist that's a little crazier than the other terrorists)
But I wanted to make him formidible. What benefits are there to toxic totems? Are toxic spirits more powerful?
-kv
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Toxic shamans function in two ways, as Poisoners or Avengers. Poisoners are totally corrupted. The environment that created them is what they seek to make the rest of the world into (usually) as a result, they will attempt to corrupt the environment in a manner they see fit. Posoners often follow the will of their totem in the exact opposite manner. A dog shaman, for example, is rabid and wil probably destroy their friends and allies. An eagle shaman seeks corruption. A bear shaman will seek to maim and kill instead of heal. Shark shamen become even more brutal and vicious, murdering as much as possible. Essentially poisoners are rabid, psychotic versions of their former Totems.
Avengers on the other hand, are just that, on a quest for revenge. They often seek to destroy those whom have harmed them, often resorting to manners that are more harmful than good. An avenger's quest is typically to destroy polluters and corrupters. An avengers totem is essentially a vengeful form of their former totem, focused but still rabid.
Toxic Shamen are empowered by Potency, an extra dice pool to use in Magical skill tests. Potency is gained when a Toxic shaman accomplishes a goal. The higher the potency, the more terrible the agenda. These objectives are based on the type of shaman they are (Poisoner or Avenger) and their specific totem. Urban totems will seek to destroy or avenge man's spirit while nature totems will protect or destroy the land. If an agenda is foiled, the Shaman's potency decreases. So if the runners encounter a powrful shaman they can weaken them over a series of adventures instead of one all-out battle.
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Interesting... so if I was going to have a toxic shaman in charge of a group of eco-terrorists, how much potency should I give him? (or her... maybe I'll have it be the chick of the group)
-kv
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Depends on how much you want your players to hate you.
1-2 isn't too bad.
3-5 if kinda nasty.
Maybe you might want to go for randomness?
Roll 2d6, explain what for, and watch their faces. It can be quite fun.
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Personally, I don't use that Poisoner/Avenger stuff, I just go for Fragged Out of His Mind, Evil as Drek toxic shamans. But if you want him to be really nasty, then have him come back. Just make sure you have a good back story for him. After all, most toxic shamans used to be regular shamans. Something had to push him over the edge, and when that happens, he begins to exibit the evil/bad/horrible nature of whatever totem he follows. For instance, a toxic Dog shaman might act like a rabid dog. A toxic Shark shaman would be a complete pysochopathic killer/canibal. Stuff like that.
I once created a toxic Eagle shaman who had gotten a massive dose of radiation and was forced to live in a fallout zone or he would die. This guy started thinking that ALL technology was evil and should be ourged, and to do it, he would turn it in on itself by releasing a massive dose of radiation on the local environment. Not a nice guy.
Gabriel
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hahaha... both good help. Okay, so the main baddie (aside from the terrorists using Mitsuhama assault rifles), is a toxic coyote shaman, who got dosed with radiation while in Ute, and went a little (lot) crazy.
He suddenly gets it into his mind that radiation is the 'purification of fire' mentioned in Revelations (esta a santa biblia), and that the whole world needs to experience it.
So he talks some greenpeace (greenwar in Shadowrun, right?) group into taking hostages in the Shiawase reactor, with the hidden intent to melt down the reactor and dose the surrounding areas of Seattle with radiation.
Should be a good one!
-kv
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greenpeace (greenwar in Shadowrun, right?)
I've always understood 'Greenwar' to be a radical splinter faction of Greenpeace.
Other than that, sound like a good plot, if a bit nasty.
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Well, I actually hired the runners to run against a super-secret datastore facility hidden beneath the Shiawase reactor.
Mid run, thier fixer called them up and said "What the hell are you doing?" because someone had taken hostages on the top floor.
So Mr. Johnson called them again, and offered them double pay to rescue the hostages and kill the terrorists. Which included said toxic coyote shaman (with a force 6 toxic spirit of man).
