Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I thought I could get back into it, or even pick up GMing it, but I've realized that it's just not going to happen. I had a hard time getting back into the character's mindset, and now I have so much going on that it'd be even harder. I actually just had to give up running my RL group's games to cut down on the stress.
So, my apologies for flaking out and vanishing (with whatever impact that had on the revival of this game), and I wish you all well in future games.
I'm finally done with the September craziness as of the end of this weekend! Over the course of the next week, I'll be catching myself up on everything that I've been letting slide, and the week after that I should know whether or not I've got the time and energy to actually GM a game. I really hope to, but I might need to stay a player.
I sound like an echo chamber, but I'm sorry to hear it too. It's a sad thing to have to deal with.
Personally, I'm having the opposite problem from Jinx. It's not that things are moving too fast for me, but I'm having a really hard time getting back into Kat's mindset, so I'm having a hard time posting when I want to.
I also think I'm overcommitted for this month, which doesn't help the problem.
I'm not going to drop just yet, but by next week I may have no choice. October can't get here soon enough.
There's also First Aid, which has to be applied within 12 hours, and before any other treatment (magical or mundane). Unlike Medicine, which just improves your ability to heal once you make natural healing rolls, First Aid actually treats the wounds. But it's not an easy roll, can make things worse if it goes badly, and is very limited in how much it can cure. (First Aid + Logic (2), hits over the 2-hit threshold heal boxes, up to your First Aid skill's rating)
Jinx, since you haven't quite lost 2 points of Essence, the penalty to Medicine rolls to heal you starts at -2. The penalty for a doctor to heal you in the midst of a fire, with no supplies on hand would be -9... -11 if you're trying to carry the doctor out of the fire at the time instead of letting him treat you. Aren't modifier tables fun?
With a nod, Kat extends her hand limply towards Jack. She's holding it out in the classic posture for a hand to be taken and kissed, although she gives the impression that that is the usual way she offers her hand. "If you would be so kind. I hope you're capable of more extensive treatment than you needed for your comrade."
I hope I'm reading Crix's damage tracks right - He had 1/11 physical and 6/10 stun?
Oh, I see. I deducted the two on the guy's medkit test. Hm. GM? Should I re-roll it all, or just leave it as-is?
No, that was right. The penalties are on the Medicine roll, which is what the 10 dice were. Hits from that are then bonuses on your own natural healing rolls (Body + Willpower or Body*2), which aren't penalized for who you are.
Penalty for being awakened is -2 to healing tests, penalty for essence loss is -1 per 2 points lost. Medkit:8d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 1, 2, 5, 1, 6, 2) = 22Only 2 hits, when it comes up.
In response to Jack's raised eyebrow, he gets a saucy wink back. Any further exchange is interrupted by the detective's attempt at intimidation, which doesn't have much of a cowing effect on the self-possessed elf.
Later, at the restaurant, Kat quirks an eyebrow at Miyako's surprisingly generous offer, then proceeds to order two of the most expensive item on the menu.
After the waiter leaves, she chimes in. Her English has a mild accent, although she speaks it as fluently as a native. "I, on the other hand, have much more fun before the target is... perforated. Once they're dead, they're just boring."
To everyone: If you've heard of Hellcat before, you probably also know she's considered difficult to work with. Notoriety 3
Jack: You need to sustain it for (Force) turns for it to become permanent.
Kat starts to say <<"Four thou...">> when the call gets cut off, and she's left unable to complete her thought for the second time in a row.
Turning to Tosh, she gets a look of disgust and says, "Look. If you want us to get this done, healing would help. So would more cash for equipment, but I'll settle for the healing. Get someone over here to treat these people, and we'll do what we can to get him to you alive. Anything else you can provide us will just make it that much more likely we'll actually be able to bring him back to you."
I've just gotten back from vacation, and I'm only going to be able to post 4 days a week during all of September. That's why I couldn't step up to GM this.
I'll try and keep up, though.
Mr. Johnson - what, if anything, should I do with the damage I took in the Beta version of this fight? It was pretty close to incapacitating, even after healing, although 5 hours rest had cured all the stun when the thread died.
I'm not sure how much of my damage from the other thread to carry over, if any. Until you say otherwise, I'll assume my current 7 boxes of Stun and 6 of Physical, that she's expended her beast spirit, and that she's currently under the effects of a Stim-6 patch.
