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From:	Jeremiah Stevens <jeremiah@********.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Karma for Essence (Was: Controlling Mages)
Date:	Fri, 7 Nov 1997 02:05:03 -0500

Message no. 1 On Fri, 7 Nov 1997, James Lindsay wrote:
> Regardless as to how people feel about the increased initiative spells
> (our ref doesn't like them either, nor the heal deadly spell), another
> point in the mage's favour is in high Karma campaigns (or regular
> campaigns that have run for a long time). At a certain point, the
> sammie, rigger, or decker begins to run out of places to dump Karma
> (unless you think that Gunnery-12 is really any better than
> Gunnery-11). The mage, shaman, or adept, OTOH, is naturally Karma
> hungry and has many more avenues into which to expand and excel. Now,
> if you could exchange Karma for cyberware... :)
>
> James W. Lindsay Vancouver, British Columbia
> "http://www.prosperoimaging.com/ground_zero";
How about this- perhaps a sort of initiation could be used for mundanes to
strengthen the link between their blueprint aura and their body,
effectively giving them back some essence. Karma costs would be similar to
initiation.

The maximum essence any character could have would be 6 (8 for
shape shifters). Thus, no character initate to get an essence of 7.
However, characters with less than 6 essence could initiate for a cost of
6+(desired initiate grade)x3, with each initate grade adding a point of
essence. Of course, such an initiation would require special magic,
similar to that used to create cyberzombies. Thus, the procedure would be
hard to come by, difficult to perform and would leave the character with
some serious debts. On the plus side (other than allowing more cyberware),
the magic would not have the same destructive side effects as the blood
magic rituals used to create cyberzombies. Rather than locking the soul to
the body, the ritual would strengthen the natural aural link between soul
and body.

From:	Barbie <barbie@**********.COM>
Subject:	Re: Karma for Essence (Was: Controlling Mages)
Date:	Fri, 7 Nov 1997 20:15:28 -0500

Message no. 2 At 07-Nov-97 wrote Jeremiah Stevens:

>The maximum essence any character could have would be 6 (8 for
>shape shifters). Thus, no character initate to get an essence of 7.
>However, characters with less than 6 essence could initiate for a cost of
>6+(desired initiate grade)x3, with each initate grade adding a point of
>essence. Of course, such an initiation would require special magic,
>similar to that used to create cyberzombies. Thus, the procedure would be
>hard to come by, difficult to perform and would leave the character with
>some serious debts. On the plus side (other than allowing more cyberware),
>the magic would not have the same destructive side effects as the blood
>magic rituals used to create cyberzombies. Rather than locking the soul to
>the body, the ritual would strengthen the natural aural link between soul
>and body.

I would rule that a astral quest must be undertaken to achive the effect
as part of the `initiation`. And I would not allow that the essence gained
in this way can be used to put more things into someone, restoreration of
the lost essence should be enough. And I would rule that if you put some
more ware into someone that the effects will be lost as you disrup the
achived ballance.
As TN# for the quest I would take 6+ lost essence as minimum, and that for
every point that has to be restored a new quest must be made.

--

Barbie
---------------------------------------------------------------
Evil Overlord advice #50:

My main computers will have their own special operating system
that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and
Macintosh powerbooks.

http://www.amigaworld.com/barbie
FAQ keeper of SR_D, the german Shadowrun mailing list.
Amiga RC5 Team effort member.
---------------------------------------------------------------

From:	Jeremiah Stevens <jeremiah@********.EDU>
Subject:	Re: Karma for Essence (Was: Controlling Mages)
Date:	Fri, 7 Nov 1997 15:37:29 -0500

Message no. 3 On Fri, 7 Nov 1997, Barbie wrote:

