Shadowrun Play > Previous Editions
Shadowrun 4E House Rules
JanessaVR:
I've worked on these on and off for many years, and now they’re finally done (or at least done enough for now). Please enjoy and comment.
Character Creation
Magic and the Metaplanes - Part 1
Magic and the Metaplanes - Part 2
The Matrix
Gear
Critters
Additional Rules
The Sixth World - Part 1
The Sixth World - Part 2
Optional Rules
Still Working On
JanessaVR:
Character Creation
Character Points
Most of the time we play at a higher level of power as we don’t typically do long campaigns and so characters won’t have the long time necessary to slowly advance to higher levels of power. However, once in a while we do run lower-level games. So these are Build Points (BP) allowed by play level.
Play Levels
Street Punks: 200 BP
Competent Criminals: 300 BP
Typical Runners: 400 BP
Experienced Runners: 500 BP
Prime Runners: 600 BP
Even these are general guidelines – if you go over a bit, ask for GM approval. All characters must be GM approved anyway, and any character builds deemed disruptive or overpowered will be rejected, even if built strictly by RAW and within BP limits.
Metatypes
Approved Metatypes
• Human: 0 BP
Attributes: Humans no longer get +1 Edge for free.
Qualities: None
• Elf: 30 BP
Attributes: Agility +1, Charisma +2
Qualities: Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Racial Profile +1 (+5 BP)
• Dwarf: 60 BP
Attributes: Body +1, Strength +2, Willpower +1
Qualities: Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Racial Profile +1 (+5 BP), Resistance to Pathogens and Toxins +2 (20 BP)
• Ork: 45 BP
Attributes: Body +3, Strength +2
Qualities: Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Racial Profile +2 (+10 BP)
• Troll: 85 BP
Attributes: Body +4, Strength +4
Qualities: Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Natural Armor +1 (10 BP), Racial Profile +3 (+15 BP), Reach +1 (5 BP)
• T’skrang: 55 BP
Attributes: Agility +1, Body +1, Charisma +1, Strength +1
Qualities: Gills (5 BP), Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Prehensile Tail (10 BP), Racial Profile +3 (+15 BP), Underwater Vision (5 BP), Water Sprite (5 BP)
• Windling: 25 BP
Attributes: Agility +1, Charisma +1
Qualities: Flight (10 BP), Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Racial Profile +2 (+10 BP)
• Obsidiman: 125 BP
Attributes: Body +4, Strength +4
Qualities: Iron Lungs +2 (10 BP), Low-Light Vision (5 BP), Natural Armor +2 (10 BP), Ogre Stomach (5 BP), Racial Profile +3 (+15 BP), Reach +1 (5 BP), Resistance to Pathogens and Toxins +2 (20 BP), Sustenance (5 BP)
Banned Metatypes
• AIs: The “mini-AIs” introduced in SR4 Emergence do not exist in our version of the Sixth World.
• Infected: Any PC infected and transformed by either magical virus immediately becomes an NPC under GM control.
• Unique Changelings: Any who are of sufficiently bizarre appearance as to be disruptive everywhere they go are not allowed.
NOTES
• All metatypes other than human are officially classified as changelings – Changeling (Elf), Changeling (Dwarf), etc. If you have metagenes (“recessive magical genes”), then you’re a changeling. If not, you’re a human. It’s that simple.
• The costs of each metatype have been adjusted to more accurately reflect actual benefits gained. Humans are the baseline – anything beyond that costs points (BP). Our version of the Sixth World is also incorporating races from the Earthdawn setting; the costs for these metatypes are our best current approximations, and subject to updating upon further research efforts.
• Yes, in some cases, canon lists Thermographic Vision instead of Low-Light Vision for some metatypes, but let’s keep this simple. See in the dark versus see like the Predator (from the films)? Option 1, please.
• There are no stupid “Night Ones” elves, as actual Drow exist as an elven sub-race, but the differences are purely cosmetic (they have black skin and white hair) for a metatype cost of 30 BP (the same as for standard elves).
Attributes
Revisions to All Attributes
• There’s no extra cost for Rating 6+ attributes; the whole “pay over double cost for the last point,” as per SR4A, p. 82, is hereby struck from the rules.
• The maximum augmented value for any attribute is 12 (or 13 if you have the Exceptional Attribute quality for one particular attribute).
Revisions to Essence
• Essence is only something that applies to the Awakened. So, if you’re mundane, just record a “–” for your Essence score; you don’t need worry about it and can purchase all the cyberware you want.
• Essence 0 just means Magic 0, not death. Losing a point of Essence means losing a point of Magic as well. If you have a Magic attribute higher than 6, a proportional loss of Magic is calculated. As a result, there are plenty of people who are really just brains in a braincase unit, able to effectively change into different fully-robotic bodies at will. Magically speaking, their robot bodies count as Highly-Processed Objects for Resistance Tests (unless they take the “Terminator Option” of being a robotic endoskeleton encased in cloned flesh, in which case they count as Manufactured High-Tech Objects for Resistance Tests).
• If the only piece of cyberware you have installed is a Deltaware commlink (or datajack), you can have that for free, Essence-wise. But, you can’t have any more cyberware installed, or you’ll retroactively be charged the typical 0.1 Essence for it.
• Replacement body parts cloned from your own DNA do not cost Essence. These will, in fact, restore any Essence lost due to having lost a limb, etc.
