1.) I want to apologize if there are already threads out like this, but I used the search function quite a bit and didn't find any answers to my questions.

2.) If anyone has more questions regarding the Nosferatu, feel free to hijack this thread and use it as a general thread for the Nosferatu.

3.) Here are my questions:
3.a) How does Compulsion work exactly? I am confused about the wording. It is a sustained spell, so I assume I control the victom as long as I sustain the spell, right? But what can I do exactly? I can compel him to form a specific action, ok, but only one action per round? Multiple actions per round? Is the victim able to do other things, while performing the action? Is he able to cry for help or is he completely under my control and isn't allowed to do anything but fulfilling my orders?
I hope you can see my problem and maybe are able to solve the confusion. An example would be nice or just a more precise description.

3.b) The last paragraph of "Essence Drain" states that I can only spend Essence Points for a boost, if I earned them in the past hour, right? So what happens if I feed up to 18 (maximum) and wait for two hours. Now I can't spend any of my Essence Points? Do I now have to wait 6 month so I can feed another essence point to spend it? So I only should feed on essence when I got a concrete plan of spending it in the next hour? Is that correct? Sounds weird to me, but that is how I understand this last paragraph.

EDIT: Questions which got solved or are still being discussed in this thread:
I) Compulsion is a sustained power, yes!
II) You can not drain more essence than your maximum. Once you're full and you didn't spend it for boosting attributes, you need to either drain your essence with Renfield (page 68 in Running Wild) or wait quite a few month to lose your essence in a natural way.
III) Nosferatu are (most probably) immune to all drugs, due to Immunity(Toxins). If natural/magical toxin resistant characters may get bonus dice for drug tests, it is highly probable that a natural/magical toxin immune being will be immune to drugs. For that just read page 73, "But I Wanna Get High!", in the Arsenal. With the Enabler spell though, you could still enjoy drugs.

A) Compulsion is not a sustained power, nor is it a spell, for the nosferatu. It is a critter power. If the target loses, it must IMMEDIATELY follow through with the action, and compulsion does not affect future actions. You do not get to interfere with future initiative passes. You get one immediate action. Pg 293, SR4a. The closest comparison is Commanding Voice. The long term one (still not sustained) is Influence critter power

B) you CAN drain more than your max, and it lasts 12 hours after you decide to burn it. You must decide to burn it within the hour.

Excuse my poor choice of words, of course it is a critter power. But in my anniversary edition on page 293 it says "Duration: Sustained", so why isn't it a sustained power? I do not understand, please clarify.


In my anniversary edition on page 294 it says "A critter can only increase its Essence to twice its natural maximum" (in case of a Nosferatu its three times the natural maximum). Why should I be able to drain more than that? Please clarify.

3.a) That's weird, it is Sustained. I guess you Compulsion them to do a specific action and can make them keep repeating it ("Walk away," "close your eyes," "shoot your team-mate") until you stop Sustaining it. Or it's a misprint.

3.b) Don't forget the ability to spend Essence to make Renfield from page 68 of Running Wild. With that "drug" you can manipulate the amount of Essence you have so you can always get the most out of your Essence Drain ability (depending on your reading). For your example, you can make 12 doses of Renfield, dropping your Essence down to a 6, then drain up to 18 and spend 12 for a +6 to Magic. When it wears off, make 6 more doses and repeat the process. It works best with some hobos addicted to Renfield that you can use to Drain and then give them some Renfield to boost their Essence back up.

Assuming it is not a misprint: From the description I would say the victim is able to scream for help, while you are sustaining the power, because you can't influence his future actions, right? You could tell him "Shut your fucking mouth" and he has to do this, but in the next second he could scream, since he already fullfilled your command, right?


Oh, wow, I never thought about using Renfield in that way. I only wanted to use it to fill my victims essence back up. Haha, that is awesome and pretty obvious, weird that I never thought of that. Thank you.

When I was doing my retcons to try and make vampiric pawns make sense, that wasn't quite what I had in mind when I worked up Renfield as a drug. In retrospect, though, I find I'm kind of proud of that....

Yes.


Thank you. For the compliment, and for making Infected awesome.

you can still use the critter power "Drain Essence," even if you cannot increase your essence, and use it to fuel stat boosts. If Nosferatu only fed once every six months on essence, and kept quiet about what they are, they wouldn't be considered a high level threat by governments.

You're welcome. And I have not yet begun to fight.

Thank you for having fun with my crazy notions, even if I never thought they'd be used as PC ideas.

Um...no. You gotta put the Essence somewhere; if you're full up, you got no place to store the Essence you're draining. No extra boosts. That's one reason a lot of the Infected don't sate themselves.

