Drain Modifier: Addictive Options

[bibliophile20]

Alright, I was cleaning up my apartment today when I came across a stack of books sitting on the floor. As I reshelved them, I spotted the Babylon 5 Technomage trilogy and started thinking.

In the story, Galen, an apprentice technomage, discovers a peculiarity in his spell language (the mental visualizations that he uses to control his internal tech). To make a long story short, he finds that using the most basic "term" (he visualizes his spells as equations) for spheres alone essentially creates a spherical pocket universe that swiftly shrinks and crushes its contents.

The dangerous parts are, one, it's the most basic equation in the series--a single term, not the potentially dozens it takes to cast other spells, making it easy for him to cast, and two, it's essentially addictive for him to cast--he experiences a rush, a "burning, racing energy", when he casts the spell, making it quite dangerous to be within a few miles of him.

So, here's my thought, a proposal for a new drain modifier for the table in Street Magic, pg 163:

Addictive: this modifier modifies part of a spell's Drain from "damaging" to a rush that borders on euphoria. Combat spells only, -2 Drain modifier, but the mage must make an Addiction test (Willpower+(Drain Attribute))(Spell Force/2) each time he casts the spell. Once the mage is addicted, he must succeed in a Willpower+(Drain Attribute) (3) test to voluntarily stop casting the spell if targets are still available.

It sort of goes without saying that, unless you trust your players incredibly well, this is for NPCs only.

Now, as for uses...

• Magical researcher gone awry... and berserk.
• A combat mage looking for that extra edge gets more than he bargained for.
• A mundane spell designer gives a new combat spell to a friend to test and now has to stop him.
• The runners 'jack some notes and old tablets from an Aztechnology research lab; the Azzies want them back (of course), but once the word gets out, every Awakened terrorist organization is going to want to get their hooks into it.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas for the list of uses?

[Fortune]

I'm thinking a -2 DV might be a bit much.

[Adarael]

Not for a Toxic (addiction) caster.
Like that bad guy from Cartoon All-Stars Against Drugs!

[Fortune]

[NightRain]

Awesome idea for a spell modifier! Lots of roleplaying potential.

How's this for a more subtle version of the addiction though that might just fit well enough for a PC.

As you said, get the PC to make an adddiction test (Willpower+(Drain Attribute))(Spell Force/2) each time they cast the spell. If he fails the test and becomes addicted, note the force, because he must cast the spell at this force or higher when he fails future addiction tests.

Once addicted, the addiction means that whenever they are in a situation where the spell would be useful, they need to make an addiction test in order not to cast /this/ spell, even if there are other spells or even mundane approaches that may work just as well or better.

Where it gets nasty though, is if the character glitches, he's effectively developed a tolerance for the spell at that force. From this point onwards, when he fails an addiction test, he must cast the spell at one force point higher to feed the addiction.

It means that the PC doesn't turn in to a psycho killer taking down anything that moves, but instead, faces a real and ongoing risk of having to cast the spell at ever higher forces, including overcasting, just to continue to get a hit. It also means the PC is more likely to see the spell as a solution in situations where something else may work better

[Cabral]

Why not skip the modifier to drain and say this is one possible effect of non-critically glitching a Spell Design (in addition to or in lieu of normal hit reduction)?

[Gelare]

Ooh, neat. Flavorful, too. I like NightRain's version best. It doesn't force mages to blow themselves and their allies up, but it has a nice creeping feeling going on. Also, when the addicted force goes into overcasting territory, it provides an adventure hook for that PC to seek help quickly or die from his addiction. I might want to try this for a character, actually...

[DTFarstar]

It would suck so much to have this happen with an indirect area spell.

Chris

[bibliophile20]

Alright, so then, after some thinking...

Addictive: -2 Drain Modifier. Modifies the spell formula so that some of the debilitating and damaging Drain is modified into an euphoric rush/high that is extremely addictive.

Each time the mage casts the modified spell, he makes an Addiction Test (Willpower+(Drain Attribute)(Spell Force/2)). The first time he fails and/or glitches on the test, he becomes addicted to the spell at that Force. Subsequent glitches/failures on the Addiction test force him to cast the spell at a higher Force to satisfy the addiction. Additionally, the mage must make a Willpower+Logic(Force/2) test to avoid casting the spell at any occasion in which the spell might be of use (or if they convince themselves that the spell will be useful; afterall, a Fireball is a perfectly reasonable and valid response to annoying Lone Star patrol officers, right?)