• Essence Loss is based on body parts, as per the following chart:
Revised Essence Costs:
--- Code: ---Body Part % of Body Essence Cost
Head 7.3% 0.44
Trunk (chest,back,abdomen) 50.8% 3.05
Thigh (each) 9.88% 0.59
Lower Leg (each) 4.65% 0.28
Foot (each) 1.45% 0.09
Upper Arm (each) 2.7% 0.16
Forearm (each) 1.6% 0.10
Hand (each) 0.66% 0.04
--- End code ---
So, ignore the stated Essence costs in the source books and approximate them according the above chart. A set of cybereyes (or cyberears) costs 0.1 Essence.
Revisions to Magic
• The maximum Magic attribute is Essence x2 (though you can extend this by one point if you purchase the Exceptional Attribute quality for your Magic attribute). This rule applies even to dragons. For spirits, their Magic attribute is their Force Rating, which maxes out at the Great Dragon level.
New Attributes
• Size (SIZ): Imported from Call of Cthulhu, this is a measure of how tall/wide your PC is. For reference, Size 4 is a 6’ tall human male. Also, your un-augmented Strength can’t exceed SIZ+1. This attribute doesn’t cost BP and is more of an informational stat for the GM.
Qualities
There is no limit to the number of Negative qualities you can purchase, but all Negative qualities require GM approval.
Revised Qualities
• Adept (10 BP): 5 BP was a bit too cheap for this quality.
• Addiction (+10 BP): Nicotine counts as a Moderate Addiction (SR4A, p. 93).
• Aptitude (10 BP): This can be taken more than once (each time for a different Skill).
• Astral Chameleon (5 BP to 30 BP): This quality can be taken up to 5 times (for a -12 penalty to any Assensing tests and your astral signatures last only 1/64th as long).
• Exceptional Attribute (20 BP): This can be taken more than once (each time for a different attribute).
• Investments (Variable BP): This takes the place of both the Trust Fund quality and purchasing a permanent lifestyle. Under the SR4 rules, you can purchase a permanent lifestyle by paying for 100 months of it. However, this doesn’t seem tie out to reality. Based on research into real-life investments, I’ll assume a 5% APR return on investment. (As a shortcut, just multiply the monthly total by 240 to find the investment needed.) This yields the following:
* Low (5 BP): This pays out 2,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 480,000¥.
* Middle (10 BP): This pays out 5,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 1.2 million ¥.
* High (20 BP): This pays out 10,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 2.4 million ¥.
* High+ (40 BP): This pays out 20,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 4.8 million ¥.
* High+ (80 BP): This pays out 40,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 9.6 million ¥.
* High+ (100 BP): This pays out 50,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 12 million ¥.
* Luxury (200 BP): This pays out 100,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 24 million ¥.
* Luxury+ (500 BP): This pays out 250,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 60 million ¥.
* Luxury+ (1,000 BP): This pays out 500,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 120 million ¥.
* Luxury+ (2,000 BP): This pays out 1,000,000¥ per month. Investment needed is 240 million ¥.• Magician (15 BP): For your tradition, pick 5 types of spirits that you can summon. Additional spirit types you can summon cost 5 BP each.
• Mentor Spirit (5 BP): These provide information, and impose only some minor behavior restrictions on their “students.” See the Magic page for more details.
• Murky Link (10 BP to 40 BP): This quality can be taken up to 4 times (for a -12 penalty to any ritual sorcery directed against you).
• Mystic Adept (25 BP): You must effectively purchase both the Magician and Adept qualities at full price, which eliminates any “free lunch” arguments over this quality.
• Patron Spirit (10 BP): These both information and skill bonuses, but impose more stringent behavior restrictions on their followers. See the Magic page for more details.
• Quick Healer (10 BP to 30 BP): This quality can be taken up to 3 times (for a +6 bonus to Healing Tests made on/for/by you, including magical healing).
• Resistance to Pathogens (5 BP to 30 BP): This quality can be taken up to 6 times (for a +6 bonus to Resistance Tests against Pathogens).
• Resistance to Toxins (5 BP to 30 BP): This quality can be taken up to 6 times (for a +6 bonus to Resistance Tests against Toxins).
• Spirit Pact (Variable BP): This is always unique to each spirit and its cost is the GM’s call, based on both the type of pact and the Force rating of the spirit.
Banned Qualities
• The Technomancer quality no longer exists, nor do any Emerged critters. So ignore all references to Technomancers in canon and assume that they’re all just gifted deckers instead.
New Positive Qualities
• Appearance (5 BP / 10 BP / 20 BP): Imported from GURPS, this is a measure of how physically attractive your PC is.
[indent]? Level 0 (Average): Without this quality, your appearance is just…average. Your appearance gives you no social skill test modifiers either way; you can blend easily into a crowd. A viewer’s impression of your looks depends on your behavior. If you smile and act friendly, you will be remembered as pleasant-looking; if you frown and mutter, you will be remembered as unattractive.
* Level 1 (Attractive): You don’t enter beauty contests, but are definitely good-looking. This gives you a +1 bonus to social skill tests.
* Level 2 (Beautiful/Handsome): You could enter beauty contests. This gives you a +4 bonus to social skill tests made against those attracted to members of your sex, +2 for everyone else.
* Level 3 (Very Beautiful / Very Handsome): You could win beauty contests – regularly. This gives you a +6 bonus to social skill tests made against those attracted to members of your sex, +2 for everyone else. Exception: Members of the same sex with reason to dislike you (more than -4 in social modifiers, regardless of bonuses) resent your good looks, and react at -2 instead. As well, talent scouts, friendly drunks, slave traders, and other nuisances are liable to become a problem for you.• Cyberware and Nanoware Rejection (0 BP): This is a SURGE trait. Any cyberware or nanoware implanted in you will soon be – slowly but surely – forcibly ejected from your body. The benefits and drawbacks of this trait cancel each other out, hence it costs no points.
