 Please clarify some magic stuff, Some questions I've been wondering about |
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 Aug 18 2007, 12:49 PM
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#26
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Target  Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 6-May 07 Member No.: 11,609  |
Sorry to be a bother asking all these questions, but...
In the book, p 195, it says the Drain Value of a spell can never be less than one. OK, all fine. One of my players casts Stunbolt at Force 5 (Magic of 5). The Drain is (5/2 rounded down)-1 = 2-1 = 1. Then he rolls Will + Charisma to resist Drain, as a shaman. Thing is, this looks ridiculously easy, as all he has to do is roll one hit and take no Drain damage. Am I interpreting this right, is it possible to take no Drain damage (even though the rule says the Drain [/I]Value[/I] can never be less than one?) In every example in the book of taking Drain, the hapless caster rolls fewer hits than the Drain they took. If they had included one, just one, example of someone rolling more hits, this wouldn't have confused me. Oh, and just to clarify an earlier question: So when astral, you can only cast Mana spells, and you can only cast them on someone with an astral presence (that is, astrally projecting or astrally sensing), even if you're manifesting? That is, you can't manifest and then toss off a Stunbolt at some ordinary, non-Awakened Joe. Correct? much grass |
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Aug 18 2007, 01:17 PM
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#27
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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 |
That's why we're here. :)
You are reading it correctly. The shaman would only need one hit to take no Drain in that particular case.
Correct again. :) |
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Aug 20 2007, 03:27 AM
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#28
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 254 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,768 |
I've got a simple question about the damage of combat spells such as Powerball or Manabolt: are they "all or nothing", or do they work somewhat like ranged attacks?
For example, Joe Mage casts a Force 5 Manaball at punks A and B, with 3 hits on his test. Both roll Willpower for resisting: A gets 0 hits, B gets 2. What happens next? A) Do A and B automatically take 5 damage? B) Or do A and B nor have to resist 8P and 6P damage, respectively? It seems to me that A is the correct answer, but I'd like to know for sure. |
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Aug 20 2007, 03:37 AM
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#29
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
Direct spells are all-or-nothing. Indirect spells work like ranged attacks. In your example the answer is "C": A takes 8 boxes of damage, B takes 6 boxes of damage. As to why you would want to use a spell with variable resisted effect rather than an all-or-nothing which will explode anyone if it gets even a single hit - remember that in large engagements counterspelling stacks to a limited degree and spellcasting does not "stack" at all. -Frank |
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Aug 20 2007, 08:17 AM
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#30
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,598 Joined: 15-March 03 From: Hong Kong Member No.: 4,253 |
Option B. Punk A takes 8, Punk B takes 6. If Punk A had gotten 0 hits and Punk B had gotten 3 hits, then Punk A would take 8 boxes and Punk B would take nothing as direct spells need one net hit to do anything (page 173-174, step 5). Also note that max hits on a spell are capped by the force of the spell. So if Joe mage cast a force three manaball at the two punks, and rolled 5 hits on his spellcasting test, only 3 of them actually count. So (vs the manaball): If Punk A had gotten 0 hits and Punk B had gotten 3 hits, then Punk A would take 6 boxes and Punk B would take nothing as there are no net hits on the spell (even though the caster actually got 5 hits on the spellcasting test, as the spellcasters max hits were limited to 3 by the force of the spell). Note that indirect spells work differently: [edit] erm, note that max hits are still capped by force [/edit] (see example on p 196) Joe mage casts Blast force 5 at the two punks. All the punks have reaction three and dodge 3. Joe mage gets three hits on the spellcasting test. (This makes the base damage of the blast 8.) Punk A decides to go on full defense and resists with reaction + dodge (6 dice) Punk B had been shot once at by Sally Sam previously so he uses (Reaction -1) to try to get out of the way. Punk A gets lucky and gets 4 hits on his dodge test. Punk B gets nothing. Punk A is looking at 4 damage. Even though he got more hits on his defense test that the mage, he still takes some damage. Punk B takes is looking at the full 8. and now both punks resists with body + half armor We'll say both punks are average orks (body 5) wearing armored jackets (armor 8) This means that each punk gets 9 dice to soak (5 + 8/2) Punk A is looking at 4 damage and rolls 3 hits for his soak. So he actually takes 1 damage. Punk B is look at 8 damage. He gets a bit lucky here and gets 4 hits on his damage resistance test. So he takes 4 damage. -------------- So, against stuff unlikely to resist your spells, direct combat spells are the best, they have lower drain don't have the additional resistance of body+1/2 armor. If the targets are likely to resist your spell, indirect is the way to go. Even if they get more hits, you might can still slip some damage through. ------------- [additional edit] Also note that spending edge on the spellcasting test removes the limit of net hits based on the spell's force. So if Joe mage had used edge in the force 3 manball example (where he got 5 hits on the spellcasting test), then Punk A would have taken 8 damage and Punk B would have taken 5. |
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Aug 20 2007, 08:43 AM
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#31
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Immortal Elf Group: Validating Posts: 7,999 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,890 |
Bah! Magic needs a minimum of 600 dice on the table per action or else it's totally unrealistic. Google and Wikipedia told me so.
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