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Author Topic: Magic Rules  (Read 26544 times)

Gabriel

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #30 on: May 04, 2006, 10:46:22 AM »

Wards are astral barriers. They can be broken thruogh in normal astral combat against them with the ward getting stats based on its force. Now, if you break through a ward, it doesn't neccessarily destroy it (you have to check on this though since ti's been a while) but will allow the PC who broke through to pass into it. Wards also effect LOS in astral space. If you want to see through a ward, you have a visibility modifier equal to the ward's force. Oh, and whenever you take on a ward, the one who set the ward will know about it. Lodges and Circles are considered to be their own wards and are equal to the force of the Lodge or Circle involved.

Gabriel
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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #31 on: May 04, 2006, 12:49:53 PM »

Wards are discussed on p. 174 of the SR3 core book.
Watchers on p. 100-102 in MitS.

Summoning watchers require no special equipment and can be performed at any time.
Maxforce is (Magic rating of conjurer)/2.
To summon, roll conjuring against your chosen Force, each success gives it one hour duration.
Drain is (Force+lifetime-in-hours)L stun. (resisted using charisma)
You may choose to give it a shorter lifetime to lessen drain.

They can also be summoned for longer time, but this carries a price in summoning materials and/or karma.
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kv

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #32 on: May 04, 2006, 03:21:34 PM »

So, what sort of activities can a watcher spirit do? Watch? Guard? Report back? Carry messages back and forth?

I also read that solid ground can't be passed though in astral form- how thick does ground have to be to be considered 'solid' like this?

  -kv
« Last Edit: May 04, 2006, 04:40:14 PM by Kid_Vid »
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Retread

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #33 on: May 04, 2006, 06:10:58 PM »

Solid ground can be moved through at a rate of (Magic) meters per hour. This only applies to living earth, that is, soil or natural rock. The earth itself has an aura but its aura is slightly diffuse and astral forms can pass through it. Concrete or laid stone or whatever, can be passed through like nothing because it is like dead skin from the planet.

A watcher can do anything a regular spirit can, but it has no "powers" like other spirits. It's just a little astral "critter" that can do menial tasks. A watcher can manifest, but it cannot materialize, therefore, it cannot affect the physical plane. Watchers can find people by searching for them, to give messages, etc. As a watcher can manifest, it can do all sorts of annoying things like insult someone for hours on end, tail people, spy, whatever. Watchers aren't terribly tech savvy and are very bad at remembering things like numbers or math. They can remember conversations but get fuzzy with the details. They have the intellect of a loyal but stupid dog, basically. They also get confused easily if you try to give them orders with too many conditions. Essentially, treat them like Drones given a command and have them make a Force test against a target number for the complexity of those actions.

Being astral beings, watchers can attack anything on the astral plane. They usually look like a miniature version of their summoner's astral form.
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Gabriel

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #34 on: May 05, 2006, 06:11:04 AM »

Was it SR1 or SR2 that stated that an astral form couldn't pass through other living forms? I remember reasing that someplace and I know it's not current cnaon rules. I remember it because the situation was that a projecting astral form couldn't get into this underground area through the erath, so it tried going through the normal door/coridor and coun't make it through that way because of all the algea and mold and nastiness on the walls. It sounds way out of date, but for the life of me, I can't think of where I read it.

Gabriel
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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #35 on: May 05, 2006, 03:00:59 PM »

Well, don't they have that stuff specifically designed to keep astral travellers out? Biofibre? (NSRCG says reference is SR3-pg 292, but it's not there)
The reason I brought up the underground thing was because that was specifically stated in the 3rd Edition books (pg. 173) that underground facilities were safe from Astral intrusion.

I was wondering how well that worked, but they would have to build facilities hundreds of meters underground in order for it to be effective.

Does anyone else have info on Biofibre?

  -kv
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Curris

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #36 on: May 05, 2006, 05:57:26 PM »

Biofiber page 80 Magic in the Shadows

Biofiber is a form of bio-engineered plant life similar to wood, grown in large flat sheet. Biofiber is naturally dual-natured, existing on both the astral and phsycial planes simulataneously. So long as the biofiber is keep alive (using complex nutrients), it functions as a barrier against astral forms, just like a physical wall. The biofiber has a Force Rating like any other astral barrier and functions in the same manner (p.174 SR3). Biofiber sheets are placed inside the walls of high-security areas, provided with nutrients and carefully monitored. Destroying the astral barrier kills the biofiber.

Biofiber is notoriously sensitive and difficult to maintain. It costs 100 nuyen times Force per square meter and requires 5 nuyen per square meter in nutrients and care per month. Biofiber is available in a maximum Force Rating of 10.