Maeyan is casting Healthy Glow before meeting the new runners. All her spells are at Force 5 unless specified otherwise. Spellcasting (11-2):9d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 6, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 6) = 416 hits Drain (vs 1 damage):10d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 5, 4, 2, 5, 2, 2, 4, 3) = 343 hits, no damage
She currently has Armor (Force 3) and Improved Reflexes (Force 3) up via sustaining foci, unless she would have been made to drop them.
In many ways, Maeyan is the total opposite of Jinx. Where he looks half-starved, she looks in the prime of health (discounting a number of cuts and bruises). Where he looks unkempt and poor, Maeyan has a natural elegance and is wearing a custom-tailored Mortimer of London business suit with a few pieces of understated jewelry. Where his eyes are dead grey ice, hers are dark liquid pools. And where he is quite obviously armed, she has no visible weapons on her person.
However, right now she is quite clearly pissed.
Stalking forward towards the new runners that are being forcibly added to her team, she opens her mouth to say something that would probably have been scathing, but gets interrupted by the commcall. With a glare in the general direction of the detective, she takes the call.
Afterwards, she says <<"Given the situation, it sounds like a win-win. Give us some details. Who? Where? How much?">>
I'm very familiar with the SR mechanics, but less so with the setting - I'm familiar with it, but not enough that I'd feel comfortable running it.
That being said, I would volunteer to step in to GM the rest of the run, since I'm intrigued by as much of it as the Beta team got though, except my schedule is going to suck between now and October, and I'm already pushing the limit of my time for PbP's. If people are willing to wait for October, I can pick this up then. If someone wants to step up to run it, and lean on me for mechanical support (either via email, IM, forum PM, or whatnot), I can try to help with that. Or, if we can recruit another GM, I'd love to either get them to pick up Beta too, or defect to Alpha (assuming there's room).
Kat briefly eyes the kid with distaste, then pretends he doesn't exist. Whether that's for his race, his age, or his socioeconomic status is unclear, but any of them could qualify him for her disapproval. Or it could just be another act, fulfilling the stereotype of "haughty elf".
Kat interrupts her own gear check (or maybe she's just checking herself in the mirror) to fire back at Faed: "I don't see how that's my problem - It's not my wall that's got paint all over it." She waves her hand dismissively in the direction of the wall. "Besides, that's what the maids are here for." She then resumes nonchalantly checking that she has all her jewelry on and all her various minor items in her pockets.
Emerging from the bathroom, she says "I'm ready. Time to earn our paysticks."
GM:
I'm not sure if the spell ends once I'm out of LOS to it or not, but if not, I'll drop it once we leave the floor.
Sorry, it was apparently my turn to vanish for a bit. Still no word from Frank?
Kat tosses her hair, with a disdainful, "Toys"". Then she pauses for a moment, and rather uncharacteristically continues in a more thoughtful tone: "Albeit, effective toys."
Recovering her poise, she pushes herself off the wall. "It sounds like the best plan we have, so lets go give it a shot."
Not waiting any more for Frank. Anyone want to PM him?
Kat just gives a little shrug. "Sure, I could, but we're in here now." She idly (and tauntingly) gives the can an shake or two as she turns to Adam and adds "I haven't heard of it, but that sounds like a good start. Can you track down a location?"
Apologies for forcing the scene, but I want to convey this, and I might not be able to post again until Sunday. If you want to alter the the assumptions I'm making, I don't object.
An hour or two after checking into the hotel, Kat (who somehow was the odd one out to get a room alone, again) knocks on the door to her prior partner's room. "I think I've got something. Lets go tell the others, so I don't have to repeat myself." She leads them down the hall to Frank and Faed's door, knocks for admittance, and proceeds them in.
"I've got a lead," she starts, after everyone who wants to has sat down. She turns to the wall behind her, pulls out a can of neon green spray paint, and proceeds to paint the words Pirate's Cove on the wall.
Underlining it with a line of the eye-searing paint, she turns back to everyone else. "So, who's heard of it?"
GM:
The spray paint is actually an illusion, as people are probably going to guess. It's via my illusion sustaining focus, so I don't take penalties for it, and 2 hits on an Intuition roll realizes it's fake. I'm not providing my Counterspelling dice for this.
