From:	Sven De Herdt Sven.DeHerdt@******.com
Subject:	Magic Question
Date:	Mon, 26 Jun 2000 13:08:02 +0200

Josh Harrison wrote:

<snip>
> > He couldn't see any reason to take the spell at higher than Force 1,
> because
> > there is no degree of success for it; the spell either works or it
> doesn't.
> > So the spell was easy to find, buy, and learn.
> >
> > I can't say that I disagree with him -- it makes the drain
> much easier to
> > resist, even with the +3 version he took. The only reason I
> could think of
> > was that dispelling is based off the force of the target
> spell, and the
> > spell will be knocked out fairly easily -- since Dispelling isn't
> metamagic
> > anymore, that is a valid concern (for once).
<snip>

I must admit that this supprized me too when I first read it, but I neither
found time nor the urge to develop a house rule for it yet.

But then again, it makes you wonder: do you, as a runner, want your
increased reflexes hanging at a silk thread that anyone with a nice pair of
scissor or a crappy knife could cut? Or do you want to be able to trust
your spells at a crucial moment without the worry that almost any magical
opposition can dispell them?

Perhaps you should introduce the player with this disadvantage the next time
the have an hostile encounter. See how he reacts when he finds his reflexes
dropping from "rabit-mode" to "snail-mode". You don't even have to
use
large magical offensives, just use a freshly awakened character that is
experiencing with his limited powers and found gang life a nice environment
to do this.

(* Ever seen a full-fledged and over confident sammy Troll being beat-up by
a ganger (unarmed combat: 4)? Just come and see my games! I must admit
that I was very lucky on the dice roll, but then again I always am when
GMing (just call it: faith).
Off course the ganger wouldn't stand a chance in a fire fight, but the
character just wanted to show off and the ganger kicked his huge ass.

Moral of the story: rules and numbers aren't really that important, all
depends on the way your handling things. The PC I was talking about did
learn his lesson and doesn't keep up the "I am untouchable"-act all the time
anymore. *)

Sorry for rambling on, these are just my thoughts and experiences,

-Sven :)
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