Shadowrun Play > Previous Editions
[SR5] House Rules
PiXeL01:
Indirect Area Spells: the limit on hits dictated by the force of the start from the fourth dice to allow the existence of area spells of a lower force than 3.
JucaBala:
--- Quote from: Beta on ---Interesting! I hope you'll post an update on how you are liking it after a couple more runs, and if you have tweaked it at all.
--- End quote ---
It went actually well, with smgs and shotguns being more used than before. Unfortunatelly, the game ended two or three sessions after that post, so we couldn't really stress test it that well.
After a long hiatus in RPGs in general, it could be that I gonna be playing (as GM, but it IS playing!) a sci fi RPG, and we are intending to use SR5e as the "base system". As me and another friend have some online time to discuss rules and such, and the game probably won't start before July, we are thinking about some other house rules, some borrowed from other games, some to alleviate some warts.
1 - While still using the modified range table that were proposed, telescopic sight increases the optimal range of the weapon by one range band.
2 - We loved counting ammo when we're young, but nowadays it is more trouble than its worth, so we decided that each weapon has one or more "ammo boxes" per maganize. While you're shooting single shots, you don't track ammo, you're supposed to use your ammo efficiently. If you use it in semi-auto mode (double taps, semi auto-bursts, you name it), you roll +1d in the attack, but you spend 1 "ammo box", if you fire a short burst, you mark two boxes, and roll +2d to attack, same for long bursts (three boxes and +3d) and full auto bursts (4 boxes and +4d). In the paper it seems a little fiddly, but its easier to track than bullets on a one on one basis, and, lets be sincere, it is very rare for a Runner to actually empty a gun maganize in the current rules. This is almost the same rule as seem in the "Ghost Ops" RPG, and it works well there. An automatic pistol, like the Predator, would have about 3 ammo boxes, a good assault rifle, between 4 and 6, larger weapons, like HMG, 20-30, and revolvers as little as one ammo box. Also, on a glitch, you spend an ammo boxe, so you can go dry while firing single shot, is only harder.
3 - I guess this is the bigger change, which we began using in the ill fated shadowrun campaign, and, while it was received with suspicion by some players (mostly min-maxers), it was embraced by the group: the maximum amount of dice rolled is 10, period. If your pool is higher than 10, you remove dice from the pool in groups of three until you're left with 8, 9 or 10 dice. You roll these dice, and, IF successfull, you add 1/3 of the removed dice as bonus successes. To exemplify: Camper has 17 dice in Shooting plus Agility, before rolling, he removes 9 dice from the pool, and roll the 8 left. If he scores at least 1 success, even if it is less than the necessary threshold, he adds 3 success to the final roll, from the 9 dice removed. We tested it for only one session, but it seemed to speed things a little, and removed a little of the excessive edge that hyperspecialized characters had in their field of expertise.
Well, I think that that's it. Sorry for my confusing english.
Kiirnodel:
--- Quote from: PiXeL01 on ---Indirect Area Spells: the limit on hits dictated by the force of the start from the fourth dice to allow the existence of area spells of a lower force than 3.
--- End quote ---
This feels really weird. Why would this one category alter limits to apply to net hits when nothing else does? It seems perfectly reasonable that a low force spell means you either need to spend reagents to increase the limit or get lucky (edge) in order to get spot-on target.
You can cast a Force 1 indirect area spell without upping the limit, you'll just always have to roll for deviation. Not like the spell fails, because you don't get the 3 hits.
PiXeL01:
Why would that make sense? Lower force means lower power and therefore more control.
But now that I think about it, the limit should actually be force +2 so a force 1 spell would just land though a force 2 allows you to stage the damage a little bit
Kiirnodel:
That's not how any spells have ever worked since at least 4th edition. Lower force means less potential, you can't get as many hits on any spells that are cast at an extremely low force.
Force 2 Lightning Bolt? Good luck hitting anything with only 2 hits. Force 1 Powerbolt, most creatures can get one hit to resist that. Force 2 Mob Mood? It isn't all that difficult to resist 2 hits with Logic+Willpower.
The only time low force means measurably more control is the relationship between Force and Skill Rating determining how noticeable the pure act of spellcasting is. Low Force spells are primarily just less noticeable and less draining. Aside from how noticeable a spell is (which I chalk up to the simple idea that lower force spells are less noticeable) I don't remember any fluff describing less power means more control. Overall, the theme is actually closer to the opposite. More Force means more energy being channeled, which gives a greater ability to fine-tune and control that power. All with the drawback of with too much power comes too much backlash (drain).
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