From:	"Bruce H. Nagel" <NAGELBH@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: [SR3] Fetish & Exclusive Spells
Date:	Tue, 8 Jul 1997 19:41:58 -0500

You wrote:
> 1) Make Fetish Required and Exclusive Spell modifiers in the spell design
> system just like Restricted Target, Personal Spell and so forth. The
> requirement is designed right into the effect of the spell. A Reuseable
> Fetish would give -1 Drain TN, an Expendable Fetish -2 and Exclusive -1 on
> the Drain Category.
Not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it's neat, and makes sense,
and eliminates one more type of modifier to worry about for starting char's.
OTOH, it also complicates the spells, as they would have different basic stats
for fetish/exclusive versions, for every spell. That might get messy (think of
all the 'personal' versions of things, then think of 'exclusive' and 'fetish'
versions of everything.

> 2) To extend the idea, perhaps Geasa could be made part of spell design as
> well: modifiers for having to incant, gesture, use a particular talisman, be
> in a particular state and so forth. These would be used to lower the Drain of
> a spell by making it more difficult to cast, allowing weaker magicians to
> cast more powerful spells more safely. In this case, Geasa would not be
> required when Magic attribute rating is lost, but a burnout will need spells
> with more modifiers to lower to Drain to the point when they can cast them
> safely.
Same problem as above, unless each starting mage is going to design his spells
ground-up, or excl., geasa, and fetish spells would be disallowed to starting
char's and have to be researched later. And I don't think I like that.

One other note, while I'm on the topic, I always liked the idea that a mage
could, accepting massive drain, still cast a force 8 spell with mental rather
than physical drain with force modifiers. I thought it was neat, and knew
several char's that kept one spell hidden away for a 'kamikaze' strike if the
drek ever really hit the fan. And I saw one really noble death in SR, like
that, though it was a sammy and explosives instead. ("I'll give you a chance
to fling away the explosives the hellblast is igniting with a Quickness test.'
'No, I run at the mage and hope I can take him down." Boom. Saved all our
butts, but died in the process.) :) Damn but those characters new how to
live.

losthalo