Eventually a feedback cycle will form, where failure on the Addiction test increases the threshold for future Addiction tests, making it difficult to succeed on future Addiction tests, which then raises the threshold. This will then rapidly head into overcasting territory and real danger for the mage; even the -2 Drain modifier can only stave off the inevitable Physical damage for so long.

Additionally, there is one other effect that doesn't exist for other addicts: mages addicted to these spells have their fix right there; they can give themselves a hit with just a thought. They don't need to go out and rob/mug/attack people to get the money for their fix--the only pay needed is their frail metahuman body and the willingness to risk frying it via excess mana. In a similar vein, detox and rehab present unique difficulties, for the mage needs to be deprived of their memory of the spell formula before there is any possibility of recovery.



So now I'm debating on two points: One, what happens if he undercasts the Force at which he is addicted? Does he get a bonus to the next Addiction test, because the addiction is partially satisfied? Or does he get a penalty, because it didn't satisfy the addiction? And should he need to make a Willpower+Charisma(2) test to even be able to undercast?

And two, combat spells only, or should it be allowed for any spell in any category? (I would disallow it from positive health spells for game balance reasons; as for in-game, I would say that something about the structures of the Addiction modifier and positive health don't get along well)

[NightRain]

[bibliophile20]

Yup. Thing of it is, the modifier needs to be rare to work properly in terms of plot and game balance and it needs to be kept out of the hands of munchkin players.

Hmmm... so, if you were to use this in your game, how would you introduce it? Would you have it be...

• just a standard spell option?
• a new breakthrough, the end results of which were unforseen by the researcher?
• something taught by a spirit with a grudge?
• rediscovered from Fourth World aritifacts?
• created by Aztechnology?

or something else?

[Kyoto Kid]

...participants in Rhapsody in shadow: Read No Further

[ Spoiler ]

this is an excellent modifier for my NPC pyro mage, Crazy Ivan... :vegm:

[The Jopp]

AAARGH!

Just DONT allow a Pornomancer character have this...

I can just imagine the ramifications of a characters ONLY solution to a problem is the area effect Orgy spell...at higher and higher force...

...And then he's gonna get RID of the addiction by throwing it at a lower force? On OTHERS? on Him/herself?

:rotfl:

[Kyoto Kid]

...agree 100% on that. Already had enough trouble as a GM a with PC who liked slinging that spell around seemingly at whim.

[NightRain]

[Narse]

To throw in my 2 :nuyen:, I think the part about having to make the addiction test EVERY time the spell could be useful is a little extreme. How about using the craving periods established in the sr4 descriptions of the addiction qualities?
It would work like this:
After acquiring the spell, the GM decides after how many 'doses' (castings) an addiction test is required [will + drain stat (F/2 round down, min 1)] if failed then the character acquires Mild Addiction [spell] to the use of this spell. This causes cravings at least once a week. Will + Drain Stat tests to resist cravings suffer a -2 penalty at this level.
So a GM would determine when and in what circumstances the character develops cravings. I'd say GM discretion on what Force is required to satisfy a craving, but it should increase on critical glitches on the tests as a result of use as per SR4's suggestion of increasing tolerance. Keep in mind that under these rules undercasting still requires an addiction test, however it is easier to resist. The force at which the spell is cast at could also be used to determine the threshold for craving resistance tests. In this way, undercasting would be an effective method for making your cravings easier to resist. However, any time the addict casts at higher force the thresholds still are calculated with the same formula.

For example: Joey has a Moderate Addiction to Fireball and Will 5, Charisma 4. Joey has to resist his cravings every day rolling 9 - 4 = 5 dice. Joey's been casting only Force 3 fireballs this last month and has successfully made his threshold Will + Cha (1) test to resist becoming severely addicted. Joey ends up in a combat situation though... the GM rules that Joey has to resist a craving or cast fireball [5 dice, threshold 1]. Joey successfully resists but ends up casting a Force 6 fireball during the course of combat. He then has to make a Will + Cha (6/2=3) addiction test to resist becoming severely addicted. He fails. So the next day Joey is looking at making two Will + Cha - 6 (3) tests to avoid giving in to his cravings.

This system has the added danger of loosing essence and therefore magic due to becoming a burnout level addict.

Feel free to modify this as you think appropriate.

[NightRain]