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Message no. 1
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 11:11:08 -0500
It's not a matter of me finding to spell too powerful. I question some of
the implicit assumptions that it makes about Shadowrun magic, assumptions
which IMHO contradict the way things work, especially Essence.

The spell removes Essence from the subject. On a non-cybered dude, this takes
him from 6 to 5. But he can still get a point of cyber and have an Essence of
5. Sure, it's kinder and gentler, but it doesn't make sense. If you only have
5 points of Essence, then any more cyberware is going to come off that 5.
granted, this is an arguable point, but that is my position. No Essence, no
cyber.

Also, don't forget this affects the Magic Rating of spell chuckers.

I guess what bothers me most about this approach is that a character can
say," oh, what the hell. Someone else took the Essence from me and I can't
get it back. Might as well get the Smartlink and eyes."

Or consider this: Eagle shaman, who loses 1.5 regular Essence cost, gets
a point removed via spell and plugs in a regular point worth of toys. Do
you count this normally or x1.5. I'm sure you'll say the latter, but are
you sure, since it's not interfering with the character's Essence directly?

I just don't like the implications the spell has. The power level doesn't
bother me too much.

J Roberson
Message no. 2
From: Todd Montgomery <tmont@****.WVU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 12:36:56 -0400
I agree with the points J has brought up about Powerhouse's spell,
Drain Essence. But I would like to add some thoughts on it also.

1) IMHO the effect should not be permanent. This comes from the fact that
although the spell design system might allow you to make increase/decrease
attributes spells permanent, this would tend to unbalance the game. I
would not want to make Increase Strength +4 permanent without some
drawback. The most obvious being the use of a spell lock, quickening,
or anchor. Heal and Treat are very different though. They must be permanent.
They have a physical effect on the body. The effect heals the body. Once
the body is healed it is fine and the spell can be dropped. But the effect
stays. But in increasing atts. beyond the normal of a person, once the spell
is dropped the effect also drops.

2) Draining essence is just plain deadly. How is essence drained by
paranormals? Vampires drink the victims blood. Banshees scare there victims.
etc. etc. It seems that most of these involve some very strong emotions
which allow the creatures to drain the life out of their victims. I guess
a good analogy might be scaring a person to death. Afterward, typically, they
are weak and rather unsteady. Perhaps it is the use of emotions which
allow the creatures to link with the victim and drain them. Back to the
real point. Draining essence can criple a character much faster than
anything else. ANd the effects, in the case of vamps, etc., are permanent
and unreversible.

3) If you can take it away you can gain it. (Logic) Drain essence spell
can also have a Acquire Essence spell which would give essence on a permanent
basis to the caster. Not a pretty thought. If the drain essence spell drains
essence from a target the essence muct go somewhere (Law of Conservation
(Physical world)). It could go into the caster or disperse in astral space,
etc. This would leave the door wide open for the acquire essence spell to
take the drained essence or a bit of the astral plane to increase the casters
essence, and with it the magic rating, etc. Please tell me if my logic is
flawed here. :)

4) Essence is the life force of a person. Correct? (Opinions aside) The
essence drain spell would allow a caster to suck that life force out,
thereby extinquishing the person. Like a flame. This also opens the
way for much too powerful magics.IMO.

All the above seem to make the game unbalanced. (3) may be all right IFF
(if and only if) the effect was temporary or sustained.

That is my take, now back to your regular scheduled work day.

-- Quiktek
-- Todd Montgomery
tmont@****.wvu.edu
tmont@***.wvu.edu
un032507@*******.wvnet.edu
Message no. 3
From: "Stephen R. Wilcoxon" <wilcoxon@****.EDU>
Subject: Re: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 14:00:54 -0400
> It's not a matter of me finding to spell too powerful. I question some of
> the implicit assumptions that it makes about Shadowrun magic, assumptions
> which IMHO contradict the way things work, especially Essence.

Not really (IMHO), if I understand what he was postulating...

> The spell removes Essence from the subject. On a non-cybered dude, this takes
> him from 6 to 5. But he can still get a point of cyber and have an Essence of
> 5. Sure, it's kinder and gentler, but it doesn't make sense. If you only have
> 5 points of Essence, then any more cyberware is going to come off that 5.
> granted, this is an arguable point, but that is my position. No Essence, no
> cyber.

