SRII Berserk Totems & Attacking Allies Options

[Xasten]

How did your group handle berserk shamans and attacking allies? Bear, Shark, and Wolf can all go Berserk, and the book says that they'll attack the nearest living thing. However, that seems contrary to the Wolf and Bear totems that they might attack allies.

I can definitely see Shark doing that, and maybe bear, but wolf? The description of Wolf is that if it gives you its protection, it'll die defending you. Seems rather contrarian. How did your group handle this? I'm probably just going to make Sharks and maybe Bears attack the nearest living thing while wolf will attack the nearest non-ally.

Was there ever errata or canon that resolved this?

[DragginSPADE]

My friends and I got a good laugh out of this as one of my two long running characters back in SR2 was a shark shaman. We were frequently amused by the irony that I was less of a danger to my friends than a Bear or Wolf shaman would be, since I had the option of continuing to attack the body of a dead enemy until the fury went away.

That being said, as far back as SR2 a Bear/Wolf's berserk fury would dissipate if he killed or incapacitated an enemy before the three turns were up. So make sure to let your buddies know not to kill all the enemies themselves if you start foaming at the mouth. Or houserule it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Sendaz]

Scroll of Calming
Possible Artifact
Age: Unknown, suspected of being from an older Age.

Appears to be a form of primitive newspaper printed on a form of papyrus in a very old form of Sperethiel (modern elven sperethiel speakers can attempt reading with a -6 dice modifier, older IE have no such problem)
Reading it reveals a title of Blood Wood Herald and filled with various little articles of little importance or relevance, all coupons are long since expired.

When rolled up into a tubular form and used however it has interesting properties when applied against a berserking Shaman, shapeshifter or Dragon.

Must be wielded by a living being, all attempts to have a drone utilize this item has proven to be ineffective.
Note this does involve some risk to the wielder themselves as they do have to get close to the berserking/shapeshifting individual/dragon to apply this.
While it can not be bonded like normal foci, note below each usage has a cost.
Requires a called shot (-8 to hit modifier) to slap them across the nose/muzzle while uttering the command 'Delara!'(sperethiel for calm) in a loud firm tone and each attempt requires the wielder to expend 1 Karma to utilize it's power.
Blood mages may expend 1 box of physical damage to pay for this effect.
A successful hit made in this manner does 1 box non-resistible Stun damage (damage can not be raised with hits or Str-does no damage to non-living targets) with the following effects:

Causes a non-draconic berserking subject to immediately break out of their berserk state.

Shapeshifters so struck must pass a Wil+Cha (3) test to resist the impulse (equivalent of the MC spell Influence) to sit and do nothing for 1 combat turn.
Any further attacks on them will break this effect immediately as their self preservation instinct will kick in.

Interestingly, attempting to use this on a Dragon/Drake has the opposite effect, indeed causing the subject to go into an immediate berserk.
The struck Dragon/Drake must make a Simple Charisma + Willpower Test (wound modifiers apply).
The Dragon/Drake will go berserk for 10 turns minus 1 turn per hit, so it must make 10 or more hits to avert this berserk rage entirely.
When in this berserk rage it will attack anyone without regard for it's own safety and will continue to devastate the area if it has no targets remaining while berserk.

The long term effects of possessing this item remain unknown at this time as the item seems to change hands quite often, leading some to suspect it's magic may influence this continual migration from user to user.

[FriendoftheDork]

SR5 version of wolf totem makes much more sense:

You must succeed in a Charisma + Willpower (3) Test
to retreat from a fight.

It should be fairly easy to convert to 2nd edition, just use the same as for resisting the berserk rage.

Also, for bear berserk rage : If you incapacitate the target(s)
before the time is up, the berserk fury dissipates.

Looks like 30+ years of Shadowrun development did some good.