How many dice do watchers roll for Search?, Are we missing something? |
How many dice do watchers roll for Search?, Are we missing something? |
Dec 5 2010, 03:12 AM
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#1
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,654 Joined: 29-October 06 Member No.: 9,731 |
Tonight my group had one of those "we must be missing something" moments. One of our magicians wanted to summon a watcher and have it track a quickened spell back to its owner. Watchers as described in the book "excel at astral tracking because of their one power: Search." The problem is that Search requires a Magic + Intuition roll, which for a watcher are both 1. So, unless there's some bonus that we're missing, the spirits that are supposed to be the trackers of the astral world only roll 2 dice for their Search power. Is this right?
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Dec 5 2010, 03:25 AM
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#2
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,000 Joined: 30-May 09 From: Germany Member No.: 17,225 |
Also Watchers (with RAW), cannot survive ANYTHING. a Background count/ebb of one pops them just like that.
I just made it like in SR3: Watchers in my game are summoned at half the summoners magic without any extra drain or anything. (Which means force 2-3 watchers for most people.) AND to make them viable (against normal spirits) i have them have the needed specialization in using their ONLY power. So a watcher in my game (if summoned by a magic 6 summoner) rolls 8 dice with searching. As per RAW... there seemed to be some overlookings while designed their rules. |
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Dec 5 2010, 05:13 AM
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#3
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Advocatus Diaboli Group: Members Posts: 13,994 Joined: 20-November 07 From: USA Member No.: 14,282 |
Yes, it looks like a big oops. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) House rule it; Summerstorm's sounds nice and simple.
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Dec 5 2010, 05:19 AM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,542 Joined: 30-September 08 From: D/FW Megaplex Member No.: 16,387 |
Or get multiple (IE: 2) watchers to Teamwork Test it and hope to get a whopping 3 dice instead of 2. The crit glitch chance on that is retar-diculous.
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Dec 5 2010, 05:54 AM
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#5
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,654 Joined: 29-October 06 Member No.: 9,731 |
Oh, the GM already houseruled it because it was so absurd: watchers in our game are considered to have Intuition 4 for the purposes of their Search power. I just wanted to know if we were looking at a real disconnect between what watchers are supposed to be able to do and what they can actually do, or if we were just missing something. I may submit Summerstorm's rule to the GM to see if he likes that any better.
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Dec 5 2010, 06:18 AM
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#6
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Advocatus Diaboli Group: Members Posts: 13,994 Joined: 20-November 07 From: USA Member No.: 14,282 |
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Forget Search, they can't even *watch* unless the targets are 'obvious'.
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Dec 5 2010, 06:31 AM
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#7
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,705 Joined: 5-October 09 From: You are in a clearing Member No.: 17,722 |
Since a watcher is supposed to be an extension of the mage, it makes sense to base the watcher stats and relevant skills off those of the mage. That way, the mage can't use them to compensate for a personal deficiency (garbage assensing DP) and they're not RAW dumb.
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Dec 5 2010, 06:54 AM
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#8
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,654 Joined: 29-October 06 Member No.: 9,731 |
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Dec 5 2010, 07:32 AM
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#9
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,748 Joined: 25-January 05 From: Good ol' Germany Member No.: 7,015 |
We give them +2 Dice for Search and Perception .Thats 4 Dice total
Kinda Specialisation of "Watching" with a watchfull Dance Medicineman |
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Dec 5 2010, 02:05 PM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 633 Joined: 16-March 05 From: 51° 16' North 7° 11' East Member No.: 7,168 |
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Dec 5 2010, 02:54 PM
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#11
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
Yeah, instead of fixing the broken rules with errata, make up additional ones. Like for cyberlimbs.
Kind of reminds you of duct tape repairs… |
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Dec 5 2010, 10:06 PM
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#12
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Old Man of the North Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 9,652 Joined: 14-August 03 From: Just north of the Centre of the Universe Member No.: 5,463 |
Search is very much a Perception type activity. If Perception modifiers such as "actively looking" were applied, the situtation described above would not be so silly.
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Dec 6 2010, 03:31 AM
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#13
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Prime Runner Ascendant Group: Members Posts: 17,568 Joined: 26-March 09 From: Aurora, Colorado Member No.: 17,022 |
Search is very much a Perception type activity. If Perception modifiers such as "actively looking" were applied, the situtation described above would not be so silly. Indeed... But then, many people do not apply such modifiers to their tasks... *Shrug* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif) |
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Dec 6 2010, 03:37 AM
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#14
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Advocatus Diaboli Group: Members Posts: 13,994 Joined: 20-November 07 From: USA Member No.: 14,282 |
*If* that's what the Search power is, of course. But normal modifiers aside, the point is that watchers suck at their reason for existing.
