Gracias, señor.

Could we have an accurate count of the number of little snakey thingies? I believe we get 1000 nuyen each, minus the 1000 nuyen for waking the metabiologist up. Then Karmakaze gets 3/4 of the net.

Hmmm.

Looks like my IC post #763 (about not yet finished the thing with Billy's niece) neglects to take into account what Blue said to Billy in my IC post #625 (about it being too big a job for Blue at the moment).

So, aside from Mitsuhama still hunting him, Blue is available to join in with whatever just came across Karmakaze's plate.



Once they get some sleep.

So, given that we seem to have tied up a couple of loose ends, and Koekepan is feeding us the start of another thread, and assuming that Mitsuhama will ease up its hunt of Blue in a day or so (yes, yes, an assumption only), in the last few days I’ve had a chance to think about how to spend some of that nice karma and cash Blue has accumulated.

Players get that way, don’t they?

And I’ve hit a kind of dilemma. I’m hoping, Bastard, you can weigh in on some of my ruminations here. Oh, yeah, Koekepan, your thoughts are welcome, too.

For most of my SR gaming experience, I’ve lived by the rule, “he who shoots first lives.” Koekepan, my PC Quick Willie is an example of that philosophy in action. When I created Blue (Connor at the start), I purposefully avoided making him fast, as that didn’t make sense for the situation in which he started the campaign. Thinking things through, taking care in creating the fun innovations that Biozu developed, all that needed careful attention, not speed.

But that encounter in the diner opened Blue’s eyes to the harsh reality of life on the street. If it hadn’t been for Karmakaze’s quick actions, Blue might now be securely in the embrace of Mitsuhama. Or dead. He was truly frightened.

(Aside: Blue needs to remember to let Karmakaze know how grateful he is.)

There is a way to speed Blue up dramatically, within the budget he has available. Assuming he can get his hands on a Force 1 sustaining focus, and a Force 1 spell Increase Reflexes +3, he could get himself to be almost as fast as Karmakaze. Now, F1 is legal, but Blue may still have to purchase these things through the black market. In that case, the street index would apply. The two together would then cost on the order of 32,000 nuyen (give or take a couple of negotiation rolls).

I understand the dangers inherent in using F1 things, but, again, shooting first tends to get rid of/weaken the things that can hurt one’s toys. Even without the F1 sustaining focus, being fast with a +2 target modifier is still attractive. This possibility has been running around in Blue’s(my) mind for a while now.

However, buying on the black market would drain Blue’s credstick almost dry. (This is less of a problem if Blue can get away with buying without street index, but Koekepan isn’t that kind, is he?) Which means he would not be able to replenish some of those cool one-off spells he used up with such abandon. Of course, when I built Connor, I didn’t think through the cost of replenishing them when I made them all F6. The materials for even one cost 3600 nuyen! Not a problem at character creation.

Or, he would not be able to buy other new spells that might expand the capabilities he could offer the team. I’m looking at you, Control Thoughts spell.

So, I’m at a decision point, figuring out whether to get faster, or more flexible. I would appreciate some advice.

Yes, I need to add my money and karma to my character from the start.

I say get Faster.

To offer a counterpoint: partnerships work best when they are complementary.

Karmakaze is already fast.

Magicians can't cast spells faster with magic - there's still a cap on that ability.

What will go-fast-magic get you for that cost, that you don't have already?

Exactly part of my quandary.



I'm talking about Initiative. Knocking out the opposing mage before she knocks out Karmakaze. Knocking out the street sam before he drills holes in Blue. Redirecting the onrushing truck before it runs over the both of us.

I have for decades tried to have my PC be one of the fastest in the room. Blue is giving me the option to do something different. "Wiz of all trades" kind of thing. I have to say his Wilpower of 12 has exceeded my expectations. The guy can cast spells all night long and likely never get Drained. And in the Astral, he has the BOD of a troll. That's another direction I could take him. Make him an astral warrior. There's also the chance to be able to support Karmakaze. Make her more resistant to magic so she won't be taken out early. Make her/Blue able to fly. He can already give the ability to breath water! Cool shit like that.

The trick here is to figure out what Blue wants, not what I want. In that regard, I do believe he would have been frightened by the encounter in the diner. And yet he also has seen the benefits of being different from Karmakaze.

No need to decide yet.

