| From: | Drekhead <drekhead@***.NET> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Chargen |
| Date: | Wed, 23 Jul 1997 09:11:23 +0000 |
> At 09:42 PM 7/22/97 -0500, John wrote:
> >The entire edges/flaws table is completely messed up. I cant think of a
> >single character I wouldnt pay 3 edge points to give astral perception for
> >example.
>
> Considering that you have to be magically active to take any magical talent
> edge, there's quite a few characters out there who simply cannot take the
> Astral Sight edge. I agree, though. It should cost like 5 points.
Ok, I can't take it anymore. I am going to repost this again so that
those who haven't seen it can get it right. Those of you that have, I
apologize. This is a post that Steve Kenson sent that clarifies the
magical edges and flaws as they were intended to be represented.
Please spread the word. It makes perfect sense when viewed in this
manner, and is not overpowerful. Makes the point system even more
flexible, and magic more interesting and varied.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Magicians, Adepts and the Build Point System
Taken from a ShadowRN post by Steve Kenson
--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- MAGICAL ABILITY BREAKDOWN These are the options for magical
ability that I use with the Build-Point System presented in the
Shadowrun Companion. People will recognize some of these levels of
ability as Magical Edges from the Edges & Flaws section and it might
help to clarify how those Edges & Flaws were intended (by me, at
least) to work.
GENERAL RULES
All characters with any kind of magical ability (i.e., anyone who
has spent more than 0 Build Points on magical ability) have a Magic
Attribute, which begins at 6. These characters are collectively
known as "Talented" or "Gifted." ("Magician" is used in my
campaigns
as a generic term for Talented characters with the highest level of
magical ability.) All Talented characters are subject to the rules
governing the Magic Attribute, including loss due to Essence Loss
and Deadly Wounds. Such characters are also all subject to the geasa
rules due to Magic loss.
All Talented characters must follow a tradition (although they may
not always KNOWINGLY do so). The tradition is chosen at character
creation and may not be changed.
MAGICIAN (20 points)
This level gives the character access to full use all of the magical
skills and abilities of his chosen tradition. Generally this will be
either Hermetic (mage) or Shamanic (shaman), but there are other
traditions available to offer slightly different abilities, such as
Nature Magic, Voudoun and so forth.
ADEPT (15 points)
At this level, the character has access to ONE significant area of
magical ability from his chosen tradition. This could be full use of
a single magical skill or partial use of all skills and abilities.
Adepts can bond or use foci that are applicable to their magical
skills and abilities. The character can choose ONE of the following
options:
Conjuring Adept: The character can make full use of the Conjuring
skill, but is considered mundane for other magical skills or
abilities, this includes applications of Conjuring that require
Astral Perception or Projection (including metamagic). The character
can bond or use foci that are applicable to the Conjuring skill.
Elemental Adept: This option is only open to mages. The character is
"aligned" with one of the four hermetic elements: Earth, Air, Fire
or Water. The character can use the Sorcery skill to cast spells
aligned to that element and Conjuring to summon spirits aligned with
that element as well as watchers. The adept can astrally perceive
and project. For all other uses of magical skill, the adept is
considered a mundane.
Physical Adept: The adept "grounds" all of his magical ability into
his body. He may "buy" physical adept powers using his Magic Rating,
but is considered a mundane for the use of all magical skills.
Physical adepts cannot astral perceive unless they purchase the
power that allows them to do so.
Shamanic Adept: This option is only open to shamans. The adept can
use Sorcery to cast spells for which their totem grants a bonus and
Conjuring to summon spirits for which the totem grants a bonus. The
adept can also astrally perceive and project. For all other uses of
magical skill, the adept is considered a mundane. Shamanic adepts
are only available for those totems which provide bonuses based on
Spell Category of Spirit Type, not totems that have bonsuses based
on things such as time of day (such as Owl) or no bonuses (such as
Coyote).