Look at it as someone had exactly 1 Essence worth of cyber suddenly ripped
out. According to the rules, that person can now get 1 point of Essence
worth of cyber without any further Essence loss.

> Or consider this: Eagle shaman, who loses 1.5 regular Essence cost, gets
> a point removed via spell and plugs in a regular point worth of toys. Do
> you count this normally or x1.5. I'm sure you'll say the latter, but are
> you sure, since it's not interfering with the character's Essence directly?

Exactly the same. The Eagle Shaman now has 1 point of real Essence "freed"
up for cyber. Since Eagles suffer 1.5x Essence loss from cyber, this means
they can only get .67 Essence worth of Cyber before losing more cyber.

> I just don't like the implications the spell has. The power level doesn't
> bother me too much.

I'm just the opposite. The implications don't bother me, but I think the
power of this spell could have serious game balance effects depending on
how strictly controlled the GM makes it.


Twilight

The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life.
-- The Player's Litany
Message no. 4
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 15:40:59 -0500
Well, it's good to see some commentary from others on the list. I hate to
do this to someone who agrees with me, but I thought I'd point out the only (andrather
minor flaw) in Todd's misgivings about the spell.

Yes, the spell extinguishes like a flame. So does Death Touvh (or something
like it). Manabolt works as well. As I said before, I question not the power
of the spell, but rather the implications it has for Magic. Todd's inverse of
the spell would indeed be too powerful; look, I spell-locked 4 points of
Essence and now have all cyber limbs, wired-3, etc. . .and I'm not a vampire.

J Roberson
Message no. 5
From: The Deb Decker <RJR96326@****.UTULSA.EDU>
Subject: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1993 11:19:53 -0500
I don't think I ever mentioned the M-word either. If you're happy woth
the spell, by all means use it, though I reiterate the injunctions
invoked by Todd that you'll need a good reason to keep it out of PC hands,
as well as a ratioanle as to why the inverse of the spel cannot or
does not exist.

On another note, I got to thinking the other day about some modern tech
I read of in GURPS Cyberpunk. This was spurred by an article in a Russian
magazine describing how Russian hackers and data pirates (read: shadowrunners)
are more numerous and trained by the government in their methods.

The tech is called tempest equipment. Your computer is sitting in a
windowed room. I bounce a laser off the window. The electromagnetic
vibrations are carried through the window, detected by my laser, and now
I can read you screen from my spot in the woods 100m away. I'm not sure if
this extends to other electromagnetic emissions, like drives and such, and
I realize that Shadowrun uses optical chips and storage. But the display's
may still give off such emissions, neh? Anyway, this is considered such a
threat that the government requires all of its computers to be tempest-
hardened to dampen such emissions. That includes the military.

Anyone want a write-up?

J Roberson
"The bigger they are, the harder they hit"
Message no. 6
From: "Dark Thought Publications." <JEK5313@****.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Powerhouse Spell
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1993 17:09:06 -0500
The dude, Roberson, wrote:
]The tech is called tempest equipment. Your computer is sitting in a
]windowed room. I bounce a laser off the window. The electromagnetic
]vibrations are carried through the window, detected by my laser, and now
]I can read you screen from my spot in the woods 100m away. I'm not sure if
]this extends to other electromagnetic emissions, like drives and such, and
]I realize that Shadowrun uses optical chips and storage. But the display's
]may still give off such emissions, neh? Anyway, this is considered such a
]threat that the government requires all of its computers to be tempest-
]hardened to dampen such emissions. That includes the military.


Actually, got the report here. And the way I read it, it's not 100m with a
laser, but about 10m-50m (depending) with an unmodified CRT. Sucks, don't it?
Tempest-hardened, you ust realize, means only that you choose your cables more
carefully, and that you use heavily shielded (electromagnetic) CRTs.


--Flare <NULLSIG COURTESY OF DOOM>

Dark Thought Publications & Doom Technologies, Inc.
>>> Working on solutions best left in the dark.

Further Reading

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