KarmaInferno
Jul 20 2010, 12:28 AM
If an Awakened Sapient Critter like a Pixie takes the Technomancer quality, does he actually lose his Magic rating?
I had thought this was the case, but re-reading the SR4A book the quality only forbids also taking the Adept, Mystic Adept, or Magician qualities.
Is it possible I'm remembering this from previous editions?
I'm building a techno-rigger pixie that rides around in an anthroform drone. The rules don't especially seem to support this kinda build.

-karma
Tanegar
Jul 20 2010, 12:38 AM
IMO allowing critter technomancers is iffy to begin with, but I would tend to rule that a pixie technomancer cannot increase his or her Magic attribute beyond the 1 common to the species, nor can he or she Initiate. Basically, if your Essence falls below 6, you lose your Magic permanently.
KarmaInferno
Jul 20 2010, 12:42 AM
What could one do with a magic rating anyhow, if you don't have any of the caster/adept Qualities?
I mean, besides astrally perceive, in the case of a Pixie.
-karma
Karoline
Jul 20 2010, 12:43 AM
I don't recall the exact page, but I do remember there being something in the book specifically saying that you cannot have both a magic and a resonance attribute.
I would interpret that as meaning that something with a maigc attribute cannot gain a resonance attribute (even if they became a burn out), but some people might consider it as being that one would replace the other (sprite would lose powers in that case)
Personally, given the massive mental bonuses a sprite has, I think they are a bit broken as TMs, so I wouldn't support it, but it is something you'd have to ask your GM.
Wasabi
Jul 20 2010, 12:52 AM
QUOTE (KarmaInferno @ Jul 19 2010, 08:42 PM)

What could one do with a magic rating anyhow, if you don't have any of the caster/adept Qualities?
You could suffer a -1 to all tests per point of Background Count.
"Teamleader this is Midge! I cannae hack it, there's a ringin' in mah wee ears!"
KarmaInferno
Jul 20 2010, 12:57 AM
Ahah, I answer my own question:
QUOTE (SR4A p82)
A character can possess either Magic or Resonance—never both.
Which means a TM pixie can't even fly.
Well, I guess it explains the permanent bad mood I envisioned him having.
-karma
Tanegar
Jul 20 2010, 01:05 AM
If you stick him in something like a Dalmatian drone, he can fly that. Hell, it might even be large enough to hold a pixie-sized cockpit.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 01:21 AM
AFAIK, a Pixie could never become a Technomancer in the first place. A nice GM might let someone 'lose' their Magic to get Resonance.
tagz
Jul 20 2010, 01:24 AM
If you want a pixie hacker go Adept. It works real well. Also, gotta love it in the cases where you need to hard wire into a node and the pixie can fly through the ventilation ducks with ease.
KarmaInferno
Jul 20 2010, 01:53 AM
QUOTE (Karoline @ Jul 19 2010, 08:43 PM)

Personally, given the massive mental bonuses a sprite has, I think they are a bit broken as TMs, so I wouldn't support it, but it is something you'd have to ask your GM.
This being a Missions character, and the rules allowing/not allowing TM pixies being not 100% clear, I shall go bother Bull.
Thanks for the suggestions!
-karma
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 01:59 AM
Oh. RAW-wise, I don't think anything with a Magic can get Resonance, period. :/
Nowai, those vent ducts have cutting lasers.
Wasabi
Jul 20 2010, 02:05 AM
Yep, p82 of the SR4A hardcopy says you can never have both.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 02:14 AM
Well, some people are asking if that means you can *lose* your Magic rating and *then* get a Resonance. I don't think you can, but it's not 100% clear.
For the record, I don't think a normal human mage could burn out and then become a Technomancer, either. (By RAW. A GM might conceivably have cause to allow this.)
Trevalier
Jul 20 2010, 04:23 AM
QUOTE (Yerameyahu @ Jul 19 2010, 08:14 PM)

Well, some people are asking if that means you can *lose* your Magic rating and *then* get a Resonance. I don't think you can, but it's not 100% clear.
For the record, I don't think a normal human mage could burn out and then become a Technomancer, either. (By RAW. A GM might conceivably have cause to allow this.)
I was under the impression that burning out reduced your Magic rating to 0, not that it made it go away.
QUOTE
Magic and Resonance are mutually exclusive attributes. A character who possesses a quality that grants a Magic of 1 or higher cannot have a Resonance attribute.
[SR4A, pg 68, emphasis mine]
My reading of this is that it's the
quality that gives you a Magic attribute. As long as you have the quality (which in this case is "being a pixie"), you have the attribute, no matter what its rating is.
I could see, for the sake of argument, allowing someone with the Magician or Adept quality who has burned out to buy off the quality with karma as if it were a negative quality, then gain a Resonance attribute. It would require their burnout to have happened in a spectacular tech-related roleplaying extravaganza, and it would be wildly wasteful of karma, of course.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 04:26 AM
The thing is, at the fluff level, Magic and Resonance are supposed to be wildly incompatible, right? Ignoring the rules and careful reading thereof, do I have that impression correct? So, anything with Magic (past or present) can't have Resonance. According to the setting, I mean. It's like teleportation.
Wasabi
Jul 20 2010, 04:29 AM
Thats my take, Yerameyahu.
Hand-E-Food
Jul 20 2010, 04:53 AM
I've only seen one exception to this rule: the Infected.
When a technomancer is infected with HMHVV, he loses all of his Resonance and his Technomancer quality. Depending on the circumstances (ie. the GM's decision), the character may gain a Magic attribute and one of the magical qualities (Adept, Magician, or Mystical Adept.)
Tech_Rat
Jul 20 2010, 04:54 AM
From what I recall, RC speciffically forbids pixies from getting the TM quality.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 05:03 AM
Good point, Hand-E-Food. That is Resonance-to-Magic, of course, but it's an example of a single character having both over their lifetime.
Adrian, that's what I thought, but I dunno an exact page. In RC, shapeshifters *are* specifically excluded from gaining Resonance.
Ancient History
Jul 20 2010, 05:16 AM
Check the FAQ. Very last question.
That said, in my game? I might allow it. I was playing with some Ascended Master rules at one point, where your Resonance and Magic attributes had to balance - so, let us say you're a pixie with starting Magic 6 and Latent Technomancer, and one day during play you Emerge. You gain a Resonance of 1. From that point on, every time you increase your Magic by 1, your Resonance is reduced by 1, and vice versa.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 05:19 AM
Thanks Ancient History, that's perfect. Apparently it's Running Wild, p205. The last place I'd ever check.
Karoline
Jul 20 2010, 01:18 PM
It's an errata without having to release an errata for the entire RC book.
Yerameyahu
Jul 20 2010, 01:27 PM
Hehe, yes, god forbid.
CeeJay
Jul 20 2010, 01:42 PM
QUOTE (SR4A Page 82)
A character can possess either Magic or Resonance—never both.
It can't get any clearer than that...
-CJ
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