Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: firebug on <01-28-18/1050:01>
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So, I just want to share with people my fix for the Spirit Leashing rule in Forbidden Arcana on page 182.
Basically, the RAW have the issue of there being no positive outcome (besides getting a tie on the roll) which is a problem when even moderately-high Force spirits risk "testing the leash" on every action they take, meaning every action carries with it either needless Stun damage to the spirit or loss of services.
So my fix is to simply remove the effect of getting more hits than the spirit. When you roll higher, now nothing happens. This is an improvement. That also means there's no need for the rule about being able to "tighten" the leash at the cost of a -2 penalty akin to sustaining penalties. This small change actually goes a long way, and my favorite part of it is that it actually really makes it feel like a magician needs to be powerful to summon and control a powerful spirit. At least, as long as the spirits aren't Elementals (in reference to the Elemental spirit quality that's described but not formatted on page 181).
Since it's based on Drain Resist but isn't actually a drain resistance test, I think that opens the door for other ways to modify the roll. So here's some of my own houserules for it.
- Part of the process of Binding a spirit strengthens your control over it. Any Test The Leash rolls made against spirits bound to you gain a +3 modifier.
- The Dedicated Conjurer quality also grants a +2 bonus to all Test The Leash tests.
- Binding Foci add their Force to the magician's dice pool whenever a spirit of the appropriate type Tests the Leash.
- Bonuses from Mentor Spirits to summoning or binding spirits of a certain type also apply the same modifier to Test the Leash rolls against the same type.
SPIRIT ANCHOR
COST: 8 KARMA
Even the most ill-tempered spirits bow to your will. Whenever a spirit under the control of a character with this quality Tests the Leash (Forbidden Arcana, pg 182), the magician adds a +3 dice pool modifier to their Drain Resistance for the purpose of this test.
What do you guys think? I'm going to be running a game at a local comic book store and I want to make sure the sample character I made (aspected conjurer) can summon to their heart's content without as much concern of it just breaking the game.
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I would allow Mentor Bonuses and Spirit Focus of either summoning or binding to add on the tests actually as these are what draws spirits to a summoner and keeps them there.
So all in all it looks good
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I'd go for mentor spirit bonuses, but I wouldn't want a summoning focus to give a bonus. Honestly because I just want Binding Foci to have a better use, as currently they're something you regularly leave at home and have no need to bring on a run. This way you'd have a reason to keep you binding foci active and on your person on a run. Plus it means someone deactivating or otherwise targeting your summoning foci wouldn't also hurt your ability to keep your spirits around.