So when using mana static after someone astrally projects and your mana static beats their magic stat they die. Also an infected character who's magic drops to zero dies hitting a ghoul or vampire with a high powered mana static that drops their magic to zero will explicitly kill them. The biggest question I have is why is mana static so awesome?

I thought runners companion said that the infected characters lose their powers (so... don't die) when their magic hits 0, and I'd recon even this is temporary (though this part is debatable).

Where did you read the rules on dying?

Still... Mana static is awesome

Mana Static is broken!

Maybe I'm missing something, but the rules for background count on page 118 of SM don't say anything about astrally projecting magicians dying, or paranormal critters or dual natured beings for that matter.

EDIT: Unless you are refering to the rules for mana voids/warps on page 120?

The closest I can come up with for "easy killing" is that with Mana Static, presuming you drop the Infected's Magic to 0, the Regeneration power doesn't work. Without that putting them back together again, it would certainly be easier to kill them.

I disagree that Mana Static is an instant kill spell and would like to see a quote.

Mana Static should should be cast at a such force that it creates a warp in order to kill the infected and only if the infected is dual-natured, and at that force you can simply cast stunbolt and knock the infected out to deliver the coup the grace later (damage inflicted by magic can't be regenerated), or if you preferes you can go down with manabolt (in both cases the drain is lower than Mana Static).

Yeah, mana static is an absurdly powerfull spell with 101 useful applications, but this isn't one of them.

From page 77, Runner's Companion:

So, no. Mana static doesn't kill them.

But without the essence drain power some infected would die, but most likely not when you are sustaining a spell.

I would think that the assumption is that once the critter leaves the mana warp, and its magic rises back above zero, that it's powers would return. Granted, it's not explictly stated (temporary loss or permanent loss) either way.

Yes, all such losses would be temporary. Would a magician permanently lose magic while walking through a mana warp?

Peter

I think its also implied that the magic loss is relative. They might not actually "loose" their magic attribute. It is just effectively rendered zero by the mana warp/void.

It's my understanding that mana warps, voids, etc. aren't magical sucks or pumps that fill up or take away a PCs mana. They simply affect a character's ability to utilize mana. Once the warp is removed the PC's mana-manipulation abilities (ie: Magic and affiliated skills ratings) return to normal.

damage done by magic can not be regenerated?
ever?
what about elemental spell effects?

I dont know where those ideas came from. the only damage that cant be regenerated is those that occur from/in the presence of allergens. Even then, they can still heal naturally, they just cannot be healed by the power of Regeneration.

The mainbook entry on Regeneration (pg. 290) stats "Certain types of damage cannot be regenerated with this power... damage to brain and spinal cord... magical damage (weapon foci, combat spells, adept/critter powers)." Exposure to allergens and 'weaknesses' are just additional things that can stop the regeneration power in an infected or shifter.

And to answer your question Stahlseele, I think magic damage can only be healed through 'normal' means (first aid, healing magic)... magic elemental damage included.

No. It is Drain that cannot be healed by magical means. Magical damage is just damage, and can be healed by both normal and magical methods.

Maybe you should read the entire response and the question it was a response too Fortune... kk-thx.

Magic damage to a regenerating creature cannot be regenerated, hence "I think magic damage can only be healed through 'normal' means (first aid, healing magic)... magic elemental damage included."

Drain is not even part of the discussion...

Ok I've been a little ambiguous.
With regenerated I did mean that can't be healed by Regeneration, not that the organism can't heal the damage on its own eventualy. However if you are fighting an infected with regeneration power are you going to give it the time to heal at normal rate (a few days) or are you going to put an end to the matter right away? The issue is an non issue unless either someone is acting stupid or something is not going as it should (the plan for example).
As a side note nothing preventes healing magic to work so prevent it to be applied to the infected, or use stunbolt to knok the fragger out (heal can't do anything on stun) and than deal with the would be healer before finishing the fragger off.

What reason is there to be rude? I followed the thread, and I responded to the quite specific erroneous statement that you made. It is not my fault that your statement was not in fact what you actually meant to say.



If you had said that in the first place, there wouldn't have been any misunderstanding, now would there?

Have a nice day.

n/m.

It was stupid for me to even go there.

Hey Whip, I don't hear anything from you on Dumpshock for like a year, and then you post just to say nevermind? Come on!

Anyway, I think we've resolved everything, right? Mana static can't kill Infected, but it can help by disabling their powers potentially. But really, like most magical threats, the best way to kill them is blow them up with magic.

I don't really get the fandom for mana static though. It nerfs the mage who casts it just as much as it nerfs everyone else... It can wipe away spirits, but other than that, the mage is just sacrificing his own abilities in exchange for also neutralizing everyone else's. I suppose it would be nice if the mage also had decent combat skills and could fight without magic, but that doesn't seem too likely... Of course, if you get the Filtering metamagic (the one that neutralizes background count, I might have the name wrong) mana static becomes an absolute beast. But am I missing something when it comes to metamagic-free mana static?

To be fair, I was gone because I nearly died, and I was about to be a bit of a dick in my last post, so I think my action's aren't really unwarranted. .

*pregnant pause*

The important part is that I didn't.

Anyway, I'm a huge Mana Static fan, but I agree that it is mostly useful in a team context; in many ways you are depending on your Samurai to clean house once you drop it. That said, Mana Static doesn't hurt your Astral Combat pools, so a Hermetic with a 7 or 8 logic thanks to his cerebral boosters or drugs can become quite the beastly astral combatant even if he does drop his own Magic attribute down to a 1 with a Mana Static. Really, it comes down to a simple cost vs. benefit analaysis, and I personally think that Mana Static is so good at what it does that I don't really see much reason not to pony up the Karma/bp to have it on my spell list every time I roll up a mage.

This is a good point. Mana static isn't godlike all the time, but there are situations were it's a huge boon and spells are dirt cheap. You can argue not taking a usefull skill, as it may come up to rarely too be worth the points, but a spell? You can afford those points.

Yep. I mean, it's not every day you need to hedge yourself off from a whole mob of of Force 4 Insect Spirits or something, but if you do, Mana Static is the pony to bet on. I'd certainly take it over say, an Indirect Combat spell, which after all, is something the Samurai can approximate with a grenade launcher and a heap of dice.

If I recall correctly, it can be cast at range (LOS), so that the AoE does not include the caster.

True enough. That's a Good Thing™.

Ghouls are blind, and their dual nature goes away with their magic of 1. This means that mana static at force 1 will leave them blind, and thus easy meat.

Another reason to either hate mana static (as a GM), or rule that dual nature doesn't go away when magic is reduced to zero.

Some sort of house rule is probably called for.

If the magician is dual natured could lose his life, does it count as losing magic?

Factors outside the Mana Static complicate the issue. The Mana Static spell itself would not kill, merely neutralize. Then, other factors could kill.

Peter