[X] My Assistant

[PalaNolho]

Nitpick: Skillsofts! Not Autosofts. Autosofts are for vehicles/drones.

right, that ! lol

its sill too much soft to my starting GM head (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) ( i think i need a cerebral booster)

oh no .. im starting to make game jokes ... IM DOOMED


(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[PalaNolho]

Bone Density Augmentation:
- does it efectivly increse the BODY or it just gives the a RATING bonus to body on Damage Resist Tests?

thanks

[Wasabi]

Its there in the description. It adds to Body "for damage resistance tests."

[PalaNolho]

Question:
- At character creation, the rule for Atribut purshes "Also, characters cannot have more than one attribute at their natural maximum." apply only to physical and mental attributs OR Magic and Edge are included for this maximum too??



Thanks

[ArkonC]

Question:
- At character creation, the rule for Atribut purshes "Also, characters cannot have more than one attribute at their natural maximum." apply only to physical and mental attributs OR Magic and Edge are included for this maximum too??



Thanks

Since it's under the header of Physical/Mental Attributes, I'd say it only applies to those...

[PalaNolho]

Question

Sustaining Focis
- how does a Sustaining Foci stops sustanning a spell or is disrupted? ( voluntary or involuntary)
- how long can a Sutaining Focis sustain a spell?

thanks

[DireRadiant]

p. 191

"A character must activate a focus before it can be used. It
takes a Simple Action to activate a focus, but requires no action
to use or apply. Weapon foci require a Complex Action to
use like any other melee weapon. Deactivating a focus is a Free
Action and can be done at any time.'

Free action to stop sustaining the spell by the caster, either dropping the spell, or deactivating teh focus

Counterspelling p. 176

"Counterspelling also allows a magician to dispel a sustained
or quickened spell, canceling its eff ect. Th e character
must be on the same plane, must be able to perceive the spell
she is targeting, and must use a Complex Action."

You can also attack the focus astrally which deactivates the focus, or can destroy it depending on how it is attacked (Energy Drain for example).

e.g. Passing through Barriers p. 186

Spells are sustained until dropped, dispelled, or the focus deactivated or destroyed.

[PalaNolho]

Grettings everyone. Here i am again with lots of tricky questions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (hopefully this questions will be helpful to other persons too)

Last Night we had sessin and some questions came to the table.

Magic
The mage started to cast combat spells and it looked like that spellcasting was too powerfull or we were doing something wrong. Correct me if i'm wrong.
Combat spells (lets say a Direct Spell)
- mage chooses a force. Then makes a spellcasting check oposed by body/will (depepending if M or P type spell)
The hits scored co the Spellcasting oposed test is the minimun between rolled Hits and Force choosen
IF the spellcaster gets AT LEAST ONE NET HIT the spell takes effect, if not, it has no effect on the target.
If the Spellcasting is a sucess, then the Target take CHOOSEN FORCE + NET HITS damage boxes
Is this correct, or am i doing anything wrong? (it looks very powerfull and capable of killing jut anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif) )

Invisibility
One of my players casts an great invisibility spell on him and Starts attacking the NPC with a monofilament whip.
Does the NPC can dodge the attack (i.e, oposed attack/defence test)?
What if he was shooting a gun?

If the target is completly anaware of the attack, the attacker still roll attack and sum ALL HITS to the DV of the attack, OR ir gives the standard weapon damage?

Can a mage use Invisible Spell + Inviltration? how does it work? (if you are tryingto moove silently or to move unseen)


Well .. this was the main debate of the last session. If anyone can help, i would be apreciated

Thanks in Advance!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Crusher Bob]

Yes, you have the rules for direct combat spells down pat. If you are a high magic mage, and want to whip out a force 9+ spell, then it will basically toast someone if you get 1 net hit. On the other hand, even a force 9 stunbolt is going to have 3P drain, even if you have 12dice to resist the drain, you take some damage around 18% of the time. Ramp that up to a force 9 manaball and you are looking at 6 drain, which you fully resist with 12 dice only around 18% of the time. Compared to just whipping out a grenade launcher and shooting twice, its not that great. Since the GL will cause about the same amount of damage (i.e. death) but will not cause you any drain. In addition, the astral signature for a spell with high force will stick around for a while. While grenade fragments are just grenade fragments.

