Defending against a mage., Without being one yourself. Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Karoline]

So, the title is fairly self explanatory I hope.

I'm curious what sort of ways there are for an individual character to protect themselves from a mage besides being one themselves or having one on overwatch for them. And no, I don't mean 'geek the mage' either. I mean actual protection.

I know that SR is a game of glass characters running around with hammers, but mages always seem to have the biggest hammer. Well, it isn't even that they have the biggest hammer, it is that there is nothing a character can really do (That I can think of) to protect themselves from magic without being born resistant or a mage.

To stop a bullet/blade you can learn to dodge to be less likely to be hit/be hit less hard. You can throw on a bunch of armor to reduce the P damage to stun, and help you soak up more of the damage.

So, my question is basically is there a magic equivalent to picking up the dodge skill (Besides counterspelling) or throwing on some armor? If not, what are some tips and tricks you've picked up to stop a mage blasting you into little bits. I believe there is some magic equivalent of the smoke grenade which blinds astral perception, but that is about the only one I can think of off hand.

[Apathy]

Options vs mages:

• a large volume of individually weak opponents (12 ghouls poping in an alley popping out from behind dumpsters and trash piles, or a swarm of 100 devil rats mobbing you in the sewer). But you've got to be able to use cover, visibility modifiers, and closing to melee range to prevent the mage from taking everyone out with a single stunball, though.
• a few high-end opponents with spell defense. This has a significant chance of TPK, though.
• drones
• area attack weapons and gas.

Mages will potentially be buffed with armor or invisibility spells, making them hard to hit and hard to damage when you do hit, so grenades are always nice. Gas grenades don't need to be precisely targeted, and bypass the armor and barrier spells.

[BlueMax]

Options vs mages:

• a large volume of individually weak opponents (12 ghouls poping in an alley popping out from behind dumpsters and trash piles, or a swarm of 100 devil rats mobbing you in the sewer). But you've got to be able to use cover, visibility modifiers, and closing to melee range to prevent the mage from taking everyone out with a single stunball, though.
• a few high-end opponents with spell defense. This has a significant chance of TPK, though.
• drones
• area attack weapons and gas.

Mages will potentially be buffed with armor or invisibility spells, making them hard to hit and hard to damage when you do hit, so grenades are always nice. Gas grenades don't need to be precisely targeted, and bypass the armor and barrier spells.

I would dispute the listing of Drones. OR is easy to hit until a very large drone. Drones get no defense. Thus a mage with 15 dice to cast spells is way ahead of drones. Thus Drones have nothing on the mages. Its harder for the mundanes to destroy the drones unless you let them walk around with Gauss Rifles. (new scatter rules are *tough* ).

The large volume works though... something about angry masses with pitchforks killing wizards is a classic.

BlueMax

[Jay]

I would dispute the listing of Drones. OR is easy to hit until a very large drone. Drones get no defense. Thus a mage with 15 dice to cast spells is way ahead of drones. Thus Drones have nothing on the mages. Its harder for the mundanes to destroy the drones unless you let them walk around with Gauss Rifles. (new scatter rules are *tough* ).

The large volume works though... something about angry masses with pitchforks killing wizards is a classic.

BlueMax

They might have specified drones (over drone) to go with the numbers game again. Can you arm drones with pitchforks?
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