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Message no. 1
From: Gallas William <gallas@**.ec-lyon.fr>
Subject: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 95 17:24:44 MET
I had another scary thought...
Think about a mage casting an increase reflexes +3. Then he casts a Tiger form
spell. Because the tiger has 3 initiative dices so this gives the magician
6 initiative dices... (to my opinion, the mage would only gain the better of
the two bonusses).

- Cobra.

_______
/ \
| _ )
\_/ \ /
/ ) /
/| / /
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ /
/ / __
/ /______/ )
(___________/\|
Message no. 2
From: Brian McCallister <mccllstr@*****.bucknell.edu>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 1995 13:16:58 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 23 Nov 1995, Gallas William wrote:

> I had another scary thought...
> Think about a mage casting an increase reflexes +3. Then he casts a Tiger form
> spell. Because the tiger has 3 initiative dices so this gives the magician
> 6 initiative dices... (to my opinion, the mage would only gain the better of
> the two bonusses).

I have seen this come up twice, both instances were independent of
klnowledge of the other. One was me the last time I got to play (2
sessions length then my wildcat shaman got the whole team killed. Oops.)
The other is in a campaign I am running.
\ I ruled it that you get the full bons. The initistive of the cats
is natural, the init bonus fromhe spell is magical. You get 6d6. I t
really annoys the sams when you spell lock the shapechange spell so you
can just click it on and off. Or if that won't fly with the GM, quicken
it. After all you can cast any spells not requiring fetishes or geasa
while changed, and all focuses remain with you... With Magic Fingers why
would anyone ever want to change back?

-Skrub...
Message no. 3
From: seb@***.ripco.com (Sebastian Wiers)
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 1995 13:12:59 -0600 (CST)
> > Think about a mage casting an increase reflexes +3. Then he casts a Tiger form
> > spell. Because the tiger has 3 initiative dices so this gives the magician
> > 6 initiative dices... (to my opinion, the mage would only gain the better of
> > the two bonusses).
> \ I ruled it that you get the full bons. The initistive of the cats
> is natural, the init bonus fromhe spell is magical. You get 6d6. I t
> really annoys the sams when you spell lock the shapechange spell so you
> can just click it on and off. Or if that won't fly with the GM, quicken
> it. After all you can cast any spells not requiring fetishes or geasa
> while changed, and all focuses remain with you... With Magic Fingers why
> would anyone ever want to change back?

dummm... gee brain I dunno, why would a member of the criminal underground in
a paranoid near future mind walking around like a deadly, non local animal
that can't speak or interact with most people?
(ie shit, what kind of campaign are you runninig? don't contacts and legwork
mean anything?)
Message no. 4
From: Brian McCallister <mccllstr@*****.bucknell.edu>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 1995 18:07:26 -0500 (EST)
> dummm... gee brain I dunno, why would a member of the criminal underground in
> a paranoid near future mind walking around like a deadly, non local animal
> that can't speak or interact with most people?
> (ie shit, what kind of campaign are you runninig? don't contacts and legwork
> mean anything?)
>

Well say you look like a rat, or a cat (house variety) or a squirrel or a
bird. Say you have thought link to another member of that undergournd
crimnnal network, say you are quiet anyway. Say pepole never suspect the
pet cat, after all it's aura matches up (masking). As long as you trust
your cohort who mind you communicate with then you really aren't losing
out on much, and you are gaining a LOT in effectivnss.

-brian...
Message no. 5
From: sedahdro@*****.com (Victor Rodriguez, Jr)
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 95 22:51 EST
>I have seen this come up twice, both instances were independent of
>klnowledge of the other. One was me the last time I got to play (2
>sessions length then my wildcat shaman got the whole team killed. Oops.)
>The other is in a campaign I am running.
> \ I ruled it that you get the full bons. The initistive of the cats
>is natural, the init bonus fromhe spell is magical. You get 6d6. I t
>really annoys the sams when you spell lock the shapechange spell so you
>can just click it on and off. Or if that won't fly with the GM, quicken
>it. After all you can cast any spells not requiring fetishes or geasa
>while changed, and all focuses remain with you... With Magic Fingers why
>would anyone ever want to change back?
When was the last time you heard of an animal (excluding homo sapians,x)
applying for a job and getting hired. "Don't mind the tiger, Mr. Johnson,
our mage had an accident and permanantly turned himself into a tiger." Ever
try shopping for food "Ahhhhh!!! THERE'S A TIGER IN THE STORE, QUICK FRED
GET THE PANTHER CANNON!"
---Sedah Drol
--
ATTN: Due to lack of interest, tomorrow has been canceled.
GC3.1
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Message no. 6
From: "Mark Steedman" <RSMS@***.rgu.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 1995 08:43:36 GMT
Gallas William writes

