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Message no. 1
From: Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 13:11:21 -0500
Who cares if a Grade 2 physical adept initiate can have his
paltry two dice of shielding? Even a grade 0 initiate mage can center
against the shielding target number modifier, thus making the point
pretty much pointless. All the adept would get would be two extra dice,
which is not really all that much compared to the power that a full
fledged spell-hucking maniac can bring to bear.
Now it can be argued that shielding alters the base target
number, and thus could not be centered against, but that's pushing
it. Personally, I would allow the caster's centering to affect the caster's
target number modifier, but I would still give the target the extra
dice. But hey, that's me.

Just my cent and a half

Marc
Message no. 2
From: Matt <mosbun@******.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 13:36:47 EST
>
> Who cares if a Grade 2 physical adept initiate can have his
> paltry two dice of shielding? Even a grade 0 initiate mage can center
> against the shielding target number modifier, thus making the point
> pretty much pointless. All the adept would get would be two extra dice,
> which is not really all that much compared to the power that a full
> fledged spell-hucking maniac can bring to bear.

Truthfully, I really don't care about a grade 2 adept. OTOH, my grade 7
adept with shielding could make a mage's spellcasting life difficult at
best.

Matt
Message no. 3
From: The GREAT Cornholio <mruane@***.UUG.ARIZONA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 18:24:06 -0700
On Mon, 14 Nov 1994, Marc A Renouf wrote:

> Who cares if a Grade 2 physical adept initiate can have his
> paltry two dice of shielding? Even a grade 0 initiate mage can center
> against the shielding target number modifier, thus making the point
> pretty much pointless. All the adept would get would be two extra dice,
> which is not really all that much compared to the power that a full
> fledged spell-hucking maniac can bring to bear.
> Now it can be argued that shielding alters the base target
> number, and thus could not be centered against, but that's pushing
> it. Personally, I would allow the caster's centering to affect the caster's
> target number modifier, but I would still give the target the extra
> dice. But hey, that's me.
>
> Just my cent and a half
>
> Marc
>
Good point. But there is a concern about the INVINCIBLE PHYS ADEPT FROM
HELL! "Hello, I'm Jean Claud van Shmuck, and I'm a phys adept." "Shoot
him!" "Ha ha, my combat pool reflects all your damage, platry
imbeciles." "Hit him with a spell!" "Sorry, less-than-men. I am a
grade 14 initiate. That's 14 shielding dice, for you paltry mage! Ha ha
ha ha!" "The here's fire the Munchkin assault Cannon!' "No! Anything
but that!" *splat*

(Sorry about he wandering nature of this post, but I'm really tired)

The primary concern is the problem our street sam found out a little
while ago. He's got it all-- the stats, the guns, the vehicles, the
lifestyle. The big problem is that he's a karma bank (remember we don't
use karma pools). And he doesn't know what to spend it on (most primary
skills are at 10 or 9).

The phys adept is the solution to that problem. he can blow his karma on
initiation. Then bob munchkin can get up to 10th level initiate fast.
he doesn't have the foci and enchanting and other crap mages waste their
karma on. he just has a weapon foci and he's ready for more karma. As a
matter of fact, he doesn't even need the weapon focus. He get sorcery
and boosts it to 8. Then, according to the rules he's got 8 magic pool
dice. By our house rules, eight of those dice can be used as shielding
dice *or* spell defense. That's right. I forgot about that. Shielding
by our campaign rules just boosts the target number. To get the spell
defense, more dice have to be committed from magic pool. So you either
get 8 points of shielding or 8 spell defense dice. Aha. So that's our
solution.

Mike aka Spellslinger

Like I said, sorry about the wandering/rambling nature of this post.
I've been struck down by the P Chem monster.
Message no. 4
From: Matt Hufstetler <gt2778a@*****.GATECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 21:43:35 -0500
Mike aka Spellslinger writes:
> and boosts it to 8. Then, according to the rules he's got 8 magic pool
> dice. By our house rules, eight of those dice can be used as shielding
> dice *or* spell defense. That's right. I forgot about that. Shielding
> by our campaign rules just boosts the target number. To get the spell
> defense, more dice have to be committed from magic pool. So you either
> get 8 points of shielding or 8 spell defense dice. Aha. So that's our
> solution.


Er, No. The point I was making was that the PhysAd would get free dice
for shielding equal to his grades of initiation. NOT SUDDENLY AND
MIRAC(munchkin)OUSLY that he would get access to a magic pool.

Matt H.
Message no. 5
From: Marc A Renouf <jormung@*****.UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 22:37:08 -0500
Okay, I see where the problem is coming in here. I personally don't see
shielding as all that much of a problem for physical adepts, and I use
and example of Grade 2 initiate.
You *do* see a problem, and use an example of a Grade 10 initiate.

