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From:	Chariot chariot@*******.net
Subject:	Elemental Services
Date:	Thu, 4 Nov 1999 20:21:45 -0600 (CST)

Message no. 1 How do the services work for elementals?

The book says that one of the services they can perform is a physical
service. It says that this would be for it to use one of it's
powers. What if you want it to attack? Would attacking just 1 person be
a service?

I was running an adventure where the team had to raid a yacht and the
party's mage summoned an elemental and wanted to use a service to go
through the ship killing everyone except them or the one person they were
looking for. Is that possible? How about asking the elemental to gaurd
an area. How long will one service last?

Thanks in advance,
Chariot

From:	Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject:	Elemental Services
Date:	Fri, 5 Nov 1999 10:41:48 +0100

Message no. 2 According to Chariot, at 20:21 on 4 Nov 99, the word on the street was...

> How do the services work for elementals?

You ask it to perform a service, and it will do so to the best of its
abilities. The only real limit is your imagination :)

> The book says that one of the services they can perform is a physical
> service. It says that this would be for it to use one of it's
> powers. What if you want it to attack?

If you want an elemental to attack someone, it can do so. As a matter of
fact, it could attack either with a power or by making a melee attack --
so unless the magician specifies which to use, I'd say the elemental uses
the one that's least likely to put it in danger. For example, if you order
a fire elemental to "Attack that guy over there," I'd say it probably uses
its Innate Spell: Flamethrower power, since that allows it to make a
ranged attack, from beyond the reach of the target.

> Would attacking just 1 person be a service?

Yes.

> I was running an adventure where the team had to raid a yacht and the
> party's mage summoned an elemental and wanted to use a service to go
> through the ship killing everyone except them or the one person they were
> looking for. Is that possible?

If they could get across to the elemental precisely who they were looking
for, I'd say that this would be one service. Ordering it to attack another
group (or to concentrate its attacks on one particular person in the
yacht) would be another service, though.

> How about asking the elemental to gaurd an area. How long will one
> service last?

One service lasts until the elemental has performed that service. However,
every full 24 hours it takes the elemental to complete it, will cost
another service. So, if you order an air elemental to do an impersonation
of Tenser's Floating Disc, that is one service, and every 24 hours the
elemental keeps holding your stuff for you is another service.

If you want an elemental to do something permanently, though, you have to
use the Remote Service, well, service at the moment you summon the
elemental. In this case, it will keep doing what you order it to do (or
strive to achieve the goal you set for it) until the task is done or the
elemental is killed or banished.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Destiny is a state of mind
-> NAGEE Editor * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
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From:	Lars Ericson lericson@****.edu
Subject:	Elemental Services
Date:	Fri, 05 Nov 1999 08:59:07 -0600

Message no. 3 Chariot wrote:
>
> How do the services work for elementals?
>
> The book says that one of the services they can perform is a physical
> service. It says that this would be for it to use one of it's
> powers. What if you want it to attack? Would attacking just 1 person be
> a service?

I allow attack a single group, all in LOS, to be a single service as
well.
e.g. "Attack those bad guys." *pointing to the thugs across the room*

> I was running an adventure where the team had to raid a yacht and the
> party's mage summoned an elemental and wanted to use a service to go
> through the ship killing everyone except them or the one person they were
> looking for. Is that possible? How about asking the elemental to gaurd
> an area. How long will one service last?

One of the major distinctions that I try and maintain is that elementals
are more like mindless drones and spirits have intelligence. In my game,
telling an elemental to go through a yacht and kill everyone except a
specific person would result in an INT tests with a TN based on how well
the untargetted person was known to the conjurer. Failure would result
in either everyone getting attacked, or the elemental standing there
confused.

Guarding an area is possible for an elemental to do (remember they have
to be within [CHA+WIL+MAG]x10 in meters for a standard service, p. 187).
However, the conjurer wants to be careful about how it is phrased. In my
game, elementals are not smart enough to distinguish between people of
the physical well enough to be ordered to allow certain people and
prevent all others from entering an area. Astrally, it is much easier
for them to distinguish and so a mage usually orders an elemental to
prevent astral beings from entering an area. Spirits, on the other hand,
would have the more presence of mind for physical guarding.

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond
Smalley Research Group, Rice University
E-Mail: lericson@****.edu
WWW: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lericson/

Life is like a Wankel Engine. In between the emptiness of boredom and
despair, and the compression of stress in one's life, there's that one
spark of enjoyment that keeps you going.

From:	Fanguad fanguad@****.rit.edu
Subject:	Elemental Services
Date:	Fri, 05 Nov 1999 10:29:20 -0500

Message no. 4 > Spirits, on the other hand,
> would have the more presence of mind for physical guarding.

> Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond

Why do you say this? I would think that spirits would have just as
much trouble.

-Fanguad
-------------------------
Modern programming is a race between programmers
striving to create bigger and better idiot-proof
programs, and the Universe trying to create bigger
and better idiots.

So far, the Universe is winning.

From:	Lars Ericson lericson@****.edu
Subject:	Elemental Services
Date:	Fri, 05 Nov 1999 09:40:41 -0600

Message no. 5 Fanguad wrote:
>
> > Spirits, on the other hand,
> > would have the more presence of mind for physical guarding.
>
> > Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond
>
> Why do you say this? I would think that spirits would have just as
> much trouble.

It's just my way of looking at things. Elementals are able to provide
many different services that seem more powerful and useful (as a whole)
than nature spirits can provide. I'm not saying Search, Guard, etc...
aren't useful, but the basic services of extra dice for spell casting
seems to make elementals a tad more useful. Second, I think it gives the
two types of spirit more personality. It is consistant with the
mage/shaman duality of the scientific magician and the communer.

Again, these are just how I run them.

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Lars Ericson: Professional Vagabond
Smalley Research Group, Rice University
E-Mail: lericson@****.edu
WWW: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lericson/

Life is like a Wankel Engine. In between the emptiness of boredom and
despair, and the compression of stress in one's life, there's that one
spark of enjoyment that keeps you going.

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