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Dec 6 2010, 04:03 AM
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#15
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,336 Joined: 24-February 08 From: Albuquerque, New Mexico Member No.: 15,706 |
Just to add to the stupidity, keep in mind that the Optional rule of degrading dice pools for Extended tests is not, in fact, listed as optional in the SR4A changes document. And that using Search is an Extended test with a minimum Threshold of 5.
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Dec 6 2010, 09:19 PM
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#16
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 873 Joined: 16-September 10 Member No.: 19,052 |
Also Watchers (with RAW), cannot survive ANYTHING. a Background count/ebb of one pops them just like that. I just made it like in SR3: Watchers in my game are summoned at half the summoners magic without any extra drain or anything. (Which means force 2-3 watchers for most people.) AND to make them viable (against normal spirits) i have them have the needed specialization in using their ONLY power. So a watcher in my game (if summoned by a magic 6 summoner) rolls 8 dice with searching. As per RAW... there seemed to be some overlookings while designed their rules. If you do that then you definitely can't use the Cadavre dolls for posession traditions rule in SM... Unless you want passably strong zombie hordes at no cost except dead bodies... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) |
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Dec 6 2010, 09:30 PM
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#17
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Hoppelhäschen 5000 Group: Members Posts: 5,807 Joined: 3-January 04 Member No.: 5,951 |
What's so bad about hordes of singing zombies?
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Dec 6 2010, 09:53 PM
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#18
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,000 Joined: 30-May 09 From: Germany Member No.: 17,225 |
If you do that then you definitely can't use the Cadavre dolls for posession traditions rule in SM... Unless you want passably strong zombie hordes at no cost except dead bodies... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Sure i can... i MUST... or ALL watchers are unusable. And even IF you happen to live in a natural, nice area with no background count whatsoever, a summoned spirit would do the job better at lower drain.... sounds wrong, is wrong. And come on, force 3 corps cadavre still can't do anything but paint moderatly well and is aware of its surrounding. No one will spam those as living shields... even a dead body is too good for that... you have guardian possession spirits for that. |
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Dec 7 2010, 06:12 AM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 583 Joined: 1-October 09 From: France Member No.: 17,693 |
Why not ? Those (Charisma) watchers don't count against your summoned spirit limit so you can have them in addition to guardian-possessed corpses.
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Dec 7 2010, 06:18 AM
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#20
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,654 Joined: 29-October 06 Member No.: 9,731 |
Meat shields for the meat shields, if you will.
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Dec 7 2010, 12:18 PM
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#21
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,899 Joined: 29-October 09 From: Leiden, the Netherlands Member No.: 17,814 |
We used Watchers to carry stuff until we found out they don't have Materialization. Now they're used as one-shot astral meat shields and speedbumps*. Also, to watch for people who aren't concealed. And IIRC, a mage feels it if one of his spirits is banished or disrupted, so they have some use as sentries. But they're probably best as messengers if comms are being jammed (which happens to us a lot).
* Black Magic tradition mage |
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Dec 7 2010, 03:47 PM
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#22
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Old Man of the North Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 9,652 Joined: 14-August 03 From: Just north of the Centre of the Universe Member No.: 5,463 |
Years ago a player came up with the term "Face mob" for one use for watchers. Four or five watchers whose job it was to mob an opponent. In astral combat they applied the friends-in-combat modifier, but the name came from their use as manifested spirits blocking the view of an opponent. Five opaque, screaming, astral-fast entities staying right in front of the opponent's face usually got him some kind of negative modifier.
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Dec 7 2010, 09:35 PM
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#23
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,899 Joined: 29-October 09 From: Leiden, the Netherlands Member No.: 17,814 |
Years ago a player came up with the term "Face mob" for one use for watchers. Four or five watchers whose job it was to mob an opponent. In astral combat they applied the friends-in-combat modifier, but the name came from their use as manifested spirits blocking the view of an opponent. Five opaque, screaming, astral-fast entities staying right in front of the opponent's face usually got him some kind of negative modifier. Hmm, that actually sounds pretty workable.. and when they're just manifesting, they can't really get hurt either. Niiice. |
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Dec 7 2010, 09:40 PM
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#24
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,542 Joined: 30-September 08 From: D/FW Megaplex Member No.: 16,387 |
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Dec 8 2010, 12:17 AM
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#25
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Prime Runner Ascendant Group: Members Posts: 17,568 Joined: 26-March 09 From: Aurora, Colorado Member No.: 17,022 |
Just to add to the stupidity, keep in mind that the Optional rule of degrading dice pools for Extended tests is not, in fact, listed as optional in the SR4A changes document. And that using Search is an Extended test with a minimum Threshold of 5. Changes Document aside, the SR4A book describes it as an option (That is the meaning of "May" after all)... |
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