| From: | Bob Tockley zzdeden@*******.com.au |
|---|---|
| Subject: | SR3... SpellCasting (and Game Balance) |
| Date: | Fri, 05 Mar 1999 08:37:19 +1000 |
Magic
>Attribute even more relevant. Spell force is still "limited" by magic and
now,
>in SR3, at last, so is spirit force. In SR3, instead of limiting magic pool
>dice allocation, Magic helps define the spell pool; for me, a far more
>significant result. In SR3 the Magic Attribute is even more important for
>Banishing spirits or Controlling uncontrolled spirits, since power foci no
>longer act as a crutch and boost the Magic Attribute for purposes like this.
>Additionally, Magic rather than Sorcery, is now rolled for setting up wards.
>These are the differences that spring to my mind between SR2 and SR3, and
so I
>think the Magic Attribute has even more impact on characters' actions in SR3.
If you'll re-read my post I agree with you about the Magic Attribute
being more important in -other- areas, just not in spellcasting. Your
Magic Attribute has even less to do with Spellcasting than it did before.
It all comes down to your Sorcery Skill and nothing more -at least in
regards to resisted spells. Unresisted spells are an exception because of
the Force-related limits on successes.
Take for example, your typical starting Sorcery Aspected Magician, who
has four points of cyberware (maybe Wired Reflexes-2, a Smartlink,
cybereyes with the works, and some miscellaneous other junk - more if he
Alpha-Grades some of the cyber), and who has a Sorcery Skill, Intelligence,
and Willpower of 6 (not exactly typical, but we're min/maxing here
remember?).
Because of his Magic Attribute of 2, his Spell Pool would be 4
(6+6+2=>14/3 =~ 4), while his Magic Pool (under SR2 at least) would be 6.
If this character was to hurl a Force 1 Manabolt (with a (M)oderate
staging using SR3 or the imposed (S)erious staging using SR2) at your
average person, he'd be rolling a maximum of 10 dice offensively under SR3
or a maximum of 3 dice offensively under SR2 (Force of 1 plus maximum of 2
Magic Pool because of Magic Attribute limit). Both tests would have the
same Target Number - Willpower (3 in this case) plus modifiers.
Assuming no modifiers apply (yeah, sure) the SR3 magician will roll
around 6 - 7 successes while the SR2 magician will roll around 1-2
successes. The target, rolling his Willpower of 3 against the spell's
Force of 1 will usually get 3 successes. End result: SR3 magician either
severely wounds or outright kills his target while the SR2 magician is
lucky to even effect him.
It gets worse, neither magician really runs any risk of taking Drain.
Using 6 dice for Willpower against the Drain Target of 2 will get the SR3
magician more than the four successes he needs to walk away without damage,
and the SR2 magician with his leftover Magic Pool can easily get another
two or so successes on top of his Willpower ones.
Suggested patch for this problem: Re-introduce the Magic Attribute limit
for spellcasting. No character may add more than his Magic Attribute in
Spell Pool dice to his Sorcery test when Spellcasting.
(>) ARKHAM
"Okay, it's almost done... should be released any day now... hold on a
bit... just a few days... sorry, but it'll be out next month... here we go
- oops, just a sec... now for the grand unveili...er... just another few
days... any day now... soon... really soon... we've had some kind of
mix-up, it'll be out in a week's time... yeah, I know the website says it's
out, but we haven't got it to the printers yet, at least a week more to
wait... soon, trust me... next few days, definitely... damn, we've had some
kind of computer error, it'll be released in a few days..."
- FASA Executive announcing the release of a new Shadowrun book.
