Story / strategy idea - how do you deal with a child mage? Options

[HentaiZonga]

How do a group of adult shadowrunners deal with an ultra-powerful Awakened child prodigy, without getting "wished into the cornfield"?

[DocTaotsu]

Drugs, child size mage mask/manacles (availible where ever your city buys it's child protectice services), (shock)boot to the head.

AZ-120 stun batons, neurostun gas, narcoject autoinjectors have merit too.

If you need to talk to him, you have mind probe and influence. Supplemented of course by liberal applications of pharmaceutical "assistance".

I hope you didn't mean what are the "Nice" options for dealing with a prepubescent killing machine who can cook me alive during a medium sized temper tantrum. Which is what I hear when someone describes a child as a "Ultra-powerful awakened child prodigy". If a musical child prodigy can play in a major symphony than a magical child prodigy regularly summons force 4 or better spirits as playthings.

[Muspellsheimr]

Kill it.

Of course, the vast majority of my characters follow a slightly non-standard moral code similar to my own...

[DocTaotsu]

Bah... I guess you don't have an overwhelming affection for getting paid. You know how much a kid like this is worth?

[Muspellsheimr]

That is something to consider.

[Cthulhudreams]

Maximum Metahuman Magic prior to initation: 6

Force 4 Manastatic: Renders someone with magic 6 completely unable to cast spells and summon spirits.

Have applied the one shot nut punch to any magical threat, I'd hose down the area with stick and shock.

Kid is unlikely to have initiated, but if he has well then sod, but seriously he can cast a force 2 spell at me by overcasting. I'm not fussed and will indeed counterspell that.

[Velocity219e]

Maximum Metahuman Magic prior to initation: 6

Force 4 Manastatic: Renders someone with magic 6 completely unable to cast spells and summon spirits.

Have applied the one shot nut punch to any magical threat, I'd hose down the area with stick and shock.

Kid is unlikely to have initiated, but if he has well then sod, but seriously he can cast a force 2 spell at me by overcasting. I'm not fussed and will indeed counterspell that.

Although this gets my 'sensible' vote I would seriously consider 'kill it with fire' or tranquilise it from the longest range I could organise and then blindfold it.

in all fairness its pretty hard to say exactly what a supergenius magical small child would know how to do, if he's capable of intuitive casting of offensive spells or summoning combat capable spirits as playthings its not unreasonable that it has also tapped deeper sources of magic in the form of initiation too... I wonder if it would take wailing like a spoiled brat as a Geas ...

I WANT MY TEDDY *STOMP STOMP STOMP* (Enter Earth elemental) Teddy! (cuddles Earth elemental)

[DocTaotsu]

I revise my original assessment. Manastatic first, the rest can wait.

What does mana static do to astrally projecting people?

[HentaiZonga]

Grah! Damn kid was already in the middle of a level 4 Domain, aspected to whatever weird intuitive brand of magic he was doing. (One of the researchers who called us in failed to mention this point upon hiring us, but upon further interrogation, he theorized that the background count might have Awakened the kid early). Apparently, the kid *is* Initiated - at least, he used our rigger's favorite recon drone that we were spying on him with as a sympathetic link (NOT a pretty outcome). He also apparently has some sort of Mob Mood / Mob Mind spell and a Detect Person spell that works out to a really, really long distance. Anyone nearby who can see him, or who thinks about him, he starts messing with their minds.

On the plus side, we're in a pretty sweet spot if we can pull this off. We sat down with the Johnson and explained precisely the grip we have on his balls: either he gives us all the information he has, a shitload of up-front cash, and a promise to pay us ten times the insult he offered us before we knew what he was getting us into, or we go right to the media and let them fight with twenty other megacorps over who gets to extract this kid.

Hot damn, I can almost smell the exhaust of my new Appaloosa.

[Malicant]

Oukay, you're pretty much in houserule country, so every advice you get here has a good chance to not work at all. Good luck and try to pry from your GM wad he has in mind you do to stop that kid. When he is bending and breaking the concepts of magic in SR to such an extent, he sure has something special in mind how to get out of this mess.