I'm not sure how much penalty I have at this point. -4 at hour 1, -3 at hours 2-4, and -2 at hour 5. Making a Geography roll to know about a location called Pirate's Cove, in case it happens to actually be a cove. 5d6, -2 from physical wounds:3d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 5) = 9 -> critical glitch in hour 1-4, or a single succcess in hour 5.
In Sperethiel (not that it matters):<Hey Selly - I need anything you've got on a dealer in the Orc Underground named Jack Turner. I know you don't have a lot of business down there, but if you know anything or can find me a guide, I'll owe you one. After this job is done, I'll tell you all about it. We're up to three payouts for the same thing! And there was a really awesome fight! Don't worry, I'm fine. Also, anything you know about two runners who go by the names of "False Flag" Frank and Faed Kaykes would be useful. Catch you later!>
She'll also contact her usual fixer, although she doesn't really expect a response from him unless she offers cash.
Kat winces at the laughter and rubs her aching head.
"Let me play devil's advocate here. Who are you going to call who can put us in touch with someone like him? What if he smells a rat and bolts? If we don't know where he's operating out of, we can't track him, or prepare any surprises. And the surprises are the fun part!"
I'm at 7+1 stun and 3 physical right now (the extra stun hits after this scene), so Kat's only needs a few hours of rest to heal the Stun. On the other hand, I can put the extra time to good use by prepping more backup like the tiger.
That being said, this is Maeyan we're talking about. If she behaved rationally or consistently, she wouldn't be Kat.
Which reminds me - Frank and Faed, you may have heard of me. I've got a 3 Notoriety, so there's some amount of bad rep out on the street.
"Feh." Kat tosses her hair back over her shoulder (trying to hide a slight wince as she whips her head around) and counters "Lets go find a nice restaurant, have dinner, you can bleed all over their floor... We'll have a few drinks and try this again in an hour or two when things are quieter."
I'm back! Took a bit longer than expected, but I'm here.
@Mr. Johnson - Entirely right about Medicine. I'd forgotten about it, because it's only useful if you have the time to make a healing test, but it does stack with both First Aid and magical healing.
Kat gives the medic a look like he just returned her lost puppy... dead. Kindof a mix of pathetic gratefulness and on the verge of tears. "Oh, thank you! I'm sure you did everything you can do..." She trails off, and then glides away, with one last sad smile, before regrouping with the rest of her team and the newcomers.
As she approaches, her whole posture changes, from the very soft one she took with the medic to her more usual and battle-ready "hunting stalk". She spends the duration of the Russian conversation glaring at just about everyone, but especially the Reality Hackers who are left.
As the large troll approaches, she mutters over her commlink. "So, what's the plan?"
For what it's worth: Resting for an hour lets you roll to heal Stun. Resting for a day lets you roll to heal Physical. First Aid can only be applied once per set of wounds, and heals up to the skill's rating. Magical healing can only be applied once per set of wounds, heals up to the spell's Force, and prevents First Aid from being used.
As the various gangers are rounded up, Kat calls the tiger spirit back over to her. Petting its head, she crouches down to mutter to it briefly in a low voice, then makes a gesture of farewell, and the spirit quickly fades out. It only owed me one service, and that is now complete. It's now unbound and probably long gone.
Standing up and halfheartedly dusting herself off, she takes herself over to the medics. "Do you have anything for my head?" she asks plaintively, doing her injured best to look pathetic. At the moment, she seems to be paying no attention to the Knights Errant. She also seems to be paying no attention to her bullet wounds, which are still oozing sluggishly.
The stim patch lasts an hour, at the end of which I'm going to take another box of Stun and pass out. Until then, I'm not in as quite much pain as I seem to be, although it's close. -3 from wounds instead of -5.
The spirit has it's own initiative - it has (Fx2)+2, and 2 IP. So Spirit Initiative:12d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 6, 6, 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 2, 1, 6) = 54 -> 7 hits, +12 Initiative = 19 Initiative Score. That means it'd already have reached the Reality Hackers and be savaging them by the time Knight Errant comes down the stairs. It also wouldn't stop until I called him off, so feel free to put this anywhere in initiative you want, including on my turn. I moved the tiger to the empty space between RH Gunner 1 & 2.
Ignoring everything else going on as beneath its notice and irrelevant to its service, the tiger spirit pounces on RH Gunner 1 and rakes him with its back claws.
