Not going to address the shapechange -> metahuman (addressed elsewhere).

But:

1) Skills?

Does the tiger / Wolf / Bear have the appropriate skills under the critter (for attacks.

Do the 'human' skills carry over for combat (unarmed?), perception, stealth, athletics, etc?

2) "Magicians in Critter form can still cast spells, but cannot perform other task requiring speech"

Does conjuration require speech? (and the subsets of conjuration of ordering already bound spirits etc) and/or is this covered under 'casting spells' or is casting spells, strictly 'sorcery'


3) Gear does not transform

While elsewhere the general opinion seems to be cyberware is not quite gear (having had essence paid for it). What of Foci?

If Foci do not 'change' (seems likely to me), what are the opinions on being 'worn' (if appropriate) after the change. (a shaman with a medcine necklace that is a sustaining Foci, used to sustain the shapechange) Even after becoming a Wolf, the wolf still 'wears' the collar / necklace. If active Foci have a strong enough tie to the Mage to travel with their astral form, I would think they could work some leeway into the physical also.

4) "Add 1 to the critters Base attribute ratings for every hit the caster generates"

Each hit is +1 to each (physical, mental are stated as remaining the same) attribute. Each hit is +1 to A attribute.

Example: Shaman becomes a wolf (B-2,A-3,R-3,S-2,C-x,I-x,W-x,Edge-3,Init 6, IP 2)

So if the shaman gets 3 hits. Stats are:
B-5,A-6,R-6,S-5
or
B-2,A-3,R-3,S-5 (shaman chose to add three to str to go stronger)

Also Init would presumably be recalculated based on the new physical stats... Does IP change to a Wolf's, the mage's, or?


Thanks in advance for you thoughts.

Peace

Make up your own rules for this spell. You couldn't make them worse.

actually I am trying to be nice an helpful to my gamemaster...

I intend to be the shapechanging shaman in question.

Given the weak rules as presented and the series of questions it raises, I was hoping to make my gamemasters life easier by presenting a list of options of what others thought were reasonable.


For my own games:

Skills:

The critter posses all the lists skills at one-half their rating, OR if applciable the player can use their active skills at one half their rating. (penalized as the body is not familiar and/or while 'biting' may be natural to a wolf, it is not something the mental aspects of the character are used to (hopefully)

2) One does not need eyes to see on the astral, The words one speaks (wether to do sorcery or dealing with spirits) does not need vocal cords. I would consider all applciaable magic tasks as possible (now enchanting may or may not be possible once street magic comes out, some things would require hands, etc).

3) Foci would not tranform, but I would allow some leeway for them to 'adjust' to the current form. Even if the Wolfs neck is a different size, unless totally unrealstic I would allow a neclace / ring /etc to be carried over

4) Personally (though this hurts me) I find each hit +1 to all stats (or even all physical stats) way way to nice. I would rule for my games it is +1 per net hit to be divided up between stats at casters choice at the time of the change.

I would allow the character to use aplacable skills at full value, but I wouldn't give him any of the creature's skills.

I would loose the restriction that you can only transform into something within 2 levels of your body attribute. Instead, I would set a threshold equal to the absolute difference between the body attributes of the character and the creature. Any net hits above that can give bonus to a single attribute as you suggest. The spell would be powerful enough without the effects of every increase attribute spell in the grimoire anyway.

Let's have a look at Increase Attribute: Drain (F/2)-2, Force must be equal to (augumented) value of target attribute.

Let's say our goal is to have Agility 8. And the magican has Body 4, Agility 3, Magic 6

In order to get Agility 8, the magican needs to overcast the spell and resist 2P drain, and get 5 hits.

Using the standard Shapeshange though; he would cast the spell at Force 3, resist 3S drain, and he would only need 3 hits. And in addition to getting Agility 8, the magican would have increased all of his other physical attributes, and possibly gained an IP. This would be true even if the increase was only in one attribute per hit.


I concider the actual change into an animal useful enough to warrant the high drain value. Especially since there's currently little reason to cast it at a high force. I say it needs a threshold and a nerf, and that's what I've given it. I'm still not sure about it though . In SR3 it was an extremely difficult spell to cast, and then it didn't even have the boost effect.

I agree with letting foci "adjust" a little to accompany a shapechange. Just mutter something about them being bonded and move on.

A note on conjuring: a character has a telepathic connection with their own spirits, so conjuration does not normally require the ability to speak.

On foci: you don't need to "use" a focus to activate it (except Weapon Foci), you just need to touch it. A sustaining focus would work just as well superglued to your back as it does held in a hand.

-Frank

Shades of Surgically Implanted Talisman geas, I see.

O'course, if I were a cybered up mage, I'd put my talisman/focus in a cyber compartment.

Laughingowl: Glad you like it. I haven't tested it though. However, it's one of the few things in the rules that are so obviously broken, I propably wont even try to do it the canon way.