Distance Strike:

What sort of attack is Distance Strike - ranged or melee or magic?

Since there is no minimum range to Distance Strike it can be used from range or true melee combat.
If in melee:
Does the attack still ignore dodge/unarmed skills of the target and the target still only gets to use Reaction?
Does the attack suffer any modifiers from being used up close (like a firearm)?
Can you split your dice pool and attack multiple targets as long as they are within one meter of each other like a normal melee attack?
If at range:
Can you split your dice pool and attack multiple targets as long as they are within one meter of each other like a normal melee attack?
Can you split your dice pool and attack multiple targets as long as they are within range of Distance Strike?
If Magic:
Can it be counterspelled?

Heightened Concentration:
How long does it stay activated?
Does it have to be activated everytime you want to change what modifier it is affecting? Or once activated can the adept just choose to ignore a single modifier at will?
Can it be applied to recoil (RAW states that only recoil compensation can affect it)? If yes does it affect the whole modifier or just a single bullet?
Can it be applied to modifiers that really don't have anything to do with concentration (like ranged blind fighting)?

Multitasking:
When can the adept use 2 extra free actions? I thought IPs were only used in combat so when is the adept "not directly involved"?

Living Focus:
How/when does the control of the spell transfer from the mage to the adept? Is it a free action? Simple action? Complex action? No action required?
Does the adept take the spell over or does he make a copy of the spell?
Most of us see how this spell would work with something like Armor or Enhanced Aim but what about a spell like Shapechange - can the adept change form at will?
What about negative spells like Control Actions? If the adept takes control of the spell can he just take control and the release the spell? If the adept makes a copy can he effectively negate the spell by issuing counteractions since there are now two Control Actions spells cast on him?

I'm reading through these one at a time and doing my best to get answers. However, since I'm not a developer, I can only give my interpretation. I've also got the stomach flu so no promises on common sense.



My understanding of Living Focus is that the Mage still controls the spell, but the adept just lets the mage not have to sustain it any longer. Think of it like a battery, when another battery is hooked up to a light bulb so that the energy no longer needs to be drawn from a main generator somewhere else. This doesn't take any actual action, but I would imagine that the Adept would be taking -2s in the same way a magician would from as soon as he starts sustaining for the mage.

In this way, he neither takes over the spell nor makes a copy of the spell, he simply provides the sustaining force in the same way a Sustaining Focus might do so.

For Control Actions, the adept cannot take over the spell, but he might be forced by the mage (via the spell) to sustain the spell.

Sometimes you use IPs as a way of keeping track of time even outside of combat. However, the word "directly" draws this into question. I would imagine that someone who was just hacking and watching the exit while other people are fighting would be able to use these extra free actions, but entering combat or cybercombat would cause him/her to forfeit them.

I cannot find this power/ability/whatever it is. Please provide a book and page number.

It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that it's a ranged attack.

In melee range, the attacker would take penalties and the defender would not to get to use Dodge in the same way as a firearm.

I can't find any rules for using ranged combat to attack multiple targets outside of Simple Action attacks, Area attacks and Bursts. Therefore I would not allow it for Distance Strike.

Counterspelling won't do anything against it because it's not a spell.

-Ranged, using your unarmed combat damage.
-Yes, it's like firing a gun in melee combat
-No, you are not using a melee attack any longer, you are using Distance Strike. This is a ranged attack.
-This is not a spell, counterspell does not apply.

One of the reasons distance strike is so good is because you defend against it as you would a ranged attack - with just reaction, unless you full defense. Does this mean you have to use the ranged combat penalty/bonus table, now?

More or less.

Heightened Concentration is in Digital Grimoire. It requires a complex action to activate, but then basically stays on as long as you want.. until it seems appropriate to you and/or the GM to turn it off. (Go to sleep sounds like one obvious time.)

Yeah, unless bullets are flying at you, you're not in combat. So, social, vehicle and infiltration situations are the most likely to benefit from this. It could also be argued that since you're not taking fire, you could still have your free actions while using a Command + Gunnery attack through an AR/VR controlled drone. About the only thing it's really good for is shout ing out commands to team mates or observing in detail, but those can be pretty crucial depending on your team role.

I'd say you activate it every time you change the general category. Say you ignored the noise a jackhammer breaking concrete, you wouldn't need to reactivate the power if it stops and is replaced by the boombox of the ork ganger yelling his favorite song.

No. Recoil is definitevely not a situationnal modifier, it does not distract you, it pushes your arm out of aim. You can use it to offset the yells of a troll while picking a lock, but you would not be able to use it to offset the same troll shaking you.

No. Not seeing your target is not something you can ignore.


The name of the power says it all : the Adept can operate like a sustaining focus for a spell cast on him. He gets the -2 penalty for sustaining instead of the mage, but otherwise it does not change anything, the caster is still in control of the spell (for exemple if the spell is Shapechange, it is the mage who decide which form is taken and when, not the adept).

I don't think that the mage is in charge of the spell after it is cast though. First off, the mage isn't bonded to the focus/adept so it isn't like he can use the adept like a focus (and replace/change the spell of the sustaining focus), the adept can use *himself* like focus. Secondly, the adept is the one sustaining the spell not the mage. Once the mage stops sustaining the spell he would have no ties to the spell any longer - the adept is the one channeling the magic.

Pretty much anything that causes a negative dice pool modifier can be negated by heightened concentration. That is how it reads.

Since recoil causes a reduction in dice pool, it would work by RAW. And IMHO, not be cheesy at all.

Its a nice little power.