The Banshee's fear power, is it connected to it's screem or does it work independently?


Thanos

Well, the Banshee entry in Critters (3ed) doesn't say it needs to make any noise, and the Fear entry doesn't either. I don't know how it worked in previous editions though. I (house) ruled that it does have to howl to use the Fear power. I mean, it's called a banshee...

This is something I've always thought needed better defining in shadowrun, and not just for Banshees. There are many critters who's powers are supposed to work in certain ways, but the descriptions do not specifically say it. I'd say go with what you know of the legends of a critter in terms of how it uses its power. So yeah, in this case, the Banshee's power is in its wail. It IS kinda the point about a banshee. However, I might allow that it doesn't need to howl if you can see it. In that case, i'd say it could merely focus its will on you. Sort of if you look at it and meet its eyes what you see so horrifies you that you end up under the same effects. But that last bit would probably just be me.

And don't forget - GMs are encouraged to swap powers around to vary critters. If you decide a particular banshee doesn't need to howl to use its fear power, then so be it.

hth