| From: | Doctor Doom <JCH8169@*****.TAMU.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Nega-Magicians: The Article in Question . . . LONG |
| Date: | Fri, 22 Jan 93 00:44:00 CET |
said he may just type it out for the list. Well, considering the amount he
(and others) put into the brand-name cyberware posts, I felt he needed a break.
So, randomly selected for your reading pleasure, here is the article in
question. It is presented here to permit those who did not have (or capitalize
on) the opportunity to view it for themselves...
DISCLAIMER: I do not like the ideas presented here; furthermore, I would
object strongly to them being incorporated to any campaign in
which I was a member. It is presented here solely for the
purpose of permitting those who did either did not have or
capitalize upon the opportunity to view and comment on it for
themselves.
NEGA-MAGICIANS
An optional rules supplement by David Perry
[ Appeared in Challenge Magazine, Issue 67, December 1992 ]
Professor Matthew Hawkins first put forth the his now-famous
Intelligence-Generated Reality Inversion Field theory (IGRIF) in the spring of
2047 at the Chicago Thaumaturgical Research Institute. Put simply, the theory
went something like this:
The fact that magic and certain meta-human races feature so prominently
and so frequently in folklore shows that these legends are undoubtedly based on
a previous Awakening, or possibly Awakenings. Given that these legends are
true, how could stories have come about of, for example, humans destroying
dragons, when anybody attacking a dragon with a sword would be fried by a spell
before he could do any damage?
Hawkins' colleagues replied that these stories were obviously fiction
created around distorted memories of the Awakening. Hawkins disagreed and
argued that the stories were true. And for them to be true, there must have
been certain people immune to magic. And if they existed then, they must exist
now.
Despite the scorn poured on this theory by his colleagues, Hawkins
embarked on a worldwide search for the magically immune people he was sure
existed. His colleagues dismissed him as a crank and so were more than a
little embarrassed when, two years later, he reappeared with Miles Freeman, the
world's first nega-magician.
RESEARCH ON NEGA-MAGIC
Research has shown that the nega-magician's powers are manifested in a
field that the nega-magician unconsciously maintains around himself, even when
he is asleep or unconscious. The width of the field varies but never reaches
out beyond two centimeters from the nega-magician's body.
Within this field, no form or magic can exist.
Theories as to why this is so are mixed but generally fall into two
schools of thought. One, the minority school, believes that the nega-
magician's field is a form of magical talent which absorbs all magic within its
area to maintain its power, a sort of magical vampirism. The second, more
popular, theory maintains that the nag-magician's mind maintains the field
around him. Within this field, some claim, the physical laws of the planted
are changed to laws wherein magic cannot exist. In effect, the nega-magician
maintains his won personal reality. Both these theories are just theories, and
no one really knows how a nega-magician's powers work.
EFFECTS ON MAGIC
Nega-magicians are completely immune to all forms of magic. They can
not be harmed by combat spells, fooled by illusion spells, affected by
manipulation spells, or detected by detection spells. Magic cannot affect them
at all. Similarly, the powers of paranormal animals cannot affect a
nega-magician.
A nega-magician's immunity to magic includes the powers of physical
adepts and magical weapons. If a nega-magician is hit by a physical adept doing
a Killing Hands attack, he takes damage as from a normal punch{ If hit by a
magical weapon, he takes damage as if his by a normal weapon. In addition,
every time a nega-magician is hit by a magical weapon, there is a one in six
change that the weapon will lose its magical properties forever.
Nega-magicians can never cast spells of their own, or have spell-locks
cast on them, or have beneficial spells such as healing or disguise spells cast
on them.
Area spells cast at a nega-magician will not work with the area of the
spell as normal.
Magicians still take the drain for spells canceled by nega-magicians as
they have still cast the spell. It is possible to indirectly harm
nega-magicians through magic. For example, if a mage throws an area fireball
spell at a nega-magician standing by a car, the fireball won't affect the nega-
magician. But it may have an effect on the car (igniting the gas tank and
causing an explosion), which in turn could have a non-magical but nonetheless
harmful effect on the nega-magician.
