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Rules and such / Re: Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by Finstersang on <05-19-22/1602:44> »

They are in a good spot compared to the initial writing  The current balancing solution still treats the Magic Points from the Priorty Column differently than Magic from Special Attribute Points or Karma Advancements, which is prone to confusion and doesn´t organically translate to other Chargen Systems - hence the problem MM pointed out. Simply treating them like normal Adepts with only Magic/2 PP would have been the more elegant (and arguably, balanced) way.

NB: Just noticed that Mysads already get Astral Perception for free - I was under the Impression that they still had to buy the Adept power - which also means that an out-of-the-box MysAd beats a PhysAd even without the spells and Summons rn. They essentially get 1 PP worth of Powers for free!   

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Rules and such / Re: Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by MercilessMing on <05-19-22/1552:55> »

Mysads are also in a decent place with point buy, though their point cost can vary WILDLY depending on how many PP you purchase.  If you normally go for a 4 Mag/4 PP build, it's pretty similar, little over 100 IIRC though.  But if you do a 4 Mag/2 PP build, suddenly you have 16 extra CP to spend on things.  Usually the point of a mysad at character creation is to get as many PP as possible.

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Rules and such / Re: Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by Xenon on <05-19-22/1538:20> »

Seriously, Mysads are really not that hard to balance acrosss all the different ...

I was under the impression that mysads were actually in a pretty good spot (for regular priority, post errata).

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Rules and such / Re: Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by Finstersang on <05-19-22/0929:39> »

So even Lifepaths is busted when it comes to Mysads. Why am I not surprised?

Seriously, Mysads are really not that hard to balance acrosss all the different chargen methods - as long as you are willing to limit their potential to a reasonable degree, that is. Just give them only half their Magic in PP (no rounding needed, PP are valuable in Fractions as well) and only 1x Magic (i.e. half of the spells a Full magician gets) in Starting Spells. Take away the option to Initiate for 1PP and confine them to getting their PP by increasing their Magic Attribute (or by using KI Foci) - and of course, they only get 0.5 points for each Karma-bought point of Magic as well. Maybe give them Astral Vision without Adept Powers, if all that sounds to punishing. Mysads are supposed to be a "blend" of Magicians and Adepts, so why not just make that blend more or less 50/50 all they way? No confusing separation of priorities/points/path-based Magic and Karma Progression needed.

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Rules and such / Re: Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by mik212 on <05-18-22/2059:21> »

Dope. I'll keep that in mind next time I play a mystic adept.

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Rules and such / Mystic Adepts get a ridiculous boost in Life Path

« Last post by MercilessMing on <05-18-22/2046:44> »

Thanks to the inscrutable design choices in Life Path, mystic adepts will commonly be created with 6 magic, 6 power points, and a nice selection spells.  Compare that to the max you could get from priority: 6 magic, and only 4 magic's worth of points divided between PP and spells.  A lot of thought about power levels obviously went into designing mystic adepts. 
All that goes right out the window in Life Paths, where mystic adepts get to choose a power point OR spell every time they gain magic in chargen, followed by the ability to purchase spells and PP with karma.  So instead of having to make hard choices, get a little from each realm and not excelling in either, they will literally come out of chargen with the power of a full adept plus as many spells as they care to pay for. The only difference being they will not gain PP when increasing their Magic rating, which is the least cost effective way to gain a PP anyway. 
Or, to put it in another term, just build your Life Path mysad the way you would a standard magician, and accept the tradeoff of astral projection for a full slate of adept power points.  Spend 20 karma on 4 starter spells, you're golden. 

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Gamemasters' Lounge / Re: [6E] How to make the combat fun?

« Last post by Michael Chandra on <05-18-22/1903:06> »

I've been writing up a lot of different approaches of weaker grunts to combat, using varying force multipliers and on occasion wave combat. The quick summary is simply 'don't just make it straight-up firing, use terrain and tricks'. This could be just cover (and combat drugs), an ambush with good sneaky surprises, or hard use of terrain such as causing a building to collapse. Lots of options if you make the enemies use Cover, groups, and cheaty tricks.

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General Discussion / Re: Leprechauns -- Are they Spirits of Man, or are they a Metatype?

