Leviathan
Sep 30 2005, 03:58 PM
Ok, I'm going to be playing a Dwarf "Rastas" (Rastafarian Shamen) (Dragonslayer Totem), this is the rought Skill and Spell list that I have, and I'm looking for some feedback/advice.
This guy is going to dislike high technology and high-tech weapons (hence why no firearm skills).
Skills
Active
Stealth 3
Athletics 4
PoleArms 4
Centering 5
Conjuring 6
Sorcery 6
Etiquette 5
Knowledge
Mythos: Folklore 5
Magic Background 5
Paranormal Animals 5
Rastafarian Music 5
Rastafarian Dance 5
Language
English 4
Patois 3
Spells
Invisibility - Force 1
Incr Reflexes +2 - Force 2
Heal - Force 3
Lightning Bolt - Force 4
Stunball - Force 6
Manabolt - Force 6
Redirect - Force 3
I know that I should have more utility, but I'm not sure what other spells to drop.
Leviathan
Sep 30 2005, 06:17 PM
Just realised that I mis-read one of the spells. Post has been edited to remove that spell.
Mr Cjelli
Sep 30 2005, 06:26 PM
| QUOTE (Leviathan) |
Spells
Invisibility - Force 1
Incr Reflexes +2 - Force 2
Heal - Force 3
Lightning Bolt - Force 4
Stunball - Force 6
Manabolt - Force 6
Redirect - Force 3
|
Force 1 Invisibility is worthless. Observers get to resist illusions, and it won't work on cameras. Go For Improved Invisibility, say force 4.
Why would you go Force 2 on Increase Reflexes, a spell that's effect isn't bounded by Force? The difficulty to dispel is effectively the same be it Force 2 or 1. Plus you'll save karma and cash on your sustaining focus. Use the extra spell point and get a Force 1 sustaining focus for it.
I personally don't think Redirect is all that useful, but YMMV. You might want to consider utility spells such as Levitate, Healthy Glow, Magic Fingers, and so forth.
Leviathan
Oct 1 2005, 03:18 PM
| QUOTE (Mr Cjelli) |
Force 1 Invisibility is worthless. Observers get to resist illusions, and it won't work on cameras. Go For Improved Invisibility, say force 4.
Why would you go Force 2 on Increase Reflexes, a spell that's effect isn't bounded by Force? The difficulty to dispel is effectively the same be it Force 2 or 1. Plus you'll save karma and cash on your sustaining focus. Use the extra spell point and get a Force 1 sustaining focus for it.
I personally don't think Redirect is all that useful, but YMMV. You might want to consider utility spells such as Levitate, Healthy Glow, Magic Fingers, and so forth. |
Invisibility, near as I can tell, gets resisted by each observer, and they have a pathetically low TN for their Intelligence test to see you, due to the low force. Therefore, all I have to do is generate more successes on my 11 or so spell dice than they do on their 4 odd Intelligence dice. Though yeah, it should probably be Improved Invis.
Our group uses the non-broken (according to our GM) rules for improved init, meaning that the max dice increase is limited by force. You want +2 Init dice, you have to take at least force 2.
Levitate and magic fingers would be handy, but I fail to see what in the heck use 'healthy glow' would have that would put it in any category other than 'have rich people pay you to cast it on them'.
Lucifer
Oct 1 2005, 04:02 PM
I would personally drop Lightning Bolt. I don't like Elemental Manipulations much to begin with, but taking one at 4 Force seems especially useless. Half armor applies when resisting them (possibly more the Nonconductive armor option) and most people you attack will probably have at least 2 Impact Armor, if not 4.
I'd say either take it at 5-6 or not at all; in this case, not at all, since you seem to want to recover some points somewhere.
You may or may not want to put an Exclusive restriction on your Heal and bump it up to Force 5 - I've never had a problem with the Exclusive restriction on that particular spell, but if you think your GM's going to go out of his way to make it an issue, then it isn't worth it. Up to you.
Are you starting out Initiated? If not, dump your Centering and use the points to raise your Polearms and Stealth a bit, maybe. You can buy it fairly it up to 4 fairly cheap after you Initiate.
I would also say Redirect isn't that useful and you'd be better off with Levitate or Magic Fingers, but everyone's got to have a gimmick. Uh, of course, you've already got the 'Reflex Mage with a Melee Weapon' gimmick, so maybe you can lose that showy trick and get something useful instead...
Fortune
Oct 1 2005, 05:57 PM
| QUOTE (Leviathan @ Oct 2 2005, 01:18 AM) |
| ... but I fail to see what in the heck use 'healthy glow' would have that would put it in any category other than 'have rich people pay you to cast it on them'. |
Are you kidding? Healthy Glow, along with its cousins Fashion and Makeover, are among the most frequently used spells in a large percentage of the groups I have been involved in.
Another couple of quite useful spells, especially at low Force (ie Force 1) are Oxygenate and Catalog (use the Extended and Caster Only options on Detection Spells for more bang for your mana).
Mr Cjelli
Oct 1 2005, 06:40 PM
| QUOTE (Leviathan) |
| Invisibility, near as I can tell, gets resisted by each observer, and they have a pathetically low TN for their Intelligence test to see you, due to the low force. Therefore, all I have to do is generate more successes on my 11 or so spell dice than they do on their 4 odd Intelligence dice. Though yeah, it should probably be Improved Invis. |
Okay, here's the problem with this. The TN for Invisibility is 4. Granted, you'll average more successes (5.5) than a character resisting with Intelligence 4 (3.33), and a hair more than a character resisting with Intelligence 6 (5). Sooner or later a security guard will spot you. You don't want anyone to spot you, ever. Go for a higher force and put some dice into the drain test.
I think womping someone with a low force spell by simply throwing more dice than they can is a great idea in general...just not for illusions or area detection spells. If you're going to use it on a combat, health, or manipulation spell you may as well make the spell exclusive.
Shockwave_IIc
Oct 1 2005, 10:01 PM
| QUOTE (Fortune @ Oct 1 2005, 05:57 PM) |
| QUOTE (Leviathan @ Oct 2 2005, 01:18 AM) | | ... but I fail to see what in the heck use 'healthy glow' would have that would put it in any category other than 'have rich people pay you to cast it on them'. |
Are you kidding? Healthy Glow, along with its cousins Fashion and Makeover, are among the most frequently used spells in a large percentage of the groups I have been involved in.
Another couple of quite useful spells, especially at low Force (ie Force 1) are Oxygenate and Catalog (use the Extended and Caster Only options on Detection Spells for more bang for your mana).
|
It's right up there with Fast and Nutrision (sp). You can also claim a life style cost reduction.
Fortune
Oct 2 2005, 04:16 AM
Fast and Nutrition are another couple of decent Force 1 spells. Or you could use Create Food and Create Water at that Force instead.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please
click here.