Curris's last words. It's astral barriers for those who can not create them on their own. So good passive astral defense, even for mundanes. It's expensive though, and if it's broken down, no one will know. (IE, A mage/shaman is aware of their barriers being broken, but Biofiber isn't linked to a creator, since it's naturally grown.)

page 80 and 81 of Magic in the shadows also has information on Guardian Vines, Flouresing Astral Bacteria, and other astral defenses (both the lethal and non- kind.)
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kv

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #37 on: May 05, 2006, 06:29:01 PM »

I don't actually currently have a copy of Magic in the Shadows. There was a little three-card-montey with the books my brothers and I play from, and I'm not completely sure where all of them ended up.

In fact, I had to buy new copies of the SR3 to teach these new guys how to play, which led me to re-learn some rules, which led to this thread.

  -kv
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"There are three rules to surviving a gun fight.
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3) Shoot last
   If you can do that, you can survive."
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                                (Mercury's Father)

kv

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #38 on: May 05, 2006, 07:14:46 PM »

So. Anyway.

How do firearms and spirits work? I know they're supposed to stage down, but how exactly do weapons work against spirits?

  -kv
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"There are three rules to surviving a gun fight.
1) Shoot First
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3) Shoot last
   If you can do that, you can survive."
                                 -Samus Bravo
                                (Mercury's Father)

ROOTless

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #39 on: May 06, 2006, 04:33:24 AM »

To even be a valid target for a firearm, a spirit has to Materialize (p. 264 SR3).
Materialization power includes the power Immunity to Normal Weapons (Same page ref).

Immunity to Normal Weapons
Quote
gives the spirit an "armor rating" equal to twice it's Essence...
In addition, if the Power of the attack does not exceed twice the creature's Essence, it automatically has no effect.
and
Quote
... has no effect against combat spells or weapon foci. Against elemental damage (such as fire, water cannons, elemental manipulation spells and so on), the effect is halved (Armor Rating equal to Essence). APDS, AVM and other Armor Piercing ammunitions are treated as normal ammunition against creatures with theis power

Spirits always have an Essence equal to their Force, so a Force 5 spirit has perfect protection against heavy pistols (Damage Code 9M (or possibly 10M), neither of which exceeds 2x5 = 10).

As described on p. 188 (SR3), a character in close combat can circumvent this by attacking it with "his personality" (willpower) instead of trying to damage it with an item.

Also: if you want to play with a lot of magic, get MitS, it's very useful, I feel.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2006, 04:49:26 AM by ROOTless »
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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #40 on: May 06, 2006, 04:45:46 AM »

I was wondering how well that worked, but they would have to build facilities hundreds of meters underground in order for it to be effective.

Basically, I think that statement is an artifact from an earlier edition, but.
Remember that an astrally projecting magician losses (temporarily) 1 point of Essence per hour you're out. If you can penetrate (magic rating) meters of earth per hour a shiny newfangled magician (Essence 6, Magic 6) can penetrate a maximum of 36 meters of earth. And still has to come back up, so make that more like 15-18 meters. A lot, but hardly 'hundreds of meters'.
It's by farm easier to go in through whatever shafts had to be dug to build the facility, but they're likely to be warded and/or guarded by mages/elementals/dual natured paracrittes/what- ever-have-you.
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Gabriel

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #41 on: May 06, 2006, 09:05:19 AM »

Hey Kid_Vid,

 Get off of your lazy hoop and go get those CD's I sent to Ruski  a while back. They have ALL of the books on them. Some copies aren't perfect (missing a page or two) but they are FREE!!!! So go get 'um.

Gabriel
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Retread

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #42 on: May 07, 2006, 09:47:35 AM »

AIE! \/\/@|23Z p\/\/|\| j00!

In essence, a spirit is rarely defeated by normal weapons. That isn't to say that a spirit isn't harmed by other seemingly normal things like fire, ice, concussion grenades (Blast elemental) or otherwise. For example, an air elemental has a vulnerability towards earth. That means that you'd be much better off throwing a rock at an air elemental than shooting it with your non-natural high-tech weaponry. If you're mundane and are going spirit hunting, I'd recommend picking up a laser weapon. Sure, it's expensive, but it's much better than getting close to that fire elemental to engage it in a contest of wills.
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kv

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #43 on: May 07, 2006, 12:48:14 PM »

So every spirit that can materialize has that weapon immunity?

  -kv
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"There are three rules to surviving a gun fight.
1) Shoot First
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3) Shoot last
   If you can do that, you can survive."
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                                (Mercury's Father)

ROOTless

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Re:Magic Rules
« Reply #44 on: May 07, 2006, 02:27:03 PM »

Yes.
It's part of the Materialization Power.
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