From:	"Paul J. Adam" <shadowrn@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Drain
Date:	Sat, 5 Jul 1997 02:31:06 +0100

In message <199707031942.PAA02551@****.provide.net>, Justin Pinnow
<vanyel@*******.NET> writes
>And as far as the topic of Street Sams being more suited to battle, because
>that's all they do, my response would be to say: so what about combat
>mages? They fall into the same category...battle is all they do.

Their choice. What I object to is that one single combat spell (most
usually Stun Bolt or Mana Bolt) lets a magician inflict more damage per
action than a samurai with Firearms-6 and a heavy pistol: and with a
Exclusivity the drain is very low.

Great; so it becomes very easy to disarm the samurai, while the magician
can kill whatever he sees.

>Magic is
>supposed to be deadly. It's a wild card. That's why it costs 20 points or
>A priority to even get the privaledge of using it to it's full potential.

And its potential encompasses far more than merely combat. I really
resent the way magicians can out-samurai samurai and do so much more
besides.

I don't mind magicians being effective in a fight, but if you insist
Increase Initiative +3 and a Mana Bolt-6 spell are enough to equal a
samurai, then for six Karma samurai can get a Magic attribute and start
learning Sorcery and Conjuring.

>That makes a mage much weaker in either, skills, attributes, or resources.
>These weaknesses can be exploited. Try to use some creativity instead of
>just slamming the mage.
>
>None of this was intended as insulting. It just bothers me to see the
>thread of mages being too powerful all the time. I have had mages smeared
>all over the floor many times. They aren't all that.

Mages _are_ extremely powerful, by virtue of their flexibility and
versatility. They don't need to be face-stomping combat machines on top
of that. I support enthusiastically the "cast this and fall over" area-
effect nuke spell, but for a combat situation a magician has many more
options (Invisibility, Physical Mask, Confusion, Control Thoughts, et
cetera) to avoid being shot at.

With all that, saying you "need" combat capability is like demanding
deckers be given Firearms-6 and wired-2 so they don't get left behind in
combat scenes.

--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk