[RickDeckard]

As an Adept, how do I fight in Astral when astrally perceiving and not?

Do I need the Astral Combat skill in addition to my already magical Unarmed Combat attacks? I’ve read the rules several times over so I need some paraphrasing here to clarify.

[Michael Chandra]

Yes, if you look at p315 you'll see that in the astral you don't use Unarmed Combat but Astral Combat for fighting in the Astral. Killing Hands can still apply, as can anything else that says it applies in Astral Combat.

[Ixal]

You need astral combat.

And imo it is kinda pointless for an adept to fight things on the astral. Either those things want to hurt you, so let them come to you where you have the advantage, or they just want to shadow you in which case you as an adept can't do much about them as fully astral being can simply move upwards, go through walls, move much faster than you and do man other things to avoid combat with you as you are still limited by real world physics.

[RickDeckard]

You need astral combat.

And imo it is kinda pointless for an adept to fight things on the astral. Either those things want to hurt you, so let them come to you where you have the advantage, or they just want to shadow you in which case you as an adept can't do much about them as fully astral being can simply move upwards, go through walls, move much faster than you and do man other things to avoid combat with you as you are still limited by real world physics.

All very good points. Don't think I'll bother with Astral Combat and leave it to the mages.

[Overbyte]

You need astral combat.

And imo it is kinda pointless for an adept to fight things on the astral. Either those things want to hurt you, so let them come to you where you have the advantage, or they just want to shadow you in which case you as an adept can't do much about them as fully astral being can simply move upwards, go through walls, move much faster than you and do man other things to avoid combat with you as you are still limited by real world physics.

Agree with Ixal here.
Adepts do best fighting manifested spirits. If you can astral travel you can't chase things down in the astral and kill them.

[Michael Chandra]

Bug Hives are famous for being places where you do NOT want to go Astral or even Dual-Natured, by the way.

[Reaver]

Bug Hives are famous for being places where you do NOT want to go Astral or even Dual-Natured, by the way.

SSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!

If you keep giving away all the secrets, you gonna lower the value on Runners by artificially deflating the attrition rate



 

[Mirikon]

Bug Hives are famous for being places where you do NOT want to go Astral or even Dual-Natured, by the way.

Ghoul dens are also a bad choice for jaunting about on the astral.

[Tecumseh]

Ghoul dens are also a bad choice for jaunting about on the astral.

Yes and no.

I had a GM (Ryo, of these boards) who had a house rule that Astral Combat worked as ranged combat. This was his defense against astrally projecting magicians hovering just overhead - out-of-reach of dual-natured entities - while stun/powerbolting them with impunity.

Granted, many ghoul dens are underground, or in spaces where the vertical range is constrained, but I've always liked that house rule and felt like it gave astral combat more of a reason to exist. Plus it gives the dual-natured more of an opportunity to defend themselves against astral threats.