[Mollari]

Hello there fellow shadowrunners. Two questions.

1) a pc is able to make multiple attacks equal to half their skill. In the case of magic this is up to a limit of magic. Ie. If spellcast is 6 you can cast 3 spells. So long as magic is equal to or higher than 3, sweet

Does mentor spirit add to spellcasting skill? I know it doesn't add to dicepool as foci do. So does a mentor spirit with +2 combat cast (wise warrior etc.) basically allow another cast?

2) the vampire gives a +2 to a physical and mental stat (to be distributed as you please). Does this allow a vamp to go above their racial max? And is these additions considered a hard addon or an augmentation bonus? I dont believe the latter, though it says nothing of the former.

Eg. Suppose an elf with charisma 8 becomes a vamp. Their new racial max for charisma is still 8 (I think). Can they increase their char to 10?

[Marcus]

Be very careful with the phrase multiple attacks, there are no multiple attacks in SR5. Try Reckless spell casting, it will take you further. Take your pool divide it between all your spells and you're now good to go. But keep in mind you will suffer the increased drain from all those spells, and its not something to be taken lightly.

As to the vamp question, I will have to leave that to another person, I'm not very familar with Vamp as PCs.

[Mollari]

Casting Multiple Spells: Some magicians have the mental discipline to weave multiple threads of mana into various spells at once. You can attempt to cast multiple spells simultaneously in the same action, even at different targets. To do this, you have to split your Spellcasting + Magic dice pool between the spells you want to cast (see Step 4), with a minimum of 1 die per spell. Since the modifiers per spell may be different, they are applied after you split the dice pool. The number of spells you can cast simultaneously is limited to your Magic attribute.


Hey there. Reckless Casting allows you to 'not' split your spell dice pool but instead increase the drain. Helpful for spells that require net hits (direct). You can however divide your spell pool and do multiple attacks in the same round (as I understand it) so long as it doesn't exceed your magic and half your skill. My question is whether the Mentor Spirit counts as an increase in skill or merely only dice pool.

I know that it's considered "different" for the purposes of calculating modifiers, so hence where my question comes from.

Thx for the response though

[忍]

The mentor spirit dice would be added before splitting the pool into different attacks.

[Mollari]

Hi there.

Yeah there's a lot of debate as to whether the mentor spirit is a modifier or not. Check out discussions around the "witness my hate" quality and people casting multiple mana/stun balls.

My question remains the same. Does mentor spirit function the same way as spell specialisations and effectively increase spell casting (and therefore also the number of spells that can be cast on a round) or does it merely increase the dice pool and therefore doesn't.

A similar discussion could be considered with the power foci. Their fluff texts says it increases magic and therefore adds to all magic test dice pool. But it then doubles down and says it increases test dice, not the actual magic attribute and therefore has no effect on max overcast or drain force levels.

So, does a mentor spirit increase spellcasting (and in turn increases dice pool) or does it 'only' increase dice pool.

[Sphinx]

There are two ways to cast multiple spells in a single initiative pass.

First, Reckless Spellcasting lets you cast a spell with a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action, at the cost of +3 Drain Value (see "Reckless Spellcasting," p.165, "Step 4," p.281). You could cast two spells with two Simple Actions in a single pass, but they would both have the higher drain cost, and only one of them can be an attack (see "Simple Actions," p.164).

Second, Casting Multiple Spells lets you divide your dice pool between the spells you want to cast (see "Step 1," p.281). The absolute limit to the number of spells you can cast simultaneously is your Magic attribute; the practical limit is lower than that. The text is clear enough: Divide your Spellcasting + Magic dice pool among the spells, then add modifiers after you split the dice pool (e.g. mentor bonuses and spell foci apply separately to the divided dice pools, but so do wound modifiers and sustaining penalties). For example, my Spellcasting 6 + Magic 6 dice pool is 12, and I want to divide it between two spells (split pools = 6 and 6). My mentor spirit is good for +2 to one spell (8 and 6), and a focus adds 3 dice to the other one (8 and 9), but I have a light wound (7 and 8 ) and I'm already sustaining a spell (5 and 6).

In theory, you could combine these two options and Cast Multiple Spells Recklessly, but keep the Forces low or your brain will explode.

The vampire question:

Infected gain two Physical attribute points and two Mental attribute points (Run Faster, p.134). These are specifically subject to the racial minimums and maximums given in the "Infected Metatype Attribute Table" (RF p.135), so they're inherently the same as starting attribute points, not augmentations. Note that the table assumes that the vampire's base metatype was human; and the Vampire description (RF p.140) likewise says that "the quality is generally only taken by human characters, though it can be taken by non-humans at the gamemaster's discretion." If your GM allows you to play an elf vampire, then they ought to adjust the racial min/maxes accordingly (see how the table treats ghouls, for example). So an elf with a Charisma 8 who becomes infected might be able to put one or both mental attribute points into Charisma, but the player would have to negotiate that with the GM. Personally, I'd probably allow one point, but not both.

[Mollari]

Awesome thx
That answered my question.

1) thank you. For some reason I was under the impression that spellcasting wasn't subject to the half skill rule. I was wrong. Ta

p196 CRB
The total number of attacks you can make in a single
Action Phase is limited to one-half the attacker’s Combat
Skill.

2) the vamp attributes aren't, in your estimation, augments, so one couldn't tale their stat above the vamp racial max. Thx mate for the discussion.