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Message no. 1
From: Bob Tockley <zzdeden@****.ASGARD.NET.AU>
Subject: Re: [SR3] Armour and Barriers (was Armor Spell)
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 01:43:01 +1000
> I was wondering. If you said that the armor spell, instead of creating a
> barrier of rating x, gave you balistic and impact of rating x, would that
> solve the problem that some people have with the spell?

Why bother changing the spell's statistics at all. It's much less
powerful than the equivalent Personal Barrier spells you could make under
SR2 rules - and under kind of sustained fire it can easily be knocked down.
You've got to think of the spell realistically (heh, sure...) - think
about how it works. It stops all physical objects from passing through the
barrier, so think about the number of problems having this sort of spell
active can cause the character. "Oops! how're you going to pick up the
techno-doodad?", "Well, it'd be nice to be able to open that door, but your
hand just can't quiiiiite grab the handle...", "Fire your gun?
Okay......<evil GM sniggering>" What happens if the character drops his
gun/ wand/ miscellaneous device? Simple, it falls to the bottom of the
barrier and rattles around his feet. What happens when he tries to throw
something out of the barrier... The possibilities are endless
(especially when you consider such factors as quickening.... "Just how do
you expect to go the toilet with that spell quickened to you... It could
get quiiiiiite messy." You can make life incredibly difficult for the
player simple by enforcing a little versimilitude.
The armour spell doesn't specifically state that it provides anchoring
against the force of attacks or even that it absorbs said force. This
could mean that a character suffers full knockback/ knockdown penalties
from attacks, which'll mean that the mage'll be flying left right and
center, falling over and having to waste precious actions standing back up...
Additionally, you can have hostile magicians use barriers and armour
spells against the players. Put a little 1 meter radius bubble around a PC
and see what he can do. It's especially funny when all he's armed with is a
katana... Have the hostile magician quicken the spell and then just walk
away. If the character's in a secluded area he can face extreme danger -
what does happen to someone who has to sleep, lie, stand, or sit in their
own filth with no food or water until someone finds them... <evil GM laughter>




- ARKHAM
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste somebody with..."

Further Reading

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