Shadowrun

Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: JimJungle on <04-17-11/1731:15>

Title: Elemental Strike
Post by: JimJungle on <04-17-11/1731:15>
Whats your opinion on E.S.? Which is the best and/or most usefull Type?
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Critias on <04-17-11/1812:08>
If and when I ever get it into my head to make an Elemental Strike character, every rule of the game goes out the window.  The horizon is lost, it's a total paradigm shift. 

Stats don't matter.  Efficiency doesn't matter.  Usefulness doesn't matter. 

Tradition matters!
(http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100605041331/capcomdatabase/images/thumb/9/9b/ChenKen.png/200px-ChenKen.png)
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: CanRay on <04-17-11/1817:44>
Fans happen, too:
(http://i742.photobucket.com/albums/xx63/MadWizard321/Deadpoolsshoryuken.jpg)
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Chrona on <04-17-11/1851:58>
Obviously Blast then
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Triggvi on <04-17-11/1943:59>
Electrical would probably do well. Any of them would give you 1/2 impact armor.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: JimJungle on <04-17-11/1951:09>
Indeed.   I chose Cold damage, and its been fun so far. Don't always need it, but when u do, you'll be glad its there.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Critias on <04-17-11/1954:28>
Some of them do better than 1/2 Impact (some ignore it completely).

The downside to them -- to me, at least -- is that none of them are really appropriate for a stone-cold-pro type of shadowrunner.  Thunderous cracks when you hit someone in melee, flashes of light, blasts of fire, stuff like that?  It's all awesome, but a little inappropriate for your bog-standard "sneak in, fight quietly if you can, sneak out" type of stuff.  They're a little flashier than I like my average shadowrunner to be, so I've never really played with any of 'em very much.  They're all (potentially) pretty danged effective in combat, but never quite feel right to me.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: CanRay on <04-17-11/2017:54>
Indeed.   I chose Cold damage, and its been fun so far. Don't always need it, but when u do, you'll be glad its there.
Depends on where you 'Run.  Bogota, not many people would have a defense against it.  Winnipeg, the city itself has Ice, Cold, and Blast Damage hitting you by itself.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Makki on <04-17-11/2045:10>
Flechette seems pretty cool for a decent Shadowrunner. But it's the only type that adds armor instead of halfing.
I've always been trying to design a Flash type guy, who uses Sound element as a kind of sonic boom. Not very inconspicuos ofc.

There's really no bad choice. Choose whatever fits the background/theme/tradition best.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Fortinbras on <04-17-11/2050:10>
I love Elemental Strike for NPCs. So far my players had the hardest time against Electricity and Cold, but I also had the luxury of designing them to match up to specific traditions
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: JimJungle on <04-17-11/2106:09>
So L. Strike doesn't have to be from the list in the book? I didn't know that. Opens up alot of possibilities. Maybe Negative Energy, Stone, or Metal, or Poison, or Flying, (JK).
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Chrona on <04-17-11/2112:10>
It has to be from an element in Anniversary or Street Magic
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Fortinbras on <04-17-11/2128:18>
So L. Strike doesn't have to be from the list in the book? I didn't know that. Opens up alot of possibilities. Maybe Negative Energy, Stone, or Metal, or Poison, or Flying, (JK).
Which list are you referring to?
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: James McMurray on <04-17-11/2145:39>
If you're just looking for damage then sound is the best. It ignores armor and pretty mujch nobody will have a sound damper handy. Nausea is nice, too.

If you don't like being loud, smoke is the second best bet. It also ignores armor but gas defenses are more common.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Sid on <04-18-11/0752:20>
It's an option to be a smoke puncher in SR? ... I don't know how I feel about that one.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: CanRay on <04-18-11/1202:32>
It's an option to be a smoke puncher in SR? ... I don't know how I feel about that one.
You mean like this (http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p19)?  (The Ninja in the cloak is named "Dark Smoke Puncher".).
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: James McMurray on <04-18-11/1213:36>
It's in Street Magic (which is also where Sound is). They're both incredibly beefy and you may want to make sure your GM is cool with it before building a character around it.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Ten-Hex on <04-18-11/1452:28>
It's in Street Magic (which is also where Sound is). They're both incredibly beefy and you may want to make sure your GM is cool with it before building a character around it.