If my IC post advances things faster than you wanted, let me know Koekepan or Bastard, and I'll take more care next time.

Physical Barrier spell:

The book says the caster can create a wall with certain dimensions. Can the wall be oriented so that it becomes, say, a bridge over a gap on which bridge a character could walk? Rooftop to rooftop kind of thing.

Koekepan:

One can summon a number of Watcher spirits at the same time. Is this true for shamans as well as hermetic mages?

Are Watchers summoned by shamans free of the domain restrictions of Nature Spirits?

Watchers can be made to last weeks rather than hours by spending some combination of Karma and ritual materials. Will any ritual materials do (ie. the cheapest: Illusion), and do the ritual materials have to match in Force the Force of the Watcher spirit?

Would that be the precinct on 8th between Lenora and Virginia?

Physical Barrier:

I think so. It's a barrier that prevents you from falling to the ground where you go squish. Of course, you'd better be maintaining it ...

Watchers:

Yup, watchers are available in bulk orders.

The rituals materials would have to match in Force, and have to be appropriate to a summoning, i.e. 1,000ny/point of Force.

Watchers are enabled or constrained by the nature of the summoner, and that includes domain limitations.

Precinct: Downtown, Olive and 5th.

So, whether the lifespan is an hour or a week, If Blue leaves the domain, the Watcher spirit goes 'poof', right?

I don't seem to have an address or at least an intersection for Blue's apartment in Brainlaser, other than it is somewhere around Ballard. Can you give me a better sense of where it is, Koekepan?

This is what happens, Koekepan, when you leave me time to think about things other than the immediate dangers threatening Blue.

Is there a way for Blue to specifically summon a spirit that he has summoned before? In his domicile, Sweez is likely to come because he is the Hearth Spirit of that place. But, out in the city, would it be possible for Blue to summon, say, Acidsalt Dieselsmog (once it has recovered from the 'shock' as it were). I'm tending towards thinking of Blue as someone who wants to engender relationships with spirits, if he can.

This leads to a further question, one you probably want to think about (or maybe set up a few runs for information?). Under certain circumstances, spirits can become Free if the summoner dies or goes unconscious during the summoning. Spirits of Man for example seem to be predisposed to go Free. But, could there be a way for summoner and spirit to cooperate in order to help a spirit who wants to do so to go free? Obviously this would not guarantee a friendly relationship, but it could lead to one... especially if the summoner offered Karma for the spirit to build Spirit Energy.

Other questions swirl in the back of my mind. Stay tuned!

Watchers: yes, if Blue leaves a domain the watcher evaporates.

The smart way to handle this is to select overlapping domain areas in ways that give him some flexibility.

Address: it's a little south of Ballard, on the way there from downtown. It's near where 15th turns into Elliott.

To Blue, spirits reflect places in the same way that a stag or an eagle would have a home range. Calling one spirit away to another spirit's range would be rude.

Spiritual liberation is not hard from Blue's end - turning a spirit loose from its bonds is the easy part. Having staying power? You'd have no idea how.

Thanks, Koekepan. This is helpful.

\So, that would be near Kinnear Park. Is that park forested. Looking to place domains and such.

"Forested" is a big word.

There are a couple of trees, and some grass.

It's more like meadow domain.

OK.

Sorry for another bout of delays. I am in the middle of a long stretch, but hopefully this weekend I will be able to catch up.

Still need to update my character. One thing if I haven't mentioned, is I am overspent on edges to flaws. Can I use my karma to pay off the debt?

I'll take it; that's fair.

I really do need to keep track of this for myself. I'll try to do better.

Does Blue have his one point of Good Karma available right now?

Yup, hot and ready to go.

Once on the way to the meet, Blue will summon a spirit to cover us as we drive. I'll wait to see if Karmakaze wants a spruce-up before we set out. Drain may affect Blue's choice of Force.

How much money did we get total? I cant find my hand-written notes. Got money for Big J, got money from Pet Personal, and for the snakes, right?

From the split of the Petsonal job on, I count 32,250 nuyen, plus your 75% of the snake sale.

So, Koekepan, as I understand it, Blue's recent experiences with Madel and Sweez suggest to me that a building tends to have one and only one Hearth Spirit. Maybe a condo tower might have one for each residence? (In which case a Search in such a building would be a pain!)

