From:	"Bruce H. Nagel" <NAGELBH@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Drain
Date:	Thu, 3 Jul 1997 18:58:32 -0500

You wrote:
> I prefer drain at F/2. As a lot of others has allready mentioned,
> that way the mage doesn't hurt himself as much or more than his
> opponent when he casts a spell. A mana bolt is the same as a
> shotgun, more or less, and then it is reasonable that the mage
> shouldn't suffer so much drain.
Agreed.

> On the other hand, mages' are supposed to be versatile rather than
> specialists;
Why? No more than sammies are specialists, some learn demolitions, stealth,
and skills for defeating security, etc. Talking about what mages are
'supposed' to be is a problem, imo.

in addition to their mental shotgun they can also fly,
> make walls, control people, turn into toads, and otherwise do a lot
> of fancy stuff. They shouldn't be as powerful in a direct fight as a
> samurai.. more like a physad. As it is now a mage can, with a little
> adjustments and a few spell locks, become as dangerous as a street
> samurai, and far cheaper. So some adjustments might be in order...
Ah yes, the dreaded spell locks. Either give them reasons to be careful
leaving their locked spells on (opposing mages ansd spirits), they're easy to
break and expensive, or disallow them. This still doesn't make the
_low_spell_drain_ a problem.

> An option would be to have each mage choose one area of spells
> where he takes F/2 drain, and F drain in the rest.. :)
Bleh... don't care for this tack. What about the guy who wants to be good at
both areas his totem gives him advantages for (say, Illusion and Detection or
something)? Again, you're turning mages into a specific type of thing: "I'm a
healer, Bob's the artillery of the group".

> 'pet peeve spells'
> Incr. reaction +1 & +3 is identical once on a spell lock. No reason
> to ever use +1. (Same goes with the other attribute spells).
If you use it on a spell lock. Could always use it on someone else in the
group who needs a reflex boost... I won't repeat the solution to spell locks.

> Fix: Bonding/quickening cost is multiplied by drain level. (1,2,3,4)
> (As if mages didn't have enough karma drains.. tough luck.).
And Quickened spells can be killed in Astral, too, send a spirit to harry the
mage's Quickenings, he gets to decide to face you or the spirit...

> Sleep: Triple whammy: Cheap drain, takes out enemies
> effectively, and you can also interrogate the suckers afterwards.
Perhaps a little broken. Fix the few broken spells. Why change the whole
Drain system to fix a few problems that aren't _in_ the drain section of the
rules?

> Damaging manipulations - not enough bang for the buck.
> (Resisted against lower target numbers and usually more dice.. and
> also a lot more drain, makes these spells underpowered compared to
> their drain.)

> Should it be fixed? No, they shouldn't be as powerful as combat
> spells.
Why not? I'd like to hear the reasoning why they 'shouldn't' be as powerful as
Combat Spells. They're different, they do slightly different things, they have
advantages and disadvantages, and I like that.

losthalo