Projectile Lynchpins, or Guns Shooting Bullets Shooting Fire Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Umidori]

So with the new Alchemy system in SR5, a character concept I've long wanted to try out becomes much easier, thanks to Alchemical Preparations operating very similarly to the old Anchoring Metamagics, but without being unavailable at chargen, and without being impeded by Object Resistance. Consequently, I'm currently working on building an Aspected Magician who uses pistol rounds as the lynchpins for his preparations, and I've got a few questions.

First, is this legal?

I can't find anything in the rules restricting what things can become lynchpins, other than the fact that they cannot have living auras. So if I want to, can I use a Heavy Pistol round as a Lynchpin for, say, a Contact Trigger "Shatter" Preparation? Would this work how I imagine it must, namely that upon successfully striking an opponent with the round (specifically a living opponent because of how a contact trigger works), it deals damage as normal, and then activates the preparation it contains to deal further damage?

Second, what happens if I prepare an Indirect Combat Spell but give it a Contact Trigger?

Say, a "Flamethrower" preparation? Does the bullet hit, deal damage, and then immediately after shoot a blast of fire at the struck foe? According to RAW, they would be able to attempt to dodge the flame jet emanating from the bullet lodged in their shoulder, which sounds hilarious. On the topic of a more practical concern, does this second "attack" impose or increment the standard "Defender has defended against previous attack" negative modifier?

Third, how would you handle Manipulation Spells that require a caster's input?

Do you, as the preparation creator, default to the spell "controller"? Do the effects of these preparations entirely rely upon the creator's input at the time of their activation, or can you maybe preprogram "commands" into the preparation? For example, if you tag someone with a "Levitation" preparation that they fail to resist, can it just automatically lift them straight upwards for as long as the effect is sustained, regardless of your own personal commands, or even line of sight? After all, it's the preparation creating the spell effect, not you. The rules already make it clear that the preparation is the thing sustaining an effect like this (becoming dual-natured while doing so), so why shouldn't it also be the thing controlling the effect, and the thing with which line of sight needs to be maintained?

It'd be hilarious to shoot someone with a holdout pistol and have them just start soaring upward into the sky for a few combat turns while you turn your attention to other matters, and then when the preparation's effect wears off they fall the same distance and go splat. The downside would be that, being preprogrammed, the effect can't be changed to suit a situation. So levitating someone straight up indoors would be only mildly troublesome for them, compared to maybe levitating them out a window first which a mage can normally do with the actual spell. Additionally, if line of sight between the target of the effect and the initial point of "casting" was broken, the effect would end. So if the guy your preparation is levitating flies upward into a clothes line and gets wrapped in a blanket because you weren't able to levitate him around it manually, the line of sight between him and the "casting point" would be broken and the effect would end prematurely.

How about a "Control Actions" preparation that the target fails to resist? Can it simply automatically force them to drop whatever they're holding, squat down, flap their arms, and cluck like a chicken? You could even require the preparation to "spend a Complex Action" to effectively "command" the victim to perform this action, forcing it to wait until the next Action Phase to actually activate the power, as a Mage would have to do. Sure, it saves you from having to take an Action commanding it yourself, but at the cost of not being able to adapt the command being made to the situation at hand, and at the cost of the considerable difficulty of creating such a preparation compared to casting an equivalent spell.

~Umi