Full Version: Clarification on counterspelling please.
So i'm GMing a 4th ed group and I had an odd thing happen. Normally our combats are not close quarters however in this last adventure two members where caught alone in a small apartment when they where attacked. The mage over-casted for like 12 boxes of stun. He however said he could cast it and both protect himself and his compatriot from it while in the area of effect by counter-spelling his own spell. Now could someone clarify for me, if you have a 12 hit stun-ball and you counter-spell it for you and your friend for 6 dice does that lower the effect of the over all spell or does it just lower the effect of the spell on him and his friend specifically. If you can overcast and then null the effects on just you then it makes mages even more awful powerful.
Just to make sure I understand. The mage had used a Free action at some point earlier to specify that he was protecting himself and his teammate with Counterspelling. He cast Stunball on an area that included both enemies, his teammate, and himself. He then includes the hits from his Counterspelling Skill to resist of the Stunball for himself and his teammate, but not for anyone his Counterspelling is not protecting. If his enemies don't have their own Counterspelling help they are SOL and are protected only by their own Willpower. Likewise if he had a teammate that he wasn't protecting, for whatever reason, they would not benefit from the Counterspelling.
This is a legal technique. It is also not without risk. He still has to roll the resisting dice, and might not score any hits with them. Also if he Glitches the Counterspell he not only takes Drain and the full Stunball damage, he can also takes extra damage as mentioned in the Counterspelling section.
This is a legal technique. It is also not without risk. He still has to roll the resisting dice, and might not score any hits with them. Also if he Glitches the Counterspell he not only takes Drain and the full Stunball damage, he can also takes extra damage as mentioned in the Counterspelling section.
Yes, you grapsed the situation perfectly. Thanks for replying 
He is a dog shaman min-maxed to heck. He overcasts almost every spell and takes drain maybe twice a game. It's annoying. I was hoping I could curve his slaughtering my npc with stun-balls if he was within the radius. We have a group of 7 players doing 12 to 15 dice of damage so combat usually only lasts 3 turns before all the npc are killed.
He is a dog shaman min-maxed to heck. He overcasts almost every spell and takes drain maybe twice a game. It's annoying. I was hoping I could curve his slaughtering my npc with stun-balls if he was within the radius. We have a group of 7 players doing 12 to 15 dice of damage so combat usually only lasts 3 turns before all the npc are killed.
| QUOTE (30 @ coyote+Feb 27 2006, 10:40 PM) |
| Yes, you grapsed the situation perfectly. Thanks for replying He is a dog shaman min-maxed to heck. He overcasts almost every spell and takes drain maybe twice a game. It's annoying. I was hoping I could curve his slaughtering my npc with stun-balls if he was within the radius. We have a group of 7 players doing 12 to 15 dice of damage so combat usually only lasts 3 turns before all the npc are killed. |
LOL, well you could try fight fire with fire. Try posting some more specifics over on the SR4 specific forum asking for tips on helping your NPCs to have a shot of keeping up with their munchkin antics. Maybe even some tips to curb their power.
Seven players/PCs is going to plug a lot of holes in a team members, but sounds like you've been able to get the team split up which is an excellent start.Off the top of my head:
A couple of enemies with Counterspelling, one speced to Combat Spells the other to something else is an excellent start. I believe you get an extra die from the team help of the second Counterspeller. The beauty is neither of them need be mages, one or both could be Mystic Adepts with a single Magic point allocated to the Magician side and the rest into Powers. So when all these bad mojo come at them with fists/blades/firearms but you're rolling resists behind the GM screen that sound like thunder they'll be scratching their heads who to geek first.
You'll be adding more than 8 dice to the spell resist rolls of all the enemies. That should really help protect them from that Stunball spell. At least get your poor little NPCs into the second Combat Turn.
Note: You may not want to explain initially how the rules are letting you do this. Let the little min-maxers figure it out themselves. They'll probably even enjoy the puzzle.
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