From: chem7l@jane.uh.edu
Subject: Re: SRUN: Toning down mages
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 18:41:00 GMT

In article <ward1.712417727@husc8>, ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes...
>chem7l@jane.uh.edu writes:
> 
>>In article <ward1.712333221@husc8>, ward1@husc8.harvard.edu (Lester Ward) writes...

>>>chem7l@elroy.uh.edu writes:
>>>>First, I treat any item or effect (including Quickening) that a mage has put 
>>>>karma into as a suitable link for ritual magic.
>>> 
>>>Then why bother Quickening?  If I can pay 1 karma point to lock a spell
> 
>>Several reasons:  First, spell locks are always considered force 1 and always
>>do 1L1 damage in astral combat.  Quickened spells can be any force, and the 
>>damage in astral combat is the same as for the spell: force(drain code).  
>>Second, spells CAN ground into a spell lock, which can be REALLY nasty.  Lastly,
>>a mage can quicken astral barriers, etc. to protect his own home.  Quickening
>>spells in controlled locations would not really leave you vulnerable to ritual
>>magic.
> 
>The force 1 point is a good one, and well taken, but how often have you seen
>it matter if a foci was force 1 or force 4?  Usually there being attacked
>by hideously strong elementals (at least in the campaign I'm in); also,
>not many mages would put 4 points of karma into something so transitory
>(although, your milage may vary).
> 
>I'm a bit confused on the "spells CAN ground into a spell lock".  The emphasis
>used would indicate that they can't ground through quickened spells (which
>by the rules is correct), but I thought the point you were driving at in
>the first post (quoted above) is that you could ground through quickened
>spells, in your rules variant.  If by "suitable link for ritual magic" that
>it would be .only. ritual magic (interesting trick) than I have no problem
>with it.

I'm talking about a situation they mentioned as an example in the section on
metamagic.  A mage cast a stink spell (or something like that) on a bar and then
quickened it.  It is also possible, by the normal rules, to quicken a spell on
an individual.  In my campaigns, such acts could bring a quick, mean ritual
magic response.  

The thinking here is that if you put karma into something, you are investing
a part of your being into it.  And, since it is of a magical nature, it serves
more readily to provide an astral link than a lock of hair or something that
just has your DNA in it.

If the spell is attacked astrally, a locked spell will go pretty quickly because
the lock is pretty wimpy in astral combat.  A quickened spell, however, can be 
pretty tough in astral combat, especially if it has a high drain code.  Many 
mages will be very careful about bothering a spell that does deadly damage and
does physical damage by default.  If a mage uses an elemental, then a tough 
spell still has a chance to win, and reguardless the elemental will be tied up
doing something besides attacking the mage, giving the mage a chance to defend
himself by summoning a spirit or calling up his own elemental.  Also, don't
forget that any spell or (I think) focus that is not attacked heals completely.
How would you like to face a force 6 quickened increase reaction spell that does
something like 6D2 physical damage, has access to the mage's magic pool, and
heals completely the first time it isn't attacked.  I think I would try to think
of something else to do. :)

Also, I'm really trying not to change the rules very much.  Mostly, I'm just
tweaking things here and there to make mages more on par with everyone else.
Mages in my campaign are still the most powerful, versatile characters, but they
usually end up acting _after_ the street sams, making the street sams the real
killers.  Mages in my campaigns tend to shy away from sustained armor, combat
sense, and increased reaction spells because of the (vanilla rules) target 
modifiers.  They are scared to use spell locks on them because of grounding, and
they hesitate to quicken them because the force, karma cost, and drain code will
have to be high if they expect the spell to last very long.  That forces the 
mages to try not to be notice rather than just killing everything that gets
in their way, and it makes street sams a necessary part of a team.

On the other hand, so much can be done on the astral plane to combat mages that
most corps don't bother keeping a mage physically on hand.  That means that the
job of a mage is to keep the team from being noticed by the (mundane) guards,
and then to provide support against elementals and magic.  They are still VERY
useful in combat, especially with area combat spells, but the street sams tend
to take the lead role in combat because of their speed and body.  That is, IMHO
the way it should be.

> 
>Wordman
> 

Jim Corbit