• Immunity to HMHGV (5 BP): This is a SURGE trait, and makes you immune to becoming a ghoul.
• Immunity to HMHVV (5 BP): This is a SURGE trait, and makes you immune to becoming a vampire.
• Initiation (30 BP): This is a one-time cost. See the Magic page for further details.
• Metamagic Technique (15 BP): For any metamagic technique (prerequisites still apply).
• Parlor Trick (1 BP): Imported from Mage: the Ascension. If you’re a mage, you can cast one particular Force 1 spell at will, with no Skill roll or Drain. This can’t be a Combat spell and requires GM approval. It’s meant to give you a neat little trick your mage can show off at will, like conjuring a little ball of flame in your hand instead of flicking a cigarette lighter.
• The Resilient Path (10 BP): Followers of this Adept Path get a 25% discount for any damage resistance or magic resistance powers.
• The Scholar’s Path (10 BP): Followers of this Adept Path get a 25% discount for any powers related to learning or acquiring information.
New Negative Qualities
• Appearance (+5 BP / +10 BP / +20 BP / +25 BP / +30 BP): Imported from GURPS, this is a measure of how physically unattractive your PC is.
* Level 0 (Average): Without this quality, your appearance is just…average. Your appearance gives you no social skill test modifiers either way; you can blend easily into a crowd. A viewer’s impression of your looks depends on your behavior. If you smile and act friendly, you will be remembered as pleasant-looking; if you frown and mutter, you will be remembered as unattractive.
* Level 1 (Unattractive): You look vaguely unappealing, but it’s nothing anyone can put a finger on. This gives you a -1 penalty to social skill tests.
* Level 2 (Ugly): As above, but not so bad – maybe only stringy hair and snaggle teeth. This gives you a -2 penalty to social skill tests.
* Level 3 (Hideous): You have any sort of disgusting looks you can come up with: a severe skin disease, wall-eye…preferably several things at once. This gives you a -4 penalty to social skill tests.
* Level 4 (Monstrous): You are hideous and clearly unnatural. Most people react to you as a monster rather than a sapient being. This gives you a -5 penalty to social skill tests.
* Level 5 (Horrific): You are indescribably monstrous or unspeakably foul, and cannot interact with normal mortals. This gives you a -6 penalty to social skill tests.• Mind of a Monster (0 BP): This attribute is intended for NPC use only, and applies to all victims of HMHGV or HMHVV. It represents the toll the virus has taken on their psyche to date. It’s taken from the Stages of Monster Grief page at TVTropes.
* Stage 1 – Denial: The victim pretends that they can go on with their old life.
* Stage 2 – Defiance: The victim realizes that’s not going to work and becomes enraged, taking out their anger on whatever targets seem most appropriate (or just close at hand).
* Stage 3 – Acceptance: The victim accepts that they’re now a blood-drinking / flesh-eating creature, and that this is their new normal.
* Stage 4 – Betrayal: The victim abandons any pretense of trying to co-exist with the creatures that are its food source, and henceforth views (meta)humans as nothing more than prey or toys for their amusement.
* Notes: A just-Infected ghoul or vampire starts off at Stage 1. Every month, they must make a Willpower roll (Difficulty 3), to avoid slipping down to the next level. Eventually, the virus will win, and they’ll be monsters in both mind and body.• Racial Profile (+5 BP / +10 BP / +15 BP): Created by Dumpshock member KCKitsune (with my sincere thanks), this is a measure of how much of a “freak” society at large considers you because of your metatype. For every level, you suffer a +1 penalty to any social rolls, and any social interaction shifts one step towards hostile.
* Level 0 (Human)
* Level 1 (Elves and Dwarves)
* Level 2 (Orks and Windlings)
* Level 3 (Trolls, T’skrang, and Obsidimen)Examples:
Elves: You know those smug bastards think they’re better than everyone else.
Elves are rich! They don’t get old and don’t retire! Kick the pointy ear bastards to the curb so real humans can get a job!
Dwarves: Short fat fraker! You know those short bastards have all the money!
EW! He’s eye level with my privates! Must be a pervert!
My boss is a dwarf, and he’s such an ass! Everything’s got to work like a well-oiled machine!
Orks: Tuskers are just violent breeders! Have one come into the neighborhood and soon you’ll have hundreds!
Those breeders are just so stupid! I mean, I don’t know how they walk and chew gum at the same time.
Trolls: My god, look at that ugly bastard! I mean, just look at him! You know he’s just looking for an excuse to kill someone!
Do trolls do anything other than commit crime? I mean honestly, if I were a troll, I’d just kill myself![/indent]
Skills
Skill Ratings
Appropriated from SR5, skills are now rated 1 to 12 instead of 1 to 6. You can increase this by an extra level if you have the Aptitude quality.
Revised Skills
• No Skills are currently revised.
New Skills
• Performance: This is your ability to act, dance, or do some other performing art.
New Skill Groups
• Esoterica: This encompasses the Arcana, Assensing, and Enchanting skills.
Lifestyles
You can purchase as many separate lifestyles as you wish.
Gear
Starting Cash
Disregard the rules in SR4A, pp. 88-89 regarding Starting Nuyen. Keep any cash leftover after purchasing your starting gear (SR4A, p. 86, where 1 BP = 5,000¥ of gear) or even spend extra BP for extra cash at the same rate.
Magic
Adepts
Adepts have been significantly revised. To put their powers more in line with Magicians, they can now purchase all the Adept powers they want. However, they can only purchase levels of a given power up to the level of their Magic attribute. Costs for Adept powers are as follows:
• 1 PP = 12 BP
• 0.5 PP = 6 BP
• 0.25 PP = 3 BP
Revised Powers
• Sustenance: This now costs 0.5 PP and the Adept needs only 4 hours sleep per night and one solid meal per day.