[suppenhuhn]

Shell the area with neurostun artillery then put on mob suit and get the kid (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

then pour fuel over it and apply match

[O'Donnell Heir]

Self initiation is pretty much the order of the day around here, and attunement seems par for the course on someone who's had their awakening triggered by the background count (kinda like a spike baby, the extra mana flow awakens them early). Yeah seems like it sucks for the most part, but a party overview would help a lot to giving advice. A tough, cyber'd troll helps a bit if you're trying to make it messy, but removing the target from the area seems best. Take away the background count that's boosting the magic (might explain the major boost in the magic signal and range for the GM). Disrupting the background count also works, but takes time you most likely don't have.

Seems the kid knows what it's doing, so there may be a power behind the throne as it were. Be wary, last thing any party needs is a tussle with an insect spirit, toxic, or nasty, unwanted surprise. If he's doing self powered ritual magic, be especially wary. This kid ain't a prodegy, he's a pro. If worse comes to worse, have a hacker/rigger hack a car and just hit the kid with it as he crosses the street. Chances are the kid will still live as long as you don't just gun it. Then bag in like your a med team, and get away with the corn child.

[Cthulhudreams]

Mana static's background count should override the domain. As he's initated, hope that your mage has edge 5, and can cast a force 6 mana static - which will completely shut down the kid unless he is a grade 4 initate with magic 10. If he has 4 grades of initation and magic 10, punch your DM in the face and overcast mana static. Pump that bitch up as far a syou can without actually dying. Each point of force negates two points of magic

[Stahlseele]

since when does magic work on people who can see the mage?
doesn't magic work only on people THE MAGE CAN SEE? @.@

[Malicant]

You're absolutly right.

But since the kid seems to be using speed ritual magic, it does not really matter.

[DocTaotsu]

Sick some FAB on him...

And my question would be, how has the massive mana spike/background count and retardedly powerful kiddie mage escape having an astral shit storm visited upon him? Is he in the middle of nowhere?

[Lionhearted]

And my question would be, how has the massive mana spike/background count and retardedly powerful kiddie mage escape having an astral shit storm visited upon him? Is he in the middle of nowhere?

Simple, His GM pushed the "I believe railroad plot" button

[Chibu]

Have you tried a sniper rifle? Those kill mages. Neurogas works well too ^-^

[DocTaotsu]

I think the GM's players are the ones that need to punch the "I Believe!" button. But you're right the GM certainly sounds like he's got this one firmly on tracks.

[CanRay]

All this death and violence!

First, does the group actually need to KILL said child?

No?

OK. What does every kid want? Get his a Game-Station-Transportable-DS (Now with Skinlink Simsense!) with a drekload of games. 1000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) and there you go, kid will be distracted for hours.

[Malicant]

Have you tried a sniper rifle? Those kill mages. Neurogas works well too ^-^

I wanted to make such a suggestion, but then I realized the kid can mindrape the shooter before he pulls the trigger, since he is a) seeing the kid and b) thinking of him.

Yeah. Sometimes it is a good idea to stick to the metaphysics of a game.

[DocTaotsu]

Actually, get someone to summon you a level 6+ task spirit of childcare. When Ultra Nanny manifests you're good to go. Sure he could banish said spirit but it's Ultra Nanny! She'll be rolling Yahtzee to give him exactly what he needs/wants without him even knowing it.

Than snipe/neurostun/shockprod/orbital strike him into the party submission position.

[CanRay]

"A spoonful of sugar makes the Thor Shot go down, makes the Thor Shot go down, makes the Thor Shot go down..."

[Shiloh]

He also apparently has some sort of Mob Mood / Mob Mind spell and a Detect Person spell that works out to a really, really long distance. Anyone nearby who can see him, or who thinks about him, he starts messing with their minds.

Hm? How. Needs to be able to see them *from the same plane*. Or is it an AE? I think the kid still needs to be able to see the targets. A superstealthy Mundane sniper should be pretty safe. Or blanket the area where the kid is with smoke (not the IR kind) and have the sammies and drones hose the place down using Thermo to target.

Your ref is bending the rules to get the effect they want. You will probably find he handwaves past any impediments and you have to legwork your way to finding the child's "one weakness".

[Blade]

Sick some FAB on him...

That's what I used to think before actually reading the FAB's rules. It's totally useless except as an astral marker: strain1 does just that, strain 2 also slows the astral form down to very fast instead of super fast and strain 3 can kill a sick baby awakened mouse after 2 weeks or something (exagerating a bit here, but it still takes far too long to be of any use).