Ravor
Mar 12 2007, 11:59 PM
| QUOTE (Garrowolf) |
| The extra complex actions are the problem. They can cast three or four spells a turn. This totally breaks my disbelief in the setting. I can see the hyped up sammie shooting and punching in a adrenaline filled frenzy but I cant see the focus and concentration sped up to rapid fire cast spells. |
Then instead of banning Mages from reaction enhancers why don't you limit shaping Mana to once per Combat Turn? That way you'd have Mages split their Karma between Spellcasting and Firearms more-so then RAW suggests which would also have the side-effect of lowering their powerlevels even more, and that to me anyways seems to be your goal.
| QUOTE (Seyluun) |
| As for the best way to get IP as a mage it's hard to beat Increase reflex with a force 4 sustaining focus. Sure it's not broken like in SR3 (when you could do the same for the ridiculous cost of 2 karma and 10000Y) but it's still good, costing you 9 karma (4 for the focus, 5 for the spell) and 40.000Y, unless you're willing to make a run to steal the focus. The main drawback is that you have to recast the spell each time you cross a ward, so you have to be good enough to make 4 hits in a few tries and to soak the drain on an average roll. Don't worry about the focus being attacked, because if they can destroy the focus, chances are they'll just try to kill you instead. Be wary of the random "capture" plot twist though (extended detect ennemies is your friend here) |
Although I agree that extra IPs are a must, personally I think I'd settle for 3 IPs from a Rating 3 Focus that is implanted next to the bone. (Yes, I was told that its actually canon to implant focuses/ect, some newly born IE chica is suposed to have one or something...) That way the drain and the required sucesses are alittle easier to manage as well as being slightly cheaper and easier to get you hands on.
Also, personally as a DM, I wouldn't drop Focus Addiction on someone for only having one or even two Focus active, even if it was active all of the time. Now on the other hand, if the Mage was using every foci he could get his hands on then I'd slap him with addiction checks....
Kyoto Kid
Mar 13 2007, 12:09 AM
| QUOTE (Ravor) |
| Although I agree that extra IPs are a must, personally I think I'd settle for 3 IPs from a Rating 3 Focus that is implanted next to the bone. (Yes, I was told that its actually canon to implant focuses/ect, some newly born IE chica is suposed to have one or something...) That way the drain and the required sucesses are alittle easier to manage as well as being slightly cheaper and easier to get you hands on. |
...how I wish there was still "grounding".
That mage go boom real good...
Ravor
Mar 13 2007, 12:19 AM
*chuckles*
True, although other then being immune to having the foci taken away I don't see any really game-breaking exploits, although perhaps not Canon I know that I'd rule that the Mage's Aura/Astral Form did not cover the Foci's, ect...
lorechaser
Mar 13 2007, 12:36 AM
| QUOTE (Ravor) |
Then instead of banning Mages from reaction enhancers why don't you limit shaping Mana to once per Combat Turn? That way you'd have Mages split their Karma between Spellcasting and Firearms more-so then RAW suggests which would also have the side-effect of lowering their powerlevels even more, and that to me anyways seems to be your goal.
|
You'll also have to remove the ability for mages to split their dice pool to cast multiple spells in a single round - that also lets them cast more than once a round. And at that point, you've created an entirely different set of rules for mages.
Can the mages at least get multiple IPs if they aren't casting spells? Firing guns, for instance?
| QUOTE (Ravor) |
Also, personally as a DM, I wouldn't drop Focus Addiction on someone for only having one or even two Focus active, even if it was active all of the time. Now on the other hand, if the Mage was using every foci he could get his hands on then I'd slap him with addiction checks.... |
I wouldn't either. But RAW says that a single foci, active all the time, is mild focus addiction. So presumably, that's an intended balance to foci in general.
Ravor
Mar 13 2007, 12:52 AM
Well since I believe Garrowolf's problem with added IPs was envisioning magic as being based purely in the mind and will I don't think a person would have to do away with spliting dicepools for multiple spells as I believe that that rule reflects his vision of spellcasting. (And truth be told, it also rather closely reflects the way I imagine magic/hacking while in 'the meat bod' as well.)
If I were using this rule (And I'd be lying if I didn't say that I've strongly considered making it an offical house-rule in all of my camapigns, but for style instead of balance reasons.) sure they could weave their mojo in IP 1, (or whichever one that wanted to let loose in) and then shoot guns in IPs 2-4, in fact I'd encourage it.
As for RAW and focus addiction, sure I agree with your statement, but then again I tend to ignore whatever parts of RAW I think are stupid anyways, such as Reaction Enhancers not stacking with Wired Reflexes, Ultrasound not being installed into Cybereyes, Cyberlimbs being the perfect gift to cripple your worst enemy, ect...
Garrowolf
Mar 13 2007, 02:11 AM
Yup Ravor That is what I was thinking.
I don't mind that idea of multiple spells that the mage is splitting his attention to do but if you allow them to have multiple IPs then then can get around that.
Alot of how I see a game working is based on the stories and movies I have seen that character type in. The magic user is usually powerful but slower. The martial artist is rapid fire fast - at fighting.
Part of my logic is that moving very fast takes lots of training so that your body knows what to do at that speed. If you don't know what to do then you will just flounder at high speed because your having to think out each action.
Personally I reworked the turn to be either one complex or a series of simple actions. Extra IPs from wired reflexes give you +2 reaction and + 2 simple actions. All of your actions occur on your turn. No extra IPs. If you want to hold your actions to spread them out then you can do somethings and hold your action. However you have to define what triggers your held action. If it doesn't occur then you loose those held actions.
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