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Message no. 1
From: Fahnuir <FAHNUIR@******.BITNET>
Subject: How smart are spells?
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 17:44:57 PRT
One of this days i was walking with one of my players on downtown Lisbon, when
we started discussing Astral Security.
A mage is in the the Astral Space waiting for the Corp to come out from the
Arcology. When the Corp comes out, the wizard casts a manabolt at the Corp, but
the Corp has a Wizard-Bodyguard who had a delayed action and attacks the spell
. The wizard and the spell fight for 10 HOURS (and meanwhile the Corp moves to
the other side of the world.). When the 10 hours pass, the spell wins (tss tss
tss... poor Wage-mage...). What happens to the spell:


1- The spell disapears.
2- The spell goes after the Corp
3- The spell stays there until the Corp gets back ( I don't think so...)
4- None of the above

Thanks in advance for your answers

Fahnuir





Player1-"I grab my PredatorII...I put the silencer...I put the gun next to his
head... And i shoot!"

GM-"(Looking at Player1 with a confused face) You grab your PredatorII...You
put the silencer...You put the gun next to his head...And you shoot..."

Player1-Yes!

All other players-(After 1 minute of looking at each others with stupid faces)
Why did you do that???????(Desperate voices)

Player1-He could have a Panther Cannon hidden inside the bottle of tequilla.

Excert of the adventure"MARIA MERCURIAL",as played by the stupidest play
ers i've ever seen.
Message no. 2
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 13:31:27 GMT
> The wizard and the spell fight for 10 HOURS (and meanwhile the Corp moves to
>the other side of the world.). When the 10 hours pass, the spell wins (tss tss
>tss... poor Wage-mage...). What happens to the spell:

!0 hours? Hell of a fight. What is it, Force 12 spell vs Initiate-8?

>2- The spell goes after the Corp

I say this happens. The auras are synchronized at the time of spellcasting.
But I suppose you could argue that if the spell isn't in LOS, it can't
find the target and disappears.

I think the 10 hours bit is a bit long. But it's a good question to
ask in case combat with a spell takes just long enough for the target to slam
the door shut on his car.
Message no. 3
From: Dylan Northrup <northrup@*****.CAS.USF.EDU>
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 16:40:16 -0400
On Thu, 21 Oct 1993, The Deb Decker wrote:

> > The wizard and the spell fight for 10 HOURS (and meanwhile the Corp moves to
> >the other side of the world.). When the 10 hours pass, the spell wins (tss tss
> >tss... poor Wage-mage...). What happens to the spell:
>
> !0 hours? Hell of a fight. What is it, Force 12 spell vs Initiate-8?
>
> >2- The spell goes after the Corp
>
> I say this happens. The auras are synchronized at the time of spellcasting.
> But I suppose you could argue that if the spell isn't in LOS, it can't
> find the target and disappears.
>
> I think the 10 hours bit is a bit long. But it's a good question to
> ask in case combat with a spell takes just long enough for the target to slam
> the door shut on his car.

Now, what if he does not choose that route of egress, rather he returns to
the building from which he just left (which, as all corp buildings do, has
an astral barrier around it). Does this break the astral synchronisation?

Now let's make the scenario a tad more interesting..... Let us assume
that the building is surrounded entirely by organic material. Corp
manages to run to the building and seal it before the mage loses to the
spell. When the spell goes after Corp, What happens when it gets to the
wall. Does it twiddle its fingers until Corp exits the building. (As
always we are assuming that the biomass covers the entire building, and
neglecting such things as impracticality of such a building, air
ventilation therof, air resistance, friction, and we are also assuming an
incominelastic, weightless string)<----This is the consequence of being a
Physics major!!!

Doc X
*****************************************************************************
* Witty Remark * Dylan Northrup <northrup@*****.cas.usf.edu> * This space *
* Here * a.k.a. Doc X & Vinx<vinx@**********.io.com * for rent *
*****************************************************************************
Message no. 4
From: Russell A Howard <rahst7+@****.EDU>
Subject: How smart are spells
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 17:12:03 -0400
Ah, but the mage doesn't fight the spell for 10 hours.
A friend of mine and I asked the DLoH about this at last year's GenCon.
Fighting a spell in astral space is considered to be instantaneous. Resolve
the fight first, then if the spell is still alive, it goes on to hit its
target. (Sorry for spouting the FASA Party Line.)

--Craig D.
Message no. 5
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 20:43:03 GMT
>Now, what if he does not choose that route of egress, rather he returns to
>the building from which he just left (which, as all corp buildings do, has
>an astral barrier around it). Does this break the astral synchronisation?

Not being an expert, I would refer you to the rules on spells interacting
with a barrier. I assume that it's like a bullet hitting a barrier, but
then again I've put my books away.