> I had another scary thought...
> Think about a mage casting an increase reflexes +3. Then he casts a Tiger form
> spell. Because the tiger has 3 initiative dices so this gives the magician
> 6 initiative dices... (to my opinion, the mage would only gain the better of
> the two bonusses).
>
Yes you get all the dice, so big deal. You now have a nice
'unarmoured' animal wandering about. Turn into a tiger and either the
NAN will repatiate you or someone will shoot you (ever played 2nded
without armour, well you certainly can kill things with handguns and
regular ammo! [pc's have a certain karma advantage, and the time i
got caught like this i hid in partial cover, but]) If you go housecat
well you know grenades, they're just a little indesciminate.

be warned, if your GM plays spell locks by the book, and you can on-
off-on the thing it works very nicly at the right time, if like me
the GM spotted this one you have a problem [i hope].

Mark
Message no. 7
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 11:08:47 +0100
Mark Steedman said on24 Nov 95...

> Turn into a tiger and either the NAN will repatiate you

You mean put you back into nature where you belong? I didn't know the A in NAN
stood for Asia... :)

> or someone will shoot you

They do that in the wild, too. I think in cities you'd have some sort of
advantage because nobody expects to see a tiger there. Although this advantage
might be negated by the increase in firepower of the people you meet over that
of a tiger hunter...

> be warned, if your GM plays spell locks by the book, and you can on-
> off-on the thing it works very nicly at the right time, if like me
> the GM spotted this one you have a problem [i hope].

My player has this habit of using a Shapechange spell for turning into a bat in
order to get out of the place -- or to turn opponents into bats or other small,
harmless animals.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Upgrading your PC, lesson 1: if it works, DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 8
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 11:08:47 +0100
Victor Rodriguez, Jr said on 23 Nov 95...

> When was the last time you heard of an animal (excluding homo sapians,x)
> applying for a job and getting hired. "Don't mind the tiger, Mr. Johnson, our
> mage had an accident and permanantly turned himself into a tiger."

How about an orang utan librarian? :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Upgrading your PC, lesson 1: if it works, DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 9
From: Nathan Walker <NTWALKER@******.SUNYGENESEE.CC.NY.US>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 12:09:22 -0500 (EST)
Klingon Name: Captain K'vort, Commander, DSF C7 "Victory"
MIME: We shoot them here.

From: sedahdro@*****.com (Victor Rodriguez, Jr)
>When was the last time you heard of an animal (excluding homo sapians,x)
>applying for a job and getting hired. "Don't mind the tiger, Mr. Johnson,
>our mage had an accident and permanantly turned himself into a tiger." Ever
>try shopping for food "Ahhhhh!!! THERE'S A TIGER IN THE STORE, QUICK FRED
>GET THE PANTHER CANNON!"

And have you ever tried to get a date when shapechanged? It's not fun.

>>>>>>>> Nate
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
| NTWalker@******.SUNYGENESEE.CC.NY.US |
| a.k.a. The Joker |
| |
| Where does he get those marvelous toys? |
| - Joker |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Message no. 10
From: "Damion Milliken" <adm82@***.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 17:32:11 +1100 (EST)
Brian McCallister writes:

> Say pepole never suspect the pet cat, after all it's aura matches up
> (masking).

You sure masking can change your aura _that_ much? The Grimything II only
says that masking can make your aura look like that of an uninitiated
magician, or a mundane. True, it doesn't say you _can't_ make your aura
look like whatever you want, but had it been intended this way I would have
imagined that it would have. After all, various combinations of spell locks
and masking could create some extremely powerful effects. Not to mention
the effect you'd have on people when the teams initiate magician masked his
aura to look like that of a dragon - anyone looking on would think him a
rather nasty paranatural beast in human form (good party trick though).

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au
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Message no. 11
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 10:34:49 +0100
Damion Milliken said on26 Nov 95...

> > Say pepole never suspect the pet cat, after all it's aura matches up
> > (masking).
>
> You sure masking can change your aura _that_ much? The Grimything II only
> says that masking can make your aura look like that of an uninitiated
> magician, or a mundane. True, it doesn't say you _can't_ make your aura
> look like whatever you want, but had it been intended this way I would have
> imagined that it would have.

It's not really made clear in the rules, as you say, but I definitely wouldn't
allow initiate magicians to change their aura to match their physical shape,
except... what if this metamagic ability allows you to change your aura?
I think I should note here that I'm using the gradual initiation rules from
ShadowLore (that is, every time you initiate you may pick _one_ power you want
to gain, instead of getting them all at once).

