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Message no. 1
From: SMILING WOLF <SLEIBOWITZ@****.HAMPSHIRE.EDU>
Subject: Spells, force, all that jive
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 92 13:10:00 EDT
>Hi Everyone,
> This being my first post (I only joined today), It may be missing
>some obvious points which have already been covered or argued about.

Welcome to the list! (no, you aren't re-capping anything here)

>>>could someone out there please explain why, when a spell is cast on you, y
>>>our target number to resist it is the skill of the mage that throws the spell
>>>and not the actual force of the spell.
>>
>> This has been fixed in Shadowrun 2nd edition, and also, in the GM screen,
>> the resistance test is listed as per force of the spell as oppose to skill.
>> I haven't had a chance to look at decking, so I don't know if they changed
>> that as well.

>If you read the Grimoire it clearly states that the GM Screen (and some
>printings of the original rules) is incorrect and that the target is always
>the casters Sorcery rating.
>
> I believe that the reason for this is that when resisting a spell you have to
>overcome the amount of skill the caster has put into it. i.e. You are trying
> [other good stuff deleted for space]

Righto, pal. The idea is that it doesn't matter how much energy the caster put
into the spell; all that matters is how well it's put together. If you think
about it, this makes more sense (to me, at any rate) than using the adjusted
force of the spell, but it does give the spell casters in a campaign one heck
of an advantage. This reflects the general tendency among the FASA designers
to make magic reeeealy powerful in SRun.


>> Wilson MacGyver
>Robert McMillan

Your humble servant,
Smiling Wolf

________________________________________________________________________________
SLEIBOWITZ@****.hampshire.edu| DISCLAIMER: Not only do the views expressed
or | herein not necessarily reflect those of Hampshire
SLEIBOWITZ@****vms.bitnet | College, but they may not even reflect mine. I'm
sky bless you all. | not telling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 2
From: "Erekosse, Magelord of Amber Keep" <dsk@*****.CACS.USL.EDU>
Subject: Re: Spells, force, all that jive
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 92 12:28:58 -0600
>>>>could someone out there please explain why, when a spell is cast on you, y
>>>>our target number to resist it is the skill of the mage that throws the
spell
>>>>and not the actual force of the spell.
>>>
>>> This has been fixed in Shadowrun 2nd edition, and also, in the GM screen,
>>> the resistance test is listed as per force of the spell as oppose to skill.
>>> I haven't had a chance to look at decking, so I don't know if they changed
>>> that as well.
>
>>If you read the Grimoire it clearly states that the GM Screen (and some
>>printings of the original rules) is incorrect and that the target is always
>>the casters Sorcery rating.
>>
>> I believe that the reason for this is that when resisting a spell you have to
>>overcome the amount of skill the caster has put into it. i.e. You are trying
>> [other good stuff deleted for space]
>
>Righto, pal. The idea is that it doesn't matter how much energy the caster put
>into the spell; all that matters is how well it's put together. If you think
>about it, this makes more sense (to me, at any rate) than using the adjusted
>force of the spell, but it does give the spell casters in a campaign one heck
>of an advantage. This reflects the general tendency among the FASA designers
>to make magic reeeealy powerful in SRun.
>
>
>>> Wilson MacGyver
>>Robert McMillan
>

In the game I'm running, we use the sorcery skill level of the caster as the
target for the resistance test for the reasn described above; however, we
have a house rule that when the mage rolls the success test, he rolls the
force dice separately. If the result of the force dice is all 1's, a critical
failure occurs. This encourages the mages with high magic pools to cast the
spells at a reasonable force level. The rational for this is that the dice
added from the magic pool to the success test are indications of finesse, and
the force dice indicate the amount of power and control. It may be a shaky
bit of rationalization, but it maintains game balance pretty well.


Magelord Erekosse
erekosse@***.edu

Member (good standing) Nonsequitur Society of America:
We may not make sense, but we do like mushroom pizza!

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Thwap!