| From: | "J. Keith Henry" <Ereskanti@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Barrier Spells (This has gotten Good) |
| Date: | Sun, 3 Aug 1997 11:23:58 -0400 |
> Let's deal with the standard Barrier spell first, to keep things basic.
> >Okay, so you only need one success (TN 6) to create a barrier with a
rating
> >equal to the Force of the Barrier spell. Okay. That makes sense. But,
> >let's say that the mage manages to whip up a Force 6 Barrier. Do the
extra
> >successes do anything? I don't think they do, but I thought I would ask
> >anyway. :)
>
> BTB you are right.
> For the extra successes folloeing idea spings to my mind:
> After following the barrier and the instant renewal of barriers thread I
> would
> say the extra successes are the number of how many times the barrier
> will refresh itself after damaging to it had occured.
> Sustained barriers of curse.
That is a cool idea as well Barbie, the one that we use for the "additional
successes" is to allow a magician to actually "shape" the thing a bit
better.
It's a bit vague I admit, but 1 success allows a wall or ring (as the
outlines in the book). 2 can create a wedge, 3 can create a sphere, 4 a
basic polyhedron/polygon, 5 "Hey look, it's a portapotty!"
> >Okay, now here's the fun part: what are the mechanics for stopping
attacks
> >through the barrier? Say it's a rating 6 barrier. If the power level of
> >the weapon firing through (or striking, etc.) the barrier is equal to or
> >greater than 6, does the barrier crumble? If that's the case, then
> >barriers are almost worthless unless they are force 10 or greater (to
stop
> >those heavy pistols). Do you use twice the barrier's rating to determine
> >what it takes to effect it? (i.e. would a rating 6 barrier be impervious
> >to anything lower than a power of 12?) I think this is what hardened
armor
> >is, but I am not sure.
>
> Take the six as barrierrating. The barrier gets damaged like all other
> barriers according to the rules barrier minus weaponpower if the result is
> less than zero, then that will be lost from the rating.
> If the barrier is damaged it will renew its self at the next casters
action.
> I would not use the double barrier thing from the hardend armor rules,
> mainly because its an magicial barrier and it reacts different to physical
> things then a material barrier.Thats includes AP ammo too, they dont get
> the AP bonus for the same reason.
Actually, the rules for shooting through a Barrier exist already. I wonder
if the above example that Justin initially gave falls under the rules of
"Willpower Targetting" that was bouncing around a while back. Shooting
-through- a barrier reduces the rating of the attack method by its rating, as
per the books. Shooting -AT- the barrier itself, that may require the usage
of the Barrier Rules. I don't think that a Barrier of Magical origin could
be brought down by a gun directly, but I suppose it could happen. Perhaps
give the Barrier Spell the "Immunity to Normal Weapons" power that is
possessed by Manifesting Spirits.
> >Also, why doesn't the Barrier spell stop Manipulation spells? Standard
> >barriers do, so I would figure that a magically created barrier would
too.
> >In fact, I would feel that both the Barrier spell and the Mana Barrier
(or
> >even the Spell Barrier) spells would stop Manipulation spells.
Technically, that is a bad rule, IMHO. However, the ruling that we have
opted for here is that a "Barrier Spell" gives half its rating for Damaging
Manipulations that are being cast at targets behind it. Part of the "nothing
at or below the molecular level." And -THAT- discussion has never been fully
approached as well.
A Vampire in Mist Form can pass through a Barrier Spell unimpeded generally,
though a Mana Barrier would work normally.
> Barrier should do stop manipulation, because its an physical thats
> traveeling trough the real world. For this reason manabarrier will not
> effect it same goes for spellbarrier unless the manipulationspells
> entrance point to the physical plane lays behind the spellbarrier.
Oh, now we are getting into the "Grounding Into Manifestation" discussion.
As per the BBB, Manipulation Spell channel through the caster, thus anything
between caster and destination/target has the potential of getting in the way
(ever tried a Flamethrower at a target beyond what you actually want to
hit?).
> >Here's another question (don't run away!): When casting a Personal
Barrier
> >spell (of any kind), does this mean the barrier forms around your aura
> >(thus only protecting the caster), or does it automatically center on the
> >caster, but still keep the standard area of effect?
>
> Personal, it says all.
I think what Justin may be alluding to is the "does it cover my gear?"
discussion. I could be wrong. I also know of many arguments where the topic
of "aura" being the boundary of personal magic has come into ruling many
times. "I'm carrying (x), do they get any of my barrier's protection...my
magic attribute is greater than their essence/charisma/willpower,
etcetera..."
Personal magic is kind of strange. In the Grimoire, the modifier for Health
and Manipulation magic for Personal spells is -3 Drain Category (unless this
is a typo errata I never heard of), but the drain category differences for
Personal Bullet Barrier vs. Bullet Barrier are sure as hell -not- 3 drain
categories lower. The argument that has been discussed here is the
difference between "Personal" being -a Person/Single Living Target- and
-PERSONAL- being it ONLY works on a given caster.
> >Is it safe to assume that all magically created barrier spells work both
> >ways at all times? (i.e. a bullet barrier works equally well regardless
of
> >where the bullet originates from)
>
> IMHO, both directions. Since its not stated that a magical barrier is
> penetrable from the inside. But this would be a good spell to research on.
No comment. When this one came up here, the magicians got really panicky.
The "one way barrier" magic became -the- thing of research for quite a
while. On the flipside of that, "Doughnut" magic also hit the boards at the
same time (casting an area of effect spell at ground zero with a "doughnut
hole" in the middle for the magician).
The suggestions for the "One Way" Barrier spell drain modifiers is a +1 Drain
Category here (adding a level of complexity). Others may think this is to
easy, but compared to what else has been dreamed up, I think it's a far cry
from "Very Complex".
> >The wording of the Mana Barrier spell is confusing: is the barrier
rating
> >equal to the force of the spell cast, or 1/2 force? Does a spell cast
> >across a Mana Barrier reduce the it's barrier rating? Or is the barrier
> >rating of the spell simply added to all TNs for casting a spell across
it,
> >but it stays at full power while sustained?
>
> The barrier rating is at full force against attacks from living things.
> The halve rating is the T# penalty for spells casted through the mana-
> barrier.
Yeppers to Barbie's response. I have always wondered about this one from the
"Personal Spell Barrier" and "Personal Mana Barrier" POV. If a caster
puts
one up, and just starts practicing against it, do they learn to defeat the
"modifier" points? Wicked thought, but it's been tried here.
-K
