| From: | "J. Keith Henry" <Ereskanti@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Full of Life |
| Date: | Wed, 30 Jul 1997 12:39:23 -0400 |
writes:
> >that was entrapped by something he couldn't deal with can now cast a
> trivial
> spell to >destroy it and leave.
>
> That's my whole problem with FAB: the character can't do thing one about
it.
> As both a GM and a player I dislike situations that are: "OK, this
happens,
> but there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, so don't even try." An
> astral form trapped on all sides by FAB is doom and can't do ANYTHING
about
> it. It's like a perfect death-trap. As a player I would find that
incredible
> unfair and frustrating.
Actually, that has happened to me once while playing Binder, my favechar.
However, by accident, I found a way out. I was going to do a Quest of True
Aura, trying to find any loopholes in the fab walls/cloud. In so doing, I
noticed the FAB had no metaplanar signature. Way out became very simple. A
Quest of True Aura on myself (hence, my body), and when I came back to body,
I was out of the confinement (flipped out the mage).
> I'm not saying FAB should be totally worthless, only that there should be
a
> chance, no matter how small for the trapped character to DO something
about
> it. Under the new system, FAB would be rated just like a Ward (which is
> essentially what it is, an artificial, biological astral wall). So if you
> want to make the FAB in a corp facility tough, give it a Rating of 10 or
so
> and it'll kick ass on the astral. Make it Rating 15 and almost nobody will
> be
> able to get through it. But now the trapped character has the OPTION of
> fighting the FAB in astral combat to get out. It might be a very tough
fight,
>
> even a near-suicidal one, but I would prefer to have the option rather
than
> being told I had none.
And that option I have given above. For the non-initiated, how about this
for an option. Or rather, two options.
If you have an elemental or spirit, have it support your "astral weight" and
go to the home metaplanes of said being for a service. Then come back as an
additional service. Can't be done with watchers, but hey, it's a way.
If not, try "yanking your way" back down your own Astral Connection. It
could be treated as a "barrier vs. strength" roll. Living things have a
"per
se" barrier rating, if a way to oppose them can be found. If anything, give
it (the FAB wall) the barrier rating equal to the security system rating of
the place. Things can slip through the smallest cracks.
> >Physical security guards wandering through clouds of FAB are
> >suddenly vulnerable to area effect spells cast from the astral.
THAT is entirely to munchkin provoking.
> Under the Spell Targeting system I propose (see previous post), an astral
> form could ground a spell through the FAB cloud to kill it, but the
mundane
> guards are completely safe because they are not valid targets and cannot
be
> affected by any spells cast from the astral. Theoretically, the
spellcaster
> might be able to transform the FAB into something dangerous or toxic, but
> for
> the drain that would be involved (up in the Serious-Deadly range) why take
> the risk?
> Steve
My end statement is this Steve. Try and look for more options. Never give
up and go for what you know. Try and learn something new. The experience
alone has it's merits. Changing the rules for Astral Signature/Presence just
because of FAB is entirely out of proportion.
