From: jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com (Joe Carl Jr.)
Subject: Re: SR Spell Locks
Organization: Harris Corporation - ISD
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:02:05 GMT

In <1992Dec22.072334.9075@coe.montana.edu> icsu0237@cs.montana.edu (Jeff Patterson) writes:

>Fellow gamers,

>	I am currently GMing a SRI campaign (moving to SRII after the
>holidays) and have three mages in the party (one is an NPC).  One of
>the mages came up with a great idea for his character - lock a spell
>onto himself.  After consulting both the SR man and the Grimoire we
>found nothing that said that this could not be done, and so he locked
>"personal combat sence" to himself.  With the use of fetishes and
>elementals he was able to cast a pretty mean spell.  He now gets as many
>actions per turn as any of the wired sammies in the party.
>	But that's not the worst part... I am just waiting for him to
>come to me wanting to cast "+4 every attribute" and lock it to himself.
>Now granted, he doesn't have the spells yet, but some day he will.  How
>can the other characters compete with a superhuman mage?  If he puts on
>a good suit of armor, he could pick up a sword and really do some damage,
>never having to touch his magic abilities.
>	I am trying to keep the balance by "charging" 1 point of karma
>a month per lock to keep the astral link secure.  If he doesn't pay the
>point, there is a chance that the link will unstailize and suck him into
>astral space; no hope of return.  Is this fair?  Am I missing something
>in the rules?  Is it answered in SRII?  How do you guys handle it?

I always thought that a spell lock was some item that needed to be created
through talismongering.  Just like other magical foci!  So he shouldn't
be able to spell lock anything to himself!  He could have foci spell locks,
but then he is limited to as many active foci (not just spell locks, that
means power foci, weapon foci, spirit foci, etc...) as his charisma.  The
Grimoure talks about Quickening which doesn't need a foci.  I don't
remember if there is a limit to the number he can have though.  He does
have to be an initiate to quicken though.  Then there is other initiates
of higher rank with dispelling to bring them down.  

Always remember in SRI spell locks are always on and have a target of 1.
Grounding becomes real attractive for enemey mages.  In SRII you can 
turn them on and off like cyberware but are still limited to a number
equal to your charisma.

I don't remeber seeing anything about grounding a spell through a
quickened spell though.  I know you can't target a spell.  So I don't
know how to handle this one.

Mages are suppose to be damn tough.  One on one with a Sam, if they are
both prepared a mage should win every time!  It is the GM's responsiblity
to remember magic is suppose to be rare too!  Shadowrunner teams should have
a least one on their team, maybe two.  I'd never allow 3 on a team unless it
was the enemies.  If more than one person wants to run a Mage, make them
rotate one at a time.  Keep Magic rare!  Norms are suppose to be paranoid of
mages!  Mages should be the first one shot at in preference to all other
enemies.

--
Joe Carl Jr.               "It ain't what a man don't know that makes him a
jcarl@jabba.ess.harris.com   fool, but what he does know that ain't so."
                                                           -- Josh Billings