[SoA2064] Sota 64 Finally Options

[Siege]

Since nobody else has posted, I'll do a quick skim:

And sorry, I'm not debating the merits of the mage camera, I am simply noting it's presence in the book.

[ Spoiler ]

Aid spell
Animal Empathy
Commanding Voice
Cool Resolve (which shouldn't have such a cool name, frag it :grinbig: )
Deep Rooting
Eidetic Sense Memory
Elemental Strike
Empathic Healing (sorry, samurai are still screwed - no 'get out of wound free' card)
Empathic Reading
Enhanced Balance
Enthralling Performance
Facial Sculpt
Gliding (No, not flying - damnit. Think running with an attitude. Chiun.)
Improved ability expansion (knowledge skills, social skills, B/R skills, Vehicle skills)
Inertia Strike
Iron Gut
Iron Lungs
Kinesics
Linguistics
Living Focus
Melanin Control
Motion Sense
Multi-tasking (my GM coughed up a lung when I read this one)
Nimble Fingers
Pain Relief
Penetrating Strike
Resilience
Side Step
Sustenance
Three Dimensional Memory
Voice Control
Wall Running

None of them are really, really scary - but considering I play goofball adepts anyway, I have way too many choices now. :grinbig:

Oh, a Geas for all you melee types: "Berserker". Apparently "Shamanic Mask" can also be a geas, but it isn't specifically spelled out in the text.

The spy gadgets include rules on "Disguising" gear, such as the hollowed out book trick, the pen transceiver, a brief case rocket and so on. Other fun toys include low-light contact lenses, a "null" suit which is amazingly incompatible with armor and gecko climbing gloves that cannot, under any circumstances, get wet. Which means you'll never see them in Seattle.

Lessee...photo manipulation software, infrad film and yes, a cellular trigger for activing things with a phone call. "Reach out and Touch Someone" takes on a whole new meaning.

As for the shock section, I haven't read it yet - I was drooling over all the new toys, the fanboy that I am. I will, however, endeavor to read the section tonight. :grinbig:

-Siege

Edit: My roomie is demanding his copy back at very large knife point, but I did skim the shock section.

The whole "Ork tusker popularity" craze left me cold and the "gangsta" rap parallels were a tad uninspired, but the rest seemed quite entertaining. The "Top Ten" lists were highly amusing and great plot hooks if any GM is so inclined.

The Corp Culture notes do add a depth of role-playing options that usually aren't explored particularly thoroughly, but now you have a use for that "wardrobe and fashion" knowledge skill. :grinbig:

The Gambling was a tad large for the amount of impact it will have on most games, in my humble opinion.

[FlakJacket]

Just to be an ungrateful bastard, any chance of adding a quick explanation of what the powers are/do? Some of them are fairly obvious, some I can take a guess at but others less so. :D

[Kanada Ten]

I would think not at this point. I think we can wait until they're all loaded into the NSRCG in a few weeks.

[mfb]

these sound fun.

[Siege]

I wouldn't mind, but I think that's treading a little close on "Incoming! Angry author(s) inbound!"

Most of the powers are self-explanatory - just because I am a surly bastard. :grinbig:

-Siege

Edit: Although the "Aid Spell" will turn adepts into a mage's best friend. :grinbig:

[Zenmaxer]

Okay, this rocks, I'm definately snagging this book, especially as adepts are my fave chars.

[SilverWolf_assas...]

What is this nasty rumor I heard about social adepts. .??

Smokes, a guy. . so cyberware, no skills higher the 4
"When the going gets tough, I like to smoke the whole pack at once."

[Siege]

A more general note about adepts and Paths - a number of Paths are mentioned, but game mechanics and adepts behind these Paths are a tad lacking.

Is this a deliberate omission?

For example, the "Path of the Invisible" gives vague descriptions, but there isn't a thorough mechanical evaluation of the pros and cons of these roughly-sketched out Paths.

And my roomie noted the book is a little light on solid mechanics and instead focuses more on fluff, which isn't necessarily bad - but more numbers would be useful to balance the fluff.

-Siege

[Siege]

Adepts now have options for impacting things other than massive sneakiness or walking quisinarts o death.

They can buy IA: Social skills at a steepish cost and certain adept powers are now geared towards human interaction.