How about this one:

Change Aura
This ability allows an initiate magician to change his/her aura into any form
desired; it works like masking (and has all the advantages of masking) except
that using this power requires a success test using a number of dice equal to
twice the caster's initiate grade, with a target number equal to his Magic
Attribute. The number of successes rolled is the target number for anyone
wanting to see through the changed aura -- this requires a Magic test on the
part of the viewer against the aforementioned target number .
Aura changing is not an exclusive activity.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Upgrading your PC, lesson 1: if it works, DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 12
From: "Damion Milliken" <adm82@***.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 21:08:33 +1100 (EST)
Gurth writes:

> How about this one:
>
> Change Aura
> This ability allows an initiate magician to change his/her aura into any
> form desired; it works like masking (and has all the advantages of masking)
> except that using this power requires a success test using a number of dice
> equal to twice the caster's initiate grade, with a target number equal to
> his Magic Attribute. The number of successes rolled is the target number for
> anyone wanting to see through the changed aura -- this requires a Magic test
> on the part of the viewer against the aforementioned target number . Aura
> changing is not an exclusive activity.

Well, how about if I want to change my aura to look like that of a mundane
human? Wouldn't this ability make Masking obsolete, as it is much
superior? But anyway, I don't think I'd allow magicians to alter their aura
at all - mask their degree of power yes, but actually alter and mess with,
no. After all, as luke so often says, the astral plane is a realm of truth,
where deception is difficult and one's true form and shape are revealed.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong E-mail: adm82@***.edu.au
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Message no. 13
From: "Justin Thomas" <Justin.C.Thomas-1@**.umn.edu>
Subject: RE: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 1995 11:08:45
> You sure masking can change your aura _that_ much? The Grimything II
> only
> says that masking can make your aura look like that of an uninitiated
> magician, or a mundane. True, it doesn't say you _can't_ make your aura
> look like whatever you want, but had it been intended this way I would
> have
> imagined that it would have. After all, various combinations of spell
> locks
> and masking could create some extremely powerful effects. Not to mention
> the effect you'd have on people when the teams initiate magician masked
> his
> aura to look like that of a dragon - anyone looking on would think him a
> rather nasty paranatural beast in human form (good party trick though).

hmmm, how about a seperate skill...a magical one... that lets the character
change his aura drastically, the successes for the masking test could try
to offset any astral perseption (aura reading) test against him?
Message no. 14
From: tkerby@***.net (Tim Kerby)
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Sun, 26 Nov 95 12:24:11 EST
On Sun, 26 Nov 1995 04:34:32 -0500 Gurth wrote:

>How about this one:
>
>Change Aura
>This ability allows an initiate magician to change his/her aura into any form
>desired; it works like masking (and has all the advantages of masking) except
>that using this power requires a success test using a number of dice equal to
>twice the caster's initiate grade, with a target number equal to his Magic
>Attribute. The number of successes rolled is the target number for anyone
>wanting to see through the changed aura -- this requires a Magic test on the
>part of the viewer against the aforementioned target number .
>Aura changing is not an exclusive activity.

I like this except I see one problem...the target number for the success test. The
way it is above, a mage with a lower Magic Attribute has an easier time doing
this...somehow, that doesn't seem right. How about 12-Magic Attribute for a target number?


____TIM KERBY____ |===================================================
tkerby@***.net |"Never relax. Your run may be over, but someone, somewhere,
drekhead@***.com | is just starting his and the target could be you."
_________________ |===================================================
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Message no. 15
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 10:35:21 +0100
Damion Milliken said on26 Nov 95...

> Well, how about if I want to change my aura to look like that of a mundane
> human? Wouldn't this ability make Masking obsolete, as it is much
> superior?

Well, I tried to make it better in some area, but worse in others -- it's
easier to penetrate than masking, for one (I hope).

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I seek a thousand answers, I find but one or two
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-

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Message no. 16
From: "k.lin-student-civ-ghostgum-93087284" <kwlin@***.itd.uts.edu.au>
Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 11:29:08 +1100 (EST)
> From listproc@********.itribe.net Sun Nov 26 04:34 EST 1995
> Date: Sat, 25 Nov 1995 12:07:03 -0500
> Originator: shadowrn@********.itribe.net
> From: Nathan Walker <NTWALKER@******.sunygenesee.cc.ny.us>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <shadowrn@********.itribe.net>
> Subject: Re: Scary Thought 2 ...
> X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
> X-Comment: Shadowrun List
>
> And have you ever tried to get a date when shapechanged? It's not fun.

I am sure some people (you know who you are) are interested in dating a
shapechanging mage (real kinky) :)

Fade to the Black...

Kin

Further Reading

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