Thoughts on resisting magic 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+

[Iduno]

A major complaint seems to be that mages in sr4 and sr5 are overpowered, or significantly more so than in previous editions. It isn't a problem for everyone, but it can be a large problem when it does show up. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume there is something to all of the complaints.

It looks like the change from skill to skill+attribute may have played a major role here. I'm thinking while typing here, so people who remember SR3 better than me feel free to correct my thinking/math.

In SR3, the mage threw however many skill dice, and only hit on a value of your willpower (or body, depending on the spell) or higher. A very do-able 6 willpower would be twice as hard to hit in sr3 than in sr4/5 (although you may also have to hit as low as a 2 or as high as a dwarf (or troll, for body) could get, compared to 4 for most attacks, -2 TN for smartlink). This was resisted by willpower + counterspelling (both?) at a TN equal to the spell force. 6 is reasonable for that as well, so also twice as hard to get hits as it is now. The change from variable TN to static put the chance to succeed in a lot narrower band, but doesn't look like it was the main problem with magic.

The dice pools, however changed for mages only. The test went from skill vs stat+counterspelling to stat+skill vs stat+counterspelling. The offensive dice were doubled, with no change to defense. If defense had scaled, it would be 2 pools for the defender, with a possibility of a counterspelling mage with 2 pools (instead of having armor to defend you). Mental manipulation spells would be least likely to have a counterspelling mage, which may be part of why they are more likely to be a problem. Defense against drain also increased, but sr5 increased the drain to balance that back.

As a houserule, how would it affect game balance to give even mundane defenders a magic resistance skill and allow the counterspelling mage to roll magic+counterspelling?

Alternatively, treating willpower/body as hardened armor against spells (need to penetrate, plus auto-successes) would be simpler, but would probably swing the balance too far in favor of the defender.

Thoughts? Corrections?