-Siege

[Jason Farlander]

[mfb]

infusion, hahaha, infusion focus, hahahaha, hahahaHAHAHAHA, HAHAHHAHAHA! I HAVE THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!

[Jason Farlander]

dont you mean that, by the power of greyskull, you have the power?

[mfb]

i will pretend for a moment that i am not too mad with power to concern myself with your petty mortal concerns, mortal, and answer your question. in a word: no, my utterance was correct. i have the power of greyskull. it is in my pocket, and i call it George.

[Fortune]

Infusion is pretty bad-ass, especially if you throw in a couple of Infusion Foci.

On the subject of Foci, the Adept Focus is cool, but it might open a whole can of worms in regards to magic loss. Hmmm...

I dislike the whole idea of Improved Ability: Social Skills! I can see a case being made for some of the individual skills, but not as a blanket rule.

Multi-tasking...Mmmm, munchie goodness! :lick:

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Living Focus?!?

I'm not too thrilled about Penetrating Strike, but it costs a lot.

Side Step...hello Dodge Pool. :)

If someone combined a few (or even not-so-few) of the more social powers and abilities with a couple of the social edges it could result in a very scary and potentially unbalancing character. :eek:

[hobgoblin]

[mfb]

whoops, you're right. missed that sentence. and, yeah, that's the crux of the whole argument--"it's been paid for with essence, so it interacts with magic" seems to only be true if the effect in question is unwanted by the person with the cyber.

[Jason Farlander]

No, it doesnt actually invalidate the point about it being unprocessed. ultrasound is layered over normal vision, so you are still getting unaugmented visual LOS in all cases except those of full darkness and invisibility - circumstances under which, as you mention, ultrasonic vision does not grant LOS. SO the argument against digital manipulation still holds strongly.

Put another way - lets say youre holding up a little screen displaying a digital image of a person who is standing in front of you. You see both the digital image and the person standing there. Simply seeing the digital image does not negate your existing LOS to the target... but if the target were in a different room and you ONLY had the digital image, that image could not provide LOS to the target.

[hobgoblin]

it invalidates the point about it being unprosessed by the very fact that the text lists a prosessor that turns the echo into visual images.

and one small problem with your post is that the same text says that its what thermographics allso does (put stuff on top of the normal vision). so does that mean i cant use thermographics to target someone with magic in complete darkness? or can trolls and dwarfs (that have it naturaly) do so but not others that have to get by cyberware?

ok so it can be brushed to the side by saying that the ultrasound stuff was someone that had not fully read up on thermographics or that thermographics is still a nonprosessed effect but gets overlayed by the fact that its plugged into the same optical nerves that normal vision goes into (it just uses passive sensors that react to heat, not normal light).

[Edward]

hobgoblin. Thankyou. I new there was a point in MM that suggested that untrasound vision was no good to mages. I had considered a teem of runners all with ultrasound vision (eyes, goggles or scopes) firing of ir smoke grenades like nobody’s business but I ad considered it would have to be a no spell caster team and was beginning to think I had it wrong.

This tells me that US will not ever grant LOS but will not interfere with LOS achieved with a different vision system.

I want back with my books. Well we there tomorrow.

My take on the “if you payed essence it works with magic” is that it only applies to things that can be natural. Speed, attributes, hearing sound and seeing with light and IR are all cybernetic enhancements of natural things. Ultrasound vision is not an expansion of a natural sense it is an entirely new sense that the brain has no natural way to process so the technology overlays it on the visual sensors.

If you where to implement it in a way more closely aligned to a bat’s sonar (a procedure that would probably require cultured biowear to give the brain the ability to proses object locations threw the hearing centres of the brain) you might be able to use it to target spells.

Witch brings up an interesting point, can you shape change into a bat and use its sonar to target spells, do you even get its sonar.

Edward

[hobgoblin]

ok, now this is getting messy to say the least. and it all started by a comment about a camera being able to see the astral :silly:

[Jason Farlander]

[SilverWolf_assas...]

So in conclusion,
State of the Art 2064 is like crack.
It drives everyone crazy and if you don't have it then you can't possibly understand.
And in some states it will be outlawed.
Excellent work!!

--------------------------------
TheBlackDwarf, Decker
"Fear me Renraku. . . I am PAIN"

[hobgoblin]

well, two more books to my must buy list i guess. sota64 and mrjlbb. gah...

[Fortune]

[Edward]