Ally Spirits
An ally spirit’s base cost is 5 BP times its desired Force rating.
JanessaVR:
Magic and the Metaplanes - Part 1
Adepts
Revised Powers
• Boosting your Physical attributes through Attribute Boost or Improved Physical Attribute can’t exceed twice the normal rating of that Physical attribute.
New Powers
• Animagus Form: You can transform into a specific Ordinary Critter at will; the particular critter you can transform into requires GM approval. It costs 1 PP per Body attribute of the critter in question.
• Pressure Compensation: SR4 lacks decompression rules for deep sea diving, so the rules from SR5 Run & Gun, pp. 155 – 159, are used for this. Cost is 0.25 PP per level, and each level reduces the resurfacing effects by Missed Threshold on page 157 by one. (So, at 5 levels you could dive in waters up to 50 meters deep and never have to worry about the bends.)
• Recoil Compensation: Cost is 0.10 PP per level, and each level cancels out one level of recoil penalties.
• Private Mind: Cost is 0.25 per level, and each level provides a +1 bonus to Opposed Tests of Spellcasting + Magic Test against your Willpower (+ Counterspelling, if available) to resist attempts to read or influence your mind.
Other Rules
• Contrary to canon, the term “Path” is used instead of “Way” for Adepts. Example: “What Path do you walk?”
Alchemy and Enchanting
Magical Metals
Basic Rules
• 1 Unit of a magical metal is 10 grams. (This picture shows about how big that is.)
• An enchanter doesn’t have to incorporate units of a magical metal directly into the item they’re enchanting in order to gain the bonus per unit. However, if the enchanter elects to use this approach, the units are still completely expended during the process, becoming worthless for any further use. This allows the creation of non-metallic magical items that still take advantage of the bonus during enchanting.
The Metals
• Argentil: Also known as “verum argentum” (true silver in Latin). Tolkien fans call it Mithril and are fond of crafting elaborate pieces of jewelry out of it. Each unit provides a +1 bonus to the Enchanting Test.
• Auril: Also known as “verum aurum” (true gold in Latin). Each unit provides a +1 bonus to the Enchanting Test.
• Cupril: Also known as “verum cuprum” (true copper in Latin). Each unit provides a +1 bonus to the Enchanting Test.
• Orichalcum: This famous magical metal exists in three grades of quality. This picture gives an idea of its color.
* Grade 1: Natural Orichalcum – In areas of particularly high magic, veins of naturally occurring orichalcum can sometimes be found. Each unit provides a +1 bonus to the Enchanting Test.
* Grade 2: Synthetic Orichalcum – This is created from at least one unit each of radical copper, radical gold, radical mercury, and radical silver. Each unit provides a +2 bonus to the Enchanting Test.
* Grade 3: Superior Orichalcum – This is created from at least one unit each of argentil, auril, and cupril. Each unit provides a +4 bonus to the Enchanting Test.Elixirs
The Elixir of Youth
This is the magical community's answer to Leónization. It costs 1 million ¥ in reagents and takes a year to make, so it usually retails for at least 2 million ¥ per dose. It returns the drinker to their prime as a young adult.
Astral Cosmology and Travel
Astral Projection
• Astrally projecting magicians are connected at all times to their physical body by a silvery cord, though this cord fades into seeming nonexistence a short distance from both their physical and astral bodies on the astral plane. The magician can thus easily find their way back to their physical body by instinctively following this cord. Very few things are capable of severing this cord, but if it is the magician’s body is immediately killed, after which the astral body continues to project on the astral plane for a number of hours equal to their Magic attribute x 2 before fading into nothingness.
• An astral body’s Physical attributes are equal to those of their physical body, unless their silvery cord is cut, in which case they immediately assume the attribute conversions as per SR4A, p. 192.
• Astrally projecting mages resist Spellcasting Drain as if they were still inside their bodies, as they are still linked to them by their silvery cord (above). Thus, normal spellcasting is possible in astral space. If the cord is severed, they immediately lose this ability (for their short remaining lifespan on the astral plane).
• Astral movement speed isn’t a set value, it’s (Magic attribute * 1,000 km per hour).
• Astral travel “rest time” is one-for-one. That is to say, if you spend one hour out of your body, then you need to spend one hour back in it to fully “reset the clock” for leaving it again.
• An astrally projecting magician who manifests on Earth can be seen and heard normally by anyone, as well as recorded on video, etc.
Metaplanar Travel
• There is no “Dweller on the Threshold” acting as some of sort of Jiminy Cricket gatekeeper to the metaplanes, testing would-be astral travelers and making sure that they’ve all been good little boys and girls. Obviously, some author was trying to interject their ideas about “spiritual growth” or some such nonsense into the game mechanics. Instead, all astral travelers must pass a Magic + Intuition (3) test to gain access to the metaplanes.
Other Rules
• The Earth is solid in astral space, though this solidity typically starts at least several feet down from the surface; “loose dirt” on the surface is penetrable to astral travelers. Also, any hollow spaces within the Earth can access astral space as freely as above the surface, unless those spaces are warded against astral access. This is one of the reasons kaers require such strong wards.
Initiation
Instead of constantly initiating again and again, this now a one-time deal. Initiating costs 100,000¥ for supplies and requires one week of preparation in your magical lodge. It grants access to the metaplanes, the ability to learn metamagics, and the ability to raise your Magic attribute over 6.
Use your Magic attribute in lieu of your Initiate grade for metamagic techniques.
Magic Items
Foci
Basic Rules
• The total Force for all of a magician’s bonded foci is capped at their (Magic * Spellcasting).
