From: by670@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Marc-Eivind Cruz Evensen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII PhysAds
Date: 26 Jan 1993 03:58:57 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


    In reaction to Jomyo Meishu (JM)... *falls on ground laughing*

A couple points about our good friend JM:

1. I'm not positive, but I was under the impression that starting characters
   couldn't get spells locked by other people. (ie only mages could start
   with spell locks, and this is at the penalty of bonding costs to force
   point totals)

2. A naginata? I'm not much on Japanese weaponry, but that's a polearm, right?
   ever seen someone walking around with a polearm? That's because the police
   (read Lone Star, etc) would stop you and arrest you. This is a long bladed
   spear (I think about 6 ft+ in length) -- if that's stealthy, I'd like to
   see what you consider conspicuous (a Banshee?). Try sneeking that into a
   bar/restaurant/airport/anywhere.

3. +8 dice to armed combat? nice but... isn't this a bit munchkin and power
   gaming? with those mods, that's all JM can do. He doesn't have any more
   stealth/athletics than any other normal character can have, he doesn't
   have the reaction (see above), even if you can lock for others, I can
   pound a lock before you know it, then escape -- since you only perceive,
   no perception, there's no way you can chase me.

4. Also, even if rules do allow for the locking for others in the beginning,
   I don't know of many mages who would do this. Each spell lock, unless this
   has changed, is still bound to the casting mage, which leaves a trail in
   astral space (at least until you initiate and hide the trails), which
   provides wonderful items for ritual sorcery, when I'm a mage, I rarely
   lock for anyone.

5. JM can kill people (yay...), so can many others, what makes him special?
   Lot's of people can kill in many ways, but your design doesn't allow for
   anything else, doesn't take advantage of the qualities of the PA, turning
   him into a boring, mindless killing machine.

6. Another point aside from pure lock bashing, Mr.Mage grounds a spells into
   a lock (let's say it's area effect), and then leaves (as I already have esta   -lished that he could) (this is because JM doesn't know Mr.Mage is there
   until _after_ the attack) now, JM and his friends have been hit, and they
   can't do anything about it. (I love grounding spells!) Astral pursuit
   can't occur (once again, you can't project), so JM waives his fancy spear
   and continues, probably some worst for wear.

7. Tech A may be nice, but how do you get 10S damage? your stats are C, which
   either means you are physically weak or mentally idiotic, either way, you
   never got a strength increase, even if you got a 6 STR, what could your
   damage be (I don't have the codes with me, but aren't they something like
   STR S?), I know they aren't STR + 4 S. Anyway, back to tech, you got
   lots of money, no stats, and no skills; I already demonstrated how a smart
   mage could either force you into paranoid eternal vigilance (sleep? what
   is that?) or eliminate all of your wonderful locks piecemeal (that's what
   I, as an enemy mage, would do). Now your money's gone (except 
   for that nifty, "LOOK AT ME!" screaming weapon), your stat's are down
   near the mage's, and you're still looking for those skills you thought
   you wouldn't need.

Sure, you can kill lot's of people, but I could remove most of your power
with a mage, without even getting my fingers dirty, and that's what I
would do as an enemy mage (evil grin). Then, what are you left with?, By
the way, I live in a AA security building, just try getting that oversized
butterknife into the building.

-- Marc