[antaskidayo]

Ah ok, thanks for the prompt reply.

[antaskidayo]

Woot I got my core book and SR5 - SRM05A-01 - Chasin' the Wind, its awesome but I can't find the part in the corebook where you generate an encounter, I'd like to add stuff to the module but I need to know how to gauge party strength and what are the limits in modifying the module so it will still be legal.

[antaskidayo]

bump^

,...btw is there a way to add sound suppression on an ARES Crusader II on 5ED?

[Jayde Moon]

is there a way to add sound suppression on an ARES Crusader II on 5ED?

The Ares Crusader II comes with a Gas Vent II system which is a barrel mounted accessory.  The book states that this is an integral accessory (Core 427), the integral part says to me it's part of the gun itself and thus cannot be removed (at least with the rules as provide in the books).  As long as it has the Gas Vent system, it cannot also have a suppressor, as each location can only mount one accessory (Core 431).

In Missions, I would say, "No, you can't swap them out."  In a home game, I would probably allow an Armorer test to remove the integral gas vent system, and change the barrel to a standard barrel that can swap between various accessories... but the integral gas vent system would be garbage and if I wanted to swap a gas vent system back in, I'd have to buy a mountable one.

... what are the limits in modifying the module so it will still be legal.

There is no really good answer to this.  Honestly, when I first started GMing for Missions, I went strictly by the book and didn't add a thing.  A year later with two games a week and 4 day Convention under my belt, I am confident in my ability to tweak encounters to challenge the players while remaining well clear of just being a dick.

I would say keep any modifications light to begin with until you feel comfortable being able to gauge your party strength and what they can handle without needing the book to tell you, because man, Shadowrun is not at all like D&D with a sort of method to calculate Encounter Points or whatever, based on the combined level of your party.

As for the limits of modifying it?  If you want to throw a dragon at them because that's what you want to do, there is nothing but your own common sense keeping you from doing it, really... as long as at the end of the Mission, their rewards are based on what you find in Picking Up the Pieces.  No, "Well, you killed a dragon so here's another point of Karma not expressly granted by the Missions author."

I refer you back to Bull's rules, particularly "In Gamemaster We Trust".

Just keep within the flavor of the Mission, tweak it if you wish, but probably avoid adding something that's completely unrelated to the run, and make sure their rewards are within the bounds of the rewards chapter.  I generally allow looting up to about 10% of what they otherwise earned on the run.  If something would push them 15-20% or higher in terms of fenced loot, I figure out a way to deny it to them... so that Cyberdeck got busted in half, the car crashed, etc.

[antaskidayo]

yeah its really hard to gauge party strength, it got me thinking when i was trying out chargen and its a level- less system. thanks for the input

[antaskidayo]

can you purchase gear higher than Availability 12 after chargen?

[The Masked Ferret]

Yes, but your face needs to be good, and you will probably be paying more than the market cost. It might not be so bad if the gm has time to watch you roll dice, but between game purchases are done using the buying hits method.

[antaskidayo]

Thanks Ferret,.. I'm testing out the mystic-adept and just found out that you can't buy anymore PP after chargen, its either metamagic or PP *shocks O___O

[The Masked Ferret]

It is how they balanced mystic adepts this edition. When Missions first started, after core was released, almost all characters were mystic adepts due to low karma for pp (2) and no limit on pp after chargen. Missions FAQ fixed issues, main game mirrored changes in errata.

[antaskidayo]

"Any non-living objects
appear as faded semblances of their physical selves;
grey, lifeless, and intangible."

- so if someone uses astral perception they see the walls, floors, ceilings and doors as gray faded semi-solid, and see the bright metahuman auras behind it? is that how it is supposed to work? i'm trying to find words on how to describe player experience, thanks =)

[SichoPhiend]

While it will be faded, lifeless and grey, it will still be opaque and solid.  You are unable to see through the wall, and just to point this out, this goes for windows too, as a lifeless object, it will be grey and opaque too.

