Okay, I know there are rules for damaging vehicles and barriers but I need something more substantial for other things? If a guy has a gun, how much damage can it take before I've completely ruined it? I may need to disarm the guy from a distance with my gun and bring him in alive so I don't have many options.

But even if my called shot with aim is successful, does it do enough? There are a several spells which could help (Wreck Guns, Powerbolt) but what would they have to do?

Just curious if anyone has any official answers?

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Wacky

The Object Resistance table gives guidelines for that kind of thing. Pg. 174 in SR4, Pg. 183 in SR4A. A vending machine would count as a manufactured/high tech object, so you're looking at an object resistance rating of 4.

a barrier is still a barrier, whether it is shaped like a wall, a gun, a refrigerator, a pile of dirt, or any other object. just pretend you're shooting the air on the other side of the object, if you really must find some way to justify it.

assign a rough estimate of an appropriate barrier rating and structure, and go nuts.

So what you're saying is that if I cast a Destroy Vending Machine spell (hey, they have a lot of vending machines in Seattle these days!) I'd only need to score three hits to pull this off? (Assuming that the vending machine was considered less complex than a drone.)

If I go by the rule that I can only generate a number of hits up to the force of the spell (not an official rule per say but a lot of manipulation spells have this cap and I think its a good idea) a simple force 3 version of the spell can potential take out any vending machine in Seattle?



Under this guideline, I'd use the structure rating as the "Item's Physical Damage Track". So a vending machine would require seven boxes (as a heavy material) resisted with twice armor rating? Given the Damage Value for most weapon attacks, I can see this being a good guideline for determining what it'd take.

I'd even go so far as to combine the two for seeing how many hits a wreck spell would require if the caster was taking it out (the vending machine would not resist the spell but the magician would need three hits to cause base force damage with additional hits for the rest of the machine's structure rating).

Thanks guys!

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Wacky

the wreck family of spells are actually nothing more than direct combat spells with a limited target. as such, they do indeed interact with barriers in precisely the same way direct combat spells do.

if you just want to have an easy time wrecking vending machines, your best bet imo is to pick up shape [material that vending machines are made of] and then you can just shape it into a pile of scrap. or of course, you can use the rules found in street magic to aquire the highly abusive 'shape anything' spell for +1 drain (mostly abusive because it is clearly worth a lot more than +1 drain, not necessarily because it should never be allowed under any circumstances)

Probably the absolute easiest way to destroy a vending machine is have the troll hit it with a crowbar.

Of course if you need to do something more exotic the aforementioned object resistance tabel will help, in 2070+ most vending machines are probably nearly as complex as simple drones. Sure they don't move bu they do track their own inventory, authorize monetary transactions, keep surveillance on their nearby surroundings to reduce pilferage andif necessary call the star.