> At 07-Nov-97 wrote Jeremiah Stevens:
>
>
> >The maximum essence any character could have would be 6 (8 for
> >shape shifters). Thus, no character initate to get an essence of 7.
> >However, characters with less than 6 essence could initiate for a cost of
> >6+(desired initiate grade)x3, with each initate grade adding a point of
> >essence. Of course, such an initiation would require special magic,
> >similar to that used to create cyberzombies. Thus, the procedure would be
> >hard to come by, difficult to perform and would leave the character with
> >some serious debts. On the plus side (other than allowing more cyberware),
> >the magic would not have the same destructive side effects as the blood
> >magic rituals used to create cyberzombies. Rather than locking the soul to
> >the body, the ritual would strengthen the natural aural link between soul
> >and body.
>
>
> I would rule that a astral quest must be undertaken to achive the effect
> as part of the `initiation`. And I would not allow that the essence gained
> in this way can be used to put more things into someone, restoreration of
> the lost essence should be enough. And I would rule that if you put some
> more ware into someone that the effects will be lost as you disrup the
> achived ballance.
> As TN# for the quest I would take 6+ lost essence as minimum, and that for
> every point that has to be restored a new quest must be made.
>
> --
>
> Barbie
I would also add that the ritual used would be similar to a Ritual of
Change, except that the aura of a person would be changed to match its
blueprint. Astral quests would be an obvious part, and, as a side effect,
I would argue that once a mage has the formula for a person's true aura,
blueprint aura, pattern or whatever we want to call it, that could be used
a material link for ritual sorcery.

I would say the ritual would go something like this:
1: Mage performs astral quest to learn true pattern of the target of the
ritual.

2: Mage performs ritual of change upon the true pattern of the character
so that it more closely coincides with the aura of the character (thus
negating some of the essence loss of cyberware)

3: At the same time the mage performs the ritual, the recipient pays the
karma to make the effect permanent.

Also, I would make the target number for the ritual 10+(essence
gained and to be gained)-(real essecnce) Thus, the target number for the
first point of essence to be gained would be 11-(real essence). For
example, a sammie with an essence of 2 would have a TN of 9 for the first
ritual, 10 for the second, 11 for the thrid and so on.

Finally, I would use this one of two ways. First, as I had originally
posted, with regained essence being usable for extra cyberware. However,
the ritual would no be available for magically active characters.
Second, as Barbie suggested, the essence gain would not be usuable for new
cyber, in which case, i would allow magically active characters to benefit
from the ritual.

From:	Barbie <barbie@**********.COM>
Subject:	Re: Karma for Essence (Was: Controlling Mages)
Date:	Fri, 7 Nov 1997 21:59:20 -0500

Message no. 4 At 07-Nov-97 wrote Jeremiah Stevens:

[snip a lot]

>Finally, I would use this one of two ways. First, as I had originally
>posted, with regained essence being usable for extra cyberware. However,
>the ritual would no be available for magically active characters.
>Second, as Barbie suggested, the essence gain would not be usuable for new
>cyber, in which case, i would allow magically active characters to benefit
>from the ritual.

I would take the second option, since I dislike that certain character typs
can`t do something because they would be to powerfull.
Its better to design a solution that is open for all.
Besides the first decission, mondane or magical of curse.

--

Barbie
---------------------------------------------------------------
Evil Overlord advice #50:

My main computers will have their own special operating system
that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and
Macintosh powerbooks.

http://www.amigaworld.com/barbie
FAQ keeper of SR_D, the german Shadowrun mailing list.
Amiga RC5 Team effort member.
---------------------------------------------------------------

From:	MCP <mcp@********.COM>
Subject:	Re: Karma for Essence (Was: Controlling Mages)
Date:	Fri, 7 Nov 1997 21:19:04 -0500

Message no. 5 At 09:59 PM 11/7/97 -0500, Barbie wrote:
>At 07-Nov-97 wrote Jeremiah Stevens:
>>Finally, I would use this one of two ways. First, as I had originally
>>posted, with regained essence being usable for extra cyberware. However,
>>the ritual would no be available for magically active characters.
>>Second, as Barbie suggested, the essence gain would not be usuable for new
>>cyber, in which case, i would allow magically active characters to benefit
>>from the ritual.
>
>I would take the second option, since I dislike that certain character typs
>can`t do something because they would be to powerfull.
>Its better to design a solution that is open for all.
>Besides the first decission, mondane or magical of curse.
>
I would also prefer the second option. If you allow someone to add
essence, and then use it for cyberware, you could end up with people
who have more than 6 points of essence worth of cyber WITHOUT the
penalties involved in becoming a cyberzombie. Why would the
cyberzombie process have been developed in the first place?

However, if this ritual is an improvement of the cyberzombie ritual,
then you might be able to use it to get more cyber. I think it is likely
to be a LONG time before the new ritual became available though.

MCP

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