To some thats a very minor issue. Granted some of my runners have been saved by heal spells. But it isnt a streatch for a good medic and a handy dandy high end first aid kit to come to the rescue as well. You just dont recover as quickly is all.

You can't dodge stunbolt or manabolt there direct combat spells which go strait to the damage resistance test.

I tend to pay alot of essence up front. After all you can upgrade ware later to get an essence hole to fill in later.
My street samurai had his rating alpha 2 wired reflexs removed and replaced with synaptic boosters rating 2. It generated a .95 essence hole to be filled with other ware. (would have been higher but the bioware switch from half cost to full)

Quite so, I've my runner chars have some pretty nasty runins with those spells. And considering I dont generally play orks or trolls (I actually usually play a human) my body dice often dont soak it too well

yup

your ork or troll isn't going to soak it any better. Its a willpower test. raw will just those 3-5 little willpower dice with nothing helping them but edge or some magic resistance. Maybe the party mage will give you some counter spelling if you can stand to be in his LOS.

[edit] too tired to type fast. Sigh... who ever rolles less than a force 5 manabolt the drain is flat half force (rounded down)

So?
If you get more succuss's on the reaction roll againts indirect combat spells you negate that two because you dodge out of the way.

The problem is direct combat spells are harder to resist then elemental and have less drain. So its perfectly fine for a mage to maximum overcast a direct combat spell.

AH right sorry was thinking of elemental. Bleh. Been a while since Ive had a chance to actually play SR much less have to deal with spells. For some erason I was thinking Manabolt was body not will. *shrug* BUt yeah either way it's nasty.

As for reaction rolls. You dont get one. If it's the mages pass and he can see you. Your SOL if he gets the spell off.

Good thing ultrasound beats invisibility.

SR is also a team game. That sammy should get his friend's counterspelling added.

I think you meant broke, not broken, right?

Bye
Thanee

What NR char doesnt start out broke? WEll cept the guy that starts with the high or luxury lifestyle. Unless your starting out with a custom startup where the GM givse you more starting money than usual. Every runner comes out of CG short on cash. It's an added incentive to actually go game.. and you know.. take runs

What he said. Im almost perpetually short on cash for characters. Even my underpowered 40 something ex corp worker stressed out Bliss addict with 2's in most of his attributes. Buying those computers, electronics and poisons cost a lot of cash. But, you run to live, don't ya?

As for the sammy, nice idea. As for mages, well, manabolt and stunbolt are just nasty to non-mages. Indirect combat spells are more managable, even not that great vs. a decently protected person. (I find them better for utility or unarmored folks, or, well, setting the armor on fire ) But a punishing direct combat spell is hell for any mundane, an average willpower, which is what your typical combat type comes with, or even above average, its harsh. Edge, edge edge. An edge of 3 gives the person with Will 3 6 dice to roll that can explode...which makes things a little better...but WIll 4 edge 4, better still.

Combat folks have it kind of tough...they need a lot of their stats. Body keeps them alive(useful for all classes tho, but at least a mage has spells to help). Agility links to most of their primary skills. Reaction helps them go first. Strength helps them do damage. Intuition helps them with Initative and Perception, useful for everyone in the game. And after that you still have three attributes, two of which will probably be dumped, allowing a backup ability. But Edge is amazingly important. So thius starts the 'lower some stats and purchase them up' method, which still costs BP, but its gets that Edge in there. (30 BP saves from stats translates to 1 Edge and 100,000 worth of gear).

The Ork, as mentioned....is really with this new system(and the old, hell), shaping up to be an amazing race to be overall, if youre looking at the numbers aspect. In game you have to put up with prejudice a lot, sure, but given their cost and benefits, its a small freaking price to pay.

Big Body bonuses(allowing a lower BP amount to be places for a higher score...10 BP gets you 5!), Strength(left as is, and its a 3. Dont have to boost with BP, just ware), and the caps on their Logic and Charisma arent that bad even, there are still excellent Hackers, Mages...dear god, dont get me started on Ork mages. Playing an Ork combat type frees up alot of BP for Edge(even tho it starts at 1), and Willpower.

Simply put...Orks rock. Wow...is it just me or does anyone else feel their cost in BP to play one is sort of overshadowed by their benefits?

EDIT: Not to mention the ability to take Human Looking as a positive quality and get rid of most of the racism.

DIdnt want to derail thread too much, but i guess it can tie in this way...Seconded notion of Ork=Good Sammie.

OneTriK: Try it the other way around:

Samurai: I shoot the mage with my AK-97. I'll do a Long Burst and I've got Recoil Comp (4).
GM: Are you using Ex-Ex?
Samurai: Sure - it's a special occasion. I'll fork out the 80

Rolls: Agi 6 + Automatics (5) + Smart Link + 2 -1 recoil= 12. 4 hits
Mage: I got uh... 2 hits on my Reaction (4) roll.
Samurai: That's 6P + 1 + 1 + 5 = 13P at -1AP.
Mage: I have my armour jacket on so that's 8 - 1 + Body 4. I get (rolls) 4 hits and take... 9P.
Samurai: Okay - second simple action, I go for the short burst.


You see - both parties can slaughter the other. That is how Shadowrun works and why the game results in all the fascinating subterfuge and betrayal. In this sense the mage and the samurai are balanced. In a stand-up fight the winner is the one that is prepared and that isn't something affected by character type.

The only sense in which balance would be out is if the mage or samurai could out perform the other at what they do. And I don't believe this is the case. They both play very differently.

Ahh, power comes for a price. To get any gametime, youre forced to play a whippersnapper.

I've gotta disagree, unless you're only facing a lone mage. In which case geek him. But otherwise, you've got other people to worry about, and as long as you have more IP than anybody, you dodge until they run out of IP, then take your time shooting them with the spare IPs you have.

not to nitpick but a long burst is a complex action.
two short bursts would yield no recoil mods though, and deal a net (average) damage from your example about the same.
but since the mage has reaction of 4 and is armored jacket he's got to have pretty good physical stats (Bod 4, Agi 4) and he'll be less adept at magic.

I kind of was assuming a one-on-one confrontation. But it's still often a good tactic against groups, especially if they are grunts with only one IP to your three. Use your first action to take out the mage or the one with the heaviest weapon, then when you use full defense as an interrupt action, you'll be defending against one less enemy. And after they've all gone, you can use your last IP to go on offense again.

Sometimes dodging first is a good idea too, granted. But that's usually when you are facing really nasty odds.