Hi all!

The question is pretty simple: If a storm has a combat (or elemental) spell effect, what damage level is the storm at?

I've searched through both the book and this forum, and all I can find is how many dices you should use for the spell effect test. It says nothing about damage level though.

Depends on how quickly you want it to kill your players.

Not sure if it actually says anywhere, although you could probably assume that it's moderate since most other things in SR (like critter powers for example) start at Mod. But like Nick said, it really depends on how severe you want them to be. I'd say, just my preference, at least serious. People don't flee in terror from some thing that will hurt but not kill (let's ignore the fact that a heavy pistol does mod for a sec). But since there's really nothing listed for staging up damage with them, IIRC, I'd say start at serious at least.

I've always kind of pictured Mana Storms as something out of Mercedes Lackey - Storms caused by mana. Perhaps it snowing in mid july - perhaps while parts of the city are 120 degrees....Yeah, that's a mana storm.

And it'd be damn funny to have the characters walk from a blizzard on one corner to a desert on the next. Makes for some interesting Survival checks.

Well, mana storms can do that, but they also may be a roaming vortex firing off permanent petrify spells at every living thing they pass. Or both, a sudden summer blizzard petrifying everything the snow touches.

*nod* I always viewed a mana storm as more of a plot device than anything, and the dangers should be serious to deadly.

For more canonical views, perhaps Target:Wastelands might have something.

You have to take into account, that if a storm deals Serious damage, every round, then its very limited what the players can do mobility wise.

If its moderate, then a few quick sprints might be an option.

Gotta go with serious damage for intense localized ones, light for big city-spanning ones. You can sprint through a small one and may live. A big one will wear you down.

All of the above.

Not all manastorms are created equal. There are intense local ones.. massive weak ones... devastating gigantic ones (rarely!)... weak local splats... you name it, it should be possible.

yeah, they are broken up by force aren't they?

And don't forget about those wonderful little storm spirits!

hehehe

serious the more damage the better!

would use it every time!

torz x

In my experience. That means playing with a bunch of twinked-out, munchkin, gun-bunneys. If the base damage is not Serious then the players will not fear it.
Unless the Power is something like 15 with no armor modifications, my players will stage down at least one stage every time. But starting with a base Serious means that three rounds inside the manastorm and they are at nine boxes and growing worried

Remember that there is a lot more in the world than small packs of runners, a storm that does serious damage every three seconds will quickly wipe the area completely clean of life. No more cute fuzzy animals, no more bacteria, no more anything. They would completely devistate any area thay passed over.

Sure 4L every turn doesn't sound likem much to a runner, but to that cute fluffy bunny with body 1 or 2 and no armor, it's a short trip to the great bunny farm in the sky.

That's yet another benefit to small animals seeking cover during a storm. How humiliated would the munchkins be if the rabbit who burrowed a little hole as the storm approached is completely unharmed while they ("Bah, it's just a little thunderstorm, my cyber is insulated") are crawling away with 9 boxes of physical wounds?

But you don't roll for damage every turn. There is one test when you enter the storm and then one every 2D6 minutes thereafter. A storm exists for (force)D6 minutes and has a force of 1D6

"The platform you're standing on collapses. Roll body against 8D falling damage."

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

Seriously. If it's a plot device that is meant to be dangerous and it fits within the rules, then make it dangerous for the runners.
If it's not that important then simply saying "The platform you're standing on collapses and you fall, you are now prone. What do you do next?" is usually sufficient