It's an interesting interpretation, but I can tell you with some degree of confidence that it doesn't work that way.

o.O

in that case, they would not be able to use such a stat boost commonly. Only 1/2 the essence used to fuel the boost is burned, right? If that is the case Nosferatu have no other way I am aware of to drop their essence score. Do we assume a slider scale of the loss over time then? I am confused at this, if it cannot be overfilled and spill out.

If you make the mistake of feeding yourself up to maximum essence and do not use it for a boost, you are kind of fucked. And I really like that idea, otherwise Nosferatu would be even stronger than they are now. So this is some kind of limitation, they have to be smart about.
But as previously posted, you still can drop your essence with Renfield everytime you want. Look it up on page 68 in Running Wild.

Oh, so you are partaking in the development in shadowrun? That's cool
Do you have any unofficial cool stuff for the Infected? Just curious

Oh while we are at it, another question: Nosferatu are immune to the effects of drugs, since they got Immunity (Pathogens, Toxic, Age), right?

that's a question that came up during my group as well. Technically, the drugs are neither a pathogen, nor a toxin, by book classifications. Taken as written, I've seen no text to the contrary: drugs work on Nosferatu. It doesn't make a terrible amount of sense to me, though.

Yeah, my only hint for a solution to this question is the following:
If you look at the Positive Quality "Resistance(Toxins)" of a Dwarf, they get bonus dice for drug tests. Also in the Arsenal (page 73, "But I Wanna Get High!") is written that a GM may decide to give a natural or magically toxin-resistant character those dice for drug tests. So they are somewhat related. And if naturally/magically resistant characters MAY get bonus dice, a natural/magically immune character should be completely immune.

That is my best guess, but I am far from sure.

I never said it was a well-written rule, or that it was a good rule, just that it's how the rule works. I don't happen to agree with the way it's written, and if anyone was paying attention during the events of Another Rainy Night, they might just notice that I ignored it. I'm working to change it.

At present and as written, though, no, you can't overflow with Essence Drain.

Yeah, that's always how I've read and played it. That goes for recreational toxins like alcohol and tobacco as well, even when ingested second-hand. Trying to get drunk off the blood of a drunk just doesn't work, which can be terribly frustrating if you're an alcoholic who gets Infected. You may or may not get over the addiction, but you can't satsify it, either. And you can't drink alcohol straight without violent illness.

Not only that, but I think with a (weak) argument I can make that you'd be able to spend all your Essence on Essence Drain. All your Essence is stolen, after all. As long as you drain within 1 hour you can spend your Essence for the boost. Admittedly, it's not a strong argument and is based on semantics, but if your GM wants really powerful, scary Infected, it's there.


Enabler, page 169, Street Magic. Problem solved.

Stop solving problems. They're supposed to have problems! Hehe. Magic ruins everything.

EDIT: nevermind, was going to mention the "But I Wanna Get High!" section but you already found it

Actually, nosferatus can. Most of the other Infected can't, but nosferatus can eat or drink anything without ill effect.

Really? How does immunity to toxins work? Do you get an "armor rating" of magic * 2, just like ItNW? Or are you straight up immune to that shit, like Immunity to Age?
If it's the first, you need quite some net hits with your enabler spell, since your magic rating is probably quite high as a Nosferatu. If it's the second, the enabler spell doesn't work at all, because there is no bonus dice pool which you could reduce with that spell.

I edited the first post, so new viewers can get an overview about the topics being discussed in here. Maybe that is a help for anybody, but most probably it was a waste of my time

Armor Rating versus the Power of the Toxin. Not that hard. The Enabler spell reduces these extra dice. All you'd have to do is drop it down low enough where you'd reliably fail a Power 6 Resistance Test - reduce it to your Magic or so. Also, you can overcast it to your full magic if you really need to. I don't see a problem with it.

Body 4, Magic 5 = Hardened Protection 10 versus Power 6 drug. Reduce it by 5 Successes on Enabler and you have 9 dice to resist - theoretically you could, but statistically you'll be getting 3 successes versus a Power 6, meaning you didn't fully resist, meaning you take full effects.

Seems reasonable, yes.

Reasonably POWERFUL!

Yeah, like the other Immunities… it's not actually immunity at all. At least we have Age in the mix, just to confuse everyone.

Which actually is an Immunity, since there's no Age damage.

That's what I meant: it confuses the issue by being the only actual 'immunity' in the bunch.

Age damage is 1 per year, but the 'armor' against it can't be lowered in any way

Okay, so how does it affect people? Rolling Body, they're too likely to resist the damage, and if Body is somehow removed, they'll die too fast.

Separate damage track. Too long to bother to keep track of for shadowrunners, since they're unlikely to see it get full. Damage penalties only accrue very slowly.

But if it's a damage track, you'd get too many wound mods. Does everyone have a hidden High Age Threshold ability?

So you're saying a troll can't use an immortal elf as a beat stick to bypass Immunity to aging... bummer. :)