From:	Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Drain
Date:	Fri, 4 Jul 1997 04:40:56 +0000

Caric wrote:
> | Let's take another example then.. F/2 exclusive manaball at force 6.
> | The mage takes 2S drain; not hard to avoid. Add two dice and it's
> | no drain at average with some margin of safety. (assuming he has 6
> | willpower.). This leaves 10 dice for the success test.
>
> Exclusive spells are a completely different animal and not what we are
> discussing.

Oh, so ways to reduce drain has no bearing on a discussion of what
base drain should be? How remiss of me. It is clear I have no idea
whatsoever of how the magic system works, and withdraw from
the argument... COME ON! Grow up!

You guys argue like little children. You try to dredge up points
where mages are weaker than samurai, and to prove the point, you use
totally pointless examples. (A mage facing a samurai in a straight
shootout fight with a power friggin bolt at force 4.. what mage in
his right mind would do that? And then when someone comes up with an
example of a normal spell use that would waste the samurai, you go,
Naa, naa, it has no bearing, and besides, the samurai would win
initiative anyway.(Yeah, I snipped that part) Think a little before
typing, because you can perfectly well figure out the next logical
step in *that* armsrace. The mage will always be able to stay one
step ahead of the samurai. Disregard, physical mask, control actions,
influence could all be pieces in that game; several moves against
which there is few countermoves except for another magician.
What, there isn't an appropriate spell? The magician can MAKE one.

My opinion is that F/2 coupled with fetishes and exclusive spells
leave drain too easy to resist. Make the disadvantages with using
fetishes and exclusive spells real, then it's okay enough, but as it
is, it's flawed. Now you can argue that F drain is too much; but
both you and I know that drain of a force 6 spell can be resisted as
if it was force 2, so your arguments sound a bit hollow in my ears.
But that's ok enough, since a force 11 spell can, with F/2, then be
resisted against a base drain TN of 3. Now if that isn't 'major mojo'
reduced a bit too easily, then nothing is. And of course if
exclusivity and fetishes was not part of the picture, then a drain of
F would be far too much; F/2 would then be fair.

It's late, I'm tired. Be kind.

--
Fade

"It's better to burn out, than to fade away!"