Back to the main page

Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: P Ward <P.Ward@**.CF.AC.UK>
Subject: METAMAGIC 3
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 14:03:59 GMT
CANCELLING
Now here's the akward one, that ability to penetrate another
mage's Shielding/Spell defence, potentially very high-powered,
and potentially a nightmare for keeping NPC mages alive. I
wn't modify the original text.

LONE WOLF WROTE:
This is an initiate skill for use again other, skilled mages.
The Cancelling mage attacks the shielding dice of the opponent,
shielding dice here are both those from your shielding pool, and
from your magicl pool, if they are allocated to Shielding.

The Cancelling mage gains one dice per Initiate Gerade, and may
allocate Magic pool to further the effort.

The mage being cancelled uses only the dice allocated for Shielding
(?), and adds his grade as well (?).

Both sets of dice are rolled at a target Number of 4, modified by
the difference in initiate grades. eg. A Grade 2 cancells a Grade 1,
the Grade 2 rolls at 3's, the grade 1 at 5's. Any net sucesses
rolled by the cancelling mage reduce the opponent's Shielding dice
by -1 per sucess. These dice stay in the opponent's pool, but may
not be used for Sheilding, only for spell-defence or casting, etc.

This test is rolled on each of the two mage's actions, and the number
of dice allocated to the test may be varied each time.

This is a free action (!!!).

COMMENTARY
Seems like a valuable power, but it's really akward to work in
the game. Mages should be able to break through each other's sheilds
without resorting to casting multiple spells, but this doesn't seem
like a good mechanic for it.

QUESTIONS
i) What happens to the dice allocatd to the Cancelling test, are they
gone until the pool refreshes (?).
ii) Do you think it'd be better to use Sorcery skill plus grade rather
than Magic Pool dice?


'...The final thing, Phil Ward
it's not a drill. Runs-With-The-Pack
It's how many people I can kill' UWCC -: COMMMA
- Slayer P.Ward@**.cf.ac.uk
Message no. 2
From: Andrew <wadycki@***.CSO.UIUC.EDU>
Subject: Re: METAMAGIC 3
Date: Mon, 6 Mar 1995 11:28:10 -0600
On Mon, 6 Mar 1995, P Ward wrote:

> CANCELLING
I would just say no here also. If you want to get through shielding cast
a higher force spell. That is pretty easy for an iniate since his magic
attribute is higher. Your magic pool simulates you trying to break
through his defense, and a high force spell (which is less draining as a
iniate) is how to break through the shielding. Also, this will slow down
things really quickly. It isn't a free action to break through
defenses. It is quicker to just power through a wall (cast a high force
spell) than to look for the weak points in the wall to hit (cancelling).
This would take longer and probablely not be worth the risk. (since you
would be precieving)

-Andrew
Message no. 3
From: Sean Sheridan <spsherid@********.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Re: METAMAGIC 3
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 00:03:50 -0600
>The Cancelling mage gains one dice per Initiate Gerade, and may
>allocate Magic pool to further the effort.
This sounds allot like the "astral pool" that initiates get, as well as the
shielding pool that they have.

>This test is rolled on each of the two mage's actions, and the number
>of dice allocated to the test may be varied each time.
>
>This is a free action (!!!).
You might be able to say that Shielding in effect adds a modifer to the
original target number for a spell. SO, You could say that an initiate ca
center against the defenders shielding. And centering is a free action.
And higher grade initiates would get a bonus because thats how centering works.

>QUESTIONS
>i) What happens to the dice allocatd to the Cancelling test, are they
> gone until the pool refreshes (?).
>ii) Do you think it'd be better to use Sorcery skill plus grade rather
> than Magic Pool dice?
I don't think this power is that workable. If you really wanted it you
could play with my suggestion or just have cancelling dice negate shielding
dice on a one-one basis.
Sean
Message no. 4
From: P Ward <P.Ward@**.CF.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: METAMAGIC 3
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 13:12:55 GMT
Centering vs Shielding, that's something that never occurred to me before,
heh, heh.

If you had Cancelling dice, then maybe they should be equal to grade,
like the Shield pool.


I agree the power is unworkable, I had hoped that someone could come
up with a workable rule.


As to centering being a free, it has to be, you do it along side a spell.

....

Oh, yeah, I see what you mean, if Cancelling is complex, you can break the
guy's shields down, and then throw a spell through it, same action.
Otherwise the only efffect would be, he raises his shields on his next
action, and you go through the process again.

So the main benefit would be that you don't have to throw a large spell
to break his shield, and 'multiple cast' another one to actually break
_him_ down, thus saving yourself on some drain.

'...The final thing, Phil Ward
it's not a drill. Runs-With-The-Pack
It's how many people I can kill' UWCC -: COMMMA
- Slayer P.Ward@**.cf.ac.uk

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about METAMAGIC 3, you may also be interested in:

Disclaimer

These messages were posted a long time ago on a mailing list far, far away. The copyright to their contents probably lies with the original authors of the individual messages, but since they were published in an electronic forum that anyone could subscribe to, and the logs were available to subscribers and most likely non-subscribers as well, it's felt that re-publishing them here is a kind of public service.

Thwap!