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Author Topic: Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.  (Read 764 times)

Jmeis982

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Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« on: August 09, 2018, 05:58:43 PM »

So my group is playing a SR:Y1 game and I have elected to play a Mage for the first time.

Character Summary:

Sandman
Night Elf - Full Mage
Body 3
Quickness 4
Strength 2
Charisma 4
Intelligence 4
Willpower 5

Skills:
Sorcery 4
Conjuring 3
Edged Weapons 2
Pistol 1
Stealth 1
Etiquette 1

Spells
Stunbolt 4
Stunball 3
Manabolt 4
Catalog 2
Alleviate Allergy 2
Heal 4
Alter Memory 3
Deflect 3

At Creation I couldn't take any skills or spells at a rating higher than 4.

I have some basic knowledge about the magic rules, but some of the finer intricate details still escape me.

I know that to advance my spells will be costly both in funds and in Karma.

Are there any spells I should take sooner than others? Are there spells that don't matter what force I take them at?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.
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Re: Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2018, 03:09:34 PM »

There are a few spells where the force they are taken at don't matter, but 3rd edition did a rather thorough job of cleaning out those.

The important thing to understand about magic, is probably drain.
For spells in the 3rd edition, that's based on Force/2. And Shadowrun always rounds down, so if you cast a spell at Force 3, drain is based off of (F/2 = 3/2 = 1.5, round down) 1.

Take you Catalog spell as an Example.
Magic in the Shadows, p. 141 (That's MitS.141 in my normal notation).
It has a Drain code of +1(M), meaning that if you cast it at Force 2, it will have a drain of (2/2 = 1)+1 (M), or 2M.
This will be stun damage, unless your Magic attribute is really messed up (below Force, here 2).

For spells, Drain is always resisted using Willpower (and possibly dice from your spell pool, currently 4).

The next thing you need to understand, is that many spells are resisted. In this case, your target rolls to resist against the Force of the spell that you're casting. Thus resisted spells tend to be most useful when cast at a higher force.

That said, high Force isn't everything!
I personally like to try to cast spells at a force such that my Drain is nice and low. Preferably the Drain TN never exceeds 2.
Then I can use my spell pool dice to cast, and collect a ton of successes!

***

You write Full Mage, so I'm assuming that you're playing a Hermetic and not a Shaman?

If so, you'll need to buy Sorcery and Conjuring libraries.
Once you have those, you won't need a lot of money to become a better mage, unless you decide to pony up the big cash for foci.
You will always be short on Karma though.
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Jmeis982

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Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2018, 07:45:20 AM »

Yes, indeed hermetic mage.


Thanks for the advice, I will likely be back with more specific questions as I continue to delve into MitS

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Re: Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2018, 10:44:31 AM »

Please do! I've already dug out my old SR3 Corebook and MitS ;)
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Jmeis982

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Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2018, 10:19:18 AM »

Okay, so the various Increase Reflexs spells dont list a required force. Can I take them at force 1 or is there a minimum force I would have to take them at?

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Re: Looking for some Character Advice and some rules guidance.
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2018, 06:22:08 AM »

The only reason to take (or cast) them at a Force greater than 1, is if you're worried about people trying to dispel them.
Other than that, have fun. :)
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