Hoi Chummers, need some help with a Spell Design. A paranoid magician friend of mine wants a spell that makes him invisible to all electronic devices, but visible to the naked/unaugmented eye.
Comments and Suggestion solicited
QM
Shouldn't be difficult. Lemme see if I can dig up a copy of MitS.
~J
Could just cast Improved Invisibility at Force 1 using only one die on the casting test (if you don't make the success, try again... it's not like you'll have to worry about the Drain, at Force 1, with your entire Spell Pool available to soak with). Inanimate objects don't get resistance tests, and will therefore be affected, but, with only 1 success and a TN 1 to resist, people will always see through it unless they botch their resistance test.
It's Improved Invisibility with the Very Restricted Target (Technological Sensors) spell modifier. That gives it a Drain Code of +1(L). It is otherwise identical to Improved Invisibility.
| QUOTE (John Campbell) |
| Could just cast Improved Invisibility at Force 1 using only one die on the casting test (if you don't make the success, try again... it's not like you'll have to worry about the Drain, at Force 1, with your entire Spell Pool available to soak with). Inanimate objects don't get resistance tests, and will therefore be affected, but, with only 1 success and a TN 1 to resist, people will always see through it unless they botch their resistance test. |
| QUOTE |
| SR3, pg. 182 - The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object. |
| QUOTE (John Campbell) |
| Could just cast Improved Invisibility at Force 1 using only one die on the casting test (if you don't make the success, try again... it's not like you'll have to worry about the Drain, at Force 1, with your entire Spell Pool available to soak with). Inanimate objects don't get resistance tests, and will therefore be affected, but, with only 1 success and a TN 1 to resist, people will always see through it unless they botch their resistance test. |
Of course, if you roll a one on your sorcery test (16.6% chance with one die) you're screwed.
Illusions spells have no threshold for fooling electronic devices, and they don't physically affect it, so there is no minimum force.
| QUOTE (Cheesy Answer) |
| The sentences before seem to imply that that's only the case when the object is the target of the spell. In the case of invisibility, the target is the caster, not whatever is observing him/her. So it's pretty open to interpretation. |
| QUOTE (Cheesy Answer) |
| In the case of invisibility, the target is the caster, not whatever is observing him/her. So it's pretty open to interpretation. |
That's what I was looking for, for invis to work on cameras it needs to be higher than half the OR. Since cameras have an OR of 8 more than likely the invis has to be at force 5, because the camera is the target of the spell. One sucess on a force 5 spell is all that is needed and the camera automatically is fooled since it does not get to resist.
Force one Improved Invisibility doesn't pay off. You can get enough raw sucesses to fool living things if you have enough dice, but against technology it fails automatically.
EDIT:
And the subject is not the caster. The subject is whatever the caster made invisible, which is not always the caster. If the caster cast this on Spanky Bill then Spanky Bill is the subject, and everyone looking at Spanky Bill is the target.
Looks like you're right. Pretty screwed up though, how whatever an invisibility spell affects is called the subject, and whatever a mask spell affects is called the target. Meh.
Nope. Mask works the same way. In fact, pretty much all spells work that way. It's just in most cases the subject and the target are the same thing, so they're just called a target.
Works the same way, but the description still refers to the person it's cast at as the target instead of the subject. A matter of semantics, but annoying nonetheless.
That's because Magic in the Shadows is the book that defined the two terms. In the main book, they use both terms interchangably. They like to confuse people.
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| That's because Magic in the Shadows is the book that defined the two terms. In the main book, they use both terms interchangably. They like to confuse people. |
Sucks that I don't have Magic in the Shadows, then.
| QUOTE (BitBasher) |
| That's what I was looking for, for invis to work on cameras it needs to be higher than half the OR. Since cameras have an OR of 8 more than likely the invis has to be at force 5, because the camera is the target of the spell. |
Cheezy answer already quoted this at the top of the thread... so credit for this goes to him (him right?).
| QUOTE (SR3 @ pg. 182) |
| - The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object. |
Yes, him. ![]()
I think he's asking you where you got the OR of the camera.
| QUOTE |
| Yes, him. |
| QUOTE |
| I think he's asking you where you got the OR of the camera. |
| QUOTE (BBB p. 182 @ Object Resistance Table) |
| Manufactured high-Tech Objects and Materials (Advanced plastics, Alloys, Electronic Equipment)....OR 8 |
You should've said credit goes to it.
~J for the use of dehumanizing genderless pronouns
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) |
| You should've said credit goes to it. ~J for the use of dehumanizing genderless pronouns |
| QUOTE (BitBasher @ Jul 18 2004, 10:11 PM) |
| That's what I was looking for, for invis to work on cameras it needs to be higher than half the OR. |
| QUOTE (ShadowGhost @ Jul 18 2004, 11:36 PM) | ||
I meant where is this specifically for invis? IN the spell section it gives a flat TN of 4, and makes no reference to OR, even though several other spells specifically do mention it when casting on something non-living (Powerball, Analyze device). |
People are not inanimate objects though. ![]()
Unless we're talking about dead people - but in SR, even that can't be guaranteed.