A shaman entering a building might want to Summon a Hearth Spirit. If, unknown to him, the building's Spirit had been already summoned, two possibilities come to my mind. First, the shaman knows/sees it it there, and tries to fight, Banish or Control it. (OK, OK, the shaman could also just leave. ) Second, the shaman doesn't know, and tries to Summon. In that case, am I right in believing that a Control contest ensues?

This leads me to another question. Under the discussion of Controlling on p. 189 of the Book, (I focus on the case of a Nature Spirit) it says that if neither of the shamans rolls any successes in the Control Test the Nature Spirit vanishes. It seems to me this could be one of those rare cases in which the spirit might decide to stay and become Free. Would you agree, Koekepan?

A condo tower would probably have a whole host of spirits buzzing around, or at least potentially so, including a sort of variety of utility gremlins and so on. Creative thought is your friend here.

A shaman in a building is a more interesting case, and I don't want to fully tip my hand here, but things such as Control contests are on the cards.

But yes, a spirit breaking Free under those conditions, if having enough of its own power stacked up, is feasible.

Alright! I see fun stuff in the future.

More ruminations, Koekepan.

I never did describe Blue's Sustaining Focus. I would like to go with a short necklace type thingy, largely of owl feathers. (Well, yeah!) I've always preferred a Focus that is less obvious than a ring or bracelet. Hidden under clothing in this case. Were Blue to have been indigenous, maybe a medicine bundle would have been appropriate.

The above is not at all self-serving for the following discussion.

The Shapechange spell is kind of interesting. A while ago I played a PC who could change into all kinds of things, and the possibilities were useful as well as fun. So, according to the description on page 148 of MitS, if Blue were to have this spell at Force 3, he could change into any critter with a BOD in the range 1-6. Both the Threshold and the Drain would be easily handled.

Clothing, however, does not change with this spell, so Blue would have to be buck naked to change shape, or risk tearing something if he chose something big. (Shades of the Hulk.) Now, cyberware paid for in Essence transforms with the spell. I wonder about Foci. Blue's is of a form that could fit on a lot of critters' necks, but what would happen if the neck is rather thick? Would the Focus risk breaking?

I think Blue would find it cool to change into an owl. The Great Horned Owl has a range all over North America, so it would not seem out of place, though in the city it might be noticeable. But, hey, Owl's Environment is 'anywhere'. And if the Focus does not transform, it would still fit around such a neck as that of this critter. It would even be somewhat camouflaged. A dog with a feathered collar? Hmmm. A rat?!?!

Owls fly, and do so quietly. That functionality would be very useful in scouting situations. Their sight and hearing also. Blue would certainly have to practice flying as an owl. Would this require developing a Skill?

Would the Skill be 'Fly' or 'Fly (owl)'?

As an owl, rodents and small birds might be tasty. If as an owl, Blue fed well on a rat or pigeon, would he feel sated when he returned to Metahuman form?

How many snakes did we end up having? I do not recall. 12? 20?

I'm not sure, either. I think at least ten.

**********

We're into the 6th day of what was a 7 day contract of Karmakaze's predecessor to keep Blue away from Mitsuhama. Isn't Karmakaze a replacement for that person, who found the need to disappear? And therefore still on that contract? That's what Blue thinks.

**********

Looking forward, Blue is in a bit of a quandary. He has to find the time to rebuild his shamanic lodge so he can learn new spells and fabricate more of the one-off items. He's going to need 6 days just for the rebuilding of the lodge, and then more days to learn spells, etc. So he's going to need the better part of two weeks to 'recharge', as it were.

Added to that problem is the location of his apartment. A great location for him to do night work, but to rebuild his lodge there he is going to have to spend time concentrating on the process, I presume. If he works at night, the music will be a distraction. If he works during the day, he won't be able to sleep during the music at night. Am I right in these worries, Koekepan?

If true, he may have to rent an 'office space' to do this work. But if so, keeping his home safer from astral intrusions could be difficult.

About time someone asked that!

17. 17 snakelets delivered, alive and wriggly.

A lodge for an owl should be a hunting spot, or a nest. If you think of it as a nest, then the music is part of the environment although it would be rough to sleep through. Working during the day is pretty much off the table for this work.

Hey! I asked a month ago!






