From: | Angelkiller 404 angelkiller404@**********.com |
---|---|
Subject: | Combat mages (was Re: Magic) |
Date: | Fri, 6 Aug 1999 00:32:34 -0400 |
(no
>matter how power hungry) are pretty damn careful. Most cybered and
>physical adept types have increased initiative and if the mage has an
inc
>reflexes spell quickened or anchored on him all the time, someone
will
>eventually ground a spell through that shining astral beacon.
Otherwise,
>you know the old creedo, "Geek the mage first!"
>
>That's how it happens between my group of friends. We try to kill
the NPC
>mage and the GM (whether it be me or my friend) tries to take out PC
mages
>first.
Hey, that reminds me of something I've been meaning to ask you guys...
In one game, I'm running this combat mage (my first fully Awakened
character) who has a distinct style: she can destroy a lot of stuff in
a very short amount of time (and does it often). How fast? One of
her spells starts with the mock-incantation, "Darkness from twilight,
crimson from blood that flows; buried in the flow of time..."
And then combat's over, and she's usually unconscious. It was funny
the first three times, but...well, I need more options. But she
survives, which, in my mind, is always a good thing. Problem (or is
it a good thing?) is, she almost always moves last in combat, which
means everyone's last move is to duck for cover. However, she only
uses the spell as a defensive maneuver against everything that might
be moving after her (because she's really slow), and I wanted to try
something different because combat's beginning to wear thin.
If she casts Physical Barrier in an enclosed space, how much damage
would it do to someone who's suddenly found themselves in the path of
the equivalent of a brick wall? Can I use a Physical Barrier like,
say, a really big riot shield, and push my opponents around with it or
maybe bash them with it? If understand this correctly, elemental
manipulations don't go in or out of a physical barrier, am I correct?
And now for the big question...
No matter how many times I read the book, I still don't have a grasp
on the "sustained bonded foci" thing. Are these things like spell
locks (which I do understand), or do they "deactivate" after a while?
How long does the spell stay active? Say I use a sustained bonded
foci for Increase reflexes +3 on myself; does this mean I'm always
going to have this spell on me, or am I still sustaining this thing?
Or does the foci do the sustaining for me? Help, this thing is
confusing me...
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