From:	Georg Greve <ggreve@*******.HANSE.DE>
Subject:	Re: Spells against Barriers
Date:	Thu, 21 Sep 1995 11:41:39 +0200

Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 11:41:35 +0200 (MET DST)

Gurth wrote:

> Ram is a combat spell. I think you have to first double the Barrier Rating,
> and then halve it, so you arrive at the original rating.

Stefan wrote:
> Than the old question is up again. Barrier rating is halved 'cause of the
> ram spell and then doubled 'cause it's a combat spell. That makes the
> original barrier rating in the end, right?

That is a possible way of reading things in my eyes, but which
"indication" do they mean ? If they say it is halved as indicated I
would read that you look in the barrier rating table (indication) and
then halve it...

> I think the spell is heavy enough with the original barrier rating anyway.
> Think of a Force 6 spell with maybe 3 successes or 4 and you got a final
> rating of 10. Tough hit if you ask me (but who did ...?)

Which means you wouldn't be able to open any security door with this
spell and all occasions where it really matters you can't use it.
You usually have a TN of 8(alloys).A already somewhat better than usual
magician casts ram (Magic Pool 8, Willpower 6) at force 6 and tries to
get maximum results, he rolls 12 dice against 8, which means he would
achieve 2 successes average - but lets give him 4, so he's a real
tough dice roller. The stun is 4S with only 8 dice to resist, which
means 4 successes average (so he gets a light stun for this
spell). What happens to the barrier, which happens to be a security
door made of steel, barrier rating 11 (that's still quite low for a
sec. door) - the barrier rating is doubled because it is a security
door, so the final barrier rating is 22 - compared to our force 10
attack the barrier holds, minor cosmetic damage.
He could try it again, but he already has got a light stun, which
means he wouldn't do better probably.

This is the example of a really competent magician trying to ram a
usual security door - nothing happens. So you can't use this spell
where it matters: On runs ! The average mage (Magic Pool 6, Willpower
5) would get only 2 successes average (8 force) and a M stun - and
barely scratch a security door made of armored glass with steel
hinges...

So I think this spell is pretty weak if you use the usual (or even
doubled) barrier rating. If you only want to open apartement doors,
you can take your average sammy as well - so the spell would be needed
for opening security doors and stuff like that where a samurai would
just break his bones... ;-)

If you take really tough security doors (barrier ratings between 24
and 64 (doubled hardened material) you wouldn't be able to penetrate
them easily with the spell, so I don't see that the game balance would
be in danger.

O.K. - I would like to discuss this topic a bit further, so comments
would be appreciated.

Bye...
Georg