Exploration

The magician must spend an hour every day exploring his or her surroundings, either in the flesh or in the astral plane.

Tasking

The magician may not do anything else while counterspelling.

Are these restricting enough? What suggestions do you have for new geasa?

Exploration appeals to me as a GM because of the number of adventure hooks it can produce.

How about rediculous things, like being forced to change your socks between every spell?

I'd want more guidelines on exploration. Does "the bedroom I woke up in" count as surroundings for exploration? If so you might as well change it to "twiddles thumbs for an hour."

I'd allow changing socks, although that's a bit harsh.

Isn't it the point of geasa to be at least partially harsh to begin with?

Yeah, but most geasa wouldn't require so much effort between spells. Unless you never expect to be in combat or in a rushed situation this geasa would never be taken. It would be overly crippling to practically every caster on the planet.

How about changing socks after each use of magic, unless you have allready done so in the last hour. Would that be balanced? (I must admit I have not read SMyet, as I´m waiting for the hardcopy)

Oh... Okay. I'll have to keep in mind little things like that...

Wait, if they already have their shoes off, wouldn't it just be a full-round action? Meh... Thinking about it, imagine how many spare pairs of socks they must keep on hand. Maybe one every hour while awake?

MK: That could work, but I'd love to see the IC rationalization for it.

Lilith: Rounds are 3 seconds long. Take your shoes off, stick a pair of socks in your pocket and get a stop watch.

I'm a college student. I'm often still putting socks on while I'm going out the door most days. I don't have time to push buttons on a stop watch.

Nah, seriously, the time limit was a joke. I'm pretty sure it counts as a complex action by rules standards, though. And considering some of the things this game allows you to pull in three seconds...

Edit: In three seconds, you can move 4 meters and shoot someone in the head. Nevermind the fact that moving four meters typically takes five seconds, aiming at least one, and shooting in the head can take up to a minute of steadying the gun. You're moving faster than the human nervous system does.

Sounds more like an extended task to me. Agility (4, 1 initiative pass). That would put the average person (agility 3) putting on their socks in about 12 seconds. Still seems a bit fast, but nothing's perfect.

Pfft... Some of the free actions take longer than that. Though, you could conceivably be running, singing the Star Bangle Banner, and inserting a fresh clip all at the same time... Nevermind that inserting a fresh clip can take up to six seconds.

Here's an explanation of the exploration geas.

If it's on foot, it has to be for at least a quarter-mile radius. If it's astral, it has to be a 10 mile radius.

It'll take a long time to sing the Star-spangled banner at one phrase (line) per initiative pass. And you can't run and sing at the same time because running is a free action.

/me coughs, calmly injects James with a memory wiper, and rewrites her post to exclude singing a certain song before he comes to. Was just being rediculous anyway.

lol I'd let someone run and sing att he same time.

*at the top of his lungs while performing psuedo-mystical mudras*

WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE! (Bang)
A YELLOW SUBMARINE! (Boom)
A YELLOW SUBMARINE! (Zap)

... and so on, and so forth.

You call that singing?

o/~ I don't know if you can see o/~
o/~ Army singing is off-key o/~

you can trade in a simple action for a free action. therefore, if you limit yourself to one simple action per IP, you can indeed run and sing at the same time.

...

And the horrible thing is, this entire thing started over an idea to use the changing of socks as a geas.

Oh, and looking at this, you can run, sing, and stand up in the same round. Lie, lie flat on your back, get a time, and time how long it takes you to stand up.

I don't know, in 3rd Edition, I played a Mage who needed a Talisman, and later on also needed to be able to gesture.

In 4th I have a player who wants a Talisman Geas, and another who was toying with the idea of having to be perceving Astal in order to fullfil her Geas, at least until I reminded her that she couldn't cast spells at non-astral beings while doing so... (But then again, knowing her she just might take it anyways...)

Geas sadly are only for characters, not for players.

Detachable cyber foot. Have a bandolier with a bunch of quick replacements. Easy to reload the bandolier between combats.

Offset the Magic loss with another geasa.

