Full Version: Full Mages and the Elemental arms race
| QUOTE (Yum Donuts) |
| Or you could just remind your GM that 6 elementals is 36000 nuyen of expense (assuming they're all force 6). best option I'd have would be to make a mage with a trauma damper and a high charisma (an elf with exceptional atribute). so, get yourself an army of watcher spirits, no risk of drain with trauma damper, and have them follow while you astrally project to the compound, and let them slaughter as many elementals as you can find (remember friends in melee modifiers). then leave. keep that up for a week. see how long they can afford to shell out thousands of nuyen to replace things that get wiped daily. |
However, wouldn't sitting there and bombarding the site for a week tip them off that somethings about to happen? I would think they'd beef up various aspects of their security after going through that. If they still have the
of course...
I'd go the 'talk to GM' route:
1. Full mages are rare.
2. Elementals are expensive. If the mage gets his summoning materials at a 50% discount (this ought to be the average for corp mages), and four successes per summoning procedure (which he is not even going to get if he, as you say, summons big-ass elementals), he can have his elementals patrolling the site for three days (the mage uses up a service every 24h even if the elemental performs a service during that time), two if he wants to be able to use a service to have his elementals attack you. The corp pays (calculating with three days lifetime): 5(Force)x6(#)x10(30days/3)x500ny(1000nyx50%)=150.000ny per month. This could be a whole lot of other security personnel.
This cost increases if you want several mages (to cover each shift).
This is not taking into account failed attempts at summoning.
Also, the full mage is going to be working 10h a day (7days/week) summoning elementals (again, calculated for three days lifetime, 15h/day if 2 day average life; Force 5, not counting failed attempts.)
3. It is dangerous: You will very soon have no corp mage anymore if he summons two big-ass elementals a day. (Well if he lives his summoning skill might improve pretty fast.) Remember? No spell pool allowed!
4. He will be permanently drained. Even with a trauma damper (removes one stun damage from every stun damage taken) the mage will get about 3 stun boxes filled per day (conservative estimate).
1. Full mages are rare.
2. Elementals are expensive. If the mage gets his summoning materials at a 50% discount (this ought to be the average for corp mages), and four successes per summoning procedure (which he is not even going to get if he, as you say, summons big-ass elementals), he can have his elementals patrolling the site for three days (the mage uses up a service every 24h even if the elemental performs a service during that time), two if he wants to be able to use a service to have his elementals attack you. The corp pays (calculating with three days lifetime): 5(Force)x6(#)x10(30days/3)x500ny(1000nyx50%)=150.000ny per month. This could be a whole lot of other security personnel.
This cost increases if you want several mages (to cover each shift).
This is not taking into account failed attempts at summoning.
Also, the full mage is going to be working 10h a day (7days/week) summoning elementals (again, calculated for three days lifetime, 15h/day if 2 day average life; Force 5, not counting failed attempts.)
3. It is dangerous: You will very soon have no corp mage anymore if he summons two big-ass elementals a day. (Well if he lives his summoning skill might improve pretty fast.) Remember? No spell pool allowed!
4. He will be permanently drained. Even with a trauma damper (removes one stun damage from every stun damage taken) the mage will get about 3 stun boxes filled per day (conservative estimate).
That's why he gets paid to bond those spirits to guard the area using his karma. He only has to do one summon, blow some karma, and they're there for a whole year and a day. Not that that should be dirt cheap or anything, but its nothing compared to what you're talking about.
I heard about Mercury being able to f with someones mojo. Could you use Mercury filled rounds so the street sammy doesn't need to lug a firehose/flamethrower/portable fan/bag of rocks every time you meet some magical resistance?
| QUOTE (Savior) |
| I heard about Mercury being able to f with someones mojo. Could you use Mercury filled rounds so the street sammy doesn't need to lug a firehose/flamethrower/portable fan/bag of rocks every time you meet some magical resistance? |
One of Mike Stackpole's stories had Kid Stealth loading Wolf's rounds with mercury which, later in the story, messed with a summoned spirit in the shape of a Sphynx.
