From:	The Digital Mage <mn3rge@****.ac.uk>
Subject:	Re: Re[2]: Bugs [p]
Date:	Tue, 24 Sep 1996 16:33:13 +0100 (BST)

On Tue, 24 Sep 1996 Ferri_Pagano_at_STRM__Amsterdam1@******.com wrote:

> >the "friends in melee" rule applies, and so even lvl 1 or 2 watchers
are
> >_really_ helpful. And Shamans should bring with 'em spirits as well (were
> >possible to summon before).
> >So even your Charisma-4-Shaman can go into battle with 8 spirits, plus
> >himself, plus (maybe) an ally. Did that, liked the -4 TNM, liked the enemy's
> >+4TNM. Liked the shocked face of my GM :-)
> >
> BUZZZZZZ!!!!!! WRONG!!!!
>
> First of all, a Shaman can only have ONE spirit under his control at ANY ONE
> TIME!
Well, its implied in Awakenings, if not explicitly stated, that a shaman
can have more than one spirit conjured at a time as long as they are in
different domains. Now if teh Shaman does this and makes 3 of them great
form (no easy task itself) they can all enter teh same terrain and be used
at once.....I believe :) Watcher spirits don't follow this rule, so teh
shaman could have 4 of these at one time no problem.

> Second, the number of watchers you can summon is equal to your charisma,
> so the char.4 shaman with 8 spirits is totally bogus.
Watchers I believe do not count against teh limit on elementatls and
Nature spirits. So a Charisma 4 mage could have 4 watchers and 4
elementals = 8 spirits.

> Secondly, I don't really remember, but I believe Watchers were not capable of
> taking offensive actions. They cannot attack. I'll have to look this up.
They can attack, in teh Grimoire one of their services is attack dog.
However, due to their inability to physically manifest they cannot attack
purely mundane critters -no problem for bugs though! :)

> Third, you have to give a watcher an order as soon as it appears.
Is this true, I thought you could have one hanging around, just taht it
has to hang around in astral space, and its duration begins to expire.

> So you can't have it hang around waiting for a bug to attack you.
Well to be pernickety (whatever taht means :) you could give it teh order
"Hang around me in astral until a bug spirit attacks me, then attack it
till its dead". :)

> And trying to summon enough watchers to make a difference just before a
> bug attacks you might not be too wise. It takes 4 complex actions to
> summon 4 watchers, and you are GUARANTEED to have 4 boxes of stun damage
> due to drain. (hours x force level) L Drain.
You won't necessarily take drain, if you conjure them for just one hour at
force 2 (assuming you get 4 successes on your conjuring test) then drain
is only 2L stun an remember you resist with Willpower not charisma for
watchers.

> It was a nice idea, but full of holes.....
I'm not so sure about those holes, I use the same tactic myself.

Here's another lovely way to use watchers. Get them to manifets visibly
and audibly (they can do this, they are just still intangible) right in
teh face of your enemy, blind him and deafen him simultaneously -major
distractions, major pluses to his TN :)

My mage eldritch uses watchers all teh time, as he never astrally
perceives or projects (he's paranoid of attacks and groundings), they see
the astral and tell eldritch what they see. They usually appear as cats,
crows, and rats.

The Digital Mage : mn3rge@****.ac.uk
"Life is a choice, Death....an obligation."-Me
Shadowrun WWW site at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~mn3rge/Shadowrun