OK, I was thinking the thumpa-thumpa might interfere with Blue's concentration, but actually maybe he will weave it into the fabric of the lodge. The astral image of the lodge will probably reflect the nature of the music. Whoa.

Thanks for the count. So, after taking the 1,000 nuyen off for waking the metabiologist (usury!), that leaves 16,000. So, 12,000 for Karmakaze and 4,000 for Blue.

So, we are 6 days into Blue's new life ... 22 March, 2060. I get the reference to Easter coming up. But, Valentine's Day 3 weeks away? Has it shifted in the 6th World?

Yeah. Why is St. Patricks day getting the Thanksgiving treatment?

I'm an idiot. I'll fix that. This is what comes of posting under sleep deprivation.

Thanks.

We wait with bated breath for the second shoe to drop.

Koekepan,

Can an expendable spell focus be used during the creation of one of your one-off spells-on-a-stick?

Extra successes would make a sustained spell harder to Dispel, but in terms of direct effect of the spell:

- It would make the F6 Heal spell, for example, much more effective for Karmakaze. For Blue, it wouldn't make much difference (F6 limits to 6 successes), but the current items we have would Heal about 3 for Karmakaze, whereas they do the maximum of 6 for Blue. Adding a few dice could help Karmakaze in a real pinch.


- The current improved Invisibility Blue has was cast with 7 successes, so it would be hard to Resist, but more successes might make even a really keen observer miss it.

- Influence wouldn't be affected directly, I think.

- Detect Individual could be strongly affected, giving more detail.

- Armour and Astral Armour would not be affected directly.

- Powerbolt would be more likely to be affected when used against Object Resistance.

Of course, all this costs money, at 1,500 nuyen per Force point of the Focus. So, getting 6 more dice for a casting would cost 9,000 nuyen. But then, Karmakaze might be willing to spring for the cost of a spell that Heals her more fully.

Negative on expendable spell foci. You're not casting it in a conventional way, and the target is indeterminate at the time of creation.

OK.

In the continuing vein of argument, “Too much time to think”, here are some more thoughts about Blue and his Amazing Focus of Will.

My first impression, after really thinking about how Blue might have gotten that Focus and sustained spell to work, is that you were exceedingly generous, Koekepan. Blue needed 8, count’em, 8 successes on a target of 8 to raise his WIL from 8 to 12, then sustaining the spell in his F4 Sustaining Focus. Even with his natural 8 WIL, Drain would not have been an issue. With Owl that would give 10 dice. At 3(M) Drain, he could keep casting the spell over and over till his eyes swam with fatigue.

At the time of Character Creation, Blue had Sorcery 5 and Spell Pool 5, for 10 dice. Add 2 more for Owl by doing it at night, he had 12. Eventually, he could roll 8 6s which exploded into anything but a 1, giving him the required 8 8s, but that could take years! Using his Karma Pool of 1 would help, whenever it might have refreshed, so let’s drop that to months. What a labour of love, or willpower.

Expensive as they are, expendable foci would help even more. Blue could have convinced Biozu that since he was casting spells for them all night long, the more durable and effective he would be as a loyal corporate servant if his psychic endurance were increased. Let’s say he managed to convince them to split the cost of a Force 12 (!!) expendable focus, 9600 nuyen each. The game’s paradigm does emphasize the benefits magicians have when working for corporations with bags of money and access to special materials. Then in the optimal situation, he would have 24 dice and a reroll of failures once with his 1 Karma Pool. There actually would be a decent chance that Blue would get 8 rolls of 8. Bingo!

Nevertheless, this does seem like kindness on your part, Koekepan. Or …

… you could just be patient. An F4 focus is hard to destroy, but there are several ways in which its Force can be temporarily reduced. (Fortunately, this is not SR4 in which walking into a Background Count would have the same effect. Don’t ever go to SR4 church, Blue!) Just one reduction to F3 and the F4 spell goes:

*poof*

If this happens in game play, good luck, Blue, ever again getting the spell to stick at F4. And Combat Pool, Astral Combat Pool and Spell Pool all drop by at least 1. So, you could be just waiting it out, Koekepan. Let’s be clear, even having a WILL of 8,9 or 10 is AWESOME. Blue will still be a spell-casting machine and tough to beat on in the Astral. And in his background story, it would make sense that he would feel confident that he was making a good decision given his employment circumstances.

