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

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.

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

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.

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!"

Ahah, I answer my own question:



Which means a TM pixie can't even fly.

Well, I guess it explains the permanent bad mood I envisioned him having.



-karma

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.

AFAIK, a Pixie could never become a Technomancer in the first place. A nice GM might let someone 'lose' their Magic to get Resonance.

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.

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

Oh. RAW-wise, I don't think anything with a Magic can get Resonance, period. :/

Nowai, those vent ducts have cutting lasers.

Yep, p82 of the SR4A hardcopy says you can never have both.

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.
[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.

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.

Thats my take, Yerameyahu.

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.)

From what I recall, RC speciffically forbids pixies from getting the TM quality.

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.

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.

Thanks Ancient History, that's perfect. Apparently it's Running Wild, p205. The last place I'd ever check.

It's an errata without having to release an errata for the entire RC book.

Hehe, yes, god forbid.

It can't get any clearer than that...

-CJ