From:	Damion Milliken <adm82@***.EDU.AU>
Subject:	Re: Insect Spirits - forget Manabolts
Date:	Tue, 28 Feb 1995 16:39:18 +1100

Robert Watkins writes:

> Mana spells tend to be more effective than Physical Combat spells (like
> PowerBolt), because they have to be resisted by Willpower. As has been
> pointed out, most humans have diddly in Willpower, or it is small in
> comparison to their Body.

Hmm, that's another good point. Physical Combat spells are next to useless
to use on shadowrunners. As a general rule, even a good old Hellblast spell
never scares my players, they usually laugh when an enemy magician tries to
Hellblast them, as they know with a great deal of confidence that they will
take far less damage than he does (from drain). You're right, Willpower
based spells are more effective than Physical spells, but I still think the
mana spells nearly always come out as either a wipeout or a flunk.

> OTH, high force spirits have high willpower. Mind you, they also have high
> body, so the Physical spells would also be useless. Try Banishing, or
> whacking 'em with a Weapon Focus.

As a side note, don't you think banishing is ineffective? The mage in that
game had one attempt at banishing, then gave it up as completely useless,
and he had a spirit focus to boot.

> There is a middle ground, you just didn't go through it.

Maybe you're right, but this is a trend I have noticed over my several years
of playing this game.

--
Damion Milliken University of Wollongong e-mail: adm82@***.edu.au

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