But Blue is out in the Shadows now. He is carrying around an object which is easily visible on the Astral Plane at least. In the short run, he is going to have to make sure that when he assigns Spell Defense dice, he covers the focus as well as himself, Karmakaze and any spirit he might have summoned. And maybe have an expendable Health spell focus at hand. As big as he can get his hands on.

In the long run, (Yes, yes, lots of Good Karma later.) Blue is going to have to think hard about how he equips himself. Blue’s (my) long run thinking ignores the reality of game survivability on DS.

Options:

1) Go the Increase Reflexes route and have a Sustaining Focus that is a way more interesting target for anything that might want to attack an object rather than Blue himself. Make it a ring, or something else obvious. This focus would also be much easier to recharge, and the in-game benefits are clear. In particular, Blue would be likely to nuke first before anything decides to go for his shiny bauble. (Or the pretty, fluffy bauble.)

Buying a Focus right now would suck all of Blue's money. But it could be doable.

2) Acquire an F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) spell. Wait till the inevitable happens, and rebond the focus for that spell, giving Blue a CHA of 8. He is now in the life in which summoning spirits is way more important than it was when he worked for Biozu. Achieving 8 successes at a target of 4 is much more likely to happen. This enhanced Attribute would give Blue a much better chance of summoning higher Force spirits and surviving the experience. And there is always in the background Blue’s desire to be a Leader. (As a certain philosophy suggests he should be.)

Blue is coming to like dealing with spirits. Who knew? Maybe he would opt for this even before the Focus takes a hit.

Then, Blue would have CHA 8 and WIL 8, making him a more rounded character. This would cost a lot less money that buying another Focus so early in the game. (And maybe way down the road acquiring an F2 Sustaining Focus for the Increase Attribute (WIL) spell.)

3) Do the same as #2, but for INT. Intelligence is the only other Attribute besides WIL that contributes to all three Pools. Increasing INT by 4 would bring it to 8 as well, bringing all 3 Pools back up to where they are now. It is another Attribute like WIL that is used to set the target for several spells and to Resist them. Perception tests. That philosophy again.

##########

Right now, I am tending towards ranking them: #2 first, #3 second, #1 third. Comments are welcome and encouraged.

If Blue were to raise his spellcasting specialization from 6 to 7, it would cost 3.5 Karma. None of the examples on pages 244-5 show whether to round this up or down.

Which way do you want it to go, Koekepan?

When your spirit animal is tired of you missing the signs

I could have sworn I'd answered the karma question.

Maybe I closed the tab before submitting it. Either way: round up.

He sounds like Tommy Wiseau. "Hey bird."

Shortly, IC, Blue will fire off a shopping list to Mary Margaret. I list it here to keep the story line more fluid.

SPELL FORMULAS (all Street Index 2, so listed possible prices in nuyen are double the legal cost, except for Control Thoughts, which is at SI 4.)

F3 Control Thoughts 6,000
F1 Increase Reflexes +3 2,000
F4 Increase Attribute (INT) 800
F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) 800
F3 Shapechange 600
TOTAL 10,200

ONE-OFF SPELL MATERIALS (everything like this in MitS pages 169-170 is at Street Index 1, so assuming so for these as well.)

F1 Increase Reflexes +3 X2 200
F4 Increase Attribute (INT) X2 3,200
F4 Increase Attribute (CHA) X2 3,200
F6 Armor X1 3,600
F6 Powerbolt X1 3,600
TOTAL 13,800

These add to 24,000 nuyen. Most take from one to three days except for the Increase Reflexes +3 spell formula, but it is at F1, so going with the minimum target of two, that should be reduce-able in the Etiquette roll to a few days as well. Blue will offer Mary Margaret 27,500 nuyen for the package to help grease the wheels. And to keep him in her good books.

I don't know what the availability is for the materials, so I can't guess what kind of Etiquette rolls I would need for them. Ritual Sorcery materials seem to me to be the closest in nature. Hopefully a few extra thousand nuyen will expedite acquisition of these as well.

Treat the Control Thoughts formula as Street Index 4, restricted. That is the sort of magic that gets people excited.

OK. Makes sense. This is why I posted it ahead of time. Thanks. I will edit the original post to reflect this. And change the full offer up to 27,500.

Has Blue turned into a statue IC?