Bearing the Reality Hacker to the ground under it's weight (I'm cinematicly assuming he takes enough damage for it to count as a Knockdown: boxes in one attack > Body), the tiger turns towards the next one and steps forward, eyes blazing.
And now my turn, to happen at it's appropriate place.
As instructed, Kat freezes in the act of reaching forward to Flamethrower the Reality Hacker who isn't buried under several hundred pounds of spirit tiger, and drops the fragile Invisibility spell, becoming visible.
Composure(2) roll (at -3 wound penalty) to avoid being Vindictive:7d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 4, 5, 4, 4, 5) = 29 -> 3 hits.
Kat makes a visible effort to control herself, glaring at the Reality Hackers, but not setting them on fire. If looks could kill...
Not doing anything this turn, other than dismissing the tiger illusion, but also not calling off the "real" tiger. If there's an astrally perceiving mage with the Knights, they can roll Assensing to tell that the spirit is mine. Otherwise, there's no obvious connection.
It's definitely unclear as to how it happens in subsequent rounds, but it's pretty clear that your Initiative Score drops the moment you take a wound penalty.
I think that you just subtract from the score in subsequent rounds too, since they're applied to the Score and not the dice pool or the roll. But that's unclear.
I think I owe you all an apology... I just realized I misread my Campaign Guide. I just realized that it was giving me the gangers' Dice Pools, not skill ratings. I've been adding their linked attributes to the dice pool (thinking they were skills), so they were double dipping on their attributes.That would explain why these thugs are so powerful :P I'll nerf them back to their intended stats and hopefully that will help things out. :P
Bad GM! Bad! Kat thwaps Mr. Johnson with a rolled up newspaper.
Bursting into movement, Kat moves past the tiger (which appears to be morphing into something a touch less normal) and over to the corner of the kiosk. As she gets there, she makes a flinging gesture with each arm, and two more explosions of flame target the two Reality Hackers in the corner.
Current penalties: -2 wound, and dropping the tiger illusion so I have no spell-sustaining penalties. The spirit is generally tiger shaped, so there's not a great deal of difference, although some details will change and it definitely looks more supernatural.
I'm splitting my dice pool 6/5 to cast two Force 3 Flamethrower spells against RH Fighter 1 and RH Gunner 1. I also just noticed that there's a -3 penalty to defending against ranged attacks for being in melee combat which would apply here. Not sure if that's come up before.
Flamethrower against RH Fighter 1:4d6 ⇒ (3, 3, 3, 2) = 11 -> 0 hits - It misses and explodes against whatever it ends up hitting (the wall?). Drain 4:10d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 6, 6, 3, 3, 6, 4, 1, 5) = 40 -> 4 hits, no drain Flamethrower against RH Gunner 1:3d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 2) = 14 -> 2 hits. Drain 4:10d6 ⇒ (1, 5, 2, 2, 1, 5, 4, 2, 2, 1) = 25 -> 2 hits, 2 drain.
I am now at 9/10 stun damage and a -3 wound penalty.
Shadowrun combat is dangerous. There's ways to mitigate it (I once built an 800-BP character who was effectively immune to anything less than a battleship-mounted laser cannon that did 15P (AP: half impact -8), and a 400-BP version who could take one or two shots from a rocket launcher and keep coming), but the best defense is not getting hit. High reaction, taking the first initiative pass to dodge, cover, running, smoke bombs, thermal smoke bombs... The idea is to make the shooters take wide bursts to lower your defense, instead of narrow bursts to boost damage, and have enough mitigation to keep it down to a point or two of damage per shot. In melee, Dodge can count double, so it's really hard to hit a evasive character who's trying to evade. (This is where Kat's pre-damage strategy falls)
The second best defense is killing them faster than they kill you and just healing up afterwards. (This is where Kat is after getting hurt, and a big reason why extra initiative passes are so important)
The third best defense is soaking most of the damage with high armor values and/or Body. (This is where the characters I mentioned at the start fall)
The fourth best defense is to be dead.
The fifth best defense is to keep combat from starting in the first place. (And it's only so low because anyone can start shooting you at any time, if they think they have reason to.)
On the other hand, the gangers we're fighting are really good for street-level gangers. An average street gang member might have 5-8 dice to attack. 2-3 in their weapon and 3-5 in Agility (depending on race). Their leaders might have another point or two, and a specialization in their favorite weapon. CorpSec, on the other hand, will probably start out there and go up. A single Red Samurai could probably take us all on, especially if he had choice of terrain. So these gangers seem to be on the high end of what you'd expect from a gang, or the low-to-mid levels of Corporate Security.