Even worse is if you try to tack the Radiation elemental damage rules onto E.S. Between the rules in SM and expanded details on radiation damage in Arsenal, you have the makings of a cheesy toxic adept NPC whose radiated strikes ignore armor, start causing blindness, cancer, magic loss, etc after they hit a few times, and eventually lead to the GM explaining concepts like "walking ghost phase" that players should generally never hear.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: CanRay on <04-18-11/1729:43>
*Writes down*  Radiation Toxic Adept, make not cheesy, fear and agony, research old memories of Cold War research into radiation poisoning...

*Looks up*  Oh, I'm sorry, keep going.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Charybdis on <04-18-11/1848:55>
It's an option to be a smoke puncher in SR? ... I don't know how I feel about that one.
For me, it's always Blast (P) or Electrical (S)

Blast has those great powers against barriers, and making knockdown an almost certainty.

Electrical is great for those runs where you're not trying to kill everybody, and also have some short-circuit uses against minor electronic devices/drones/vehicles

And getting half-impact for all attacks is just sweet...especially combined with maximum Critical strike and Penetrating strike.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Charybdis on <04-18-11/1850:47>
*Writes down*  Radiation Toxic Adept, make not cheesy, fear and agony, research old memories of Cold War research into radiation poisoning...

*Looks up*  Oh, I'm sorry, keep going.
'Watch out, Radioactive man!'
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Kane on <04-18-11/2241:56>
You had to say it didnt you...thanks damn song stuck in brain for days....mmmmm brains
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Charybdis on <04-18-11/2313:01>
You had to say it didnt you...thanks damn song stuck in brain for days....mmmmm brains
Well we can't have that, so here are some songs to get other songs out of your head:

'We all live in a yellow submarine....'
'We represeeeeent, the lollipop guild! The lollipop guild, the lollipop guild....'
'You've lost.that.loooovin' feeeelin'....woooah that looovin' feeeelin'.....'
'There she was justa' walkin' down the street singin' Doo-wah-ditty-ditty-dum-ditty-doo....'

There...that feel better now? :D
*whistles innocently*
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: The Laughing Man on <04-27-11/0327:18>
Elemental Strike is cool but it's led the adept in my main group to basicly clone an attack from an anime.  ::)

Every time he uses it he yells out "Chidori!*" and I face-palm. (While secretly adding a few hits to his opponents dodge roll.) ;D





*Said player thinks hes a ninja and chooses to clone the ones off the "Naruto" anime. X)
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: CanRay on <04-27-11/0402:12>
He couldn't have picked one of the GOOD ninjas to rip off?
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Fortinbras on <04-27-11/0514:37>
Elemental Strike is cool but it's led the adept in my main group to basicly clone an attack from an anime.  ::)
I think there should be a paracritter with tentacles in his future.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Morg on <04-27-11/0603:22>
For me, it's always Blast (P) or Electrical (S)

Blast has those great powers against barriers, and making knockdown an almost certainty.

Electrical is great for those runs where you're not trying to kill everybody, and also have some short-circuit uses against minor electronic devices/drones/vehicles

And getting half-impact for all attacks is just sweet...especially combined with maximum Critical strike and Penetrating strike.

Just to note The adept power Killing hands determines if the attack is (P) or (S) so you could have a (P) water attack or a (P) Electrical or an (S) Fire
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Ten-Hex on <04-27-11/0844:00>
Elemental Strike is cool but it's led the adept in my main group to basicly clone an attack from an anime.  ::)
I think there should be a paracritter with tentacles in his future.

Or a protean. Anime references in shadowrun deserve awakened dysentary.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Operator on <04-27-11/1021:46>
Or a protean. Anime references in shadowrun deserve awakened dysentary.

