| From: | NeoJudas neojudas@******************.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | After Effects (Re: What to do: PC Mage w/spirit posse) |
| Date: | Mon, 16 Oct 2000 20:55:29 -0500 |
Subject: Re: What to do: PC Mage w/spirit posse
> > > Or just have the fire alarms go off, setting off the
> > sprinklers... or maybe the foam... :-)
> >
> > Bingo! (the wonder-dog...)
>
> Can you imagine how annoyed the decker is going to be when suddenly he's
> covered in foam while jacked in? Of course, no one's going to think to
> clean it off the semi-conscious decker, so he's going to wake up with it
> having partially dried on him... and it will _itch_...
Screw itching, it will BURN!!! You heard me right, there are many of those
chemicals that are used to stop fires that outright cause anything from
minor irritations to outright rashes on an individual today. Also, some of
those chemicals aren't true chemicals of the solid/textural kind, some of
those places use inert/non-combustive gases (we all probably know the
infamous Halon stories by now).
A few other rude things to consider. Secondary Effects. With many
elementals, while manifest/materialized they are going to take up space as
well. If this is happening in a corridor, you could literally be creating a
super-nasty situation and not even mean to.
"Whats that you say Mr. Security... the bad guys DROWNED on level 35?"
"Yes sir, it seems the magician didn't pay attention when his water
elemental materialized in the hallway at their location...."
While an elemental or spirit is in the astral, sure things aren't as
problematic. But in order to get from the astral to the physical, a number
of extenuating circumstances are likely to need to be considered as well.
Setting off fire extinguishers are one problem. There are others. In
biocontainment labs, air elementals constantly run into problems
(hermetically sealed doors between containment zones SUCK!). Water
elementals can be dealt with through chemistry directly or indirectly
(what's that stuff??? a little bit of magnesium and phosphorous to lighten
up the day?? COOL!!! Not as much as fun as a few other things maybe, but
sure, it works).
Also, in third edition the concept of attacking a spell isn't nearly so
cut/dry as it used to be, so the consideration of Astral Barriers from
magicians or even an Anchored spell used to *contain* problematic elementals
is also nice in some heavier/resource intensive locations. Magicians has
said barrier up, ensnares elementals... adds a few dice next action to the
barriers magical defense, suddenly that barrier is a lot harder for the
elemental to get out of.
I've also utilized far nastier stunts, things like dual natured plants under
the effects of animation magic works against even astral beings. A group of
magicians who have "ritually cleansed" a facility may also have the ability
to "aspect" the buildings inherent energies.
By considering this, a building's background count (usually at least a +1 in
a city mind you) is suddenly shifted in such a way that magicians who have
taken the time to acclimate to the building (I suggest magic attribute in
days or weeks even) now have the inherent energies of the building in their
favor and anyway working against them suddenly discover that background
count isn't friendly their way.
There are literally *TONS* of ways to limit the ability of a magician's
elementals *IF* they are becoming abusive or disruptive to a game. I
personally have found the best one is to learn from the players discoveries
and integrate them into your own GM tactics and turn the tables. At the
very least, the GM is learning as well (which it sounds like in this case
would be a good thing) and nobody is having their enjoyment spoiled (even a
munchkin responds to a challenge in most cases).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
J. Keith Henry (Webmaster)
Hoosier Hacker House (www.hoosierhackerhouse.com)