Acting with the superhuman speed that only high-quality cyberware, life-threatening drugs or strong magic can produce, Kat yanks out a small gray patch with a lightning bolt design*, and slaps it on the side of her neck. As the drug begins to take effect, she makes a gesture at the tiger and it suddenly gains a presence that it didn't have before**. Knowing it can easily perceive her despite her invisibility, she simply nods towards the Reality Hackers, and it turns and roars in their general direction.
* Stim patch, Rating 6 - I ignore 6 boxes of stun damage for purposes of wound penalty, which brings me down to a -2 wound penalty. I'm asssuming this is a Simple action, since it's a Complex action (melee attack) to apply it to someone else, and it's less involved than loading a new clip
** Calling my bound Force 5 Beast Spirit as a Simple Action, and having it manifest so that it seems to be merged with the tiger illusion. Manifesting is a Complex action for it, so it can't do anything else this turn. Stats are on page 295 of the core book (302 in SR4A), and it has the Natural Weapon (5P) optional power, as well as Immunity to Normal Weapons, as a Manifested spirit. It only has two IP, though, so it doesn't get to act until the next time we roll initiative.
I'd originally written up a much more over-the-top post, but when I got down to the dice pools, I realized that it would be completely ineffective and decided to scrap it.
I'm posting it here just to share. This is actually the second revision - the first involved blast waves and the tiger being entirely on fire, but I didn't think to save that one...
What didn't happen:
Kat, bleeding from numerous gunshot wounds, drags herself to her feet with far less flair than usual. She narrows her eyes at the nearest Reality Hacker and says, "Alright, if you freaks prefer to play like that..."(If you didn't see through the invisibility, her voice is coming from right next to the tiger, and could be confused as it's voice in the chaos of combat, but there's no special effects to encourage that.) The tiger turns towards the RH Hacker next to the escalator, and its eyes begin glowing a fiery red.
She then claps, once, slowly.
At that moment, the troll's flame thrower explodes, and the crouching tiger springs forward, and it's front paws burst into flame as it does. The "equipment malfunction" seems far more excessive than there'd be any reasonable right to expect, as bits of troll and his gear go flying away into the corners of the area. (Dropping the troll and hot potato illusions. Also Agony, since that target is out of line of sight.) As soon as the targeted chromed ganger is in reach, the tiger lashes out with one flaming paw, leaving claw marks on yet another of the Reality Hackers, these ones smelling of burnt flesh.
I'm splitting my 11-die spellcasting dice pool between Flamethrower and another casting of Agony. I'm down to a -5 penalty after dropping three of the four spells, which each spell takes. Also, +6 to the illusion spell for being an illusion. So 9 dice -> 4 dice for Flamethrower, and 2 dice -> 3 dice for Agony.
Well that worked out. I went back to check my numbers, and discovered I'd actually taken 7 damage, not 6. 1+5+1 = 7. I can do math, really. However, that extra point would have been stun, not physical, because of the stun-conversion rule, so it works out. 4 stun is no worse than 3, penalty wise, and I didn't need to take any more physical.
Start-of-turn status check: -3 from wound penalties, -2 from sustaining the troll, -2 from sustaining Hot Potato, -2 from sustaining Agony, and -2 from sustaining the tiger. Invisibility is sustained by my focus, so I don't need to worry about that one. Net penalty: -11.
Kat, bleeding from numerous gunshot wounds, drags herself to her feet with far less flair than usual. She narrows her eyes at the nearest Reality Hacker and says, "Alright, if you freaks prefer to play like that..."(If you didn't see through the invisibility, her voice is coming from right next to the tiger, and could be confused as it's voice in the chaos of combat, but there's no special effects to encourage that.)
She then makes a flicking gesture towards the RH Hacker next to the escalator, who is suddenly and briefly wreathed in flames. At that same moment, the troll's flame thrower explodes excessively hard, sending bits of troll and his gear go flying away into the corners of the area.
