[blackangel]

I don't follow what you're saying, ba.  You say more cyber means harder to hit with magic... but then 0-1 essence is automatic success and 5+ essence is a threshold 3 just to have a chance of being affected?

Sorry it's essence loss

[mtfeeney = Baron]

Oh, then it is an intriguing idea.  Are you suggesting an extra roll?  Or just use the same spellcasting roll for defeating spell resistance and attacking?

[Thidran]

Oh, then it is an intriguing idea.  Are you suggesting an extra roll?  Or just use the same spellcasting roll for defeating spell resistance and attacking?

I'd make it a threshold. Instead of a dice pool modifier, he'd have to get more hits, the less essence the guy has. It would work just fine on the same roll, since they'd effectively just be counted as automatic successes in resisting.

[blackangel]

What I have in mind will be that the threshold is considered as flat successes and are added to the resistance test.

BA

[mtfeeney = Baron]

So, to hit a sammy with 1 essence with a stunbolt, the mage would have to cast at Force 4 or higher and get 3 hits to strike him, 4+ to add damage from hits?

[blackangel]

So, to hit a sammy with 1 essence with a stunbolt, the mage would have to cast at Force 4 or higher and get 3 hits to strike him, 4+ to add damage from hits?

It will be a bit tougher than what is in your exemple, you forgot the resistance test which still exist
Resistance test would be : 3 + resistance (willpower + counterspell) success

[mtfeeney = Baron]

That's damage resistance, though, not spell resistance.  Normally, when you cast a combat spell, it only takes 1 hit for your spellcasting test to be successful.  Then the target rolls for damage resistance.  Your mod would add a way for spells to actually fail.

[Michael Chandra]

Of course this still screws over the mundane NPCs, but nearly anything boosting them will also boost Awakened characters. Maybe go Essence/2 innate Counterspelling, this way Counterspelling 4+ (and that's even ignoring specialty and counterspelling foci) is better but mundanes got it a tad less hard.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

If they did that, no mage I made would ever waste points on counterspelling.  Free rank 3 vs putting a ton of points getting up to 4+?  Thank you, Sir, may I have another!

[Michael Chandra]

Counterspelling 4 (Combat Spells +2), Counterspelling (Combat) Focus Rating 3 = 9 dice. That's still 6 more.

[mtfeeney = Baron]

Counterspelling 3(free with 6 essence) + counterspelling(comat) focus rating 3 = 6 dice.  That's only 3 less, and you spent nothing on the skill rank.

[Michael Chandra]

Except that it's not real counterspelling, it'd be an innate replacement, so it wouldn't stack with the focus.

[Kiirnodel]

Not to mention a mundane can't bond foci

[mtfeeney = Baron]

We weren't talking about a mundane, we were talking about this making counterspelling a waste of karma for a mage.  And you don't need ranks in counterspelling to bond a counterspeling focus...do you?  I've not seen that rule.  If you made an innate counterspelling level equal to half of your essence, it would absolutely stack with a counterspelling focus.  Even if you said "They're not the same thing.", they would still stack since you're saying you add this not-exactly-counterspelling to the resistance test, and a counterspelling focus would add to it as well.

[emsquared]

You are trying to help the people who are supposed to be cannon fodder?

Against magic, yeah.

Nightwatchmen are the canaries, their dying is supposed
to be the early warning system of a facility. And, gangers, unless you are dealing with top tier gangs, should be dying to magic easy.
The nightwatchmen have two jobs: 1) Observe and report and 2) Die or be knocked out(preferably be knocked out). Gangers aren't going to mess with a group of Shadowrunners who are clearly better prepared then them, unless they are in a large group. And even then, Gangers are, unless they have a mage, supposed to be scared of magic.

If your runners are good, the nightwatchmen or gangers have no clue who they're up against. And this approach seems to end in a road where the only NPCs we can do anything interesting with are rival Runners - even immediately post-chargen, or possibly peons lucky enough to have Counterspelling support. That's extremely boring to me.

I also think it's boring that mundane guards and NPCs have absolutely no chance against charms or illusions or having their face melted 3 dice (3 WIL) vs. 11 - 15 (5 MAG+6 Spelling+2-4 Focus)? What's the point? I find it boring that the go to solution is, get the Mage there. I'm not trying to nerf Magic completely, I'm trying to give NPCs a fighting chance against it. 9 dice (3 WIL+6 ESS) on average, against 11 - 15 is at least kind of a fighting chance. Not much different then the disparity often faced in gun-battles, anyway.

To be more cyberpunk I will go the way the more you have cyber the more difficult it's to use magic against you.
I will probably go the threshold way (in the same way as resistance object) according to the essence loss. Something like :
0>1 : 0 threshold
1>3 : 1
3>5 : 2
>5   : 3

BA

Interesting. It does absolutely nothing for unaugmented mundanes (which is actually my goal, making the setting more cyberpunk was just a poorly thought out rouse of a premise), but that's an even greater boon than extra dice. 6 dice = 2 hits on average, outright Threshold increases would be quicker though... hmmm.