Arcane Arrester Options

[Dahrken]

Sure we know that it is generated by a single person, but the characters do not necessarily know that.

Your magic going down the crapper each time the gonk (and just him) comes closer than a few meters but coming back as soon as he leaves may hint at a connexion even for a relatively obtuse character...

[Manunancy]

One thing to keep in mind in that regard is that assensing is part and parcel of the security mage's job - the equivalent of his mundane buddy watching the crowd for suspicious-looking peoples nad hidden weapons, or the spider scanning for hidden comlinks. With an aura that's on par with a cyberzombie, the character will stand out and be kept under watch as a potential source of trouble. Just like some gonk walking around downtown with a signal 4 jammer turned on in his pocked 'cause he's afraid of being hacked' will draw flak from the security. Though the jammer can be turned off.

He might also be barred access into magic-heavy areas to keep them from being tainted - or just like you wouldn't let some unwashed hobo wrapped in dirty rags into a restaurant. Any diplomatic encounter involving Awakeneds is also likely to be complicated just by having the hazer along with the other PCs. Even mr clean would have trouble making himslef welcome with the hobo equivalent tagging along.

Oh and one thing : if someones notice his magic is going awry, assensing he area to figure out what's going on sounds like what most mages will do. At which point the hazer's aura will probably be noticed. From the description it's as easily noticeable as emotions, basicaly a single success will be enough... Making a connection between that gonk with his weird aura and magic going wrong isn't exactly rocket science.

[Thanee]

I strongly suggest using the reduced Force for limiting Hits for a number of reasons, the two most notable being that without it, the quality is extremely overcosted, and that without it a huge number of spells are essentially unaffected by the quality.

Can you name a few relevant spells, which would be unaffected?

Besides, even for the extremely potent effect on direct combat spells, the quality is more than worth it.

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

As the OP:

The distraction into cyberhazing is amusing: I can see a walking magical toxic waste zone having problems. As a GM I would regard it as a curse on the character and play it as such.

I still don't have a clear view on arcane arrester. I think the question outstanding is "does the reduced force restrict the spell casters hits or not". There are two places this is interesting: buffs and resisting offensive spells.

If we take the idea that nett hits are reduced:

• Buffs would be (mildly) impacted by arcane arrestor (most buffs are restricted already by the sustaining foci, which is often 3, and there is little difference between force 3 and force 6).
• Resisting offensive / detection spells is much easier. Given that you can have countermagic, if the spell is cast at force 6, you only need 3 successes on the resistance roll to ignore the spell

If we take the idea that nett hits are not reduced:

• Buff spells are not impacted
• Resisting offensive / detection spells is much less effective than above. The original question showed that there was 2 difference in the combat spell example. Control mind spells, detection spells are no easier to resist than for other characters.

When resolving questions like this I like usually to go for the least power option. In this case it feels to me that the nett hits not being reduced is the least powerful result. What do the rest of you think?

[Machiavelli]

Good question. Basically it isn´t. At least not as much as i remember it. Could you please quote the description and if you are talking about the quality or the adept power?

[toturi]

Your magic going down the crapper each time the gonk (and just him) comes closer than a few meters but coming back as soon as he leaves may hint at a connexion even for a relatively obtuse character...

The player knows that his character's magic goes down, how does the character know that?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

6/2 equals 3 force for the effect. The hits add 1 damage per. So effect is 3 + 5 hits for 8 damage.

Excxept that there are those who cap the added hits to the Force of the Spell effective on the target... So Force 3+3 hits = Damage 6... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

If we take the idea that nett hits are reduced:

Buffs would be (mildly) impacted by arcane arrestor (most buffs are restricted already by the sustaining foci, which is often 3, and there is little difference between force 3 and force 6).
Resisting offensive / detection spells is much easier. Given that you can have countermagic, if the spell is cast at force 6, you only need 3 successes on the resistance roll to ignore the spell

Well... Buffs take a heavy hit in my opinion, as the Buff needs a Force at least equal to the Stat (For Stat-Boosting Health Buffs anyways)... If you are trying to Buff a Troll with a Body of 7 (Say A Body Buff Spell) with Arcane Arrestor, you would NEED a Force of 14 just to attempt it at all... that is a pretty heavy drawback in my opinion... Even a Human with Agility 4 would require a Force 8 (Minimum) Spell to have his Agility Boosted... Seems like a pretty high impact to me...

Resistance, of course, benefits the most... which is why Arcane Arrestor is so useful when you have it...

[pbangarth]

The player knows that his character's magic goes down, how does the character know that?

-foci shut down
-sustained spells fail
-spirits go *poof*
-adept powers disappear
-astral barriers drop
-"the Force feels weak here, Luke."
-it's harder to cast/conjure/counter/banish
...

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

-foci shut down
-sustained spells fail
-spirits go *poof*
-adept powers disappear
-astral barriers drop
-"the Force feels weak here, Luke."
-it's harder to cast/conjure/counter/banish
...

Indeed... a LOT of ways to notice your magic has been impacted, even without Assensing... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Omenowl]

Excxept that there are those who cap the added hits to the Force of the Spell effective on the target... So Force 3+3 hits = Damage 6... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)



Well... Buffs take a heavy hit in my opinion, as the Buff needs a Force at least equal to the Stat... If you are trying to Buff a Troll with a Body of 7 (Say A Body Buff Spell) with Arcane Arrestor, you would NEED a Force of 14 just to attempt it at all... that is a pretty heavy drawback in my opinion... Even a Human with Agility 4 would require a Force 8 (Minimum) Spell to have his Agility Boosted... Seems like a pretty high impact to me...

Resistance, of course, benefits the most... which is why Arcane Arrestor is so useful when you have it...

He asked which way should it go. I feel it should not limit the spellcaster's hits except by the original force not the modified force. It only states that force based effects (paralysis, damage, etc.) are half the original strength rounded down for the individual in question and only that individual). It does not reduce the force of the spell or the hits. Nowhere in the text does it state that it limits the number of hits.

[toturi]

Indeed... a LOT of ways to notice your magic has been impacted, even without Assensing... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

And how does the character know all those things have or are happening?

Most of the things listed are as a result of the spells/spirits own Force dropping. Not the character's own Magic, in the case of bound spirits going poof, the character's Charisma might have dropped. Unless the character is trying to cast/summon/whatever, how does he know that it is harder to do those things?

The character probably would know his Bod is reduced because he feels weaker but he might not notice that if he isn't exerting himself. He might know his Agility is reduced because he is finding it harder to move about but if he is vegetating in front of the trid, he might not even notice that. Thus how would someone whose Magic is reduced know that his Magic is reduced if he isn't involved in something magicky at that time? This applies to any other Attribute, not just Magic. How does one know that the character's Attribute is reduced if that Attribute isn't being used at that time?

[Thanee]

And how does the character know all those things have or are happening?

Well, there is a bit more involved in the whole process than dice and numbers. But how does it feel when a spell is cast, or when a spell is more powerful than another? Who knows...

I don't think the rules spell out much of this, but there is a mentioning in the Spellcasting section about noticing whether a spell was successful or not. Maybe you can go from there, if you need something from the rulebook?

Bye
Thanee

[pbangarth]

edit: talking through my hat. need to read again.