One of my players has just decided to retire his old character (a machine-gun wielding Troll cybered mystic adept with smashing blow, critical strike, and serious strength), and he decoided to make something quite different. This is what he came up with:

Dryad changeling, living in Tarislar:

B 4, A 7, R 4, S 7, C 6, I 3, L 3, W 3, E 2, ESS 4.0 (Modified from bioware below)

Race Qualities: Glamour, Lowlight Vision, Symbiosis.

Qualities: Type O System, Changeling I. Dependant II, Mysterious Cyberware: Traceless, Bad Luck.

SURGE Qualities: Arcane Arrester. Astral Hazing, Allergy(Silver; Mild), Extravagant Eyes, Mood Hair.

Bioware: Tailored Pheromones III, Silky Skin, Dietware, Clean Metabolism, Pheromone Receptors III, Nictating Membranes, Bone density Augmentation II, Muscle Augmentation III, Muscle Toner III, Platelet Factories, Suprathyroid Gland, Print Removal.

Active Skills: Automatics 5, Unarmed Combat 5, Athletics Group 2, Inflitration 2, Shadowing 2, Perception 2, Influence Group 4.

He also got Carromeleg I with Clinch + Sweep that I didn't count towards the Quality limit.

Social Bonuses:
Glamour (+3 dice to all Social skill tests except Intimidation and everyone treats the character with awe and deference unless he is threatening)
Tailored Pheromones: (+3 dice to Charisma and all Social skills)
Pheromone Receptors: (+2 dice to Social Skill Tests when smell can be used)

Magic Protection: Personal Background Count reduces all incoming magic by 4, and Arcana Arrester halves the remaining Force for the purpose of measuring effect.

This results in a starting character who rolls 12 dice in both ranged and melee combat, is effectively immune to most magic of force 6 or lower, and who not only pretty much always rolls his maximum dice in social situations withhis 10(+ dice pool; generally has everyone Friendly to begin with and who won't attack or be hostile toward the character unless he initiates hostilities.

His main drawback is an INIT/IP of 7/1, of course, but he should be able to avoid most situations where that will be a significant problem...

The first few points of Karma he makes will go into specialiations in Machine Pistols, Carromeleg, and Urban Inflitration.

Arcane Arrester is a 25 point quality. How did the player afford it with changling I? Do you run a campaign without the normal Availability limits (because the muscle toner, muscle augmentation, and suprathyroid gland are all over that limit)?

Decent combat ability for a support character, but only a support character until getting those specializations, and some 'ware to get more initiative passes. The initiative passes are the most crucial thing. Still, the foundation for a good combat character is there.

Socially, a decent face, although some things (mood hair, the overall distinctive look, pheromone receptors in crowds or areas with strong odors) could be drawbacks.

Very strong at resisting magic. But really and truly - is combining astral hazing and symbiosis a good idea!?

If I understand the SURGE rules right, you get only the allotted points of metagenetic qualities; any more and they count against the normal limits. Then there's all that restricted gear the character has. So by RAW, you're way over on qualities.

Overall though, the character would be a decent face, provided the meets were mostly held in the location covered by its symbiosis. Being outside its "home turf" and having mood hair would actually penalize it in social dealings. I also have to agree with Glyph that combining Symbiosis with Astral Hazing sounds like a bad idea. I have a similar concept build in my high-power game right now, but I allowed a lot more points in qualities and waived the limits on class III SURGE (as long as the qualities balance out to +15 and stay on theme). She's a pixie who's changeling traits make her look more like a gargoyle (who also has symbiosis- she's currently living in a makeshift apt on top of a nightclub so I'll get to have fun with that) who spends most of her time passing herself off as a cyborg's emotitoy.

What speaks against combining Symbiosis with Astral Hazing? I cant find anything the the rules discription. But maybe i overlook something here because englich is not my nativ language.

Best wishes,
Meschler

Symbiosis ties you to your home area, in that social and environmental problems will leave the character feeling sick and depleted. Astral hazing gives you a permanent background count (that can spread if you spend too much time in one area). So you are attuned to your area, but the area in your immediate vicinity is a rating: 4 background count.

It's still a bit fuzzy, rules-wise, but it would not be unreasonable to say that such a character would suffer the equivalent of a persistent mild allergy all of the time due to always being in the center of a background count.

Although if the dryad is living in Tarislar, then it might be a moot point, since a refugee camp of bitter elves living in the heavily polluted Puyallup Barrens would probably do the same thing, anyways.

Yes, Avail 16 is what we use for gear at start for this campaign (the character is entering a 100 Karma average group), and while the SURGE I counts toward the 35, we've decided on a maximum 35 + or - for the metagenics as well - above and beyond the normal qualities, with the level of SURGE limiting the severity of physical alteration.

Not nearly RAW, and yes - Tarislar as his domain will cause some problems for the poor character, BUT Tarislar is counted as a Middle class neighborhood, despite all it's problems. It could have been worse... and probably will be

As far as the Background Count go, it shouldn't have too much effect on the enviroment as a whole except when he stays stationary for a longer period of time, or when in crowds.

He uses a respirator to avoid scents in populated areas.

LOL at the emotitoy pixie! Love it!

And yes, while the mood hair and weirdness will penalize the character, the tailored pheromones and Glamour make up for most of that. Symbiosis is only really useful against Tarislar inhabitants though, and only provides one extra die - for this character symbiosis is mostly a hindrance except for the intuitive knowledge of the neighborhood.

