| From: | MENARD Steve <menars@***.UMONTREAL.CA> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Request for Comments : Meditation |
| Date: | Mon, 14 Oct 1996 02:04:36 -0400 |
power that let him change powers. At that time I though it was too
powerful, but lately I came back to the idea and wrote what follows.
Not what I'd like is comments on it. The following text is badly
formatted, but that what the %?&/&?/&?%/$% MS-Word spitted out when I
exported to simple text. If people are interested, I could send them a
word version.
here goes :
-----------------------------------------
Introduction
One thing many players agree on is that Physical Adepts (and Mental Adepts) are
way too restricted. OK, so they have theatrically unlimited advancement. So what ! The
advancement costs so much karma that skill and attribute-wise, PAs and MAs will be way
behind all other characters ( that includes other magicians since PAs and MAs pay as much
as them for initiation, but get a lot less out of it).
So, what can be done ? Many solutions have been discussed, but none seemed to
preserve game balance and character philosophy.
What I've come up with is a new power that many won't agree with. It's something
that makes MAs and PAs more like other magicians.
Do not worry, I have not turned all their powers into spells. What I've come up
with is a way for adepts to " swap " powers, and learn more powers than they are
normally allowed.
I can already hear the cries of " MUNCHKIN ! ", but before just throwing
everything out, kepp reading.
Quick Overview
What I propose is not a complete overhaul of the rules, but simply a new power :
Meditation.
That power let's you do two things that are not available otherwise :
1. It let's you swap powers.
2. It let's you learn more power than allowed by your magic rating (otherwise swapping
would be pointless, no ?).
These advantages have a cost, however.
Meditation costs 2 points. It is an initiate only power. Swapping powers takes
time. Learning powers (outside the normal initiation procedure) also takes time and costs
both karma and money.
Meditation 2 pts
Initiate only
Learning new powers
MAs and PAs (hereafter called adepts) follow a process very similar to a
sorcerer's learning a new spell when they learn a new power.
In order to learn a new power, the adept must first find a teacher. Unlike
sorcerers, Adepts MUST have a teacher ( which does not imply that the teacher has any
Teaching skill). The target number to find a teacher is 9 - (initiate grade / 2 rounded
up).
Further reduce the target number by 1 for each magical contact the character has. Group
reduces the difficulty by 2. The base time is 60 days and the skill used is either Magical
Theory or Etiquette(Magic), at the player's choice. Note that you state what
power you wish the teacher to have, but not it's rank.
When the teacher has been found, the GM determines the rating at which the teacher
has the power. Of course, powers which have no levels do not have this disadvantage. Note
that Enhanced Attribute is NOT considered to have a rating, just a base attribute
.
Now, the character must make an appropriate test. Improved skills will use the
affected skill. Enhanced or Boosted attribute will use the affected attribute. Enhanced
Reflexes use base reaction. Most other powers will use intelligence, but the final choi
ce is up to the GM.
The target number for this test is 8 times the magic cost of the power. The base
time is 4 times the magic cost in days. Teachers typically charge 8000 times the magic
cost per week, plus living expenses. Karma cost is 4 times the magic cost.
Powers CANNOT be upgraded. If a character has Mystic Armor(4) and learns Mystic
Armor(6), they must be listed as separate powers. Note also that powers are not
cumulative, have both Mystic armors active at the same time (see swapping powers) confers
only
the effect of the highest ranking.
I think it's time for an example :
Rocko is a physical adept, initiated to level 2. He just got the Meditation power and now
he wants to use it. First, he wants to learn Resist Pain. He tells his GM that e starts
looking around for a teacher who has that power. He's initiated with a group
and knows a mage, so his t# to find a teach is 9 - (2/2) - 3 for a total of 5. He has
Magic Theory at 4. Rolling he gets 2 successes.
After a month of searching, Rocko finds someone who has Resist pain at 7. That is too high
for Rocko, so he resumes his search. Rolling again his Magical Theory skill, this time he
gets 3 successes. After another 20 days of research, he finds a teacher wh
o has Resist Pain at level 4. Rocko decides to learn it.
Pain being often linked with endurance, his GM decides that Rocko will have to make a
Body test to learn the power. The target power for this test will be 16 (8 x (4 *x .5) ).
His teacher rolls 2 successes on his teaching test. The base time to learn is
8 days. Assuming Rocko gets at least one success, he'll probably pay around 20 000 nuyen
in teaching fees. He'll also have to pay 8 karma points.
There are two exceptions to the " no upgrade " rule : Enhanced Attribute
and Initiation.
Let's say an adept has bought the Enhanced Strength twice when he has a natural strength
of 4. On the adepts sheet those two powers would be listed as Enhanced Strength(4) and
Enhanced Strength(5). Now, let's say that same adept augment his natural Stren
gth to 5. The Enhanced Strength(4) power becomes unusable until it is upgraded. Upgrading
that power(to become Enhanced Strength(6)) is in all way but one the same thing as
learning it from scratch. Only the karma cost is reduced to the difference between
the old and new power.
Adepts can also upgrade any of the powers they know with the extra power point they get
when they gain an initiate grade.
Swapping powers
Swapping powers is an easy if somewhat lengthy procedure. It goes like this :
1. The character declares which powers he will remove.
2. The character declares which powers he will swap in and in what order.
3. The character meditates an hour. At that time, all the powers mentioned in step 1 are
removed, the powers left " compacted " towards the bottom. If the meditation
process in interupted, roll a d6. On a roll of 5 or 6, the power is still available. Othe
rwise, it has been removed.
4. The character starts to integrate the powers mentioned in step 2 at the rate of 1 hour
per magic point cost. If a character is interrupted in the middle of a power, that power
is not learned. Resuming the process means starting over at step 1.
Note that the meditation power must NEVER be swapped out. Alsom powers are stacked
in the order they are swapped in. So if a character loses magic, the powers on top are
" lost " first. Note also that powers cannot be broken in pieces so that if a
charac
ter looses magic in the top portion of a power, he loses that power entirely. Do not fear,
powers are never completely erased, they can always be swapped back in, although the total
can never be greater than the adept's magic rating.
When an adept with Meditation has a magic rating lower than two, he loses all
powers(Meditation is " swapped out " because of the lack of space before he can
swap another in). The only way out of this is through initiation, during which the
character is
free to place any power he knows in the available space.
Geas
Taking geas on a power is declared when the character learns a power (or upgrades
it through initiation).
The geas has the usual effect on the magic cost, but not not affect the learning
process. The power still takes as much time to learn, is as hard to learn and costs as
much karma.
The teacher does not need to have a geas on his power for the student to take one.
Shadowrun Companion
Appendix II : Meditation
---------------------------------
Hope to hear your comments soon.
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--- 0 Steve Menard menars@***.UMontreal.Ca ---
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