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Message no. 1
From: Deird'Re Brooks <deirdre@***.ORG>
Subject: Spells against vehicles; allergies; stuff (fwd)
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1993 08:39:39 -0800
My apologies to everyone who read this on Shadowtk, I unfortunately
hit the wrong alias.
Deird'Re

Forwarded message:
> From owner-shadowtk@*****.NIC.SURFNET.NL Sun Nov 28 07:15:11 1993
> Message-Id: <9311281500.AA12843@*******.cs.uoregon.edu>
> Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1993 01:28:59 -0800
> Reply-To: "BBS for ShadowRun. Interactive Fiction for Shadowrun."
<SHADOWTK@*****.nic.SURFnet.nl>
> Sender: "BBS for ShadowRun. Interactive Fiction for Shadowrun."
<SHADOWTK@*****.nic.SURFnet.nl>
> From: Deird'Re Brooks <deirdre@***.ORG>
> Subject: Spells against vehicles; allergies; stuff
> Comments: To: SHADOWTK@***.SURFNET.NL
> To: Multiple recipients of list SHADOWTK <SHADOWTK@*****.nic.SURFnet.nl>
>
> Ivy Responds
> To The Powerhouse
> Subject: Spells against vehicles.
>
> >> 10. Physical Combat Spells vs Vehicles; Specifically,
> >>the difference in operation between the Power Bolt, Missile,
> >>etc and the operation of the Ram and Wrecker spells. That
> >>difference makes the Ram and Wrecker much less powerful than
> >>the Power series. I make, and would ask that you make, the
> >>method of operation used by the Ram and Wrecker be the
> >>"correct" one. It helps to de-power the mage a bit more.
>
> >Power spells as you call them (ie Power bolt) use a TN equal to
> >the processed material TN. About 10, this makes the ram spell
> >more powerful.
>
> I re-read your answer to my original post and then I re-read the
> rulebook. The problem is that the Target Number to get a Ram
> spell to work against an auto is an 8 just like the power Bolt.
> Ram is targeted off the Object Resistance Table just the same as
> the Power Bolt is. Plus, the write-up of the Ram spell has a
> glaring error in it. At the end of the first paragraph it says
> that "the barrier rating is halved as stated" referring to the
> write-up on barriers on page 98. The *Problem* is that, against
> Physical Combat spells, which Ram certainly is, Barrier Ratings
> are DOUBLED, not halved.
>
> The end result is that a person throwing a Force 7 Ram against a
> Harley Scorpion has a TN of 8. For my example I shall decree
> that the caster gets 7 successes. They have a total of 14
> successes to be compared against twice the total of the Scorpions
> Body of 3 plus it's Armor of 3. 14 successes vs a 12 barrier
> rating means that the Harley Scorpion takes two (2) Light wounds.
>
> Now the same mage throws a Power Bolt at the same target. The TN
> is the same, and the mage gets the same number of successes. The
> Scorpion now has to roll 3 Body dice plus one more dice for 1/2
> of it's armor (total of 4 dice) against a seven. Say it gets
> lucky and gets all 4 sixes. That means that the mage only has 3
> successes left over. This means that the Power Bolt, which
> starts with 'S' damage, does Deadly damage to the Scorpion!
>
> Very possibly (No, certainly) there was a head-spacing problem at
> FASA when those spells were written but the Ram's only saving
> grace is that the target doesn't have a resistance roll.
>
> We have gone to using the Ram as a Restricted version of the
> Power Bolt (No damage to living targets), Wrecker as a Very
> Restricted version of the Power Bolt (Only affects Unliving
> *Vehicles*), and Urban Renewal as a Restricted version of the
> Power Blast (Unliving targets only but affects an area). With
> that in mind the Ram spell's Drain Code should be (F/2)S instead
> of (F/2)+1S, Wrecker should have a drain of (F/2)+1M instead of
> (F/2)S, and Urban Renewal should have a Drain Code of (F/2)D.
> Urban Renewal *does* have that Drain Code and we simply changed
> the other ones.
>
> Next question is, will Ram work on a Vampire? I mean, they
> aren't *alive*.
>
> >> 6. Allergies for PC's. Just precisely what is the
> >>Moderate Severity supposed to be? (I use +2 on all Target
> >>Numbers, plus the character will remove themselves from contact
> >>with the allergen As Soon As Possible).
>
> >I thought medium was +1 and the character took a light wound if
> >they stayed in contact with it. Mild is +1 only, nuisance is
> >just that while severe gives a light wound straight away.
>
> Hmmm, Your definition of a Medium allergy *looks* like the SRII
> definition of a Severe Allergy.
>
> The problem is that the FASA turkeys forgot to define the
> Moderate allergy, and missed it in their errata on top of it all.
> Working from the definitions on page 220 in the SRII their
> allergy ratings go Nuisance, Mild, Severe, and Extreme. No
> Moderate at all. And being a person who *suffers* from allergies
> I know, from experience, that there is at least one stage between
> Mild and Severe.
>
> On re-consideration I think that I shall stay with a TN penalty
> equal to the Attribute Bonus when a character is in contact or
> exposed to their allergen. What I'm meaning to say is that a
> person with a Mild Allergy takes a +1 TN modifier, a Moderate
> Allergy gives a +2 TN modifier, and a Severe Allergy gives a +3
> TN modifier as well as a possible Light wound if contact or
> exposure is prolonged. Characters never have Extreme allergies,
> that would be too crippling to be worth playing. If someone just
> HAS to play a character with one, I shall give them one extra
> character point in any of the catagories and they would take a +4
> TN modifier when they are in contact with their allergen along
> with a guaranteed Light wound on contact.
> -----
>
> Marzhavasati Kali |If mail bounces, check spelling. It's deirdre.
> deirdre@***.org |If that doesn't work, send mail to
> |deirdre%efn.org@*******.cs.uoregon.edu
> "If the Goddess hadn't intended us to enjoy sex, she would _not_
> have given us _orgasms_!"
> -- DB
>
Message no. 2
From: The Reverend <mdb0213@******.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Spells against vehicles; allergies; stuff (fwd)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 1993 01:40:47 -0600
]> >I thought medium was +1 and the character took a light wound if
]> >they stayed in contact with it. Mild is +1 only, nuisance is
]> >just that while severe gives a light wound straight away.
]>
]> Hmmm, Your definition of a Medium allergy *looks* like the SRII
]> definition of a Severe Allergy.

Heh, heh, heh. I noticed this a long time ago; namely, in doing research into
the SR-style vampire, that they could stay outdoors for *body* number of
minutes before taking a light. Now, considering this, look through some of
the nasties in the books. Not quite as bad as you thought, neh? Makes you
wonder...

---
The Reverend "They called me the Reverend when I entered the church unstained"
Fear the Information Revolution...for it has reached the hands of the strange.
PGP 2.2 Public Key Block available upon request

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