Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Character creation and critique => Topic started by: Inconnu on <03-02-13/1953:33>
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I made a Elf Surge character with Night Blindness and Bioluminescence. Combined with the innate Low-light vision, Bioluminescence is treated like full daylight, so it negates Night Blindness. However, if my character suited up like a ninja, i.e. covered every inch of skin they could, then wouldn't Bioluminescence be negated and thus Night Blindness be a problem?
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I would treat that as being needlessly cheesy, and smack you with a phone book until you picked something that wasn't stupid. But that's just what I'd do if I was GM.
Also, while Bioluminescence + Low-light makes you able to see like it was daylight, it does not actually make it daylight. Night Blindness still applies.
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I really think people countering their NQ with a positive one is pretty far up there on the cheese meter, especially if the NQ gives you more points than the PQ (which means you just got a few extra BPs for free).
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Personally, I would not allow a metatype with natural low-light or thermographic vision to even take night blindness. It doesn't make any kind of sense whatsoever.
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It's entirely impossible for an individual elf or orc to be less visually able at night than the typical example?
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Night Blindness
Bonus: 5 BP
When limited by this quality, a character’s (natural) eyes do not adapt to well to darkness and he has difficulty operating in dimly lit environments. This quality adds an additional –2 dice pool modifier to any other visibility modifiers in any lighting conditions worse than normal daylight (or the equivalent). This quality is incompatible with the Blind quality and with cyber or bio-replacement of the eyes.
Bioluminescence
Bonus: 5 BP
The character produces the pigment luciferin and the enzyme luciferase in her hair and/or skin, creating a “cold-light” green-to blue glow via a chemical reaction. Though too weak to observe in normal light, it is bright enough to spot, locate, or target the character in partial light or full darkness, negating visibility modifiers. The glow is sufficient to enable a character with low-light vision to see as if in daylight.
This would interact differently with Thermographic than it would with Low Light.
Thermographic Vision allows normal vision across a wider wavelength spectrum. Night Blindness would effect Thermo just like any other vision, so in situations where heat signatures are lower than normal (target wearing winter clothes, looking through a wall, etc.) it would still apply the -2 modifier. I would allow a character with Night Blindness and Thermo vision to ignore the penalties for Night Blindness if the targets are fully visible in the Infrared spectrum though.
Low Light Vision means that the eyes collect more ambient light like a cat's. Night Blindness means that the eyes do not adjust well or operate well in darkness. It is entirely possible for both of these features to operate by different biological processes and effect the same eyes at the same time. I would simply stack the modifiers. Easy.
As for Bioluminesence and Night Blindness, of course they stack. It even makes sense: If you are never in the dark, your ability to see in the dark atrophies. If you have a natural ability to see in the dark (Low Light Vision) it doesn't go away, but it doesn't work as well (because it stacks with Night Blindness).
That said, Bioluminesence isn't that much of an advantage. While it may make you able to see, it means everyone else can see you. Stealth is largely ruled out. It eliminates visibility penalties to anyone attacking you. Also, the more you cover up, the less benefit you should logically get from Bioluminesence.
It is up to the GM, but I would say that in normal clothing you would get half-benefit, and in full ninja-gear you would get no benefit (same for anyone attacking you).
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I need to point this out, thermography does not allow you to see through walls, a solid object that doesn't let light pass through it will not allow any other visible spectrum through it. Unless it's polarized to block those wavelengths of course. Thermography can be used to partially see through/into a person but that's different from the ability to see in infra red like trolls and dwarves can.
In any case, if you had night blindness I'd say that cancels out your low light vision, which is your ability to pick up even more light than normal human eyes can. If you covered up your luciferen producing skin/fur/hair you now have normal night blindness as if you were a human. If you uncovered your body to let light through, you would have the ability to see a short distance using the natural bioluminescence, like a night light.
But as for SURGE qualities in general, I absolutely hate it when people take SURGE without a character concept in mind. I've never had one of my players do it for point grabs but I'd smack their character repeatedly for being stupid if they did, if they ever got that character in game, which they wouldn't.
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Ok, this all makes sense. Thank you all! ;D