As to the canon impact, I have no idea. If I had to guess, I'd say no -- the Sphynx was a magical form and not subject to physical laws of interaction.
It's along the same lines as why you can't poison a spirit. Although an axe seems to work reasonably well.
-Siege
Prospero: That's what, 30 Karma per year? 5 more everytime one of them is killed? And why only 6 of them then? They don't count toward the charisma maximum ...
| QUOTE (zephir) |
| Prospero: That's what, 30 Karma per year? 5 more everytime one of them is killed? And why only 6 of them then? They don't count toward the charisma maximum ... |
What's even funnier -- people can only gain karma through shadowrunning. Which means every last corporate mage has a sideline gig!
Sorry, just being difficult.
-Siege
I wouldn't think shadowrunning is the only way you could possible earn karma. I'd be willing to bet the average wagemage accepts risks and overcomes challenges in his career. Sure they wouldn't progress as fast as a shadowrunner, but I'd think they gain some karma over the years. Just my 0.2
| QUOTE (6thDragon) |
| I wouldn't think shadowrunning is the only way you could possible earn karma. I'd be willing to bet the average wagemage accepts risks and overcomes challenges in his career. Sure they wouldn't progress as fast as a shadowrunner, but I'd think they gain some karma over the years. Just my 0.2 |
There's a line in one of the books that stipulates "one can only acquire karma by shadowrunning."
It's one of my pet peeves and I heckle every chance I get.
Not to start another thread on karma and advancement -- there are threads enough devoted to the subject.
-Siege
| QUOTE (Birdy) | ||
Actually, iron weapons are less prone to breaking (unless you make them from cast iron) and more prone to bending. Celtic warriors where known to step on their swords to flatten them again. Iron being useful against the fairy folks most likely steems (historically) from the late bronze age / agricultural civilisations being contacted by (and afraid of) iron/steel (used interchangeable) wielding civilisations. |
Pure iron weapons (not to be confused with cast iron) might've been more durable than steel 'back in the day,' but give modern metallurgists some credit. A favored fencing foil material is the ultra-tough, ultra-strong, pretty hard '250 maraging' steel. It'll carve pure iron like butter and is just as tough, if not tougher, and is 5 times as strong as common structural steel (to say nothing of soft, pure iron). And '250 maraging steel' is just a balance between strength, toughness, and hardness. You can find significantly stronger and harder steels off the shelf, though you'll (usually) be sacrificing durability.
Of course, for spirit bashing, you might want pure iron anyway, though I'm not familiar with any canon rules that say elementals are particularly vulnerable to plain iron mundane weapons.
| QUOTE (Cray74) | ||||
Pure iron weapons (not to be confused with cast iron) might've been more durable than steel 'back in the day,' but give modern metallurgists some credit. A favored fencing foil material is the ultra-tough, ultra-strong, pretty hard '250 maraging' steel. It'll carve pure iron like butter and is just as tough, if not tougher, and is 5 times as strong as common structural steel (to say nothing of soft, pure iron). And '250 maraging steel' is just a balance between strength, toughness, and hardness. You can find significantly stronger and harder steels off the shelf, though you'll (usually) be sacrificing durability. Of course, for spirit bashing, you might want pure iron anyway, though I'm not familiar with any canon rules that say elementals are particularly vulnerable to plain iron mundane weapons. |
Dang, forgot to add "historically" when speaking about iron vs. steel.
Sure, modern steel beats anything they had in history. And no, it's nowhere in the books AFAIK but it makes another nice element for the non-magic users to win back some game time/effectiveness. So I might use it.
Michael
The cost for security isn't anything near what you say. You have Watcher Spirits do patrolling, and maybe one or two elementals, and then your Mage keeps the rest in reserve for when they're needed. Security costs much lower.
~J
~J
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.