Get my point? Do you see where the difference lies? I
personally played a combat mage for over two years straight. I just made
it to Grade 3 at the end of that time. And I was one of the more
powerful characters in the campaign. But you speak of "bob munchkin"
making it to Grade 10 "rather quickly."
It would appear that your style of playing is different from
ours. In which case, ignore what I said and do whatever works for your
campaign. :)

Marc
Message no. 6
From: The Passman <pshryer@*.UMN.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 11:37:23 -0600
> matter of fact, he doesn't even need the weapon focus. He get sorcery
> and boosts it to 8. Then, according to the rules he's got 8 magic pool
> dice.
> Mike aka Spellslinger


Ummm I don't think so, at least according to the SR II rules, that I
have read. I beleve that a magic type need astral perception and
Sorcery to get a magic pool, but if you read the description of a
physad's Astral Per. It explicitly states, that even if the physad has
Sorcery he DOES NOT get a magic pool.

Unless I'm misreading it, of course...

The Passman
Message no. 7
From: Matt Hufstetler <gt2778a@*****.GATECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 14:53:52 -0500
> Okay, I see where the problem is coming in here. I personally don't see
> shielding as all that much of a problem for physical adepts, and I use
> and example of Grade 2 initiate.
> You *do* see a problem, and use an example of a Grade 10 initiate.
>
> Get my point? Do you see where the difference lies? I
> personally played a combat mage for over two years straight. I just made
> it to Grade 3 at the end of that time. And I was one of the more
> powerful characters in the campaign. But you speak of "bob munchkin"
> making it to Grade 10 "rather quickly."
> It would appear that your style of playing is different from
> ours. In which case, ignore what I said and do whatever works for your
> campaign. :)

That was the whole point behind the argument. I personally believe that a
Grade 10 initiate is totally out of control anyway. That is somewhere in
AT LEAST the 250+ karma range. When was the FIRST time you've had a
character with a karma pool of 26?????? I never have. I'm still working
on my current magician, and he's only just gotten to a grade 2.

Matt H.
Message no. 8
From: The GREAT Cornholio <mruane@***.UUG.ARIZONA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 17:46:12 -0700
On Tue, 15 Nov 1994, The Passman wrote:

> Ummm I don't think so, at least according to the SR II rules, that I
> have read. I beleve that a magic type need astral perception and
> Sorcery to get a magic pool, but if you read the description of a
> physad's Astral Per. It explicitly states, that even if the physad has
> Sorcery he DOES NOT get a magic pool.
>
> Unless I'm misreading it, of course...
>
> The Passman

You're probably reading it right. I need to look over those books
again.... *thwap* Oh, what was I thinking! Of course I can't read
anything outside my major, I'm a college student!

Mike

And a senior at that.
Message no. 9
From: Malcalypse The Younger <shadow@******.NET>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 22:22:48 -0500
On Tue, 15 Nov 1994, Matt Hufstetler wrote:

> That was the whole point behind the argument. I personally believe that a
> Grade 10 initiate is totally out of control anyway. That is somewhere in
> AT LEAST the 250+ karma range. When was the FIRST time you've had a
> character with a karma pool of 26?????? I never have. I'm still working
> on my current magician, and he's only just gotten to a grade 2.
>
> Matt H.

Actually, I just had a character get his 25th point in his karma pool.
After 3 years of gaming on a semi-regular basis. He is about to retire,
in favor of another character (another shaman, of course) :)

Shadow
Message no. 10
From: Matt Hufstetler <gt2778a@*****.GATECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 22:38:19 -0500
>
> On Tue, 15 Nov 1994, Matt Hufstetler wrote:
>
> > That was the whole point behind the argument. I personally believe that a
> > Grade 10 initiate is totally out of control anyway. That is somewhere in
> > AT LEAST the 250+ karma range. When was the FIRST time you've had a
> > character with a karma pool of 26?????? I never have. I'm still working
> > on my current magician, and he's only just gotten to a grade 2.
> >
> > Matt H.
>
> Actually, I just had a character get his 25th point in his karma pool.
> After 3 years of gaming on a semi-regular basis. He is about to retire,
> in favor of another character (another shaman, of course) :)
>
> Shadow
>

Is he a grade 10 initiate? I kinda doubt it since he's had to worry about
other things. Like skills, spells and attributes....(foci.....
orichalcum)......
Matt H.
Message no. 11
From: Malcalypse The Younger <shadow@******.NET>
Subject: Re: Shielding and Physical Adepts
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 22:12:17 -0500
On Tue, 22 Nov 1994, Matt Hufstetler wrote:

> >
> > Actually, I just had a character get his 25th point in his karma pool.
> > After 3 years of gaming on a semi-regular basis. He is about to retire,
> > in favor of another character (another shaman, of course) :)
> >
> > Shadow
> >
>
> Is he a grade 10 initiate? I kinda doubt it since he's had to worry about
> other things. Like skills, spells and attributes....(foci.....
> orichalcum)......

Nope, he's grade 6 with a really nice familiar. (God I saved up a lot of
karma for that bugger) Skills are sitting around 8 (specialized) and
stats around 6 + quickenings. Most of my karma went into new spells, that
dratted familiar, and initiation.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed reading about Shielding and Physical Adepts, you may also be interested in:

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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!