NEWS

All the adept questions

  • 5 Replies
  • 1833 Views

Fat Boy Kyle

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 2
« on: <03-01-18/1926:29> »
Right! So, I'm currently in my first ever RPG, which so happens to be 5th edition Shadowrun, and I'm loving it. But I'm playing an adept, and there's a lot that I'm not only confusing myself about, but also causing other's to become confused about! :P Some of these questions have definitely been asked before on various forums (including this one), but for clarity, and for the sake of having the questions together, please help:

  • Do adepts look any different on the astral plane with astrally perceiving?
  • Adepts can enter astral combat if they have certain boxes ticked - correct? Under what circumstances can they be attacked on the plane? Are they constantly vulnerable? Or must they be astrally perceiving to be in any form of combat?
  • How do killing hands function against magic/mystic armour?
  • How do adepts fair against barriers? Someone suggested that they could be stopped due to being dual natured?
  • "Unarmed astral attacks are an performed through an Opposed Astral Combat + Willpower [Astral] v. Intuition + Logic Test." - So unarmed skill does not apply at all? What if I was to be douchey and say that my adept was not attacking the astral form, but the space on the physical plane where the form happened to be?
  • Could astrally perceiving characters converse without their physical bodies giving the communication away?
  • Shock frills. How much damage do they do? AP? And do they work defensively?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions!

firebug

  • *
  • Errata Coordinator
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2993
  • Scraping the bottom of the Resonance Barrel
« Reply #1 on: <03-01-18/2034:43> »
Hey!  Hopefully this advice can help you.

1) They don't look different at a glance--  They have an aura like everyone else.  However, one of the things you can tell about someone if you take the time to read their aura (pg 313, core rulebook) is whether they are Awakened or not, and possibly what their "magical classification" is, which probably includes if they are an adept, magician, mystic adept, etc.
2) Astral Combat is the skill of fighting using your astral form, and so can only be used when someone is dual-natured (like magical critters and the Infected) or astrally-active (like a character using Astral Perception).  It also is used when a character is only on the astral plane (like an astrally projecting magician, or a spirit that hasn't materialized).  For your adept to use Astral Combat, they would need to have the Astral Perception power toggled on (or some other way to astrally perceive, like by smoking Deepweed).  Otherwise, the character cannot be harmed by purely-astral beings, same as anyone else.  Same, you cannot use astral combat to hurt mundanes or anything like that.
3) The Mystic Armor power functions entirely like normal, worn armor, except in its ability to protect you during Astral Combat (which normal, physical armor cannot) and that it stacks with all other armor with no penalty.  Killing Hands has no special interaction with it.
4) Adepts aren't dual-natured--  Dual-natured refers to a specific type of creatures who are innately magical (metahumans aren't) and who are basically always astrally perceiving.  Adepts and their powers may pass through a mana barrier without issue, but if you are astrally perceiving, this makes you astrally-active, and so means the barrier would stop you.  So, just don't do that.
5) You're right.  Unarmed Combat does not apply at all, unless you are a critter with the Natural Weapon critter power.  Your complaint is also valid; I'm hoping to address it in errata.  However, right now, a character's ability to fight in the astral is in no way affected by their other combat skills.
6) No; you're only perceiving the astral world.  You have no extra ability to affect it during that time, beyond what you can already do.  A magician could cast a spell to telepathically speak to their comrades, but that's something they'd just be able to do any time once they learned the spell.  Additionally, you cannot see AR while astrally perceiving (AR does not exist on the astral, technically it isn't "on" the material plane either) and so would need to switch back to type of a text message to your team, at least.
7) Shock Frills are likely the same as Shock Gloves (only, obviously you don't need gloves).  Their damage would then be 8S(e) with a flat -5 AP (as mundane electric damage has).  You can't use them "defensively" if by that you mean "can I make it so people striking me get shocked".  If you want that kind of thing, check out Shock Weave in Run & Gun on page 84.  It also does 8S(e) with -5 AP.

As a note, you probably should avoid planning for fighting astral-only entities anyways.  If there's an immaterial spirit harassing you, astrally perceiving will only allow it to make hit-and-run attacks on you--  It moves up, strikes, then flies away at the speed of thought.  Unless you invest in some ability to counter-attack (which is possible) then you're a sitting duck.  Otherwise, you still have the potential threat of immaterial spirits using mana spells on you (as Mana type spells can be can on astral targets while in the astral).  If a spirit starts Stunbolting you from 50 feet in the air, your best option is to just tell it to suck it and stop astrally perceiving.  You want those type of opponents to be forced to face you in the real world anyways, where you are stronger, even if you can fight them on the astral.
« Last Edit: <03-01-18/2039:56> by firebug »
I'm Madpath Moth on reddit (and other sites).  Feel free to PM me errata questions!
Jeeze.  It would almost sound stupid until you realize we're talking about an immortal elf clown sword fighting a dragon ghost in a mall.

SunRunner

  • *
  • Chummer
  • **
  • Posts: 238
« Reply #2 on: <03-02-18/0839:08> »
Dont ever plan on engaging enemies in astral combat unless you have no other choice. Unless you HEAVILY invest into astral combat its a game of rocket tag. Firebug is 100% its best to stop astrally activity and force what ever astral entity your dealing with to come down to the material plane where its much easier to deal with. Basically if you have to fight a great white shark to the death with your bare hand are you A) going to jump into the ocean or B) make it come up on land to get to you. Most astral entities are much much better at fighting there then player characters unless you build a specialist astral combat character, and generally those characters are of limited effectiveness in the meat world.

ShadowcatX

  • *
  • Omae
  • ***
  • Posts: 573
« Reply #3 on: <03-02-18/0847:20> »
To expand on number 5:

Remember actual combat and astral combat are significantly different. Astral combat is more about bringing your sense of self to oppose the entity than it is about hitting the entity with a magic sword.

Marcus

  • *
  • Prime Runner
  • *****
  • Posts: 2802
  • Success always demands a greater effort.
« Reply #4 on: <03-02-18/1623:11> »
So what was kind of missed in the past explanation is that astral combat run off mental stats and not physical. So unless you just happen to have a universally generally strong stat line or just a build dedicated to astral combat both of which are very unlikely given how combat adepts are built you won't be effective. Being astrally active (IE actively astral perceiving) for more then a quick glance 9 time out of 10 a bad idea. Critters that are duel nature are better at it then those who just peep over.  Spirits have to manifest if they are going to interact on this, and that will give a well builded adept plenty of time to handle the problem.

One of the advantages of killing hands, is that counts as a magic weapon (aka Weapon Focus), and that makes it a lot easier to deal with spirits.

Now you can use weapon foci in astral combat, but they will add their rating to the astral combat skill. Which is just not something most adepts are going to have any points in.
*Play-by-Post color guide*
Thinking
com
speaking

Fat Boy Kyle

  • *
  • Newb
  • *
  • Posts: 2
« Reply #5 on: <03-02-18/2118:34> »
Thanks for all the clarification peeps! Greatly appreciated :)