| From: | shadowrn@*********.com (Gak The Great) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Focus on the Astral! [Caution! Includes rambling en masse!] |
| Date: | Wed Dec 5 14:00:01 2001 |
> Mongoose writes:
>
> > Mana based combat spells do plenty of physical damage to living
targets...
>
> Yeah, I thought of that problem, too :-(.
>
> > Only with health spells, that I can see. IMO, most health spells would
not
> > affect astral targets because they use mana to create thier effect in
the
> > living body.
>
> OTOH, creating an effect in a _living_body_ would seem to imply the need
for
> a Physical spell.
I just noticed I misread the explanation of Mana and Physical. I always
thought the difference between them was that P spells have a component in
the Physical World (TM?) and so kan affect things without a "real" astral
presence (i.e. non-living and non-magically active entities. That should be
a causal "and"). Therefore, P spells are more powerfull than M spells, and
have a higher drain. With the explanation in SR3.01D, things get a bit
fuzzier.
>
> > Move the spirit from the body, and the effect isn't gonna work- the body
> > might be affected, but the spirit would not be, because the spell isn't
> > designed to do that. Its as if you used a mana based "shapechange"
> > spell...
>
I don't know. Didn't Heal work this way: The spellcaster gets in touch woth
the targets Essence, i.e. lifepower or the heart of his aura, and "sets it
right"? That way, the aura'd have to be "glued" on to the body in some way,
"pulling" it back to normal. Or away from normal, when it's a damaging
spell.
<ramble> (ignore if you don't like theroetical RPG-discussion)
Which probably should also mean that persons with low Essence shouldn't be
affected as strong by M spells. OTOH, most effect could nedd so minor a
"pull" from the aura that the essence has to be below zero for any noticable
diminishing of the effects.
> It's a pity the spell descriptions do not say this so explicity... Looking
> at them, it's very easy to argue that they do, indeed, affect the astral
> (spirit) entity, because they're Mana spells.
>
My feeling is that it should also work for astral initiative. I'll try to
reason it out now:
Since it's a Mana spell, it affect first the aura, then affecting the body
through the Essence.
> > I think only the astral armor would go with the spirit. The Initiative
> > spell affects biological processes- if it works on the astral, bioware
> > should also. IIRC, most bioware does affect performance in astral
space-
> > its a "natural" effect, so I think the spell would work unless there's
some
> > reason the rules say it won't.
>
really? it works in astral space? cool! *combines EGMG with
Munchkin-Happiness*
<snip>
> So you'd also allow items being held/worn by the subject of an Armour
spell
> to be protected by the spell? Like guns? Like baseball bats? Like assault
> cannons? Like 10' poles? Like grapple guns? What about when the grapple
gun
> has been fired? It's still being held by the magician, but the end's 100m
> away imbedded in the building... An extreme example, I know, but I do
think
> that there needs to be a limit drawn somewhere, otherwise, "I'm holding
> Glove, the Gnome, does he get protected by my Armour spell, too? I'm a
> pretty big Troll..." sort of situations come up.
>
> I guess that my ruling of "the spell's cast on you, therefore it protects
> _you_, not anything you might be carrying" solves this problem, but there
> may be other solutions, too.
>
How about an "Aura-Like-Ruling": The spell exceeds the target for small
distance (like, a few cm) and protects small objects, ring on finger, belt,
chain, knife in pocket...
-- GAK THE GREAT
"Ein Ring, sie zu knechten, sie alle zu finden,
Ins Dunkel zu treiben und ewig zu binden,
Im Lande Mordor, wo die Schatten drohn."
Sauron aus "Herr der Ringe von J.R.R. Tolkien