« Last post by Reaver on <05-18-22/1531:56> »

Technically,

They are "Fey"  Which basically means they are spirits. Kind of. Sorta. Not really, but close enough.


Running wild (4e) page 177 has this write up:

Leprechaun
Leprechauns are faeries that manifest as small humanoids
that can be easily mistaken for dwarves. While folk tales depict
them in green clothing with a green hat and guarding faerie
treasures (pots of gold), only the essence of the stories are true.
Leprechauns are the faerie equivalent of business executives
who become completely absorbed in accumulating riches (not
necessarily in the classic sense of gold or money). While many
leprechauns are craftsmen, some runners may encounter them as
Mr. Johnsons (working on behalf of the fey) using Realistic Form
and Aura Masking to hide their true nature.
B A R S C I L W EDG ESS M Init IP
F+1 F F+2 F–2 F F F F F F F (Fx2)+2 2
Astral Initiative/IP: F x 2, 3
Movement: 10/25
Skills: Artisan, Assensing, Astral Combat, Con, Dodge,
Negotiation, Perception, Unarmed Combat
Powers: Accident, Astral Form, Aura Masking, Banishing
Resistance, Fey Glamour, Materialization, Realistic Form,
Sapience, Vanishing, Wealth

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General Discussion / Leprechauns -- Are they Spirits of Man, or are they a Metatype?

« Last post by EltonJ on <05-18-22/1519:03> »

One of my players got to play a leprechaun.  We were discussing rules for them (or rather his character) after play last night. He tried to put a Shadowrun twist on the legend -- which he did brilliantly.  So we are trying them out next month. But how would you rule leprechauns?

Spirit or Metatype?

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Gamemasters' Lounge / Re: [6E] How to make the combat fun?

« Last post by MercilessMing on <05-18-22/1418:12> »

the gimmick ideas sounds cool let me try it this weeks.

I have try it, I feels like it was more fun and engaging (at least for me, I am still trying to collect their feedback though), but I soon realise that my grunt might never hit my player if they don't already have the attack dp that match the player's defense dp (I mean, if it's 5e, I can try FA, or gang up, or suppressive fire, or longer reach, etc. none of them required me to have dramatic attack dp). It sicks.

Am I doing it wrong? Or is it a problem of the combat rule? Any HR I should try?

Using Edge to reroll your players' hits, like SSDR said, is important to remember to do. 

Changing your NPC dice pools is another thing you can do.  I often stat my NPCs in a player-relative way.  How many dice are your players rolling, typically?  Starting Shadowrunners are often rolling 10-14.  I like to say 12 is the magic dice pool number for a threat that's on-par with the players.  For me this is like, the boss's lieutenants, or HTR, or elite corp security, or Force 6 spirits.  If they're good but not as good as the runners, I will roll two less.  Runners have the advantage, but a 10 dice pool npc will probably get a couple licks in too.  For me this is like, Yakuza/mafia/triad fighters, cops and security forces, gang leaders.  If they're not a big threat but we're still going to roll and maybe they'll get lucky, that's an 8 dice pool for me.  Rent-a-cops, gang members, goons.  Dice pool 6 opponents may as well not roll, that's like an angry civilian, your cousin who's been in a few fights, the shopkeeper swinging his bat.  I roll that just to hear the dice clatter and narrate what happens.
Another thing you can do is make more attacks.  If you roll enough, some of those will hit.  See the earlier reply about increasing the number of enemies.  Say your team's combat specialist can eliminate 2 targets per turn.  Build that buffer into your attack plan.  Use your social guile to taunt the combat specialist into attacking the target you want.  Maybe there's a ganger in the front who's just itching to fight, he's always looks right at your combat specialist, cracking his knuckles or laughing at him.  Stuff like that can goad your combat guy (who will go first and wipe the floor with this nobody) into attacking your disposable pawn while the guy in the back with cover takes aim and fires ak-97 bursts into your players.  They might miss, but you lengthened his life and he could get another chance.
Another thing you can do is use offensive and defensive moves to your advantage, like your players do.  Flank them for Edge. Take Aim for extra dice.  Use Dodge, use Full Defense.