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[SR5] Magic juicers!!

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Dudesomebody

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« on: <01-05-22/1750:16> »
I probably dont need to explain what I mean but I will just for completeness. I mean a person who gives themselves a boost to their stats when the situation calls for it but is has largely normal stats most of the time. Drugs are the traditional way to do this in Shadowrun; grab narc, pick some stat boosting drugs and your off!!

I was curious how doable it would be with magic, spells or adept powers; I had a few ideas but I was curious what all of you thought. These don't have to be optimized, just useful and you don't need to post a full character build. I appreciate all your enthusiasm, I do, but I always feel like I am giving homework when folk do that; I love you maniacs but I didn't mean for you to inconvenience yourselves.

-Growth spell- This might earn a few groans but, I kinda like this spell.

"The growth spell causes the target’s physical attributes to grow (and if the caster desires, the target grows larger as well). For every three net hits (minimum 1), the target’s Body, Agility, Reflex, and Strength temporarily increases by 1 for as long as the spell is maintained."

You would have to play a mage or mystic adept for this to work and the spell has a force+3 drain so definitely take a fetish for it (bonus points if the fetish is a sword and you yell 'I have the power/for the honor of grayskull' whenever you cast it).

-Beresrk & Berserkers rage- These are adept powers that adds to your physical stats and subtracts from your mental ones; +/-1 for berserker and +/-2 for berserkers rage. I prefer berserk myself as it only takes a simple action to activate so you could activate something else or act in the turn.

-Mystic aptitude- I love this one, it replaces one of your physical stats with your magic+ranks in mystic aptitude. Its pricey and at higher levels you take loads of drain (ranks x 2!) but its powerful. Maybe take two ranks of this and get the third as Qi foci you toggle so it recharges faster....is that too much cheese??

I know I am missing something and I have no idea how well these play together or even if they do. I am open to other ideas though :)

Reaver

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« Reply #1 on: <01-06-22/1247:16> »
well, there are lots of different Buff spells through the editions. From the simple "increase attribute" all the way to "combat sense"... you have plenty of choices.

And just like Physical Juicers, who can suffer from addiction and death from their "Juicing", Mages and Adepts run into a similar problem.

The big catch for the awakened is that for every sustained spell (and some powers), the awakened take a -2 DP for every spell. Too many buffs, and you just can't do anything, as the -30 DP modifiers mean you will fail every test. So they rely on Foci (or Fetishes depending on edition), which leads (again depending on edition) to a host of issues such as Focus Addiction; Which can (again, depending on edition,) lead to burn-out and or death!
Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Dudesomebody

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« Reply #2 on: <01-07-22/2016:37> »
100% agreed on all points, thats why I was trying to limit the number of spells we use; fewer foci needed. Addiction will always be a problem but this way we can mitigate it somewhat; a single -2 instead instead of four.

I wouldnt want to remove the addiction risk entirely though, its an appropriate mechanic for this kind of build :)

Reaver

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« Reply #3 on: <01-07-22/2114:04> »
Well, If you are wanting to go all "cheese monkey" with the concept, then a Mystic Adept would give you the most chance of survival.

Use your adept points for movement and combat sense like abilities. Then sustained spells for a couple of other buffs (that you could also trade in and out as the situation call for).. Focused concentration to keep the sustained modifiers low, along with a couple of sustaining foci...

perfectly legal.

Only real question is: What type of "cheese monkey" juicer monkey you want to build?? :D

The "I am a block of Iron" Troll? Who stacks the armor the armor to the point that Thor shots are endanger of bruising him? (Mystic Armor, Armor spell, Dermal Deposits, PLUS worn armor) sure, he waddles across the battle field, but nothing hurts him!

The "I move like the wind" Elf? who stacks reaction and movement enhancements with agility modifiers to weave a trail of smoke and noise and lead?

Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Shinobi Killfist

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« Reply #4 on: <01-07-22/2337:00> »
For 5e alchemy sort of works after all the supplements and popping a mystic token has a strong parallel to drugs. SA to activate and buffs aren't attacks so you could pop of 4 buffs round 1 if you had a sustaining focus rolling on initiative increases.

Dudesomebody

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« Reply #5 on: <01-09-22/1825:59> »
The only thing that gives me pause for alchemy is how poor the mechanics are for players. You almost need to tweak them a bit to make it worth doing. I'm not against that, I think you could do a lot for alchemy just by increasing the shelf life but thats a rant for whole other post :)

Shinobi Killfist

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« Reply #6 on: <01-11-22/2138:57> »
The only thing that gives me pause for alchemy is how poor the mechanics are for players. You almost need to tweak them a bit to make it worth doing. I'm not against that, I think you could do a lot for alchemy just by increasing the shelf life but thats a rant for whole other post :)

At default yes, but after I think the 2nd magic supplement there are qualities you can take that increase the duration and dice rolled making it a pretty good option. With the wonders of catalyst editing there are 2 qualities that increase duration that technically stack I think one makes it x3 potency vs x2 and one doubles it so it ends up like x6 potency, one also increases dice rolled when activating the alchemy thing by 1 die plus initiative grade.

Michael Chandra

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« Reply #7 on: <01-12-22/1808:53> »
The only thing that gives me pause for alchemy is how poor the mechanics are for players. You almost need to tweak them a bit to make it worth doing. I'm not against that, I think you could do a lot for alchemy just by increasing the shelf life but thats a rant for whole other post :)
Vault of Ages was what made the big difference for Alchemy and helped make it real powerful imo.
How am I not part of the forum?? O_O I am both active and angry!

Dudesomebody

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« Reply #8 on: <01-12-22/2029:53> »
Lot of great alchemy advice, I assume most of this is in the forbidden arcana book?? I love the book but am loath to mention it on reddit, they hate that book over there. I will look into Vault of ages as well, is that another book?? Can't say I have heard of that one.

Edit: Vault of ages is an item, I really must google things before opening my mouth and letting the dumb fall out ;)
« Last Edit: <01-12-22/2036:00> by Dudesomebody »