Full Version: Symbolic Links: Any way to defend yourself?
| QUOTE (Synner) |
| Been kind of busy to visit this thread, and I actually still don't have the time right now to address the issue of mana barriers and wards in detail... but I want to start off by apologizing for the blunder in my previous post (page 3 of the thread) - most of it is correct, but please disregard the third paragraph (I was thinking of something else entirely) that is definitely not how spells work in SR4). As soon as my workload clears up some I'll be back to walk through the issue of mana barriers in general and wards in particular. |
Thank you, I appreciate all of the time yourself, Frank, DemonseedElite, Demerzel, and any other developers that have taken to address this issue.
| QUOTE (Eleazar) | ||
Thank you, I appreciate all of the time yourself, Frank, DemonseedElite, Demerzel, and any other developers that have taken to address this issue. |
Echo that!
We love our writers/developers.
Yep. That we do.
Until Synner gets the chance to update us all, I think I'll stick with something simple for this issue.
Mark all parties down on a piece of paper in their respective relative positions. Note the location of the ward. If a line drawn from the caster to the target intersects the ward, the ward provides protection (unless the ward is removed from the picture via combat or masking).
Simple, clear and concise. My players like simple. So do I.
Until Synner gets the chance to update us all, I think I'll stick with something simple for this issue.
Mark all parties down on a piece of paper in their respective relative positions. Note the location of the ward. If a line drawn from the caster to the target intersects the ward, the ward provides protection (unless the ward is removed from the picture via combat or masking).
Simple, clear and concise. My players like simple. So do I.
Action 1: "I use powerball to destroy all the nonliving items in the ward, including the anchor."
Kzt, you win the hilarity prize.
| QUOTE (kzt) |
| Action 1: "I use powerball to destroy all the nonliving items in the ward, including the anchor." |
That'd work. Not very subtle but it works.
Seems odd though that non-living items get little benefit from the ward though.
Oh well.
My house-rule: Non-living things get a spell-resistance test from wards, counterspelling, etc. They simply contribute 0 dice to this test by themselves. Net hits are then compared to threshold normally.
| QUOTE (Eleazar) |
| Thank you, I appreciate all of the time yourself, Frank, DemonseedElite, Demerzel, and any other developers that have taken to address this issue. |
I'm not sure how I got the reputation, but I am not a Freelancer or Developer.
| QUOTE (FrankTrollman) |
| However, Demerzel is now telling us that what he intended all along was for Ritual Spellcasting to involve Grounding and a whole bunch of other concepts that are specifically forbidden in SR4. And if he had said any of that during the writing process I would have had to yell at him. A lot. |
Um, huh? How am I getting dragged into this?
| QUOTE (Moon-Hawk) |
| My house-rule: Non-living things get a spell-resistance test from wards, counterspelling, etc. They simply contribute 0 dice to this test by themselves. Net hits are then compared to threshold normally. |
Love it. Would love to see that in errata or an FAQ update.
| QUOTE (Demerzel) | ||
Um, huh? How am I getting dragged into this? |
I BLAME FRANK!
Better instead, powerball on the ward anchor, and hope that the target is caught in the affect, since the anchor will be destroyed, they won't get the wards benefits.
It's area affect. They all take damage at the same time. Action 2 is when you stunball the naked, unarmed people inside what was a ward a few seconds ago.
Is this a silly effect or what
Is this a silly effect or what
Better yet, to minimize drain usage, use powerbolt on the ward anchor, and then mana/stun ball on the people. Just use multiple casting.
| QUOTE (Tarantula @ Aug 9 2007, 10:39 PM) |
| Better yet, to minimize drain usage, use powerbolt on the ward anchor, and then mana/stun ball on the people. Just use multiple casting. |
or, just use an indirect spell on your target. because hey, indirect spells don't allow resistance rolls for anything. problem solved.
so, going back to the dragon thread, you can technically use an indirect spell (no drain modifier) which must be physical (+1 modifier) dealing physical damage (no modifier) with a range of touch (hey, we're ignoring the need for normal LOS, which should include touch, should it not? -2 drain) to a single target (no modifier) but we'll restrict the target to dragons (-1 modifier)
for the record, i would never allow that spell to exist (and i'm not sure if i'd let touch spells bypass their restriction for ritual spells) but technically i've just created a spell with a -3* [edit] actually, i think i missed something when i tried to add this up... that may be "only" -2 [/edit] drain modifier that allows no resistance test. ritual away!
*actual drain code of a legitimate spell for use in rituals would probably be F / 2
(note: oddly enough, you *can* have indirect spells with restricted targets. the corrode line of spells in street magic is an example of this. you can also have touch range indirect spells. that being said, i can't justify "your spell only damages one kind of thing", so i would still never allow this spell to exist)
Problem is, there doesn't exist such a spell, and custom spells are always at GM discretion. The ritual team was relying on the (F/2)-2 drain of slay dragon to guaranteeably suvive the casting (with 8P dmg at most). With say, acid stream, they'd be taking a base of 13P, and therefore having to rely on their drain test to survive. That, or they Could cast it at force 12 instead, with drain being base 9P. The problem with the dragon is that it has 16 body, so its much more effective at resisting a physical spell than a mana spell.
As far as magoo, yes, force 6 flamethrower ftw.
As far as magoo, yes, force 6 flamethrower ftw.
| QUOTE (Eleazar) | ||||
I BLAME FRANK! |
That's fair. You know I actually confused Demerzel and DemonseedElite. They uh... have the same three letters at he beginning of their names and were making a similar argument. Uh... sorry about that.
When we're talking by e-mail Demonseed is not called that - so I have to switch to calling him... right. Sorry.
| QUOTE (Tarantula) |
| Better instead, powerball on the ward anchor, and hope that the target is caught in the affect, since the anchor will be destroyed, they won't get the wards benefits. |
A powerball resolves against everything in the area simultaneously, so that particular end run around the argument doesn't work.
-Frank
| QUOTE (FrankTrollman) |
| You know I actually confused Demerzel and DemonseedElite. They uh... have the same three letters at he beginning of their names and were making a similar argument. Uh... sorry about that. |
Other than trying to figure out what was going on with me being a writer I didn't post in this thread... So I'm not sure were I was making a similar argument.
What's funny though is the impression that I may have been a writer somehow diminished my credibility in another thread... Heh...
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