Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Chalkarts on <02-13-20/0730:56>
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As a Decker,
if you could have a couple Magical Buffs put on you for a span of 4-5 minutes during a run, which buffs would you want?
Would a Stat boost help most, or would you want to be invisible for 5 minutes during every run?
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If you don't have a high Cerebral rating Inc. Logic is always good because more dice. Unless you physically have to plug in I doubt invisibility is that need but hey Concealment is always useful just in case.
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Invisibility might be good against CorpSec goons but I don't think it's going to be much help against a spider waiting to geek your tech. If you're not running silent on everything, your own icons will give you away to anyone with the ability to see them. Even then, a good spider can still find your hidden icons, giving you away. Sure, some CorpSec drone might not be able to target you directly with their late model Raiden but that flashbang they are carrying is still going to wreck your eyes when it goes off in your general area.
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There's not a whole lot magic can do to help Matrix activities. I can't think of anything that'd be more useful than just going up to the augmented limit for Logic, Intuition, and/or Willpower.
Since the OP is asking about a 4-5 minute context, I anticipate he's thinking about nominations for alchemical preparations. If I were to rely on those, instead of having a mage on the team, I'd be interested in a mana barrier alchemical prep. You can always roll stealth instead of being invisible, you can always climb instead of levitating... but you can't just go "wireless off" vs the Astral Plane if you don't have a mage to astrally defend you. A Mana Barrier alchemical preparation, and if playing 5e some DMSO+Blight rounds and now you have a real chance against spirits even if the team lacks a mage.
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There's not a whole lot magic can do to help Matrix activities.
6e has that Overclock spell, which I personally think is terrible, but, whatever.
Magic does not always get along with tech, but sometimes they find a way to combine forces. With this spell, a mage can briefly amp up an electronic device’s power, making it run better and faster.
Roll Sorcery + Magic vs. Object Resistance. For each net hit, you can increase an attribute of the device (Device Rating, Attack, Data Processing, Firewall, or Sleaze) by 1. The caster can decide to not use some net hits if they want to reduce wear and tear on the device.
This use of magic strains the device. After the spell is dropped, the device takes Matrix Damage equal to the net hits used, resisted by Firewall.
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There's not a whole lot magic can do to help Matrix activities.
6e has that Overclock spell, which I personally think is terrible, but, whatever.
Magic does not always get along with tech, but sometimes they find a way to combine forces. With this spell, a mage can briefly amp up an electronic device’s power, making it run better and faster.
Roll Sorcery + Magic vs. Object Resistance. For each net hit, you can increase an attribute of the device (Device Rating, Attack, Data Processing, Firewall, or Sleaze) by 1. The caster can decide to not use some net hits if they want to reduce wear and tear on the device.
This use of magic strains the device. After the spell is dropped, the device takes Matrix Damage equal to the net hits used, resisted by Firewall.
Well, that reminds me that Analyze Device is a dumpster fire of unbalanced OP-ness in 5e (I bring 5e up because that's what Chalkarts has been asking about lately). If your GM lacks any bit of common sense and lets you play it as RAW, that's actually the best boost any Decker can get.
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Well, that reminds me that Analyze Device is a dumpster fire of unbalanced OP-ness in 5e (I bring 5e up because that's what Chalkarts has been asking about lately). If your GM lacks any bit of common sense and lets you play it as RAW, that's actually the best boost any Decker can get.
I forgot about that garbage. Yes, that, too.
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Yeah, between those spells and Increase Noise (which makes me imagine a Complex Form to cause a Background Count), I'd rather avoid spells that work with technology. Seems to go against the setting and its other mechanics.
But yeah, I like getting Improved Invisibility so I can sneak around past cameras and people and plug into something innocuous, and I've asked my team's magician to pick up Increase Intuition at some point because it's handy for everyone.
I've never thought about mana barrier preparations, but that does make a lot of sense. I've just never had a wage mage spot my body while I was in VR.
Though one spell that every hacker would like? This might go without saying, but: Heal.
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If you're a decker and you're relying on magic to get past cameras, you're not decking very well.
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Decrease Noise can be nice as well as increasing attributes relevant to Matrix attributes.