About mages using catalogue spell, And other magic related questions Options

[Traks]

So, people jumped on MiTS as I thought and chose new spells.
Now their mage uses catalogue every time to see what is there to loot. I am too sleepy to think straight, so - does all your mages use that spell regularly too? Or there are some restrictions I haven't seen yet?

Which spells are usually used in defense against bullets? I checked - "armor" is decent, while that other spell in MiTS sucked. Deflection or what - too sleepy to find.

Can shaman choose another totem? (It sounds awful, but nearest comparison is AD&D clerics). I ruled that they can, because I want that particular shaman to give a chance going down in flames (he is lion shaman because of plusses, but have never behaved like one. He accepted Aztlan initiation and now is blood mage. So I decided that blood spirit is now his totem. Not that it is canon in any way, but still freaky and will give him proper death 1,000,000 nyens? Who said 1,300,000? Once, twice, sold :).)

Does mage pay full cost in karma when upgrading Manaball 6 to Manaball 8?
Like, difference is how much karma without fetishes?
Why mostly Lone Star uses Thunderbolt? It's stats are incredible so anyone would use it

[Kagetenshi]

Bullet barrier is a good anti-bullet spell.

Spells can't be upgraded. You pay the full cost to learn the higher-force spell.

By canon no, you can't change totems. All you can do is lose your original totem and become mundane. Well, that or go toxic (or potentially insect, I'm not sure).

Where did the Thunderbolt come from? ;)

~J

[Kagetenshi]

And a double-post will do everything anything you mention can.

~J

[Nikoli]

The LS Thunderbolt isn't that great when you break it down. it's got a high availability, well past 8 so it's not normally allowable at char-gen. the BF fire mode is okay, but you get no choice for single shot, it'll ALWAYS be a burst shot. That's 4 shots per clip without topping off.

Lone Star will hassle anyone seen carrying one around that is not a fellow officer or a former officer.
It's really loud
And picking them up off of dead officers isn't that good of an option, since for a few hundred nuyen you can render that weapon almost useless for any non-'Star personnel (the personal safety mod and smart link is a great option, even for 'Star mages.) or at least make it so they won't be using it during the initial fire-fight.

did I mention it's only 4 shots?

[A Rodent of Unus...]

If players are using Catalogue enough to be annoying, smack them upside the head and remind them that they're not playing D&D or some equally lame video game. Looting every room or "monster" you defeat is just lame and wholly unbelievable on most runs. Their job is usually to get in, do something, and get out. If they're wasting time sitting around letting the mage use Catalogue and then loot the place, they're not doing their job very well.

Deflect is a cool spell. It's the only "armor" related spell that's completely undetectable on sight and Dodge Tests are typically much more desireable for a magician than trying to soak damage is. That aside, Bullet Barrier and Bullet Armor are the only other spells that directly stop bullets. One creates a glowing field, the other creates a glowing aura. Both suck for runners oriented around stealth.

By canon you can't do much of anything when it comes to your magical tradition, despite examples where it's obviously possible (such as the aforementioned toxic and insect shamans). 'Course, there is a possible way to do it if you read the rules for altering your astral signature carefully; it says you basically have to relearn how to cast magic, so one could argue that doing so lets you change your totem or even your tradition when doing so. Whether or not you wanna go with that weak argument, the rules involved with altering your astral signature fit in well with what I would use for house rules for changing traditions/totems; basically, you have to waste an initiation on it, gaining nothing but the new tradition/totem and +1 to your Grade.

The Thunderbolt sucks. Horrible recoil, limited shots, Lone Star shows up every time you use it, and you get hassled or worse if they even suspect you have one on your person (which isn't that hard to detect since its Concealability is only 4).

[Traks]

[Kagetenshi]

I think it's in SR3 proper. Physical Barrier also works, but is less than practical in many cases.

~J

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Bullet Barrier and Armor are both in Magic in the Shadows. See the entries for "Limited Physical Barrier" and "Limited Armor" for details.

[Apathy]

[Eyeless Blond]

(emphasis mine)

[kevyn668]

Security Guard: "Excuse me, sir. Would you mind telling me what you're doing?"
Runner Mage: "Ummm, Of course. I'm, er...working on my memoirs...yeah, that's the ticket."
Security Guard: "At 03:00hrs?"
Runner Mage: "I'm a night person...?"

