From: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Subject: Re: SRII PhysAds
Date: 27 Jan 93 10:01:26 GMT
Reply-To: at731@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Troy L. Nothnagel)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu (Adam) says:

>
>	Here is a description of a Physical Adept in our game:
>
>	Jomyo Meishu (named after monk in Heike Monogatari) uses Tech A,
>Magic B, Attributes C, Skills D, Race E.
>	He buys Force 6 Naginata Weapon Focus (+2 Reach).  He spends remaining
>Force points/cash on Spell Locks that party Combat Shaman uses to Lock 
>Increase Reflexes +3 dice, Increase Will/Int/Quick/Charisma/Reaction +4,
>Combat Sense, Invisibility on Naginata.  The Combat Shaman has also bought
>spell locks for use by himself (Increase Intelligence +4) and a Power focus,
>as well as some fetish foci.

Okay, that adds up to 1.2 million nuyen.  840,000 for a force 6, reach 2
weapon focus.  8 locks at 45,000 each.  Gee, I hope that shaman had 8
extra force points to spend on your sorry ass to bond all those locks,
as it is the casting magician that gets to pay the karma cost.
Oh, gee, I hope he has an intelligence of 8, too, as each one of those
counts against HIS maximum for active foci.(pps.137,138 SRII)

>	Veteran Shadowrun GMs and spellcasters are already nodding their heads

No, we're breaking out the hip waders; it's getting rather deep in here.

>and wincing.  Jomyo's powers are Astral Perception and +8 Armed Combat dice,
>and his skill include Armed Combat (4) Polearms (6) Naginata (8).  Through
>use of the power foci, fetish foci, Karma Pool rerolls, and the boosted stats

Just how is a PA supposed to use a fetish focus?

>Jomyo's Combat Pool is 20+.  His initiative is 4D6+10.
>	When Jomyo swings his Naginata, he gets to roll 8+8+6= 22 dice without
>using his Combat Pool.  The damage code in normal space is 10S, in Astral 
>Space around 8M.  Note that in Combat, to stage damage up or down, the NET
>SUCCESSES are used.  Jomyo just needs 2 NET successes to kill Andre the Troll,
>he's gonna get 13-15 without using Combat Pool, Karma Rerolls, or anything.
>Each time Andre attacks, Jomyo's gonna counterstrike with his 13-15 successes.
>	If Jomyo really decides to take off someone's head, he's gonna roll 40

With a base skill of 8, he can only use 8 combat pool dice to attack.

>dice and use rerolls.  Even if Andre's got all the Karma in the world, he's
>not going to generate much more than 18 successes, whereas Jomyo can easily
>rack up 30+.
>	So some mage bops along and decides to take out Jomyo's spell locks.
>Well, as soon as the spell tries to ground into Jomyo's body he's gonna engage
>it in Astral Combat and slaughter it.  Same with the mage.  Check out the

No, check out p. 148 for the sad truth: "In order to intercept a spell,
an astrally projecting character must be aware of the spellcasting AND
have a delayed action.  An astrally perceiving character cannot move his
physical form fast enough to intercept the spell."  Say bye-bye spell
locks, hello Hell Blast.

>Interception rules in Melee for the sad truth.  Even if 10 spells try to
>ground out into spell locks, Jomyo gets 22 dice to counterstrike each spell.
>Plus whatever of his Astral Combat Pool is (un)necessary.
>	As Jomyo initiates, it'll get worse.  He'll be able to get enhanced
>Centering, buy some initiative dice, and more Improved Ability dice.  As the
>Shaman initiates, he'll be able to Quicken/Anchor more spells on Jomyo, getting
>rid of the pesky Intelligence limit on magic items.  An Anchored Activation/
>Deactivation linked Improved Invisibility spell with 9 successes will make
>Jomyo the stealthiest thing around.  Etc. etc. blah blah blah ....
>	Sure, Slade the Sniper can take him out, but the point is a carefully
>designed PA can still rule melee combat against any upstart Troll samurai
>with a Dikoted Wallacher.
>
>
>           -- Adam
>+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
>|Adam Getchell |Surgery-Radiation Oncology    GETCHELL@radonc.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu|
>| acgetchell   |ez000270@chip.ucdavis.edu        acgetche@taco.engr.ucdavis.edu|
>+--------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
>	
>
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