QUOTE (Dunsany)
My conclusion is that the "nerf" was not necessary. The threshold was not "trivial" before, so changing it does not actually solve the proposed problem. Furthermore, I believe that little thought was put into the "nerf." The previous threshold was not "trivial" and the new threshold can only reasonably be reached with Edge (you require 20+ dice to reliably cast the simplest of spells that require OR thresholds). With regard to illusion spells specifically they already have a lot of limitations built in to each spell, never mind the limitations on magic in general. So, making a limited use spell less reliable makes it effectively useless. Claiming that the threshold has not changed for "security cameras" and so illusions remain effective ignores the fact that drones are prevalent (or perhaps just "common") in the setting. I have no real issue with direct combat spells (or combat spells in general) being less effective against technology. There are other uses for those spells beside destroying technology (though Ram/Wreck/Demolish seem...less than useless now). Illusion spells, on the other hand, have the purpose of fooling the observers. It only takes one person, or object, not being fooled to render the spell useless. With drones being "common" the spell will "commonly" be useless. That doesn't seem like a well thought out change to me. And given the responses from Synner so far, I've been given absolutely nothing to change my opinion on the matter.
With that in mind, my hope is that this thread will be one for constructive solutions to solve, what I see as, the problem with the new OR table.
I also hope this thread will not contain the arguments and griping, as there are already several threads dedicated to endless internet-style monkey sh*t fights over this (which I'm quite guilty of taking part in ) .
The basics.
- The new OR table makes many spells, beyond direct combat spells, all but useless against drones and anything else in the upper end of the OR table.
- OR 6 is simply too high to be reasonable, and the basic example shadowrunners presented in the core book do not stand a chance of ever pulling off any of their physical illusions or physical manipulations.
- Solutions will hopefully be clear, somewhat succinct should not mess with too many other, already established systems.
- The goal is to reduce the effectiveness of direct combat spells against tech targets, while leaving illusions and manipulations their functionality. I'd personally like for the Ram/Wreck/Demolish line to actually be effective against the targets the spell was actually designed for, but I guess we can't have everything.
Others have posted some pretty interesting ideas already, and I just thought it would be good to have a thread where they can all be posted together. A thread where we can discuss the solutions in a coherent fashion.