I'm dropping the troll and hot potato illusions. Also Agony, since that target is out of line of sight. That reduces my penalty to -5, and I'm casting Flamethrower at the hacker with what's left of my dice pool. Force 5 Flamethrower:6d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 1, 3, 5, 5) = 22 -> 3 hits, 5 Drain:10d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 1, 4, 4, 5, 4, 1, 2, 4) = 35 -> 2 hits This spell is treated as a ranged attack, so the target rolls his reaction to dodge it. If it hits, it deals (5 + net hits)P fire damage, resisted with half Impact armor + any fire resist. (Convert to stun with a high armor as with a regular attack.) Also, I take 3 drain, which raises me to 7/10 stun damage and a -4 wound penalty.
Meanwhile, the tiger moves to stand protectively over Adam's body, growling at any gangers who look in that direction.
All I see when I look at that map are crazy action movie entrances (sliding down the escalator railings guns blazing, driving my car though whatever barrier is on the upper level and trying to hit some of the hackers with the crash, variations of the repelling idea I posted above, ect). I clearly can't be given free reign to introduce myself :).
Also, no worries about real life butting in to our play time. It happens to all of us at one time or another.
I vote for over-the-top... but then, I'm all for things which make people go "Bwah?" Also things which make them scream in fear - that one's fun too!
We've already had a troll with the flamethrower drop through a ceiling vent - I don't think it'd be out of place to come sliding down the escalator. It might even make people think you don't exist, which will be even more amusing. Kat's mouth curls into a scary smile.
And... I just noticed the thread. Hi everyone! Kat gives an embarrassed little wave.
Tarlane wrote:
Just as a little heads up, I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow afternoon and don't know how doped up I'll be going into Friday so I may be quiet the next couple days, but I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.
Oooh, I went through that a few months ago. Not fun at all. I was just really out of it for a day, although I wasn't totally back to normal for another two or three after that. Good luck!
I posted a recruitment post like on Friday or so and recruitment technically closed yesterday. We just need to pick 2 new players.. We had several characters submitted. What does everybody think of the submissions?
PS: still not feeling great :P I'm drinking lots of orange juice lol. Thanks for your patience!
......
I am feeling so obvlivious right now. I never got a "new" tag next to the recruitment tab, since I'd never visited it...
Idea, if (and only if) you're feeling up to it: Post a recruitment post, give it until Sunday, and then put this on hold until that's resolved. It ought to be less effort to keep an eye on that thread to answer questions than to keep this moving along, and you don't need to actually review anyone's stat blocks until you're feeling better. Then the new character can just swap in as we get going again.
Does RH4 know where I am? Or did he just shoot through the illusion and hit me behind it? Because I did totally just stand right behind the weretiger like an idiot... I'm not giving up my next action to total defense, so I only get my Reaction. Mr. Johnson: I don't know if the Cat Mentor spirit's bonus to Gymnastics tests would apply to a gymnastic dodge or not, since it's not strictly a gymnastics test. What would you say?
Reaction roll 1:3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 5) = 13 -> 2 hits, so 8P Reaction roll 2:2d6 ⇒ (4, 6) = 10 -> 1 hit, so 8P Reaction roll 3:1d6 ⇒ 5 -> 1 hit, so 6P I think I got all of Rick's good dice, but I just don't have enough to throw for it to matter :p
Net damage: 6, putting me at 6/9 physical, on top of my 3/10 stun, for a cumulative wound penalty of -3. On the other hand... I'm not toying around any more.
I'm open to anyone mundane. Not that I'd object to another magical character, but we do already have two.
I think Adam's going to be useful no matter who we get - he's a very well rounded character, so combine him with any specialist and he'll still have a unique niche. If we get a gunslinger, he focuses more on the hacking. If we get a hacker, he's our gunslinger. Before I came along with my absurd Charisma score, he was the primary social character, too... and he is still the better choice in some situations.
All that being said, I'm inclined towards a gun specialist myself. I'm a big believer in as many passes as possible in combat (you may have noticed that), so finding someone who has two or three times as many chances to shoot makes sense to me.
And... I realized I forgot to increase drain for multi-casting. Three spells means +2 drain. So I take one drain from Invisibility, two from TP, and (10d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 1, 3, 1, 1, 3, 6, 2, 6) = 30 -> 3 hits) no drain from Agony. I now have 3 stun damage, and yet another -1 to everything...
In retrospect, I'm definitely spreading myself too thin to be effective.
Also, I take a step back after all the spellcasting - map adjusted.
