| From: | Bob Ooton <topcat@**.CENCOM.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Allies for Phys Ads (needs new title) LONG! |
| Date: | Mon, 10 Apr 1995 15:34:30 -0500 |
>couldn't get optical vision mag as a power?).
After thinking about it, I could see how they MIGHT be able to have it.
More likely though (to go along with the example about animals having better
vision) they would be allowed "Enhanced Senses" per the NAGM (kinda hard to
quote the thing when hardly anyone here has it). Which gives them (among
other choices) a power that can add one dice/level of power to perception
tests. They see sharper, and therefor farther. Eagles don't suddenly see
perfectly out to 400 meters. (not that I'd know about that personally, but
I do understand something of how vision works...)
>Was that in HTH or in a straight out fight?
Hand-to-hand. In firearms same story. It came down to strength and body.
Skill was equal or within 1 either way. (bear in mind the chracters I am
talking about hadn't been around for all that long and the samurai sports
bioware)
>Improved Muscle Replacement?
As in alpha/beta grade... and some GM's (not ours) allow the boosted muscles
from TNO
>Hmm, your experiences are the complete opposite to mine. Every phys adept,
>with only a single exception, that I have seen played has either been an Ork
>or Troll. For the simple reason (usually) [Ack! No! Another generalisation!]
>that they are better at beating the crap out of things in HTH, and this when
>coupled with the Phys Adepts superior HTH capabilities makes for an
>extremely dangerous melee combatant.
Different circumstances then, yes. One of our players found himself
fighting a troll phys ad (the player's char was a human phys ad). He ran
out the the troll's range, turned, and shot him dead. Speed does kill,
although sometimes it is foot speed, not reflexes...
>Why? That would mean we would have to end the argument :-( ;-). But I am
>tempted to agree with you, it seems you have it set in your mind (from your
>own experiences) that sammies kick phys adept butt in HTH, and I vice versa.
(sigh) nope. My point is simply that they are equals in the field. Samurai
get the edge through speed, cyberware, body, etc. Whereas phys ads get
there's from cheap stealth/athletics, astral abilities, etc. I just wanted
to point out that one isn't better than the other. They are both on
(fairly) stable ground.
>OTOH, if he were a troll phys adept with a level three weapon focus axe, then
>who would be scared?
Probably the phys ad. You don't know this troll...(aka Troll Tank)
>> An interesting thought that is...anyone else out there got ideas on phys ad
>> loss of magic and whether or not they need geasa?
>
>There's nothing on it in the NAGA?
The word that keeps popping up in Grimmything is "magician." And as far as
my reading goes, it isn't mentioned in NAGM. (though it is mentioned that
if a Physical Magician loses a magic point, then he loses it off his mage
side first and if that takes him down to where he'd need another geasa, he
has to take one). I guess it's a GM choice.
>Luke Kendall writes:
> 1) Bob, could you perhaps post the relevant bits of your
> sammie that would have `eaten up' both Phys Ads together?
> That would give some firm basis for comparison, for the
> disbelievers.
"Troll Tank" had a very wide selection of bioware and betaware (Involved in
a sim-heist that netted BIG cash. Run the numbers for selling a 2 hour long
simsense ship on the street, even at the 30% rate. Now multiply that by six
cases at 1000 chips per case. If you ever really want to piss off a GM by
making too much nuyen, try this run) He had an armed combat of six (not
specialized, he liked to hurt people well in all kinds of ways). His
unarmed was 5. He has enhanced articulation, muscle aug 4, titanium bone
lacing, maxed physical attributes (for a troll, not over racial max,
though), and dermal armor of 2 (3 due to being a troll)...oh, and wired 2
(not beta'd). Stats around...
Body: 16 Quickness: 8 Strength: 15 Initiative: 11 + 3D6
Hand-to Hand damage of 18M stun/9M physical.
Axe damage of 15D (dikoted)
Now how many phys ads at, these guys were level 2 at the time, I'm
thinking... wouldn't be scared shitless by that?
>For the record, I was thinking of a phys adept with something along the
>lines of:
> Armed Combat 4
> Pole Arms/Staff 6
> Halberd 8
>With around 3-6 extra dice on the halberd, which was a moderate (3-6 depending
>on resources) level weapon focus.
(still wonders why GM's don't attack weapon foci??) And how many phys ads
would have the karma for a level 6 weapon focus at initiate level 2??
(That's 30 karma, man! For the level 4 it's still a whopping 20!)
>And if he were, as luke mentined, a Troll, then things would be getting
>really nasty.
Trolls are nasty, indeed. But these phys ads were humans. Honestly, I
don't see it mattering.
>A phys adept like this could just about take on a dragon in HTH and not get
>geeked (he probably couldn't kill it either, but at least he could hold it
>off). But the moment you put him in a gun fight, like with a standard sammy,
>he'd be meat.
Would be an interesting fight, Damian (not the dragon, but the troll vs.
troll). Maybe one of these days I'll head to Australia with Sean's (TT's
player) copy of Troll Tank...
> 1) More phys adepts will be HTH specialists than will not be
TRUE
> 2) Phys adepts are better in HTH than sammies (usually)
Equal at best. Close at worst. Either way that is.
> 3) On an overall basis, phys adepts do not turn out as effective as
> sammies (mainly due to the speed thing)
Hell, my samurai always went after one of the phys ads
(he's got inc refl. 4)
> 4) Phys adepts make better specialists than sammies.
BLASPHEMY! (heheheh) Players choose which way to go
with their characters. All are equal in that regard.
>Note that I am broadly generalising (there it is again), but I have, in my
>years of playing and GMing, found this to be true. Mayhaps you have had
>different experiences.
I like to play a stealthy character. Hand-to-hand is a must for nearly any
of mine. I am not partial to blowing things up (at least I wasn't after I
learned that attracted too much attention). This (the fact that I like
stealth) keeps me away from Trolls (they're kinda big to hide). Though I
would play an orc (just haven't yet...I also like to be able to get into all
bars/restaurants/meeting places and the bias hits trolls and orcs pretty
heavy). Dwarves I like a lot. My samurai was an elf and my phys ad is a
human. The mage I made is a dwarf (he's actually a 'gator shaman).
(wondering why I typed all of that...) My experiences have indeed been
different, not better, not worse...different.
Here's to an argument well fought and ne'er won (by either...)!
-- Bob Ooton <topcat@******.net>
