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Monofilament Whip

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CanRay

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« Reply #15 on: <09-30-11/1946:36> »
"You go into a ten-foot by ten-foot room with an ork protecting her chest, she screams, 'Get out of here you perverts!  This is the woman's shower!', and decks the Hacker."
Si vis pacem, para bellum

#ThisTaserGoesTo11

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #16 on: <09-30-11/1949:30> »
"You go into a ten-foot by ten-foot room with an ork protecting her chest, she screams, 'Get out of here you perverts!  This is the woman's shower!', and decks the Hacker."

"You have to roll for Surprise, first. My Elf is only surprised 1 in 6."

Crash_00

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« Reply #17 on: <09-30-11/1951:42> »
Now why would she be decking in the shower?  ;D

My NPCs don't really attack the PCs most of the time. Instead they try to prolong the PCs escape for the back up to arrive. I'm a huge fan of CS/Tear gas, flash-bangs, suppressive fire, and good old thermal smoke. I'm also really hard on group vehicles, of course now they have a rigger that's always inside keeping an eye on things, but that just means their wheels have a tendency to drive off on their own when things get heavy.

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #18 on: <09-30-11/2001:03> »
Now why would she be decking in the shower?  ;D

My NPCs don't really attack the PCs most of the time. Instead they try to prolong the PCs escape for the back up to arrive. I'm a huge fan of CS/Tear gas, flash-bangs, suppressive fire, and good old thermal smoke. I'm also really hard on group vehicles, of course now they have a rigger that's always inside keeping an eye on things, but that just means their wheels have a tendency to drive off on their own when things get heavy.

Well, given how much paperwork that is involved after the event for incident reports that involve drawing weapons, firing weapons, wounding someone and killing someone - it's not worth it for an NPC. He doesn't want his superior busting his chops for his paperwork at the end of the month! ;)

A lot of the time my NPCs will find a nice safe location that they can act from if they have to, and have their actions delayed so they can if and when the time arrives. I've had NPCs keep superior (on paper) PCs at bay this way (and on more than one occasion I've had an NPC secure a location like this, get the word from back-up to get the hell out of there, and do so in such a way that the PCs still think they're there).

Crash_00

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« Reply #19 on: <09-30-11/2010:07> »
Reminds me of an unwilling extraction my group was hired to do once. They made a loud noisy botch of entering the guys office building and he saw them coming to his office on his security cams, so he tossed on his emergency Chameleon Cloak (Honestly 11k to have one of these things with Thermal Dampening at 6) and hid in the closet. The group did a cursory sweep of the office (didn't even look in the closet) and left to search the rest of the building.

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #20 on: <09-30-11/2018:57> »
if I were making 50 bucks an hour (far more than the average sec guard in 2072 I would wager)

I just had to dig out my copy of the LoneStar Sourcebook (because I honestly couldn't remember how much they were paid, but I knew it was crap, and I knew it was in there). Roughly 20,000 nuyen a year annually for a newly sworn peace officer on the street track. Which works out to be about 10 nuyen an hour. Definitely not worth getting shot and killed over ;)

Mason

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« Reply #21 on: <10-01-11/0301:17> »
IM"NS"HO?

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #22 on: <10-01-11/0454:46> »
IM"NS"HO?

In My Not So Humble Opinion.

Joush

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« Reply #23 on: <10-01-11/0756:20> »
Keep in mind though that this is a distopic future. A street cop or security guard won't hesitate to discourage riff raff like gangers, SINless and the rest of the disenfranchised with a few hits or a blast of Liquid Pain brand pepper punch, and higher end ones are willing and authorized to shoot someone, reacting more like trained soldiers then rent-a-cops.

Try to walk up to a hot lab and you are less likely to run into someone there to observe, report and discourage trouble then some running though Shout-Show-Shove-Shoot ROE in their head while they point an assault rifle at you.

Phylos Fett

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« Reply #24 on: <10-01-11/0809:41> »
Keep in mind though that this is a distopic future. A street cop or security guard won't hesitate to discourage riff raff like gangers, SINless and the rest of the disenfranchised with a few hits or a blast of Liquid Pain brand pepper punch, and higher end ones are willing and authorized to shoot someone, reacting more like trained soldiers then rent-a-cops.