It's worth pointing out, however, that most DSers (and, in fact, most Shadowrun fans, period) that try your little exercises are, well, gamers. Not folks in military/law enforcement/serious martial artist physical shape. Ask someone who's trained (especially in one of the more acrobatic martial arts) how long it takes them to stand up.

While you're at it -- I'm just curious, but where did your "six seconds" number come from, when it came to inserting a fresh magazine? I can do it faster than that six second figure and I've only been shooting (handguns) for about two years. Ditto, your "up to a minute" (or whatever the number was) to shoot someone in the head? Where are you getting these numbers, exactly?

My guess is his ass.

Shit, I can do it faster than six second and I've been to the range less than a handful of times.

Getting magazine out, inserting it, and chambering a round. Typically, people don't carry around spare magazines in their hands all of the time. It's depending entirely on your magazine setup, but I'm figuring starting runners, not people will access to milspec gear.

The up to a minute? You've got to aim at their head before you can shoot it, and that depends entirely on how much cover the target has, how they are moving, how well you can see them, etc. And that's just in a simple hallway.

Finally, it would be "in her ass." Unless you've met any men named Lilith. If you have, you might want to ask them why they're named after someone's first wife.

*sigh*

"Getting magazine out" is what your weak hand does while your right hand thumbs the magazine release. "Inserting it" isn't all that tough. "Chambering a round" is what happens automatically in most modern handguns when you thumb the slide release (that's why they lock back, when it's empty). "In their hands all of the time" shows me you didn't watch the video, and don't know anything about concealed carry. "Starting runners, not people with [editing mine] access to milspec gear" shows me you, again, don't know anything about concealed carry. I can buy that "milspec gear" in a discount pack with a holster and a good belt for about fifty bucks, on-line.

And, yeah. All your other stuff about aiming, blah blah blah, just shows that you're adding made-up stuff to the scenario you were griping about in the first place. Your complaint was that someone could move four meters and fire a weapon in 3 seconds. Google the guy in that video's name, and you'll find a bunch of chubby 40+ year old guys moving, emptying a weapon, reloading, and re-emptying that weapon -- all hits on three or four inch targets -- in five or six seconds. Completely mundane men, for the record, since neither cyberwear nor magic are real.

So, yeah. It sounds like you were just plain making shit up to complain about, and hoping no one would notice you had no idea what you were saying.

I'll admit I'm wrong. Part of the fun of this is sometimes getting my ass handed to me. I would've corrected the typo, but I've been having net trouble tonight.

Seriously, if you've got like five minutes to kill, just check these guys out. The more I'm getting "into" shooting, the more and more I'm hating some of my old favorite action movies, RPGs with guns in them, etc, etc. I've long known archery was horribly misrepresented in film and RPGs, and of course on a rational level I've known shooting was unrealistic as presented -- but the more I'm learning about it (and seeing with my own two eyes), the more I'm realizing just how much horseshit the general populace is shovel-fed as to how these mysterious "bullet throwing contraptions" work...not just by the media and Hollywood, but also misconceptions in RPGs.

holy crap, that guy reloaded fast.

I figured movies were unrealistic, but holy hell, I didn't know they were that unrealistic! That's about like making a historical documentary about crossbows and having them shoot bolts with C4 in the shaft and impact detonators for arrowheads!

....couldyoudothat?!

Well, make no mistake -- these guys are, in some ways, the best in the world at what they do. But the point remains, it's possible to do it this way. They're moving, and shooting, and hitting (the hardest part), and doing it with the proper shooting form, the right stance, usage of cover, yadda yadda yadda. Guys like these (seeing one in action, in person) are part of why I hate skill caps so much.

What some of the "round 12" videos on that link, and compare it to a Shadowrun 3-second combat round, some time.

Explosive arrowheads are on page 12 of the Cannon Companion. I'd say it's possible.

Oh, Critias, I don't need do. I already knew that you could do more than two rounds in three seconds with a regular pistol. I just figured the SR rules include dodging.

Gesture: The Konami Code.

In order to activate his powers for the next 30 combat turns the adept must reach toward the sky twice, squat down twice, take a step to the left, take a step to the right, take a step to the left, take a step to the right, attack nothing in particular, and jump. In that order.

Hahahaha