Remember also that visibility modifiers effect spellcasting as well, so you are probably looking at a few dice off for lighting and cover.

For attacks that you are completely unaware of, you don't get even your passive defense. So you just total up the attackers hits to add to the base DV of the weapon he is using. Note that one someone has shot or cut you once, you can hardly be completely unaware of their presence. Note that if you are in combat already, I'd assume that you are moving around a lot already, so you may want to give the attacked guy his regular defense against the invisible guy anyway. But if you are just walking around and suddenly there is an invisible guy laying into you, you don't get to defend.

You still have body odor, make noises, set off pressure sensors, etc while invisible, so infiltration tests should be made to reduce the noises you make moving around. The advantage of being invisible is that hearing has a much shorter range than sight. Note that invisibility is a common thing in 2070, so expect any competently setup security system to have multiple ways of finding invisible guys.

[Cain]

One of my players casts an great invisibility spell on him and Starts attacking the NPC with a monofilament whip.
Does the NPC can dodge the attack (i.e, oposed attack/defence test)?
What if he was shooting a gun?

If the target is completly anaware of the attack, the attacker still roll attack and sum ALL HITS to the DV of the attack, OR ir gives the standard weapon damage?

Can a mage use Invisible Spell + Inviltration? how does it work? (if you are tryingto moove silently or to move unseen)

We had a thread on this recently.

Basically, if the invisible attacker has surprise, the other guy doesn't get to defend. However, invisibility does not equal surprise. If someone disappears before your eyes, you know he's coming for you. In that case, you apply the -6 Blind Fire modifier if in ranged combat, and the suggested house rule to to also use that in melee. Also note that when attacking an invisible opponent at range, you roll Ranged + Intuition instead of Ranged + Quickness. Some people here suggest doing a similar thing in melee.

[PalaNolho]

hmmm i can always use Astral Perception to see the insible enemy right ?
and while Astrally Perceving he can still shoot at the invisible enemy ( with a -2 modifier) or cast spells on him with mo penalty, right ?

[Fortune]

You would still have to deal with some Visibility (and Cover) modifiers when using Astral Perception/Projection.

For example, darkness isn't as much of a factor, but things like smoke are still opaque when viewed via the Astral.

[MaxHunter]

but, yes, astral perception sees invisible people. Happened last session in my game.

Incidentally, at my gaming groups we have decided to up the drain of direct combat spells by +1 (or was it +2?, i think 1...) to make them more balanced in our eyes to indirect combat spells...

Cheers,

Max

[PalaNolho]

Greetings everyone.
I've looked on the book but didnt found my answer so, here's the question:

Contacts
- how can a character improve the loyalty and connection of a contact he posesses ?

loyalty i can imagin (some roleplay, some favors, some help and it will improve) but connections, anyone has any idea ?

thanks in advance.

[Wesley Street]

Connections can't be improved, at least not in any way that would make sense in-game. If your local weapons dealer isn't working out, dump him and pay your fixer to find you a better one.

[PalaNolho]

and if the fixes is not working out too?
what about if they need a fixer with better connections?

, thanks

[Fortune]

A Contact's Connection Rating reflect's that Contact's (not the character's) 'network' or influence. Typically, things would have to change in the Contact's life for his Connection Rating to change. As such, this kind of thing is typically pretty much in the hands of the GM, but I'm sure that imaginative and motivated characters could lend a hand to help their Contacts 'move up' in the world.

[Wesley Street]

That's where the GM needs to show some flexibility with the fixer's connections ratings. How I handle that kind of thing is to have one of my players pay the fixer an exorbitant amount of nuyen and the fixer can then grease some gears and introduce a new, higher-connection contact. But this should be done sparingly and with solid reasons. It wouldn't make sense for a fixer who specializes in magical gear to have the number for a military-grade gun runner in his Rolodex.

