From:	"Bruce H. Nagel" <NAGELBH@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Combat Spells -- Level 6?
Date:	Fri, 4 Jul 1997 14:48:02 -0500

You wrote:
> This is my biggest pet peeve, and I'm in the middle of writing an article
> about it for TSS. Characters will 4 or 5 skills/spells at 6, and nothing
> lower. I know that everyone wants to make a character that is going to
> survive a few encounters, and I can respect that. However, some people
> have the attitude that 'If its not useful in extremely obvious ways, its
> useless'. The street sammy with Firearms, Street Eti, Stealth, and Armed
> Combat, all at 6, and nothing else. Is he so good at all of that, and so
> bad at everything else that it doesn't rate?
> A real human, most of us, have a TON of skills, too many to fit in any game
> description, and all at varying levels. While most of us have several that
> shine, we have alot that don't, but still are useful once in awhile. How
> come most Shadowrun characters don't?

I agree to some extent, those that take all their combat spells at Force 6 and
their invis and such at 2's, and always stack up a bunch of force modifiers, ad
nauseum, annoy me. Fortunately I haven't played with too many of them. Most
char's I've seen do prioritize their skills, ranging from some 6's to some 2's
or 3's, have even seen char's take a 1 because they were 'just learning'.
People who do the 4 skills at a 6 thing should be playing BattleTech(TM) and
leave roleplaying to people who want to actually do it.

OTOH, regarding Willpower, I figure most runners need to have a decent amount
of guts and gumption, and I figure that means a mid-to-high willpower (4-6
range). Taking the risks they do isn't easy or comfortable. And most of the
char's I've created were of the fairly bitter or sinister variety, and so a
decent willpower rating suited them. The first SR sammie I saw created
was a guy name of Demon Soulstone, made by my friend Ben, and he had a Body and
a Willpower of 6 each. Demon was in his 40's, and had been kicked around and
chewed on by life, scarred emotionally and physically, he was tough. Those two
attributes defined the character, and it was great to see him play that 'I've
been through drek like this before, hand me that grenade launcher, I'll teach
them to take hostages' bit. Of course, this comes down to the character that's
being played, but a high willpower is often appropriate role-wise. However,
when folks do it just to give the mage a high T#, they should just be drawn and
quartered...

losthalo, waxing nostalgic