| From: | Caric <caric@********.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: [SR3] Combat Spells |
| Date: | Mon, 7 Jul 1997 18:27:54 -0700 |
| that their damage has to be staged all the way down, the victim of a
Combat
| spell gets his Willpower or Body and that is all. If combat spells were
| made as powerful as this change would make them, nobody in their right
mind
| would take a DM. All that the opponent gets to resist with is his
willpower
| or (natural) body, which will be considerably lower than his potential
die
| pool for a damage resistance test combined with the use of some armor.
I don't dispute that, but the higher target number that the combat spell
will need (generally) will help to make up for it by having fewer
successes...also if the drain is increased to the full force that makes
casting those high yield spells very costly for the extra power. I would
limit elemental effects to only the DM's and so there will still be a
need/want for them. Spells like clout will always be great because of the
high yield for low force.
| >Combat spells will still have higher target numbers and heaven
| >help them if the opposition has shielding.
|
| The target number was still the Willpower or Body of the opponent, just
as
| it is now. If you mean drain, having to fend off (Force) Drain is a
| pittance compared to the incredibly enhanced (and game-unbalancing) power
| this would give Combat spells.
Yes the target number will be the same, but the caster won't be able to
afford to cast those high damage spells nearly as much. Even manabolt
would do as much damage to you as your target, and you would have to split
up your pool. I don't even want to get into spells like hellblast.
| Shielding always helps, but it wouldn't help near enough. It does plenty
| normally, why shouldn't it do so in this situation?
I don't think shielding should get any better, maybe i'm thinking
incorrectly here, but for combat spells the shielding adds to the target
number and the targets resistance dice...when a DM is cast the shielding
doesn't add to the TN, but the target does get the extra dice to resist.
At least that's how we use it in our game.
| If every person everywhere had a 6 Willpower and someone throwing some
| Shielding dice their way 24 hours a day, then I could see this
modification
| to the rules being somewhat plausible. The average person in SR has a 3
| Willpower and doesn't know anyone with magical ability let alone someone
| who's willing to shield him constantly...
If you were running against average people it wouldn't matter what you did
to the magic system you would destroy them every time. If you want to talk
about mages fighting only non-mages it's still not going to be any more
deadly because the mage cannot cast as many spells before he is messed up.
If there is an opposing mage then things get really nasty.
| >DM's will have lower target numbers, but the opponent gets some
| >or all of there impact armor.
|
| And a full damage resistance test as opposed to a handful of dice from
| Willpower or Body. Remember that a force 4 (mediocre) spell was cast
| against a *max* human willpower target and still caused damage without
| trouble. Drain was handled easily. The target got no damage resistance
| test just a spell resistance test. Imagine what this would do to anyone
| without a 6 willpower (90% or more of SR)?
And is they do so then that's all the fewer combat pool dice they get when
your buddy shoots them. That was also for a manamissile and the target
only took a light wound.
| >The drain would be high enough that it would even out.
|
| Nowhere near. As it was clearly presented in Steve's example, the drain
was
| handled easily and the target (with max human Willpower) of a mediocre
spell
| was injured.
We are talking about the drain on a manamissile so yes it was handled
easily...if the spell had been a manabolt the drain would have been
light...do you think that the casting magician should take a wound equal to
the one he deals out? I think that a light drain to deliver a moderate
wound is not overbalanced.
| >The higher target numbers on combat spells would limit there
| >effectiveness in comparison to DM's.
|
| Higher TN's? The average Willpower in SR is three (maybe 2, but I'll
give
| it the benefit of the doubt). This is less than the 4 TN of a damaging
| manipulation. Average Body? Same. Still lower, nice and easy to cast
on.
| There is no downside to the enhanced power that this would give Combat
| Spells. The drain increase is inconsequential, the target numbers better
on
| average than DMs, and the damage unavoidable in almost every case.
Again we as shadowrunners are not fighting average people and you can't
argue that. It would be just as easy to just shoot them if you are
fighting pedestrians. How many runner have body and willpower attributes
lower than four? Not many...and if they do then they usually have another
way of defending themselves or have the lower attributes as a role-playing
device and should expect combat to be extremely dangerous to them
regardless.
| A force 3 manabolt cast at an average person would kill every time
(barring
| some UGLY die rolling) and drain would be resisted easily. I call that
| unbalancing.
A force three manbolt cast at a normal person would do kill everytime as it
is now, and drain would be resisted easily. I fail to see the difference.
-Caric
"These pretzels are MAKING ME THIRSTY!!!!!"