[Nightwalker450]

When I was GMing, one of my runners had a Lone Star officer of connection 1 as a contact. He's fed this contact some tips on a recent attack at a Stuffer Shack (Food Fight 4.0). With the only stipulation being that he didn't want to be pulled in for anything (he did decent enough at staying out of camera sight). The officer is now on the edge of a promotion, and will probably get a connection upgrade soon.

[JeffSz]

Mouse-Over for Acronym Definitions
BBB, RAW, NERPS
FFBA, PPP
IIRC

Finally I know what IIRC means.

[Wesley Street]

When I was GMing, one of my runners had a Lone Star officer of connection 1 as a contact. He's fed this contact some tips on a recent attack at a Stuffer Shack (Food Fight 4.0). With the only stipulation being that he didn't want to be pulled in for anything (he did decent enough at staying out of camera sight). The officer is now on the edge of a promotion, and will probably get a connection upgrade soon.

Hey, that's a great idea for any contact who is part of a large bureaucratic organization. Thanks! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Nightwalker450]

You can also have some of the "I need you to do me a favor" side missions, that as a result up the contacts connection. One of the other people I'm running with right now, keeps trying to get drugs for one of his dealer contacts. He's trying to get a more powerful and higher connected list of friends. I don't know how well its working for him (so far he's been caught in one drug bust (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) but nothing more than fined, and it was on foreign soil anyways)

[PalaNolho]

How do you usually handle the contacts? i mean, the knowledges that the contacts have nad ranks. You let the PCs create the contact using the character build process? you tell hte players to choose from the "exemple ones" from the BBB?


Also, about legwork, when the PC contact the contact, then usually make the questions by commlink or they need to arrange a meeting?
the NPC are only able to give answers for free on topics related with their knowlege skills or for any information?

Im trying to flesh out the NPC a little mor, because right now, we are using them as a streight forward aprouch ( contact him, make questions any question, he answers depending on the roll, for mor information he will search and they will have to pay)

Any ideas/suggestions/tips/anything? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thanks in advance.

[Crusher Bob]

One of the simplest ways to give some life to contacts is have them call you every now and them. So maybe your guys needs some muscle for something, or wants your expert opinion, or is just having a unicorn BBQ and wants to know if you want to show up.

[Ryu]

Give your NPCs some life by adding standard procedures. Ie some will only meet in the matrix, some will never do that, some will always meet in the same place, some in different parts of town.

Connect the connections to each other. Syndicate connection, family, friends... you ask one contact for something, and a close friend of said contact calls you with an offer or requests a meet.

In our campaigns, there are GM and player-made contacts.
- as the GM, I provide quite a large set of contacts everyone knows depending on what fits the backstory, for free. Use it or loose it. The idea is to get an overall smaller set of contacts more time in the spotlight. There is no need for two fixers and one streetdoc PER PLAYER, that is just information overload.
- the players can make up their own contacts, but those are not free and still subject to my approval. If they did not write even a few lines on them, I get to flesh them out.

On a contact you need:
Name, Place of Living/Center of Operations
Faction allegiances
Physical Description
Standard Operational Procedures

Example:
Justin Right, Snohomish/Redmond
Mafia (Finnigan)
middle aged human, well-groomed
Operates a weapons shop in Redmond, has illegal stuff in warehouses rather than in the shop, does not touch milspec

I know where the NPC can usually be found, he knows and cares about the groups mafia connections, contacts from his mafia family refer to him when asked about weapons. The more often he is used by the players, the more detailed the information about him gets.
I even hand out the baseline information to my players, as it helps them interact with the available contacts and fleshes the gameworld out. Their sheet has the information they are supposed to know; I as the GM might have decided that good old Justin is secretly working with the Vory, but they have to find out.
Now if you need more than Justin wants to deliver, he will still know where you can search for the goods. Assume that each contact knows people within the same or a connected area of expertise - the big fish, competition, small-timers. He´ll help you if you make it worth his while.