One runner managed to banish the spirit with a luck roll and a bunch of burned karma. (Four burned karma, with his willpower of 2 being both successes, as well as the spirit rolling for crap. The spirit got a single success.)
And then they cut apart the mage with a monofilament whip, while trying to resist the constant slew of manabolts. Now I just need to finish planning the Amazon run, and I'll be good.
-kv
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Ha! What kinda combat monkey doesn't have high willpower? The bonus it provides to combat pool is reason enough :D
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Sounds like a good run.
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So how much media attention did the runners get out of this? If there was a hostage situation, then there was probably some kind of recording device going, even if it was the corp cops doing it. So how about having some of that trideo footage get into the wrong hands?
I had my runners over a barrell for about a year because they saved a woman from a cyberclinic when a group of ghouls attacked the place. The woman turned out to be some mafia bim and the surgery she had just got was for cyberoptics with recorders and all that jazz. So the runners save this slitch, and about amonth later (when she's had a chance to get her ducks in a row) she has one of her leutinants contact the runners and blackmail them with the footage of them breaking into the clinic and stealing medical supplies.
Blackmail makes for a great dangling plotline. You may want to think about it for future incentive to run missions that some of the runners would normally nt take.
Gabriel
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Quick Magic Question.
When Mages or Shamans Astrally Project, can they Manifest themselves onto the Physical plane?
Materialize is to become solid, physical, and capable of interaction, usually limited to spirits.
Manifesting is to become visible and audible to observers on the Physical. Spirits can do this, but can mages and shamans do this too?
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I've never heard of it... not sayin it can't be done.
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It was my understanding that mages didn't really have a good way to communicate with people outside the astral while projecting.
Although I have heard of a mage using a spirit's service to have them relay messages back and forth from the mage to the team.
I think the rules were designed that way so it was possible to communicate, but not easy.
-kv
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So, there goes the plan to beat the cell phone companies. . .
I suppose I could still Mindlink. . .
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The answer is yes and no, as I recall.
What you want is on p. 173 of the core SR3 book (I'm assuming SR3 here, seeing as how I consider SR4 a nightmare legend along the lines of Highlander 2).
You cannot manifest as per the spirit power, with all those condition.
But you can become visible/audible to creatures in the real world.
This is a manabased ("psychic") effect, and machines will ignore you, and you will be intanglible, so can't move stuff about.
You're still astal, so you can't even cast spells at non-astral targets (I think), but you can indeed communicate with your team.
Please remember though that probably less than 1% of the total population are trained magicians, and even fewer are full magicians, capable of full astral projection.
As opposed to cell phones, which will soon outnumber humans, if they don't already.
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ROOTless beat me to that one.
Gabriel
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Thank you. Very helpful.
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You might want to keep this in mind, however, Curris: an astral projection is a projection of a pwerson's impression of himself and a reflection of his/her emootions and whatnot. All of this means that when you DO manifest in front of someone, you don't really look like your meat self. You look like your essence. It makes perfect sense to a mage/shaman/etc. Think of it as a decker's avatar. And when you pop up in front of someone looking like a glowing lion with the face of an elf, well, that might get a bit uncomfortable for any mundane looking on.
Gabriel
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Just a quick note concerning Force 1 exclusive Spells. I emailed the Powers-that-be about the cost issue a couple of years ago, and the official word is that there is no Karma/BP cost for these Spells. A general suggestion was included in the response advising that the GM limit the number of these Force 1 restricted Spells at chargen (only) to a handful or so.
Oh, and hi. ;)
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Just a quick note concerning Force 1 exclusive Spells. I emailed the Powers-that-be about the cost issue a couple of years ago, and the official word is that there is no Karma/BP cost for these Spells. A general suggestion was included in the response advising that the GM limit the number of these Force 1 restricted Spells at chargen (only) to a handful or so.
Oh, and hi. ;)