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Drawbacks to Quickened Spells

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Kincaid

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« Reply #30 on: <03-16-15/1522:30> »
I play semi-regularly with a guy who has quickened a number of spells to his character, enabling him to cast some just crazy spells--a Force 14 Lightning Ball cast in a Background Count of 2 or 3 made an appearance this weekend.  To the guy's credit, he completely expects this to kill his character sooner rather than later and he plays his character really well, so no one really worries about spotlight hogging or some of the other problems associated with obscenely powerful PCs.  He (both the player and the character) is a fun guy to have at the table, so all the quickening isn't a huge concern.  As with just about every potential rules abuse, how it's played matters more than what it looks like on paper.
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Sabato Kuroi

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« Reply #31 on: <03-16-15/1702:44> »
Please remind me, is there a way to mask quickened spells?

Sendaz

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« Reply #32 on: <03-16-15/1725:32> »
Please remind me, is there a way to mask quickened spells?
They got a Metamagic Technique for that
Quote from: Pg 149 Street Grimoire
EXTENDED MASKING
Extended masking extends your masking to include
anchored, sustained, or quickened spells; imbued or
attuned items; or alchemical preparations that are in
the magician’s possession. The magician may mask a
number of items up to his initiate grade (this is in addition
to bonded foci). Each item masked in this way must
have a Force less than the magician’s Magic attribute.
As per the masking rules, an Opposed Assensing test
is required to view such items. If the observer fails to
gain any net hits, the masked items appear to the observer
as normal fluctuations in the background count.
Prerequisite: Masking
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Tarislar

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« Reply #33 on: <03-16-15/1804:27> »
The other thing that I have only ever seen taken  advantage of once is that in a game where Cash to Karma is active, a player could easily pay a the team's wizard to quicken a spell on him/her. I have only even seen this done once in a game I was involved with. But every time a caster gets quickening I'm interested to see if folks catch on to this. Have you guys seen this?
As much as Quickening is opening its self up to getting regulated by the GM via NPC reactions.......
Quickening another character is going to be SO much worse.
Wherever that guy goes there is a little astral thread leading back to you.  No Thanks.

That said, my current fun joy is to get together with the Mage & the 2 of us temporarily buff the Troll-Adept w/ Intuition, Combat Sense, & Invisibility.
Do you have any idea how much carnage a Shotgun/Combat Axe Troll can do when the enemy can't see him & even if they do he's dodgy as all hell & then when they finally manage to hit him the Troll has like 28 Soak dice.  Yeah, its a lot  ;)
We can just hide outside & let him kick in a door solo.  No Mage fireballs,  No Mystic Stunballs,  Just a Troll running around like a scene from Planet of the Apes crushing those damn dirty humans. 


All the time. It's not a big deal, in my opinion, as long as the player's actually play their characters (aka, don't just give 10,000 nuyen for a 5 Karma quickening; it's going to cost 20-40k for it). It's part of business, and the mage has to be willing to risk their spell being detected and traced back to them, at some point.

Also, totally unrelated, but my favorite use of Quickening is the Shapechange spell. Turn into a cat or something, spend 1 Karma to quicken, say goodbye to the rest of your life as a metahuman.
That is a huge risk that I don't see most mages doing honestly.

Say goodbye to running from the law & hello to running from the local Chinese/Mexican restaurant.  :o

gilga

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« Reply #34 on: <03-16-15/1817:02> »
I am not sure it is such a huge risk.


Yes I did quicken that spell few years ago... whats your problem he paid well- this is my profession I am a mage? is it illegal ? I got my magic licence right here. I told him not to break the law -  do I need to undo the spell now?  Okay okay I remove the spell. Thanks for letting me know mr. X is a criminal.

Sabato Kuroi

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« Reply #35 on: <03-16-15/1828:27> »
Please remind me, is there a way to mask quickened spells?
They got a Metamagic Technique for that
Quote from: Pg 149 Street Grimoire
EXTENDED MASKING
Extended masking extends your masking to include
anchored, sustained, or quickened spells; imbued or
attuned items; or alchemical preparations that are in
the magician’s possession. The magician may mask a
number of items up to his initiate grade (this is in addition
to bonded foci). Each item masked in this way must
have a Force less than the magician’s Magic attribute.
As per the masking rules, an Opposed Assensing test
is required to view such items. If the observer fails to
gain any net hits, the masked items appear to the observer
as normal fluctuations in the background count.
Prerequisite: Masking


Oh right, thanks

So in order to avoid being a moving target in astral you gotta  initiate in a specific High Art, which in my table would require serious  investment.But if this isn't enough a posdible houserule could dictate that "maximum number of quickened spells cannot exceed initiate grade"

Sendaz

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« Reply #36 on: <03-16-15/1838:46> »
Also, totally unrelated, but my favorite use of Quickening is the Shapechange spell. Turn into a cat or something, spend 1 Karma to quicken, say goodbye to the rest of your life as a metahuman.
That is a huge risk that I don't see most mages doing honestly.

Say goodbye to running from the law & hello to running from the local Chinese/Mexican restaurant.  :o
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Tarislar

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« Reply #37 on: <03-16-15/1845:10> »
I am not sure it is such a huge risk.


Yes I did quicken that spell few years ago... whats your problem he paid well- this is my profession I am a mage? is it illegal ? I got my magic licence right here. I told him not to break the law -  do I need to undo the spell now?  Okay okay I remove the spell. Thanks for letting me know mr. X is a criminal.

You sir must have great relations with everyone.  Because while a nice police detective might ask you calmly.  Its the Corp Strike Team or Mafia Hit Squad that I'm more worried about when they kick in my door & DON'T ask questions first.  You did after all buff a guy that probably will be pissing off both those groups at some point.

Marcus

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« Reply #38 on: <03-17-15/0139:58> »
To be fair most competent runners have taken decent precautions against their doors getting kicked in by cops. But I do wish some mafia hit squads were dumb enough to do door kicking, I don't think I have ever seen such a thing. It's always an ambush, or a bomb. /sigh
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Raven2049

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« Reply #39 on: <03-21-15/2122:23> »
I am not sure it is such a huge risk.


Yes I did quicken that spell few years ago... whats your problem he paid well- this is my profession I am a mage? is it illegal ? I got my magic licence right here. I told him not to break the law -  do I need to undo the spell now?  Okay okay I remove the spell. Thanks for letting me know mr. X is a criminal.

You sir must have great relations with everyone.  Because while a nice police detective might ask you calmly.  Its the Corp Strike Team or Mafia Hit Squad that I'm more worried about when they kick in my door & DON'T ask questions first.  You did after all buff a guy that probably will be pissing off both those groups at some point.

i admit that i am the recipient of a quickened inc logic spell and i paid handsomly for it. it was however a heck of a lot cheaper than R3 cerebral booster.  even considering if it gets dispelled 5x and i have to repurchase it, but as i am a rigger and usually sit in my van away from astral viewing (unless i have my window down or the perceiving mage "flys" through my vehicle)  i dont have much to worry about