Sorcery Adept: The character can make full use of the Sorcery skill,
but is considered mundane for other magical skills or abilities,
this includes applications of Sorcery that require Astral Perception
(including metamagic).
MINOR ADEPT (Cost varies)
At this level, the character has PARTIAL access to the use of a
magical skill or ability or full use of a fairly limited skill or
ability. Minor adepts can bond and use foci that affect their areas
of skill and ability.
Astral Adept (5 points): The character can make use of astral
perception and projection, but is considered a mundane for the use
of all magical skills.
Banishing Adept (5 points): The adept can use the Conjuring skill to
attempt to banish any type of spirit. For all other uses of magical
skill and ability, the adept is considered a mundane. He cannot
control spirits, only banish them. The adept does gain a totem
bonus, if shamanic, for banishing the appropriate kind of spirit.
Enchanting Adept (5 points): The adept can make full use of the
Enchanting skill. For all other magical skills and abilities, the
adept is considered a mundane.
Astral Sight Adept (3 points): The adept can use astral perception,
but not astral projection. For the use of magical skills, the adept
is considered a mundane. Note this still means that the adept can
learn the specialization of Sorcery for astral combat, since even
mundanes can do so (see Awakenings).
Spell Adept (varies): The adept can use the Sorcery skill to cast a
single spell. If the spell is eligible to be cast using Ritual
Sorcery, the adept can do this as well. The adept can also provide
Spell Defense against the spell he can cast, but not from any
others. For all other magical skills and abilities, including other
uses of the Sorcery skill, the adept is considered a mundane. He
cannot learn or use any other spells. The cost is based on the type
of spell known: Combat (4 points), Detection (2 points), Health (3
points), Illusion (3 points) or Manipulation (4 points). The
gamemaster may adjust the cost if the spell is considered especially
flexible or weak. The spell is automatically known at a Force equal
to the adept's starting Magic Rating and can be increased normally
by spending Karma.
Spirit Adept (varies): The adept can use the Conjuring skill to
summon a single type of spirit: a specific elemental or nature
spirit or a watcher spirit. The adept follows the normal rules for
conjuring the spirit, but cannot have more than one spirit summoned
or bound at a time. The adept may also attempt to banish or control
spirits of the type he can summon. For all other magical skills and
abilities, including other uses of the Conjuring skill, the adept is
considered a mundane. The cost is based on the type of spirit the
adept can summon: elemental or nature spirit (5 points), or watcher
(3 points).
Negamagic Adept (5 points): The adept can use the Sorcery skill to
provide Spell Defense. The number of dice that the adept may
allocate to spell defense is limited to no more than the adept's
Magic Attribute. The adept does not gain the use of Shielding or any
other metamagical abilities on Initiation, only increased Magic and
the ability to allocate more dice to spell defense per turn that
comes with it. For all other magical skills and abilities, including
other uses of the Sorcery skill, the adept is considered a mundane.
NOTES
Gamemasters may have to keep an eye on minor adepts to keep them
from becoming a problem, given their low point cost. Generally
speaking, the Magic Attribute limitation keeps most character
concepts from abusing the option; it's not worth it for a heavily
cybered character to spend 5 points for Negamagic or Banishing
ability if his Magic Attribute is going to be too low to make much
use of it.
Minor adepts (like all of the Talented) have to carefully balance
the benefits of cyberware and implants with maintaining their minor
magical ability. Many of them decide it's not worth it to maintain a
magical lifestyle and go the full cyber-route, burning out and
becoming mundanes. In fact, some cyber characters might have had a
minor adept ability once and just never knew about it before they
had stuffed themselves so full of metal and cultured tissue that
their Power went "poof."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
---- Steve Kenson's writing for FASA includes Awakenings and
Shadowrun Companion.
____________________________________________________________________
Thanks also to Loki for re-posting this the last time so that I
could save it.
--
===DREKHEAD==================================drekhead@***.net===
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