Neither are trees inanimate objects, they are live but still listed under OR 3!
| QUOTE |
| "The target number for spells cast against inanimate objects is based on the material from which the object is made. The more "high-tech" an object is, the heard it is for magic to affect it. The force of the spell must must be equal or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object." |
Last time I saw an animated tree I'd eaten half a can of nutmeg.
| QUOTE (BitBasher) |
| Interesting side effect, Natural Objects are OR:3. A force one spell can affect NOTHING, Not even people. It has to be force 2 or higher to affect living things, and at an OR of 3 a force one spell is not equal to or greater than half the OR! I never noticed that before. EDIT: a Force one manabolt is the equivalent of pointing your finger and saying BANG for light drain, because it can't actually do damage! LOL! |
| QUOTE (ShadowGhost) | ||
Not quite - for living people you don't use OR - you use Body as the TN for Powerball/Bolt, and willpower for Manaball/bolt. In the case of a critter that has no stat for willpower, OR might be applicable, and then a force one might have no effect. Otherwise, force 1 spells can affect a lot of things. *If* you have enough successes. |
So you guys are saying I would need a force 20ish detect aircraft carrier spell to detect aircraft carriers?
And what about Riggers? You can't just target the sensors with your spell. You have to target the vehicle and try and roll out your ass to to beat the TN since he gets half body and armor before dividing by half.
I don't think it is as hard to trick technology with invisiblilty as it is to blast it out of existance with a powerball.
| QUOTE (BitBasher @ Jul 19 2004, 12:01 AM) |
| Yes, but that's not always true. Ivisibility uses a TN of 4 but it still doesnt do anything to technological devices if the force isn't at least half the OR. |
| QUOTE |
| "The target number for spells CAST AGAINST inanimate objects is based on the material from which the object is made. |
The thing viewing the invisibility is specifically the target of the spell. That's the basis I'm going off of, but hey, everyone is free to do it however they want in their games, but this does make the "free force one spells for everyone" a LOT less prevalent and I believe in line with the way it should be, but YMMV.
I think a force 1 Imp Invisibility spell is great for natural selection. But we do limit the number of successes by the force of the spell, making force important.
First, there's a huge difference between the Target Number of a spell and the Target (or Subject) of a spell. They're wholly different beasts, even though the latter generally determines the former in cases of Combat Spells and Directed Illusions.
Second, as BitBasher has said, there's a flat rule in the game that states that the Force of a spell has to be equal to at least half the OR of the Target before it even has a chance of affecting that target. If this first caveat is met, THEN the Target Number comes into play to determine the actual effect of the spell. If the Force of the spell is less than half, the spell as no chance of affecting the target no matter what -- it just doesn't have the moxy to do the job.
Third, this rule is basically a http://shadowrunrpg.com/resources/errata_sr3.shtml to the rules. As written in the errata, no Level 1 spell can affect any inanimate object (which does include trees, but basically not any sentient being with a standard stat block such as metahumans and critters) because the lowest OR available is 3 for Natural Objects such as (that's right) trees. If for whatever reason you choose to ignore the errata, then ORs only come up for spells that specifically mention them, usually only regarding the Target Number or the Threshold of the spell.
Fourth, Invisibility and most other Indirect Illusions are cast on a Subject. The actual Target of the spell, however, is everyone and everything witnessing the Subject. So the tacked-on blanket OR rule applies and varies from Target to Target even though the Subject remains the same.
On the one hand, something like this serious damages magic's effectiveness.
On the other hand, it provides a reason for something like the absolutely boneheaded FAQ suggestion on how to deal with vehicles and drones to exist. It still doesn't make sense, but at least it gives you some sort of bonus for casting that Force-45 Improved Invis.
~J
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| As written in the errata, no Level 1 spell can affect any inanimate object (which does include trees, but basically not any sentient being with a standard stat block such as metahumans and critters) because the lowest OR available is 3 for Natural Objects such as (that's right) trees. |
"The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object."
The lowest OR score is 3 for things like living trees, and that's on SR3 p. 182. Thus a Force 1 spell will not affect any inanimate object because 3/2 is 1.5. Though one can argue that this is rounded down as is most things in the game, but then you run into the problem with a minimum TN of 2.
The tack-on is a tack-on to the paragraph talking about Object Resistance numbers and their use with inanimate objects, of which metahumans and critters are not.
etc.
Ok I read it that you where saying it applies to metahumans. I need more coffee.
