 Shadow Magic, Yet another tradition |
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 Oct 28 2005, 11:48 PM
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#26
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 286 Joined: 5-September 05 Member No.: 7,688  |
By the way, for people who equate the number of new traditions to D&D prestige classes, think about this:
For D&D, you needed to come up with a character concept, BAB progression table, spell progression table, list of new and useful abilities and their functions, saving throw progression table, list of skills, prerequisites, etc. etc... For SR4 traditions, all you need is a little bit of creative description, a choice between Logic, Charisma, or Intuition for drain (I'd highly recommend AGAINST using Body, like one poster mentioned... I think the point is that you must use a Mental stat, but who knows), and a semi-randomly selected list of spirits and spell elemental links. There's not much thought that really goes into it (game-mechanics-wise). So yeah, expect to see a million different traditions with very little actual differences, besides flavor text. |
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Oct 29 2005, 03:38 AM
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#27
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,076 Joined: 31-August 05 From: Rock Hill, SC Member No.: 7,655 |
I only used Intuition as the Drain stat one time. A friend of mine gave me a cross-over challenge and told me to create Nick Scryer from "Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy" using SR4 chargen and rules. Since he was a psychic-type with telekinesis, mind-reading/control powers, pyrokinesis and the like, I figured the best drain stat FOR him would be Intuition.
I ended up making him a Magician with combat abilities. My real magician characters use Logic. |
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Oct 29 2005, 08:47 AM
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#28
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 388 Joined: 24-October 05 Member No.: 7,885 |
I've played this game for almost 10 years now, never once have I had a successful magician use more then 2-3 focus.
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Oct 29 2005, 05:39 PM
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#29
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 403 Joined: 27-August 02 From: Scotland Member No.: 3,175 |
Do you mean they've never used a focus rating higher than 2-3, or never used more than 2-3 foci?
I'd think most mages, eventually, would have more than three foci they'd find useful. The ratings of course depend on the power level of your campaign. |
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Oct 29 2005, 09:50 PM
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#30
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Especially now that SR4 has split the Counterspelling Foci up into spell categories.
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Oct 30 2005, 02:03 AM
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#31
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,718 Joined: 14-September 02 Member No.: 3,263 |
That's definately part of it. The biggest change though from SR3 IMO is in Power Foci. Power Foci do not work when using Counterspelling for Spell Defense (because you don't use your Magic attribute), only when dispelling a sustained spell. Also the asspected Spellcasting and Summoning foci (there are no general Spellcasting/Summoning foci) can still aid in casting when you have a Power foci since you can use their dice for Drain tests (which again the Power foci cannot). So you'd likely have a Power focus along with a Spell focus aspected to your most common overcast, and likely Health since Heal drain can be very nasty at times, plus your most common summoned Spirit category. Assuming you specialize one way or another that's at least two (three if you are trying to generalize a bit, and that'll make the foci even more important). Add in likely a couple Sustaining foci, assuming you cast at least a couple utility spells you want to keep up. That brings and that brings you to 4 or 5 foci. Then you can look at what base you want to cover with Counterspelling/Banishing. Combat being likely number one on the list, but Detection and Illusion are certainly valid options and there spells that can hurt you in both Manipulation (Petrify/Goo) and Health (Decrease Attribute). As for Spirits, well that's a wide open territory. You might consider what you Specialized Counterspelling/Banishing in, and try cover a different category to give a wider range of protection. At that point you are already in the neighborhood of the limit before Initiating, with tough choices already made, and without considering Weapon Foci. Of course you could function without some of these foci, but you wouldn't have the same coverage that you had in SR3 with a single Power focus and a couple of Sustaining foci. |
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Oct 30 2005, 03:11 AM
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#32
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Decker on the Threshold Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,922 Joined: 14-March 04 Member No.: 6,156 |
On the flip side, all foci are comparatively more expensive as cash is generally "worth" about 4 times as much, except for Power foci which are cheaper.
And Spellcasting and Spirit foci have always been limited by spell category; counterspelling and power foci are the only ones that weren't. Sustainning foci used to have to be rebonded for sustainning a different spell. |
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