| From: | Steve Kenson <TalonMail@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: [SR3] Area Spells |
| Date: | Sat, 26 Jul 1997 01:06:40 -0400 |
> Example: Talon tosses a manaball at a security mage, two corp guards and
an
> elemental the mage has hanging around in astral space. Talon can see the
mage
> and one guard. The other guard is up against the wall on the other side
of
> the open doorway. The elemental is hovering near the sec-mage in astral
form.
> Talon targets using his normal vision. He can see the mage and one guard
> unaided and targets his manaball in their midst. The elemental and the
other
> guard are within the radius of the spell, but they are not affected
because
> Talon cannot see them and therefor cannot form a magical link with them.
The
> mage and the corp guard make Spell Resistance Tests while the elemental
and
> the other guard are unaffected.
>>>>Question: why isn't the Elemental included? I understand your
reasoning,
but astral perception is used (albeit briefly) during spellcasting in order
to synch...er target all the beings in the area. Thus, during that time,
all the targets of the spell are established...wouldn't this include the
Elemental then?<<<<<
Because the moment of awareness of the astral plane is so brief and
sub-conscious as to be nearly unnoticable. It's not usable for assensing and,
therefore, useless for targeting. In the example above, Talon forms a magical
link with his potential targets using his physical vision. When he throws the
spell, his sense open to astral space for a microsecond as the spell energy
surges from him to his target(s). IMHO, he doesn't even have time to look
around and go "oh, look, an elemental."
I think part of the problem is the current example about "synchronizing
auras" in SR2 makes it sound like the caster uses astral perception, looks
around, carefully and methodically matches his aura to the target(s) and lets
fly when in fact (IMHO) the whole process happens in a single, almost
instinctive, action before the caster has a chance to be aware of anything on
the astral. A spellcaster hinks about synchronizing auras no more tthan a
trained martial artist thinks about making a block in the middle of a fight.
It just happens; trained reflex.
Steve K.