• Focus Addiction does not exist. This is just as stupid an idea as that of “magic is addictive,” which was probably ripped off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
• Astral links can be hidden in the metaplanes once per 3 levels of the owner’s Magic attribute. The degree of hiding or discovering hidden links is quantified as a Threshold on an Extended Test; doing more work to hide them means more work for others to find them.
• Advanced Foci can only be crafted by Initiates.
Revised Foci
• Power Focus (Advanced): These increase your effective Magic attribute (increasing Force). They also aid in Counterspelling.
• Sustaining Focus: These work not by casting the spell “through them,” but by locking the spell into the focus after the spell is cast if the caster decides to let the focus “take over” sustaining the spell for them.
New Foci
• Fake Focus (Advanced): When Lone Star wants to shave a little sliver off your focus, make up a fake replica for them to examine and sample and then toss it in the fireplace when you get home.
PREREQUISITES: Masking, Extended Masking
• Potency Focus: These add dice but don’t increase Force. They also aid in Counterspelling.
• Shapechanging Focus (Advanced): These cost 5,000¥ * Force. Each level allows 1 kilogram of the focus to change shape at its owner’s direction. In its normal form, it’s presumably an innocuous-looking item (say, a wooden flute), but when the focus is activated, it transforms into another item (say, a wooden wand). A full-size replica of what the item will transform into is required for use in the enchanting process.
Permanent Items
Basic Rules
• These are “always on” magic items, as opposed to foci which can only be activated and used by a specific magician. They definitely qualify as advanced magic items and so only Initiates can craft them.
• The cost for any such items, both in money and reagents, is the GM’s call. True Elements are frequently used in their construction.
• The Recharge spell, in particular, would see more use in supplying power via permanent mana-to-electricity items save for the fact that fusion power is so widespread and cheap. However, in isolated areas people with “off the grid” estates use it for free power.
Other Items
• You can create a temporary magical lodge by spending reagents equal to (1,000¥ * the Force of the lodge). The lodge takes one hour per point of Force to create and thereafter lasts until sunrise or sunset, whichever comes first.
Metamagic
Basic Rules
• Magicians can learn any number of metamagic techniques. It costs 50,000¥ for supplies and one week in their magical lodge to fully learn it.
Revised Metamagic Techniques
• Great Ritual: This technique enables a ritual leader to bypass the limits for Teamwork Tests (SR4A, p. 65), allowing all bonus dice contributed by other ritual participants to be used for the Magic + Ritual Spellcasting test.
• Quickening: Reagents are needed to Quicken spells. This costs 5,000¥ of reagents per Force of the spell to be Quickened.
New Metamagic Techniques
• Advanced Centering: As per Centering (SR4A, p. 198), but now centering requires no rituals or ceremony for the bonus dice to resist Drain.
• Advanced Wards: This technique is needed to be able to learn the new advanced ward rituals (see below). It’s also required for the advanced wards in the Wards With A Twist section in SR4 Street Magic, pp. 125 – 126.
• Alchera Creation: This technique is needed to be able to learn the new alchera construction rituals (see below). Alchera are described in SR4 Street Magic, pp. 115 – 116.
• Astral Invisibility: This allows you to completely conceal yourself from astral perception. Your success in doing so is determined the same as per Masking or Extended Masking.
PREREQUISITES: Masking, Extended Masking
• Astral Transition: This technique is needed to be able to learn the portal construction rituals (see below).
• Metaplanar Ally Spirit Formula: Instead of inscribed or written down on some object on Earth, an ally sprit’s formula can be anchored onto a metaplane (which is how typical “wild” spirits function). This requires an astral quest to the metaplane in question.
• Portable Lodges: For triple the normal cost, you can now construct portable magical lodges. These can be taken down or put up in 1 hour per point of Force.
• Usurp Spell: This technique allows a magician to usurp control of another magician’s spell if they succeed in an Opposed Test of Magic + Spellcasting.
Spellcasting & Summoning
Basic Spellcasting Rules
• Sustained Detection Spells can be used for spell targeting, the same as if the magician were visually perceiving the target.
• Healing spells are not restricted to Touch range and work at line of sight like every other spell. They can also be cast more than once on the same person.
• Overcasting is disallowed. If you’ve got Magic 6, you can cast up to Force 6 spells.
Basic Ritual Spellcasting Rules
• The rules for Ritual Spellcasting are something of a mix of the SR4 version (SR4A, pp. 194 – 185) and the SR5 version (SR5 Core Rules, pp. 295 – 299):
* Choose Ritual and Leader: The ritual leader must know the ritual to be performed and be a member of the lodge it’s being performed at.
* Choose Force: This can’t be any higher than the leader’s Magic attribute.
* Perform Ritual: The ritual is performed, usually taking (Force * 1 hour) to complete. For the leader, this is Magic + Ritual Spellcasting and can be either a Success Test or an Opposed Test, depending on the spell in question and whether the target can resist it (see Spells, SR4A, p. 87). For the other participants, this is also Magic + Spellcasting, but their rolls are just to contribute bonus dice the leader’s test roll (the total bonus dice is capped at the leader’s Ritual Spellcasting skill rating).
* Resist Drain: At the end of the ritual, each member of the ritual team – including the spotter – must resist the Drain of the spell. Individual magicians with foci or bound spirits not otherwise occupied may use them to help with Drain. Reagents can also be spent to reduce Drain. For every (Ritual Force * 100¥) of reagents spent, the Drain value is reduced by 1, to a minimum of 2.• Any friendly Pact Spirits count as Bound Spirits for purposes of using them as a spotter during Ritual Spellcasting.