J Roberson
Message no. 6
From: "Whaddya mean there'z no such thing as a free lunch? YOU are the
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1993 21:27:54 -0500
>Now, what if he does not choose that route of egress, rather he returns to
>the building from which he just left (which, as all corp buildings do, has
>an astral barrier around it). Does this break the astral synchronisation?
>
>Now let's make the scenario a tad more interesting..... Let us assume
>that the building is surrounded entirely by organic material. Corp
>manages to run to the building and seal it before the mage loses to the
>spell. When the spell goes after Corp, What happens when it gets to the
>wall. Does it twiddle its fingers until Corp exits the building.

What happens? The other wage mages get pissed at the way the suit blew off
his bodyguard, and fry the bastard.

=}
Phelan

Soapbox corner: I voted for Clinton, and I'm very disappointed in his lack
of backbone. But I still think Bush would be far worse.
Message no. 7
From: "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1993 13:51:07 -0700
Fahnuir asked:

>>One of this days i was walking with one of my players on downtown Lisbon, when
>>we started discussing Astral Security.

You guys must have been pretty bored to come up with this.

>> A mage is in the the Astral Space waiting for the Corp to come out from the
>>Arcology. When the Corp comes out, the wizard casts a manabolt at the Corp,
>>but the Corp has a Wizard-Bodyguard who had a delayed action and attacks the
>>spell. The wizard and the spell fight for 10 HOURS (and meanwhile the Corp
>>moves to the other side of the world.). When the 10 hours pass, the spell
>>wins (tss tss tss... poor Wage-mage...). What happens to the spell:

There are alot of problems in this example:

1. Astral mages cannot cast spells at non-astral targets. Thus the attack
could not take place.
2. Only astral magicians with saved actions can block spells.
3. No mage on the face of the earth (actually a vampire mage with enough
essence could) could stay astral for 10 hours.

Reguardless of all the problems, you bring up a valid question. What happens
to a spell that has been delayed by astral combat if the target disappears?
The answer is simple, it disspates due to the lack of target. The spell is
LOS and once LOS is lost, the spell can not affect the target.

See Ya in Shadows, "I can count the number of days I've worked
Jason J Carter since graduation on one hand." - ME!
The Nightstalker Carter@***.EDU
Message no. 8
From: Fahnuir <FAHNUIR@******.BITNET>
Subject: Re: How smart are spells?
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 15:51:57 PRT
----------------------------Original message----------------------------



Fahnuir asked:
Jason Carter comented:
>>One of this days i was walking with one of my players on downtown Lisbon, when
>>we started discussing Astral Security.

>You guys must have been pretty bored to come up with this.

We were not bored, we SIMPLY started to discuss Shadowrun, as we could have sta
rted discussing any other subject. Beeing part of our mortal lifes shadowrun ca
n be a subject for us to discuss ( Really, you never discussed Shadowrun with y
our friends!!! )

>> A mage is in the the Astral Space waiting for the Corp to come out from the

O.K. A mage can't be in the Astral Casting spells on non Astral Active pers
ons. Your right, it was a bad exemple. Let's consider the caster to be in the M
aterial Plane.

>>Arcology. When the Corp comes out, the wizard casts a manabolt at the Corp,
>>but the Corp has a Wizard-Bodyguard who had a delayed action and attacks the
>>spell. The wizard and the spell fight for 10 HOURS (and meanwhile the Corp

When i posted this the only thing i had in mind was the problem of the the s
pell beeing smart enough. I completly forgot that a mage can't be in the Astral
for more than 6 hours. 10 hours was just to exemplify a long period of time.

>>moves to the other side of the world.). When the 10 hours pass, the spell
>>wins (tss tss tss... poor Wage-mage...). What happens to the spell:

>There are alot of problems in this example:

>1. Astral mages cannot cast spells at non-astral targets. Thus the attack
could not take place.
>2. Only astral magicians with saved actions can block spells.

When i said that the Bodyguard Wage-Mage blocked the spell, i considerd him
as having a delayed action ( Bodyguards are suposed to be alert, and efficient
... but then, there is Kevin Costner... ), and he was suposed to be Astraly Act
ive.

>3. No mage on the face of the earth (actually a vampire mage with enough
essence could) could stay astral for 10 hours.

>Reguardless of all the problems, you bring up a valid question. What happens
>to a spell that has been delayed by astral combat if the target disappears?
>The answer is simple, it disspates due to the lack of target. The spell is
>LOS and once LOS is lost, the spell can not affect the target.

But when the caster casted the spell he had LOS, and the spell has the Corp's
aura "patern" as a part of his existence. Couldn't it be possible for the spel
l to track the Corp, as a mage tracks his body when someone removes it from the
place where he left it, before he went to do something in the Astral ?

Tell me something about this solution
Jason J Carter since graduation on one hand." - ME!
Fahnuir
In your room, i feel you and i just can't get enough...
Judas

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