ASTRAL SPACE
Nega-magicians quite simply don't register in astral space. An
astrally projecting mage could be standing next to a nega-magician and never
realize it. Naturally, this makes nega-magicians very popular as spies and
corporate intrusion agents. They are usually too rare to waste on guard duty,
although they may be used for especially important or magically dangerous
projects.
SPIRITS AND ELEMENTALS
One of the first things the Chicago Thaumaturgical Research Institute
decided to test was how purely magical creatures such as Elementals would react
to a nega-magician's power. To this end, they summoned an air elemental and
ordered it to attack Freeman. The air elemental replied, "Who?"
The mage in charge pointed to Freeman and explained that he was the one
the Elemental was to attack. The Elemental replied, "Who?"
After a half-hour of unsuccessful wrangling, the mage asked Freeman to
stand in front of the air elemental, then ordered the air elemental to advance
five paces, reasoning that this would take it through Freemans's field. The
air elemental took one step forward, then stepped two paces to the right of
Freeman, walked past him, then took two paces left and walked two paces
forward--taking him exactly where it would be if it had taken five straight
paces forward.
When asked why it had stepped by Freeman, the air elemental vigorously
denied ever having stepped aside.
Repeated experiments with other Elementals and Spirits produced exactly
the same results.
Nega-magicians appear to be totally invisible to purely magical
creatures, but some subconscious instinct prevents them from accidentally
coming into contact with a nega-magician's field. For this reason, a Spirits
of Elemental can never detect or affect a nega-magician. ( Some mages suggest
that the Elementals can see nega-magicians but wisely refuse to have anything to
do with them. )
CYBERWARE
Even with regard to cyberware, nega-magicians follow none of the usual
rules concerning magic.
While cyberware usually causes a steady and measurable decline in a
magician's powers, nega-magic seems to operate on an all-or-nothing principle.
While some nega-magicians have lost their powers after minor surgery (such as
implanting a datajack), others have retained theirs despite major cybernetic
alteration. The power loss is never gradual--either it completely stays or it
completely goes after cybernetic enhancement.
In game terms, for every piece of cyberware implanted, the GM should
roll 1D6. If the roll is less than or equal to the number of points of Essence
lost, then the nega-magician has lost his powers forever. A roll of a 1
automatically means the roll failed.
NEGA-MAGICIAN ARCHETYPE
"You have never heard of a nega-magician!? What am I? Untouchable,
that's what I am. Your enemies can throw spells at me all day, and all they'll
get is a headache."
"Face it, chummer, for magical shadowrun, you can't do without me. For
that matter, for any shadowrun, you can't do without me."
The nega-magician's immunity to magic tends to make him overconfident--
something that can be a fatal mistake for someone with a all-too-human
vulnerability to bullets.
Attributes: Skills:
Body: 5 Firearms: 6
Quickness: 6 Armed Combat: 5
Strength: 5 Etiquette (Street): 3
Charisma: 3 Electronics: 4
Intelligence: 6 Magic Theory: 4
Willpower: 3
Reaction: 6
Essence: 5.4
Cyberware:
Smartgun Link
Datajack
(As the nega-magician has taken two pieces of cyberware, he has to make tow
rolls to see if he's kept his power. Even though he hasn't lost a point of
Essence yet, if he rolls a 1, he will lose his power.)
Contacts: Gear:
Corporate Armor Jacket
Street Samurai Browning Max-power
Rigger H&K S variant
Fixer Flash grenades
Combat axe
IR goggles
So then, questions/comments/observasions?
Colonel Count von Hohenzollern und von Doom, DMSc, DSc, PhD.
Doom Technologies & Weapon Systems -- Dark Thought Publications
>>> Working on solutions best left in the dark.
<<<
[ Doctor Doom : jch8169@********.tamu.edu ]
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
"Attack, attack, and when in doubt, ATTACK!" -- Frederick the Great of Prussia