Basic Summoning Rules
• You can summon more than one unbound spirit at a time, but their total combined Force cannot exceed your Magic attribute, and they must all be summoned separately.
• Over-Summoning is disallowed. If you’ve got Magic 6, you can summon up to Force 6 spirits.
Drain
Regardless of tradition, the attributes used to resist drain are Body + Willpower. You can’t outsmart drain with logical arguments or intuit your way around it, and you can’t dazzle it with your charisma, either. It’s a strain on your body, resisted by your willpower.
Ally Spirits
Translate the Karma costs into (1 KP = 5,000¥). See SR4 Street Magic, pp. 103 – 106 for more details.
JanessaVR:
Magic and the Metaplanes - Part 2
Spells and Rituals
Spells
Revised Spells – Detection
• Mana/Astral Window (SR4 Street Magic, p. 168): Wards resist these spells at Force x2, and if the ward wins then its creator is altered.
Revised Spells – Health
• Heal (SR4A, p. 208): This spell cannot replace lost body parts. Use the Regenerate spell (below) for that.
New Spells – Combat
• Force Wave (Indirect, Area | Stun, LOS(A), Instant | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 2): A variant of the Blast spell (SR4A, p. 204), this produces an invisible psychokinetic wave sweeping targets away in the direction of your choice.
• Razor Wind (Indirect, Elemental, Area | Physical, LOS(A), Instant | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 5): This spell hardens air into a swarm of fast-moving invisible blades that slice into all targets in the area of effect.
New Spells – Detection
• Astral Perception (Passive, Directional | Mana, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) - 1): Your mundane friends bugging you to describe what astral space looks like? Well, just sustain this spell on them and let them look around all they want.
• Safe Spots (Active, Extended Area | Mana, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 3): Have you suddenly found yourself in an area where lots of heavy objects are falling all around you? You’d probably like to avoid getting squished any second now, which is where this spell comes in. In something resembling an AR feed, you see clearly-highlighted patches of ground that are safe places to stand (for the moment). But, as more objects fall they’ll likely shift about quite a lot, forcing you to play something of a quick game of hopscotch to stay in the safe areas. This grants a bonus equal to your Magic + Spellcasting hits to avoid falling object damage.
New Spells – Health
• Accelerate Plant Growth (Mana, LOS, Permanent | DV: (the Body attribute of the plant)): This spell accelerates the growth of plant by a full month in the space of a few minutes. Note that heavy soil fertilization is required to sustain multiple castings and avoid soil depletion.
• Ameliorate Menstruation (Mana, LOS, Permanent | DV: (F ÷ 2)): A popular spell among female magicians, this completely alleviates any discomfort during her menstrual cycle, and ensures that it finishes in a single day as well.
• Concentrated Sleep (Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2)): An improved version of Crank (SR4 Street Magic, p. 169), each hit equals 1 less hour of sleep needed that night to be fully rested (minimum 2). Obviously, the magician will need a Sustaining Focus to sustain the spell on themselves while they sleep, but it’s a much safer alternative to Crank.
• Expel Parasites (Mana, LOS, Permanent | DV: (Parasite Power) - 2): This works like the Cure Disease spell (SR4A, p. 207) but works on parasitic creatures infesting the target’s body. If successful, all parasites are forcibly expelled from the target’s body.
• Regenerate (Mana, LOS, Permanent | DV (equal to the Damage Value, see below)): The Heal spell (SR4A, p. 208) cannot replace lost body parts, but this spell can. The DV is 1 for eyes, ears, or a finger/toe; 2 for a hand or foot; 4 for an arm; 8 for a leg. As magic cannot create matter (see The Limits of Sorcery below) “raw materials” in the form of fresh meat and bones are a necessary component for this spell.
• Shape Plants (Mana, LOS, Permanent | DV: (the Body attribute of the plant): Looking to craft the perfect garden, with all the trees and vines configured just the way you want them? Have we got the spell for you! This spell is making Awakened gardeners rich the world over as it allows them to rearrange plant and tree limbs into the client’s desired configuration.
• Suspend Animation (Mana, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2)): This is an improved version of the Hibernate spell (SR4A, p. 208). If the caster can score hits equal to the subject’s Body attribute, the subject can kept in a state of completely suspended animation, requiring no air to survive in this state.
New Spells – Manipulation
• Displacement (Realistic, Multi-Sense, Area | Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 5): This is effectively a combined Improved Invisibility and Trid Phantasm. The target is invisible and a real-time illusionary double of the target keeps up with them a short distance away. Anyone shooting at the target will automatically miss (hitting the double instead) unless they can somehow discern the target’s real position.
• Enlarge (Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 3): This spell will enlarge an item as long as it’s sustained. The largest device (by Body attribute) that it can affect is equal to (Force + hits). An item can be enlarged up to twice its normal Body attribute.
• Erase Tattoo (Physical, LOS, Permanent | DV: (F ÷ 2)): Looking to get rid of that little…unwelcome memento of a drunken night back in college but really don’t want your flesh seared by a laser? No problem! See your friendly neighborhood magician and it will be gone in moments.
• Fireflies (Environmental, Area | Physical, LOS(A), Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 1): An enhanced version of the Light spell (SR4A, p. 211), this evokes a small swarm of little lights capable of illuminating an area equal to (Force * 10 meters) radius.
• Fumation (Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 5): This spell transforms the magician into a shapeless mist capable of rapid flight (hits * 10 mph).
• Ink Tattoo (Physical, LOS, Permanent | DV: (F ÷ 2)): Are you considering some body art, but aren’t fond of the idea of long sessions under the needle? Your local Awakened tattoo parlor can apply any full-color tattoos you want, quickly and pain-free.