[Nikoli]

This is where the 'trode rig and external transducer come in handy

[Lantzer]

I would think that the spell would only catalogue those item that the mage can see. And the spell organises and labels them according to the Mage's knowledge.

So the mage looks at the desk and sees:
5 closed drawers
1 desk organizer
1 calendar blotter
14 paperclips
1 red pen
1 blue pen
1 clicky pen of unknown color
1 manila folder labeled "projects" with 197 pages inside
1 holo of middle aged woman and two children
1 datajack port with retractable cable
1 personal organizer
1 small glass-like object with little wires hanging off it
1 clicky-ball desk thing
2 tickets to Saturday's concert for the 'Nuclear Colostomy Weevils"
1 child's drawing with:
5 yellow circles
4 black birds
3 fat round brown birds
2 white birds
1 some kind of bird in some kind of fruit-bearing tree.

[Frag-o Delux]

It is an "extra" sense, a detection spell anything in the area effect of th espeel is detected. That is why they say Customs Mages use it, they can instantly get a read on containers and compare it to a shipping document to see if something the spell picked up is not on the list, contraband. Alsoit will only tell you things you can identify if you see it. Say you have never sense a VCR (rigger head ware) if you use the spell on a case of them then you only get a reading that says something along the lines of "unidentifible object."


EDIT: Your childs drawing I think would be to detailed. I believe the spell would only say "A drwaing" other wise on that red pen you would get "Bic Paper mate, Ink Red" and any other crap written on the pen.

[The White Dwarf]

If your runners are that concerned with loot they must suck as runners.
Catalogue is useful but not like that... more like to inventory shipments or count guns (aka guards since they usually carry 1 or 2 each, and you can ID that before you go in). The above are all examples of how to defeat them abusing it if you feel they are, altho Id just smack them and throw soda cans.

Armor is about it. Be sure you read the correct version at the offical page if youve an older book. The spells above (limited armor, limited barrier, physical barrier, deflect) also work but are less effecient (if also less obvious).

Shamans cant change their totem. From your question you already stated you house ruled it, also allowing the player to obtain blood magic, both of which you yourself stated arent canon. Why are you asking since you know...

Mages must pay the full cost for new spells as previously stated.

The Thunderbolt sucks. Its like a handicap for the Star. If youre oogling over the damage code go re-read the combat section and the weapons section until you figure out why.

Mages arent any more or less karma sinks than anyone else, they just have a broader range of things they can spend it on. Which means they have to focus their development more. What does sams getting reflexes have to do with karma, its purchased with cash.

Grammatical correctness is useful.

[Eyeless Blond]

Something important to remember: the max range of a Detection spell is Force*Magic Attribute in meters, and that's the *only* limit on the "sense-type" Detection spells. The "sense" granted by Detection spells are limited by this range, not by line of sight. The "sense" is not a spell being cast on other people, so the people being detected do not get a Spell Resistence test.

[TinkerGnome]

[Nikoli]

Would items carried by a person with the spell shroud power go undetected?

[John Campbell]

[ShadowGhost]

[Eyeless Blond]

Ugh, you're right. It's worse than that, in fact; "Anyone who is not voluntarily being detected by a detection spell... may make a Spell Resistance Test." (p. 192) This means that it's entirely possible to use Clairvoyance, for example, and see every detail of a room, but see right through all of the dozens of people in it. This means that you are not in fact using any form of actual vision to see into the room, but using some sort of magical sight, and so being able to use all of those cybernetic enhancements makes no logical sense at all.

It means you're pretty much forced to use a high-Force (5+) version of Clairvoyance if you want to see people even a significant fraction of the time, because your TN is always 6, but theirs is Force, which is usually significantly lower.

You can also use this to your advantage by metagaming a little: you can riffle through the inanimate objects in a crowded room by casting a low-Force version of Clairvoyance and just looking straight through all the people since most will no doubt make their Willpower tests easily.

Ugh. The more I figure out how SR's magic system works by canon, the more I dislike it.

(Edit): Wow, you people type fast. :P

[BitBasher]

[A Rodent of Unus...]

[Traks]

[John Campbell]