[X] My Assistant

[6thDragon]

I noticed a similar thread a while back that debated the difference between banishing and just casting a manabolt/stunbolt. I got to thinking last playing session which is better between spellcasting and Astral Combat. Learning the skill Astral Combat costs valuable buildpoints at character gen. Where you could simply choose either stunbolt or manabolt. Either would work in astral space and have very practical uses on the physical plane too. Because spellcasting is the only method of ranged combat, that by itself is main advantage of spellcasting. Not having to close the distance between yourself and your target has its advantages. Stunbolt and manabolt both have relatively low drain so that shouldn't be a large deterrence to casting spells in astral space either. The one advantage I can see of learning the astral combat skill is that astral combat is an opposed test. Meaning if you have considerably more skill in it than your opponent, you can hurt them badly. Especially if you include a foci and specialization. Then having a modest amount of astral combat just makes sense for defending yourself. Have any of you wondered how effective learning the astral combat skill is over just relying of spellcasting? Or have you have players min-max and get ride of Astral Combat in favor of relying on spellcsting? What did you come up with?

[Ravor]

Well, I remember reading a post on this forum where a poster who ran the numbers decided that Astral Combat is a very situational skill, the best time to use it is when fighting Spirits in an Mana Ebb, that way not only do you get bonuses for Astral Visability, but the Spirit is aso weaker then normal.

Of course I haven't ran the numbers myself, but I don't remember anyone refluting the original poster either...

[pestulens]

this assumes that you can mana-bolt inanimate objects in astral space (Foki and wards). astral combat can be used to shut theas things down but can manabolt? i don't know.

[Ravor]

Well, the existance of the Shattershield spell in Street Magic suggests that Manabolt can be used to attack Wards and Barriers at least, so I'd rule that it isn't unreasonable that it could be used against Foci either, but I'd have to reread that section to be sure...

For those without Street Magic, Shattershield is basically Death Touch modified with a restricted target for a slightly better Drain Code.

[fool]

I'd definitely go with mana bolt. More damage and less chance they can whack you back

[Cold-Dragon]

If for some reason you don't have combat spells (Like taking aspect), then astral combat would be handy. Otherwise it's the discreet, quiet method of hitting certain things compared to the 'nuke I see over the horizon' shattershield effect.

But yeah, depends.

[Moon-Hawk]

What about Astral Signatures?
Does Astral Combat leave a signature? That would be a very good reason to use it.