• Shrink (Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 3): This spell will shrink an item as long as it’s sustained. The largest device (by Body attribute) that it can affect is equal to (Force + hits). An item can be shrunken as much as the caster desires, down to Body 0 (which is small enough to allow it to be picked up and put in a pocket).
• Suppress Electricity (Physical, LOS, Sustained | DV: (F ÷ 2) + 3): This spell will completely shut down any electronic device as long as it’s sustained. The largest device (by Body attribute) that it can affect is equal to (Force + hits).
Rituals
Basic Rituals
• Accelerate Alchemy: Is 28 days just way too long to cook up that batch of Orichalcum? No problem. You can speed that up…for a price. Using reagents costing half of what the finished product would be worth, the standard 28-day circulation is reduced to a mere 8 hours.
• Destroy Spirit: A captured spirit can be made the focus of this ritual, which will see it permanently destroyed by forming a link from the spirit’s manifested or inhabited form back to its home metaplane and destroying its true form/formula there. If the ritual does damage to the spirit equal to its Force, it’s disrupted and will never re-form.
• Remote Spell: This ritual allows you to cast any spell at a distant target that is out of line of sight of your ritual team by means of using a spotter. This spotter can either be a ritual participant or a spirit bound to one of them.
• Sever Material Links: This ritual severs the connection from the target (who must be both present and the focus of the ritual) to any material links to their body. If you’re a magician worried about those blood samples you had to give to Lone Star or DocWagon, this ritual is the way to make them worthless as way to reach out to you via hostile ritual magic.
PREREQUISITE: Sympathetic Linking
Basic Rituals – Wards
• Basic Ward: These are described in detail in SR4A, p. 194 and SR4 Street Magic, pp. 123 – 126.
* The base size of wards is (the combined Magic of all ritual participants * 100 cubic meters).
* Unless made permanent (by spending 5,000¥ * Force), the ward will last (Magic + Ritual Spellcasting) weeks.
* The ward must be anchored to a sturdy solid object that must not be moved or the ward will collapse.
* Wards can be crafted into nearly any shape, but any shapes beyond the basic ones (square, rectangle, sphere) requires a Spellcasting test (the threshold is GM’s call, depending on how complex the shape is).
* At the ward’s creation, the creator can designate certain individuals as being “keyed” into it. Any such persons can then freely pass through the ward without triggering any alarms or defensive measures.
* Attempting to fool a ward (see SR4 Street Magic, p. 124) requires Flexible Signature, not Masking.Advanced Rituals – Alchera Construction
• Craft Manifest Alchera: The maximum size is a sphere equal to the ritual’s Force in meters. Unless made permanent (by spending 5,000¥ * Force), the alchera will last (Magic + Ritual Spellcasting) weeks.
PREREQUISITE: Alchera Creation metamagic technique
• Craft Materialized Alchera: The maximum size is a sphere equal to the ritual’s Force in meters. Unless made permanent (by spending 10,000¥ * Force), the alchera will last (Magic + Ritual Spellcasting) weeks.
PREREQUISITE: Alchera Creation metamagic technique, Craft Manifest Alchera ritual
• Craft Displacement Alchera: The maximum size is a sphere equal to the ritual’s Force in meters. Unless made permanent (by spending 20,000¥ * Force), the alchera will last (Magic + Ritual Spellcasting) weeks.
PREREQUISITE: Alchera Creation metamagic technique, Craft Manifest Alchera and Craft Materialized Alchera rituals
Advanced Rituals – Portal Construction
• Astral Portal: This ritual opens a portal that people can physically step through into astral space. An important note is that there is no air in astral space, so the Oxygenate spell (or scuba gear) are excellent suggestions for astral travelers who don’t want to die of asphyxiation. The portal can be made up to (Force * meters) wide. Unless made permanent (costing 100,000¥ * Force), the portal persists for (Magic + Spellcasting hits) hours.
PREREQUISITE: Astral Transition metamagic technique
• Metaplanar Portal: This ritual opens a portal that people can physically step through into a specific metaplane. A successful quest to the metaplane in question is necessary to secure the other end of the portal before this ritual begins. The portal can be made up to (Force * meters) wide. Unless made permanent (costing 1 million ¥ * Force), the portal persists for (Magic + Spellcasting hits) hours.
PREREQUSITES: Astral Transition metamagic technique, Astral Portal ritual
Advanced Rituals – Wards
• Usurp Ward Ownership: If the ritual succeeds in an Opposed Test of (Magic + Spellcasting) versus the ward’s creator(s), they successfully wrest control of the ward from them. Unless the ward is within sight of the attackers’ lodge, this will likely involve the use of a spotter to conduct the ritual from a distance.
PREREQUISITE: Advanced Wards metamagic technique
• Vigilant Ward: Yours are harder to fool with Flexible Signature (as per above). The Opposed Test to fool such a ward is made between the attacker’s Intuition + Magic and the ward’s Force x 3.
PREREQUISITES: Advanced Wards metamagic technique, Assensing 6
• Volumetric Ward: Typical wards are just walls, and spirits can get frequently around them via metaplanar shortcuts if they can manage to see the other side. However, this advanced ward can block all metaplanar travel within its bounded area. These wards are “solid,” not “hollow,” and so it’s not a matter of “reaching the other side of the wall,” as the entire area inside the ward is “filled in” with the ward.
PREREQUISITES: Advanced Wards metamagic technique, Magic 6
The Limits of Sorcery
The limits of magic are spelled out in SR4 Street Magic, pp. 159 – 160. These are mostly as per canon, except as noted below.
Sorcery Cannot Affect Anything to Which the User Does Not Have a Magical Link
• Magicians can use Detection spells as a link to target others with spells.
