| From: | Marty <s457033@*******.GU.EDU.AU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Locked barriers and visibilities of spells |
| Date: | Tue, 15 Oct 1996 23:17:24 +1000 |
> personal barriers can. Otherwise, there is hardly any point of having
> them. If you are in some crossfire and want some added protection, you
> don't want to lock yourself into one spot that's still in the crossfire
> because no barrier is impenetrable...it's just a matter of time before
> you are toast.
>
> This way, you can still run for cover with some safety. Also, if you
> use a dome or wall, you will have some space to move around in to assist
> in finding cover...I think this helps balance things out.
>
Thank you for the voice of reason.
> > Just make them really viible; We've kinda abandoned the 'spells are
> > invisible' rule... We figure anything with an effect on the real plane
> > has to be visible.
>
> So, a physical spell that sends a bolt of fire at someone would be
> visible as such. All other categories of spells are different from
> this, however. They target the victim by synchronizing the aura of the
> casting mage with the victim. Then the energy leaps from one aura to
> the other ON ASTRAL SPACE, not physically. They then attack the victim
> from within. (This is why armor has no effect on combat spells.) If
> you ruled that all spells had physical presences, in order to be
> consistent, you would have to treat all spells as Manipulation
> spells...applying armor, etc.
>
> Keep in mind that the rules do mention that a powerful spell might have
> a similar effect to elementals on the astral....a distortion of the
> air. So, if the spell were particularly powerful, you could rule that
> the air seemed to distort between the caster and the victim while the
> spell was travelling the distance in astral space.
>
That's basically the rule we use... if you think about it, a force 6
spell gives a TN of 4 for perception tests, so it's not that hard to get
a few successes (especially given the average intelligence of Shadowrunners)
and see the shimmer as it travels.
I know the stated rules in this area fairly well... but there are things
that it doesn't cover.
As far as the visual effects goes, it gets a bit boring describing that
everyone just keeps on falling over with no visible reason why, after you
hit them with a mana bolt. Most spells aren't that stealthy.....The
stelath aspect is the only major difference between Sleep, and Stun Missile.
I'd say that the manifestation of the spell is certainly visible, or
audible, on the target, whether or not it circumvents the armour by
synchonising with the aura.... all that energy has to go somewhere. The
perception test is just to figure out who in the hell cast that huge ball
of crackling purple energy that just fried half the team.
Area effect spells would be especially visible, because they affect
everything in an area... for physical spells, this inlcudes the
furniture, or elevators (is seems to recal a section on collateral damage
in one of the books).
Allowing the effects of spells (though not the casting) to be visible
allows some freedom for the player to make up what they want each spell
to look like.... And if they have a signature spell, they can get a
reputation.
Bleach