Methinks Tarislar is not the place you envision it to be.



I seem to recall that it even has an 'A' rating (or possibly B), although I can't find the reference at the moment.

It looks like it has changed a lot from New Seattle (I don't have Runner Havens), but it still sounds like a crowded ghetto in a heavily polluted area. Not the most pleasant place to be mystically connected to...

Maybe so, but it seems decidedly better than 95% of the rest of Puyallup or Redmond, and hardly the ideal model to hold up as an example of an extreme magical no-go zone.

I was talking about the symbiosis, not the background count. Even if it's nicer, the extreme pollution alone would mess up a character with symbiosis. The background count that I mentioned was the character's background count (from astral hazing).

And I still think those two qualities would frag each other up, somehow.

I understand your point. My point is merely that Tarislar is one of the better environments in Puyallup, not one of the worst.

one couild argue, that your own background-count belongs to the area that you symbiosis with . . so it should not bother you in any kind or way . . especially, if you are not a magic user . . a mundane won't even notice his own background count, no matter what O.o

@Glyph

Thank you for pointing that out.

As far as i know it is possible to resist Symbiosis in creating a home-zone (the character witzout it feels a little lost). Feeling lost and Astral Hazing would match quite well from this point of view.

If you have a heavy cybered mundane with a very low essence the the home-zone from Symbiosis isnt that great (only a view meters around you and your home) and Astral Hazing has a zone with only a view centimeters around you. For a mundane character that should be no problem and even friendly Awakend characters should be fine if they dont come to close. Which leaves the question: what happend to the force of a spirit or adapt if he/she is outside your background zone and attacks you unarmed? Does Astral Hazing effect them and if yes, how exactely?



Is this a special rule from Street Magic? Couldnt find anything in Runners Compandium. Or is it a "houserule" from you?

Thank you and best wishes,
Meschler

It's more of a rules interpretation than a house rule, but it's a fuzzy enough area that you could probably call it a house rule. See, a symbiotic character is negatively affected by things like environmental and social problems, the same things that cause background counts. This character is also always standing in a permanent background count of 4, the equivalent of standing in the middle of the site of a massive battle. I don't see being the center of that kind of astral pollution having no effect on the symbiosis.

As far as adepts or spirits attacking someone with a narrow background count, it probably wouldn't affect them until they came into contact with it. The adept would have 4 power points fizzle upon contact (maybe losing critical strike, etc.), but the same adept would not be affected if attacking with a ranged weapon, or even something like a knife or club (although the knife or club would be affected, if it was a weapon focus). A spirit would be affected more strongly, but as a dual-natured being, would be less likely to close in on the enemy with background count.

well . . it does say you're affected by the things that can cause background count, not that you're affected by te background count itself right?
kinda like you feel the symptoms of a sickness but not the sickness itself . . so if the background count were there without any of the things
that can cause it, would you still be affected? there's nothing you can do against natural background count, aside from getting a geomancer to
do something about that . . and because the geomancer can't attune it to you but only himself, you'd still be at the same problem or not?

Besides, the backround count cause by astral hazing is caused by you, not by an emotions or events, you just happen to create your own little unaspected domain wherever you go.

The fact that Astral Hazing and Symbiosis are both negative metagenetic qualities leads me to siding with Glyph that the combination would be bad for the character. Even though they don't specifically say that it shouldn't be done, I would rule that the background count produced by Astral Hazing would screw with the "feel" of the symbiotic zone. Looking back into YotC and MitS, Astral Hazing "corrupts the mana around him, crating a background count" and the examples of a level 4 background countare things like battlefields that have seen heavy fighting and are still in use, slag heaps and strip mines, or sites of terrorist massacres like the Chicago Shattergraves.

The character can be made with RAW as well, btw - just drop the Bad Luck, one of the -5 flaws(Mood Hair for instance), and the Type O. This gives him an Essence of 1.7 which in some ways is better both for the Astral Hazing and the Symbiosis.

One thing to consider is that the background count occupies quite a small area compared to the full home location - the Background count has a radius of Essence meters and the Symbosis Area has a radius of Essence x 500 meters. For Essence 4 this means a background count covering approx. 50 square meters, while the home area covers almost 12.5 million square meters. So, although the character is alwaus at the center of the background count, it's really only a very small area, that also moves around and doesn't linger unless the character remains in one place, and thus not the best indication of the overall problems of the area.

And yes, Symbiosis can be fought - especially if the character moves around a lot.

still takes up more room than the drug dealer selling novacoke to the kids of the area . .

I think this depends realy from the GM interpretation.

By RAW the Astral Hazing is caused by the Character himself (his darker emotions e.g. anger or fear) and the negative modifier through Symbiosis is caused from the land around the Character and their people (and this is only the case when the character has established a home zone). As far as my reading goes, this two negative qulities should not interact with each other. Dryads anyway pay 10 BP's more as they should.

Roleplaying-wise i think you could avoid an interaction of Astral Hazing and Symbiosis if you dont establish a homezone and resist against it. Your sadness could easily be the perfect "fuel" for Astral Hazing.

I play also the Star Wars Saga RPG and there is a similar concept where light side force users could wrap themself in anger and fear to fool others as if they were a dark side force user.

As mentioned above, by RAW there should be no interaction between Symbiosis and Astral Hazing.

Just my two cents,
Meschler

...but not more space than all those kids runnin arpound high on novacoke. If it's just adealer and no users in the area = no problem in the neighborhood, really.