| From: | Rand Ratinac docwagon101@*****.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Watcher spirits? |
| Date: | Tue, 24 Oct 2000 22:10:02 -0700 (PDT) |
>
> > Which also leads me to wonder...how many gm's
let people "customize" their magical effects (or,
heck, suggest that people do this)? I usually try to,
since it helps me visualize a character better. I'll
use a variety of shaman...a Dark King shaman, for
example, might call upon his connection to death to
help draw the death concentrating around a character
into himself. Also known as "heal". A cat shaman with
death touch (Is that the name? I don't have my book
handy...it's a combat spell that requires physical
contact) might hit someone and claw marks would
appear, where a bear shaman might just deliver a
crushing blow....
>
> In my first Shadowrun game, this was somewhat
encouraged. Our magic user was a Druid of Sea, with
Death Touch. If one of her victims had a mundane
autopsy performed on them afterwards, they'd find he
died of seafood poisoning.
>
> Personally, I let the Awakened choose their effects
to a degree. The Death Touch one is a good example,
but applies only to Shamans in my mind. Mages with
Death Touch simply interrupt a person's life energies,
and an autopsy shows no apparent cause of death other
than "Stopped Breathing". On the other hand, Shamans
cannot choose the shape of any spirits besides
watchers, whereas Hermetics can shape the look of
Elementals as well.
> Andrew C. Murdoch
Watchers...and allies, I hope. :)
Personally, I allow my players to shape their magical
effects pretty much as much as they like, so long as
the desired effect is just a "visual" one and doesn't
change how the spell is supposed to work. So far I
haven't had anyone who wanted to go into that much
detail, though.
In my own experience (with playing and writing
stories), my mages/shamans tend to acquire unique
spells, more than customising existing spells. A mage
detective, who tries to take his targets non-lethally
for obvious reasons, has a couple of elemental
manipulation spells along those lines - they're both
(freezing) air blasts doing stun damage. Another
character's death touches cause cerebral haemorrhages.
Mmmm, lovely. :)
Shaping spirits, on the other hand, is much more my
deal. One character apparently has a bit of a fixation
- every spirit he summons is a tall, beautiful
redhead. :)
Since reading "The Silent Blade" (Forgotten Realms
novel - sorry to disappoint ;) ), though, I've been
hankering to make a mage with a clout spell that is
visualised as forming a gigantic hand that flicks the
target. :)
====Doc'
(aka Mr. Freaky Big, Super-Dynamic Troll of Tomorrow, aka Doc'booner, aka Doc' Vader)
.sig Sauer
Can you SMELL what THE DOC' is COOKIN'!!!
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