| From: | "Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Ground Quickening? NO WAY |
| Date: | Fri, 22 Jan 93 23:27:35 CET |
I grow tired of this constant debate on whether or not you can ground spells
through a quickening. Although I would loath to contradict FASA, dispite what
Tom Dowd might have said, you can't ground spells through a quickening. Now
before you go off in a huff, here are the relevant rules from ShadowrunII and
Grimoires I & II.
Shadowrun II Page 139 Attacking Through a Focus
There is a disadvantage to having an active focus of any kind. Being a
continually powered astral energy, a magical focus creates a continual, open
bridge from astral to mundane space. This is dangerous.
>>>>>[ This paragraph is the only thing anywhere in the rules that supports
the possibility of grounding spell through quickenings. This would hold true if
and only if quickening is the same continual, open bridge as a Focus.
]<<<<<
A spell cannot normally be cast from astral to mundane space, or vice versa.
These two different realms are separated by an interface that can only be
crossed under specific circumstances and criteria. Spellcasting is one of them.
This means the characters who are in mundance space, and have no connection to
astral space, are safe from any astrally projecting magicians or exclusively
astral spirits or creatures.
A focus, by virtue of its nature, creates a pathway between the two realms.
Through this channel, an astrally present magician can cast a spell at the
focus' physical component. Because the spell is affecting the physical
materials of the focus, the spell must be of physical type.
>>>>>[ Argument for grounding will hold true if quickening has a physical
component. ]<<<<<
Though it may seem that only the focus itself can be affected in this manner,
that is not completely true. If the astrally projecting magician were to cast
an area-effect spell centering on the focus, it would be possible to hit all
targets within the spell's effect area. Due to the nature of how this effect
works, manipulatiuon spells cannot be used in this manner.
... (Mechanics which cannot affect any arguements)
Remember that the attacking spell must be a phyical spell to work in this
manner. If the spell is not an area-effect spell, it only affects the target
that is either in possession of the focus or else directly connected to it...
... (more mechanics)
Grimore I page 25-26 and Grimoire II pages 44-45
Quickening
>>>>>[ The text below is the same in both Grimoires. ]<<<<<
Quickening is metamagic that can make any sustained spell permanent, without
need for a spell lock! The spell is given a permanent "circuit" into Astral
Space that keeps it running until it is broken, either in Astral Combat or by
an Initiate using Dispelling ability, described below.
... (mechanics which cannot affect any arguments)
BREAKING QUICKENED SPELLS
Whether attacking Quickened spells in Astral Combat or trying to break them
by the much safer metamagical ability of Dispelling, the amount of Karma paid
to quicken the spell is used as its Force. If it was easy to cast, it will be
easy to break (once a magician arrives on the scene, that is).
>>>>>[ In the descriptions of Quickening there is no mentioning of
Grounding or
any physical component. In fact they both tell that there are the only two
ways to break a Quickening, Astral Combat or Dispelling, neither of which are
Grounding. Note that if Grounding through Quickening where possible, it would
be destroyed just like a focus.
Of course the easy way to answer the question is to say, the rules say you can
Ground through a focus. A Quickening is not a focus. You can't ground through
it. ]<<<<<
See Ya in Shadows,
Jason J Carter
The Nightstalker