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| "The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object." The lowest OR score is 3 for things like living trees, and that's on SR3 p. 182. Thus a Force 1 spell will not affect any inanimate object because 3/2 is 1.5. Though one can argue that this is rounded down as is most things in the game, but then you run into the problem with a minimum TN of 2. |
Just about everything is a target number for something in the game. The Target Number of a spell, as specified by the term "Target" in the spell's stat block, is wholly different than the target of a spell. But half the OR of a target is still the "target number" used to determine the required Force to affect it.
Don't blame me 'cause they use the same and similar terms to describe a plethora of different things.
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| "The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object." The lowest OR score is 3 for things like living trees, and that's on SR3 p. 182. Thus a Force 1 spell will not affect any inanimate object because 3/2 is 1.5. Though one can argue that this is rounded down as is most things in the game, but then you run into the problem with a minimum TN of 2. |
This rule can create some silly situations. For example, a Force 3 deadly fireball that hits a keg of gundoder but does nothing to it, because the OR of gunpowder is 8. It also makes spells like Trid Enterainment are useless below force 4.
I didn't say that I cared for it. It's just what the rules say. I tend to look down upon most of the online errata and FAQs since many of them seem to be snap decisions instead of carefully thought-out and researched ones.
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| Just about everything is a target number for something in the game. The Target Number of a spell, as specified by the term "Target" in the spell's stat block, is wholly different than the target of a spell. But half the OR of a target is still the "target number" used to determine the required Force to affect it. Don't blame me 'cause they use the same and similar terms to describe a plethora of different things. |
That won't help your poor otaku, because the "target number" to be paralyzed due to low body is 0. Err, I mean 2
| QUOTE (Eyeless Blond @ Jul 18 2004, 10:52 PM) |
| Okay, so by that argument no attribute can ever be lower than a 2. An Otaku may have a 1 in Body, but because that attribute might sometimes be used as a target number (say for a Powerbolt spell), then its minimum possible value is a 2. |
| QUOTE |
| In fact, that same weakling Otaku can never run out of Combat Pool, because even when he uses it all up and has 0 remaining, that number must automatically be rounded up to a 2, because there might be an obscure case where it is used as a TN (although I can't really think of any off the top of my head.) |
| QUOTE |
| No. Not every number in Shadowrun is a Target Number all the time. Sometimes it is an attribute, or in some cases like this one it is *half* of an attribute, and therefore does not necessarily round up to 2. |
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey @ Jul 19 2004, 01:50 AM) |
| I simply pointed out that that blanket rule could give rise to an argument stating that a Force 1 spell could or could not be effective against natural objects. |
I am not backpeddling. Maybe you should read the original quote.
| QUOTE |
| The lowest OR score is 3 for things like living trees, and that's on SR3 p. 182. Thus a Force 1 spell will not affect any inanimate object because 3/2 is 1.5. Though one can argue that this is rounded down as is most things in the game, but then you run into the problem with a minimum TN of 2. |
| QUOTE |
| I didn't say it was always a target number, nor did I say that it would necessarily be a 2 in the earlier case. I simply pointed out that that blanket rule could give rise to an argument stating that a Force 1 spell could or could not be effective against natural objects. |
| QUOTE (Necrotic Monkey) |
| I am not backpeddling. Maybe you should read the original quote. |
| QUOTE |
| The lowest OR score is 3 for things like living trees, and that's on SR3 p. 182. Thus a Force 1 spell will not affect any inanimate object because 3/2 is 1.5. Though one can argue that this is rounded down as is most things in the game, but then you run into the problem with a minimum TN of 2. |
| QUOTE |
| The Force of the spell must be equal to or greater than half the Object Resistance, rounded down, for it to affect an object. |
He just wants to take it back ![]()
| QUOTE |
| Just about everything is a target number for something in the game. The Target Number of a spell, as specified by the term "Target" in the spell's stat block, is wholly different than the target of a spell. But half the OR of a target is still the "target number" used to determine the required Force to affect it. Oh wait, it's not because this is not my real opinion. I am posting this for typing practice. Don't blame me 'cause they use the same and similar terms to describe a plethora of different things. Actually you can blame me, because I'm the only person to ever come up with this bizarre argument and I'm saying it for no reason, since I don't believe in it anyway. |
| QUOTE |
| Nobody outside the special olympics will ever say this. |
I have always interpereted that to mean that it's not so much that 2 is the minumum TN, it's that a 1 is never a success. It equates to the same thing, but is more accurate.
That being said, an improved invis Force 1 will not cover microphones, pressure plates, etc. so you'd need to design a slightly more powerful spell. of course, onece your mage does that, learns it and uses it for the first time and the astral residue gets analyzed by VERY powerful corp. mages, your wiz-kid is going to be in a serious world of hurt (or potentially very wealthy, depending on how the spell was used.)
| QUOTE |
| they've been saying stupid things like that ever since the inception of the board |
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