Rick, for what it's worth, you don't apply wound penalties to armor rolls. You always resist damage with your full dice pool, as modified by the AP of the weapon attacking you. This also applies to spell resistance rolls, drain rolls, and the like. It doesn't apply to dodge rolls or other "avoid" rolls - those are penalized normally. It's only "resist" rolls which aren't affected.
Kat looks innocently up at the ganger. "Keeb? Me? Ha! I'm far worse than that, kibble." As she says "kibble" (which she draws out so that it sounds like "keeble"), Kat's skin begins rippling as she shifts into a tiger! The tiger immediately begins lashing into the Reality Hacker with its claws, leaving large gashes on him.
What appears to be happening, from a metagame perspective: Kat is actually a weretiger (yes, those exist, although they're rare), and just reverted to her natural form (shapeshifters are animals who can become human, not the other way around).
What's actually happening: Kat is triple-casting illusions: Improved Invisiblity, so her real self disappears; Trid Phantasm again, to create the "tiger" and the "gashes"; and Agony, which is a spell that causes illusionary Physical damage - while the spell is in effect, the target takes wound penalties as if he had (net hits) extra boxes of damage, with "death" instead being immobilized by the pain.
Math & Rolls:
I'm currently at -4 to all actions because of the two previous illusion spells I'm sustaining. That applies to each of the three dice pools, mostly counteracting the +6 to illusion spells. Improved Invisibility, at Force 3, into the last sustaining focus (2 drain): 6d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 3, 2, 4, 6) = 20 -> 1 hit 10d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 5, 3, 5, 2, 1, 2, 1) = 30 -> 3 hits, no drain. Trid Phantasm @F5, 5 drain: 6d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 3, 6, 3, 6) = 24 -> 3 hits, 10d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 6, 3, 3, 5, 1, 2, 6, 6) = 39 -> 5 hits, no drain. Agony, @F5, 0 drain (5/2 -2) 5d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 3, 6, 2) = 23 -> 3 hits
Invisibility is resisted with Intuition - one hit is enough to see me, and it's not fooling any devices (cybereyes don't count, since they're part of people). TP is Intuition as well - It's visible to anyone within 5 meters, and 3 hits lets you see that the tiger (and the blood) isn't real. Agony is resisted with Willpower. I am now at -8 to all actions, since I'm sustaining 4 spells without foci.
Excellent! I've moved myself over onto the whatever-it-is next to the escalator, to indicate ducking behind it. Since it's between the entry point and the crowd, I'll have ducked behind it rather than the escalator - same result, though.
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Fortunately for Kat, her illusion fools nearly everyone, and the Hot Potato is too strong for any of them to throw off completely. The grinning troll makes wide sweeps with his flamethrower, and the Reality Hackers writhe in agony--after all, most of them have extensive cyberware. Also, as she is surely thrilled with, a few innocent bystanders still trying to make it through the panicking crowd are close enough to get hit with the Hot Potato effect, and they frantically remove piercings, belts, and spectacles before shoving their way through the crowd out.
Skraacha
Unfortunately for Kat, the Skraacha don't appear to be wearing much in the way of metal--none that has direct contact with the skin, anyway. The gunners are out of the hot potato range, and the brawlers are wielding good old fashioned wooden baseball bats with nails pounded through them, at the top far away from the handle.
This is exactly what I was hoping for. The troll's supposed to be "reinforcements" for the Skraacha, although a flamethrower is not a precision weapon, so I use that term very loosely.
I assume that the unnammed icon in the middle is the troll, and the shaded area is the range of the illusion? Looking at it, I realized I screwed up slightly. Radius should have been 5 meters, not 6 - I cast my spells at Force 5, since I only have Magic 5. If you'd like, I could just say I overcast that one to Force 6, and I'll roll an extra die of drain for it (which would be physical damage), or you could adjust the radius. Let me know how you want to handle it, and my apologies. :(
As her illusion takes effect, Kat shoots a glare at the one orc who shouted out. Under her breath, she mutters "Bastard" in Sperethiel. Since her subvocal mike is active, the rest of the team hears it clearly, although it was clearly not intended for them.
You won't reach the bottom of the escalator until the end of the Combat Turn (once everyone has used their IPs). More IPs don't increase your total movement for the Combat Turn. This Combat Turn was for prepping your guns, casting any buffs, etc. We could save this as your first action of the next Combat Round, though.
Oops. I got the turn and the pass mixed up. Nothing else to prep, then.
Aram Mirza