Sorcery Cannot Alter the Fabric of the Space/Time Continuum
• Localized spatial manipulation is possible, such as making rooms that are “bigger on the inside” or warping space to link points together within the area of effect. This can allow what is effectively short-range teleportation, but takes time to set up within a given area so a magician can’t just whip out a spatial manipulation spell to jump around a battlefield at will.
Sorcery Cannot Divine the Future with any Certainty
As per canon.
Sorcery Cannot Summon or Banish Spirits
As per canon.
Sorcery Cannot Raise the Dead
Not strictly true, but it is very difficult and even most master magicians believe it to be completely impossible.
Sorcery Cannot Create Magical Items
As per canon.
Sorcery Cannot Bridge the Gap Between the Astral and Physical Planes
Not true, but it is an advanced magical technique (see both the Metamagic and the Spells & Rituals sections above).
Sorcery Cannot Create Complex Things
Not strictly true, as there’s a huge loophole. Magic can create simple items and tools, as long as the magician can clearly visualize them (this may require a skill check, at the GM’s discretion). More complex items (like electronics) are beyond the ability of a magician to effectively visualize. However, if an item is provided to serve as a template – and there are sufficient raw materials available – then fabrication magic can be used to create exact duplicates of it.
Sorcery Cannot Create Matter [NEW RULE]
Spells cannot create permanent matter. Many spells evoke “temporary matter” that only exists as long as the spell is sustained, but such materials cannot be transformed into normal matter. There is a workaround, however. Through advanced magical techniques, matter can be “imported” from the metaplanes. This is how the Greater Spirit Power of Wealth (SR4 Street Magic, p. 110) functions.
Magic Is Not Intelligent
As per canon.
Traditions
Basic Rules
• Possession traditions are limited to using spirits to possess either the magician themselves or prepared vessels.
• Magicians start off knowing 5 types of spirits that they can summon. Additional spirit types they can summon cost 5 BP each.
• Traditions are not limited to the one-type-of-spirit-per-spell-category restriction. If you can summon a type of spirit, you can order it to do whatever. Just be aware that some spirits are better for some things than others – asking the Fire spirit to weed your garden will likely see your garden burned to ashes.
• It is possible to change traditions but you must have a good reason and backstory for such a major life change, and this is also subject to GM approval. If approved, this costs 100,000¥ and a month of elaborate rituals in your magical lodge.
Mentor Spirits and Patron Spirits
The canon rules about Mentor Spirits have been subject to some considerable revision.
• Mentor Spirits only provide information, but impose few behavior restrictions on their “students.”
COST: 5 BP
BENEFITS: The mentor will periodically meet with the magician to give them spell formulae or other arcane knowledge.
DRAWBACKS: To be determined with the GM based on your character and the mentor you’ve chosen.
• Patron Spirits provide both information and skill bonuses, but impose more stringent behavior restrictions on their followers.
COST: 10 BP
BENEFITS: A +2 bonus each to two skills / skill groups / types of spells, along with the benefits of a Mentor Spirit.
DRAWBACKS: To be determined with the GM based on your character and the patron you’ve chosen.
Other Rules
Background Count
This doesn’t occur quite as easily in canon. Things like a drive-by shooting or a rock concert won’t produce any significant (or at least not long-lived) background count. It takes sustained events or deliberate effort over an extended period of time to truly establish a zone with elevated background count. See SR4 Street Magic, pp. 117 – 123 for more details on the basic rules for mana zones.
Cybereyes
Mages with cybereyes cannot use them to target spells visually. So, it’s a good idea to avoid cybereyes if you’re a magician. If you’re Awakened and your eyes are damaged, get cloned replacements or make use of the Regenerate spell (see above in the Spells & Rituals section).
JanessaVR:
The Matrix
Commlinks vs. Cyberdecks
• Due to realistic bandwidth issues, even in the 2070s, using reality filters for any serious VR hacking is the norm, not the exception. Trying to download staggering amounts of graphical data for each and every node you visit would slow your progress to a crawl and greatly hamper your response times. Also, wireless will never be anywhere near as fast as land lines – it’s just not happening. If you want convenience, use the wireless Matrix with your commlink. If you want high bandwidth, use your cyberdeck with land-line optical fiber.
• IRL, one of my regular players is a senior network engineer for a major telecom. According to him, optical fiber is about 20x faster than wireless signal bandwidth, and that’s due to limitations between radio waves and light waves. In general, radio is analog (sort-of, it works by modulating within a narrow band of frequencies) while fiber is digital. Not all radio frequencies are created equal, and radio broadcasts are akin to a big field where people can drive their cars all over in any direction they want, while a fiber optic line is like a dedicated racing lane where you’re the only driver on the road.
• The maximum rating for a commlink is 4, while cyberdecks go up to rating 12. Commlinks are essentially cell phones, not a real hacker’s tool. Cyberdecks are equivalent to high-end PCs in terms of memory and power, and are built to handle the high bandwidths necessary for visiting highly sculpted nodes via optical cable connection.
Other Rules
• You can only experience full VR through a cyberdeck, not a commlink.
• Using a commlink grants no extra Initiative Passes. Using a cyberdeck in cold sim grants an extra Initiative Pass (two total) while hot sim grants two extra Initiative Passes (three total).
• Matrix Icons have become fairly standardized so that devices don’t have to download every bit of data in a node. It only has to pull up an icon from its database. That said, some of the larger companies do have big fancy sculpted systems, but those are predominantly meant to be used by their workforce, who will have been issued devices with the official company iconography pre-loaded. Smaller companies will likely have only minimally sculpted systems that can be compensated for with a brief pre-download before interfacing with it.
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