If they think it is a battle they can win, sure, if it's not, forget about it. Acting like a trained security guard, street cop, or whatever means you should know your limitations, and know that there is safety in back-up, if it's a problem that you can't handle without breaking a sweat.

Quote
Try to walk up to a hot lab and you are less likely to run into someone there to observe, report and discourage trouble then some running though Shout-Show-Shove-Shoot ROE in their head while they point an assault rifle at you.

Sure, and you'll have the better skills, training, weapons, armor, salary and cyber to suit your position there, and also have a better back-up to call in when things look like they are going to get too much.

It's all about playing your NPCs to their role, abilities and their limitations.

Glyph

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« Reply #25 on: <10-01-11/1427:55> »
Exactly.  I'm all for playing the NPCs with the stats and mental abilities they realistically should have.  Shadowruns will tend to be balanced for the capabilties of the characters, but the wider world should be internally consistent - that mall security guard shouldn't suddenly have automatics: 6, nor should the Leopard Guards suddenly get gimped because the PCs decided to attack an Aztechnology facility out of the blue.

Back to the original question - melee is a niche role already, so be careful not to go overboard countering the PC.  If he is using it all the time, then people firing from windows, or cover, or from a distance, should remind him that long range weapons are usually the better option to use.   But a monofilament whip should be extremely effective when you can use it.

Some things to keep in mind, though.  It is a distinctive (although easily hidden) weapon with the Forbidden legality code.  Using one should get about the same reaction from law enforcement as using an assault rifle.  It also makes a big mess (be sure to wear a poncho, or at least a bib, when using your monofilament whip   ;D).   Decapitated/dismembered bodies are a bit rarer than merely shot or stabbed ones.  This could make the group easier to track, or even give them some Notoriety.

It is effective, but not at the top of the melee food chain - punching specialists, especially trolls and/or adepts, can do more damage, and two-weapon fighters with the right maneuvers will have a very dense defense (since two-weapon fighting gives you full defense with no cost of an action).  And melee itself is not as common or versatile as ranged combat.

But someone using a monofilament whip, who is good with it, should dominate most melee fights.  Shadowrun is chock full of one-shot kills, so this is not unusual at all.  I would worry less about it, and let the player have fun.  Although I would still keep the reactions of the game world realistic.

Mason

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« Reply #26 on: <10-01-11/1552:21> »
You don't know true terror until you see the ambidextrous troll character with SURGE III who took Celerity and Satyr Legs to have a run speed of 70, took Mono-whips at 6 with a specialty in dual wielding, and metegenetically improved their Agility and took martial arts training. Ever see what happens when you "parry" with a monowhip? Well, now THEIR weapon is gone...

Now cyber that troll up with 3 IPs and Muscle replacements...or adept him up with great leap and freefall and wall running, and add stealth skills...

kirk

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« Reply #27 on: <10-01-11/1602:57> »
You don't know true terror until you see the ambidextrous troll character with SURGE III who took Celerity and Satyr Legs to have a run speed of 70, took Mono-whips at 6 with a specialty in dual wielding, and metegenetically improved their Agility and took martial arts training. Ever see what happens when you "parry" with a monowhip? Well, now THEIR weapon is gone...

Now cyber that troll up with 3 IPs and Muscle replacements...or adept him up with great leap and freefall and wall running, and add stealth skills...

and then, he trips.

Mason

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« Reply #28 on: <10-01-11/1608:20> »
and lulz ensue.

Seriously, though, that build was scary and I would probably veto it instantly if anyone actually brought him to a session. Slinging 10 dice per whip is just not cool.

LostProxy

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« Reply #29 on: <10-01-11/2143:54> »
Why is that not cool? That's no scarier then a mage who can kill you with his brain with an overcasted F10 manabolt which in my group is par for the course. Also for the record none of us are power gamers. 14-18 dice is usual for what a PCs specialty is.