And just to be clear, this is based on understanding from previous editions, not from clearly written information in this one.

[antaskidayo]

hmmm thats odd,..faded and intangible means see through, - I don't see opaque(how is it faded then?) and solid( how is it intangible if it is solid?) on the astral section.

I think that's why you need to discern things with the assensing skill to make sense of all those overlaying transparent stuff which is hard to understand.

[Bull]

Faded refers to the color, intangible means detail.  Basically, outside of living beings and masgically astral objects, everything else looks usually looks dull, gray, and flat.  You can't read in astral space, and you wouldn't be able to tell who a statue was carved to be (It would basically looks like a mannequin), and you wouldn't be able to tell the color of a car, just it's general shape and style.

Intangible itself is a bit of a misnomer as well.  Back in 1st and 2nd edition, auras were unable to pass through each other, including living auras.  One of the best astral defenses was to let a solid growth of ivy cover the walls, for example.  So in this case, intangible meant that it had no solidity on the astral plane. 

(This was changed in 3rd ed due to a growing number of "immovable Objects vs Irresistible Force" type paradox scenarios, mostly brought about due to FAB.  It was a whole thing once upon a time.)

But yes, short, semi official answer from a freelancer?  You cannot see through things in astral space. 

[antaskidayo]

Thanks Bull

Another question guys:

FULL DEFENSE
A character may increase their focus on defense
against any form of attack at any point in a Combat
Turn, so long as the character is not surprised

Direct: When your direct combat spell is successfully
cast, it inflicts a number of boxes of damage equal
to your net hits on the opposed test. The opposed test
generally pits your Spellcasting + Magic [Force] against
either Body (for physical spells) or Willpower (for mana
spells). The target does not get to resist the damage,
only the Spellcasting test.

SPELL RESISTANCE
Cost: 0.5 PP per level
You are inherently resistant to spells. Add +1 die per
level to Resistance Tests against spells, spell rituals, alchemical
preparations, or Innate Spell critter power (but
not other critter powers).

Okay so if a Mage hits a target in full defense with a manabolt, does he add his Willpower? and Spell resistance cannot affect the manabolt since the roll involves an opposed spellcasting/defense test and not a resistance test, right?(feels weird spell resistance but cant resist certain spells) thnx

[Jayde Moon]

One of the differences between Direct and Indirect spells is that the latter requires that you actually hit them while the former does not count as an 'attack'.

If you look at how the spells are resolved, you can see that Indirect Spells behave like other ranged attacks, in that the spell target gets a Reaction + Intuition Role (aka Defense Roll) and if they succeed with more net hits than the spell caster, the spell 'misses' (it went off, the firebolt, lightning bolt, or whatever still flies from the fingers of the mage and everyone sees it, it just misses).  THEN if the spell hits, you can resist the damage (aka Soak Roll).

A Direct spell, however, does not shoot a tangible object from your fingers.  You make a spell casting test that is opposed by Willpower or Body.  If the spell goes off, it does 'net hits' of UNRESISTED damage.  In other words, you don't get a Soak Roll.

SO!  Full Defense applies to Indirect Spells, but not to Direct Spells.

A little bit unclear is how Spell Resistance applies to Indirect Spells.  Do you apply the Resistance to the 'Defense' or the 'Soak'?  I think an argument can be made for both.  BUT, I would apply it to the Soak Roll, because the wording:

"Damage from an indirect combat spell is resisted with Body + Armor (adjusted for the spell’s AP)."

So you resist 'magical damage' after physically dodging the magical projectile.  I am sure that someone will have an alternate viewpoint and am happy to concede that the Spell Resistance dice might be applied to the opposed Spellcasting vs Defense roll.

For Direct Spells, it says: "The target does not get to resist the damage, only the Spellcasting test."  So in that case, you resist the Spellcasting test, therefore, Spell Resistance applies.