hey thanks for taking time to read this..

In my current SR game there is a fully chromed ork ( 4 limbs torso skull, articulated arm mount.. all kinds o goodies) and a mage who often work as a team

recently the borg acquired the articulated arm weapon mount and noticed it can be aimed via laser target designator... since thay often work as a team with in the group.. they hit on the idea of giving the mage a laser target designator so he could in effect use the LMG on the borgs weapon mount. not the question is this:

1) is this possible?
and
2) should there maybe be some penalties to either party.. espically the Borg even tho he isnt firing the weapon should he have to spend an action when it is fired?


it seems like a good idea so that if the mage cant/ dosent want to cast he then can call on some upgraded firepower as long as they are close...

ok hit me with it folks

well, it does take a LITTLE bit more than that. IIRC the gun can be aimed by laser guidance, but the fire command still has to come from the wearer. that could obvioulsy be changed to make it remote firing, but I don't believe it's what comes standard. if they make it remote control fired, then ECM should work against the mage, but that's almost a minor point.

technically (i.e. science-wise) I see no reason why it shouldn't work. but use the mage's gunnery skill of course, and no bonuses (smartlink, etc) that the orc would have.
I would also advise having any recoil incurred by the arm affect the orc doubly because he's not firing it, so he can't brace for it, also any recoil penalties he has from his own weapons should apply against the mage's shooting, since the whole orc will be off-balance.
I would also suggest that physical damage modifiers affect the TNs of the mage since they could represent actual damage to the system (if they still take effect with a pain editor, they can't just be pain-based).
you might have it occasionally swivel and hit the orc in the head, but that's more for fun and to get them back for a crazy idea than anything else.
pretty much, apply any penalties that either has, but cancel out most of the bonuses.

Cannon Companion covers information guided attacks, including direct fire weapons mounted on articulate arms.

My .02 worth they may want to invest in battletac systems as well.

Just as a side point, which may or may not hijack the topic (And if it does, i'm sorry) but could the mage develop a laser-designator spell?

Anyone have any ideas or experience with people trying this?

So long as the gunnery targeting computer is just looking for a spot of light in a particular wavelength, I don't see why that wouldn't be a minor elemental manipulation spell (Light has been covered in elemental manipulations before). The "damage" of the spell would be below light, so the drain would probably be (Force) L. For fun, make the mage use his sorcery skill for the target lock test, and the force of the spell can act as it's ECM for light-jamming purposes .... like how well it cuts through fog, smoke, etc.

I don't see why it couldn't be resolved with a simple single-sense directed illusion spell, myself.

Even better. I don't spend much time in MITS, so I'm less than familiar with it.

It would really suck if someone stole the laser designator and pointed it at the party. Yeah, that would really suck.