Shadowrun
Shadowrun Missions Living Campaign => Living Campaign Discussion => Topic started by: Hibiki54 on <12-23-15/1549:20>
-
Any rules on mundane characters paying another player to place a Quickened Spell on them?
-
not going to lie, my rigger has an increased logic spell quickened on it. and he is mundane. the subject was brought up by a GM actually, i was complaining that i was going to have to save up forever for a cerebral booster and he suggested to another player at the table who just initiated and took quickening as his meta to offer to quicken a logic spell on me. i offered some cash as he was going to spend karma on the task and we lived happily ever after.
ive never been called out about it and many GMs have looked at my sheet. and i really dont see any difference between this and sustaining a spell on a mundane, just lasts longer.
-
There is no restriction on it beyond the Quicken restrictions found in the FAQ (primarily, must buy hits). There is even a mission where an NPC will Quicken a spell for you if you succeed at a certain objective over a certain threshold.
-
keep in mind Quickened Spells can be targets of opportunity for magical baddies, and they will prevent you from crossing mana barriers since, IIRC, you can't shut them off yourself (It's been a long time since I've messed with quickened spells as a player, so I could be wrong).
-
and they will prevent you from crossing mana barriers since, IIRC,
Pretty sure they risk dispelling but they don't "stop" you from crossing.
Either the barrier drops for the remainder of the round, or the spell gets stripped permanently, IIRC.
-
Maybe that's it. Too many editions, too many rules variations over the years. I've long since lost track. There's a reason when I write I have like 20 books stacked up next to me, plus a half dozen PDFs open. Because I gotta look every goddamn thing up. :)
Either way though, Barriers pose a serious problem, since you can't turn Quickened Spells* on and off.
*I wrote Spell Locks at first. That should give you an idea of just how jumbled the rules are in my brain. 5 editions, at least a half dozen tables worth of house rules, plus I can't even begin to count how many rules variants I've read and/or played with while playtesting SR3, 4, and 5.
-
The only thing about it is to not let it become "Magicrun", where instead of augmentations, everyone just pays the mage for the proper Increase Attribute spell. Wouldn't be the first time I've had a decker player angrily announce that, rather than spend nearly 100k on Cerebral Boosters, he should just have the mage cast Increase LOG on him.
Mana barriers are an issue with Quickened spells, though not an insurmountable one (most teams will probably do some recon, then just smash-and-grab before HTR arrives).
The Karma-Nuyen-Karma rule is what makes it a problem, as it costs 1 karma or 2000 nuyen for the spell. If it gets disrupted, just consider that a small amount ticked off of what would otherwise cost you thirty times the price for half the effect. Especially when it comes to stuff like boosting Intuition (something the Rigger, Decker, and Street Samurai will all really want), or Charisma for the Mundane face... It's so painfully easy to have a magician just quicken it.
Like yes, I will absolutely pay for the spell formula, the instructor cost, and all the karma expended. 500¥ (Health formula) + 10,000¥ (5 Karma to learn spell), 3000¥ (Instructor with Skill rating 6), then 2000¥ for the Quickening cost.
15k nuyen, for a +4 to an attribute, with no Essence cost. Keep in mind, the cheapest boost augmentation can give is Muscle Replacements, which gives 2 attributes a +1 for 25,000¥. Do you see the disparity there?
Let's take this a step farther. I'm a mundane face with 6 Charisma, and I want you, ASAP, newly made mage character, to quicken Increase CHA on me. Here's the 15k above, and another 26,000¥ on top. Total of 41,000¥ nuyen, to give you the Karma to initiate for the first time. It is still more bang for your buck than trying to get an equivalent augmentation by far, and affects an attribute that no augmentations do. Then once I've made the initial investment, I can just pay 15k for a different attribute later. Say... Intuition, because literally every character benefits. Am I spending 2k per spell every other run when a barrier knocks them down?
Eh. Still probably less than the rigger is paying to repair the scratches on his van. And unlike the rigger, I can still play my role if I decide not to pay!
I don't know how to feel about this-- Is it a problem? Or is it just something minor that I'm annoyed about?
Seriously though. Tailored Pheremones go up to R3, and give less of a bonus (and it's restricted to smell-range) for over twice the cost. They also wouldn't apply to Instruction or Intimidation.
You can handwave it "in-world" by saying "magic is rare, tho" but in play, when there's always a damn mage because everyone likes them there's no reason this wouldn't happen!
-
Yea, the only issue really is astral(mana) barriers. If you come into contact with one, you risk losing the quickened spell, or collapsing the barrier and instantly alerting the mage that placed it.
Then there is the fact that some spells have a visual clue to them. The Armor spell surrounds you in a blue 'bubble' for example....