Insipid anime references deserve awakened dysentery. :D I wouldn't rule out the opportunity of a good reference if I felt it was appropriate. While being few in number, they do exist.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Sid on <04-27-11/1152:59>
It's an option to be a smoke puncher in SR? ... I don't know how I feel about that one.
You mean like this (http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p19)?  (The Ninja in the cloak is named "Dark Smoke Puncher".).
More like this (http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/2p10), for the record. It even fits with the current topic direction. :D
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Dead Monky on <04-27-11/1823:30>
Elemental Strike is cool but it's led the adept in my main group to basicly clone an attack from an anime.  ::)

Every time he uses it he yells out "Chidori!*" and I face-palm. (While secretly adding a few hits to his opponents dodge roll.) ;D
[\quote]
For God's sake.  That's just sad.  He could have at least had him yell something decent like "Hadouken!"
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Ronin48 on <05-02-11/0524:23>
New to the forums and kinda new to SR4 but had a question about elemental strike (kinda). Does anyone think it would be too overpowered/out of theme for the game to allow an adept access to advanced metamagic which channels elemental strike through a melee attack. Maybe damage is per the weapon but other affects still apply? I ask because I think the power is cool but I have a character that uses a sword almost exclusively and I like the cool factor of making it magically electrified.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: James McMurray on <05-02-11/1124:20>
I'd allow it, but I'm very much a "what's good for the runners is good for the corps" type of GM, so if it turns out that the character's damage suddenly becomes terrifying you can rest assured that an NPC will have something similar eventually.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Chrona on <05-02-11/1136:51>
I had a mage with a restricted fire aura spell for hands.

I called the spell "Little Boy".

I'm not the first to call a flaming punch that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS87wkcE0NU#t=4m
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Charybdis on <05-02-11/2029:24>
New to the forums and kinda new to SR4 but had a question about elemental strike (kinda). Does anyone think it would be too overpowered/out of theme for the game to allow an adept access to advanced metamagic which channels elemental strike through a melee attack. Maybe damage is per the weapon but other affects still apply? I ask because I think the power is cool but I have a character that uses a sword almost exclusively and I like the cool factor of making it magically electrified.

I'd probably allow it if:
1) PC bought elemental strike as usual
2) PC paid 15 karma to change the effect from Unarmed attacks to Melee attacks (possibly restricted to a specific type of melee weapon, ie blades, clubs etc)

As a precedent for this, I'm utilising the PC-Drake option to change their default breath weapon to a different energy type. It seems like an evenly matched change (Unarmed to Melee).
It's expensive enough not to try for multiple powers, but still an option if a PC really wants to bend the rules accordingly...

Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: bigity on <05-02-11/2041:24>
Maybe a new kind of weapon focus that allows certain adept powers to work through them.

But that seems pretty limited, you could add spells as well but then you get to cast a touch spell while whacking someone with an attack which is right out.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Charybdis on <05-03-11/0211:36>
Maybe a new kind of weapon focus that allows certain adept powers to work through them.

But that seems pretty limited, you could add spells as well but then you get to cast a touch spell while whacking someone with an attack which is right out.
Hmm, no I wouldn't go that far to allow other Adept powers through a focus. That way leads to a polearm weapon foci with:
 -  12+DV (via Critical strike)
 -  -3 AP (at least, via Penetrating Strike),
- plus elemental effects for 1/2 impact armour
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: bigity on <05-03-11/0932:00>
Well it sure would eventually :D
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Ten-Hex on <05-03-11/0948:39>
Be a mystic adept and learn an [element] aura spell. It'll increase the DV of your melee attack by the net hits and turn it into elemental damage, plus it will injure anyone striking you back in melee.
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Stahlseele on <05-03-11/0956:24>
Hmm, can one get an elemental attack that deals poison damage?
Title: Re: Elemental Strike
Post by: Rascal on <05-03-11/1140:02>
The best element is still the element of Surprise... Sucker punch, MoFo!