[Zweiblumen]

Swapping rituals is fine.  Speaking of which, @All, there were some other char sheet changes being mentioned while we were still in the bar.  If you've made those, please let me know, and if not and you still want to, please make them and let me know.
[...]
@Zwei, ahh, vehicle speed.  Yes, I had also heard that Rigger 5 was going to have a table, but what they did do was explicitly say that the Speed ratings on vehicles are abstractions and not to be taken as indicative of a vehicle's speed.  Lovely.  Tec's run some of the numbers, and it looks to me like we can approximate just fine for ground vehicles.  60 mph for a small drone seems pretty fast but future and all that.  Sounds fine.

I know I had wanted to make a change or two, probably with regards to perception and maybe stealth, but I think I can wait until actual downtime.  We've gone this long with them as is.

and :thumbsup: for the Speed issues.  I'm assuming you are cool with all of the liberties I took in my IC?

[Herr Brackhaus]

@Herr, you can get a Spirit bound before we start.

Cool. Assuming this all has happened with enough time for me to sleep of the almost certain unconsciousness that's about to happen, I'll summon a Force 6 Spirit, which due to the Spirit Whisperer quality will appear as a Force 7, which will be a bitch to bind

Rolls to follow.

@Herr, re: casting.  Using Edge to cast spells changes the Limit which effectively changes the Force.  Reagents are the only way to raise the Limit without increasing Drain.  So, for Detect Life the Drain value is 7P.  I think you're working off of a different interpretation here, so you would have handled that spell differently let me know and we'll work it out.

Huh? Using Edge to Push The Limit simply changes the limit, it does not alter the Force of the Spell in any way, shape, or form. Unless that's a houserule, in which case; how do you determine the Force of the spell when using Edge? This is important for any Spells that rely on Force for other properties, such as most Detection spells or AOE Combat spells where the Area of Effect is either straight up Force meters, or Magic x Force x 10 meters, for example.

Casting a Force 1 Fireball means the area affected is a circle 1 meter in radius (2 meter diameter) and you are limited to one hit, whereas casting a Force 10 Fireball means the area is 10 meters (20 meter diameter) and you're limited to 10 hits. Using Reagents or Edge to "Push The Limit" allows you to ignore the second restriction (i.e. the number of hits), but you're still constrained to the (Force) meter area of effect. At least, that's the RAW, which again, if we're using house rules for this I'd need more information on how you handle it. For example, if I were to cast a Force 6 Lightning Bolt, which as an Indirect Combat spell does Force + Net Hits DV, how would you measure DV and AP if you interpret the rules in such a way that using Edge changes the Force? Does the Force increase or decrease depending on hits, or net hits?

Relevant rules references:

The limit on the test, which tells you the maximum amount of hits you can apply to the test

Push the Limit: Add your Edge rating to your test, either before or after the roll. This can allow you to take tests that might otherwise have  a dice pool of zero or less thanks to various modifiers in play. Using Edge in this way makes the Rule of Six come into play: for every 6 you roll, count it as a hit and then re-roll that die, adding any additional hits from the re-roll to your total. If you decide to use this function after your initial roll, only your Edge dice use the Rule of Six. This use of Edge also allows you to ignore any limit on your test.

Note the use of "ignore", not change.

You must declare the Force at which to cast the spell. The Force acts as a limit on the spell. Higher Force spells are more powerful, but cause more Drain. You can cast a spell at a Force up to twice your Magic rating. If the number of hits (not net hits) you get after applying the limit exceeds your Magic rating, the spell’s Drain is Physical instead of Stun damage.

I can't find anywhere in the spellcasting section that says using Edge alters the Force of the spell, and I've never heard of anyone playing it that way; as per the above, Force is still important for a number of reasons (for example, Drain Value, Damage Value, Armor Penetration, and Area of Effect are among the many factors affected by Force), and you still need to specify a Force to be able to calculate these variables, even if spending Edge lets you ignore the limit on the number of hits you can apply to the test as per page 46.

Also, please list the Force and spell in your Orokos description.

Sure thing, will do.

Swapping rituals is fine.  Speaking of which, @All, there were some other char sheet changes being mentioned while we were still in the bar.  If you've made those, please let me know, and if not and you still want to, please make them and let me know.

Coolio, thanks. Once I realized how hard it was to get even a barely decent use out of a Watcher it just didn't make sense, and Astral Doppleganger seems quite fitting especially when paired with Astral Clairvoyance.

Let me get back to you on Shattershield.  I'll have to read the thread.

I just started it this morning, so I don't think there are any replies yet. It was an observation made by Tecumseh, and I agree with him that it's beyond weird that Shattershield is identical to Death Touch except for description and Drain Value. As mana spells, they should both be able to affect a mana barrier on both the astral and physical planes.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Summoning Force 6 Guardian Spirit, Spirit Resistance, Drain Resistance: 14d6t5 5 7d6t5 2 10d6t5 5

OK, 5-2 = 3 net hits = 3 owed services, 4 drain and 5 hits on drain resist = no drain on the summoning roll; could have been better but could easily have been worse.

Since Binding is expensive requiring Force x 25 reagents, I'd be using Edge to Push the Limit and then rest for a day or two. In this case that should be pretty straight forward as there is no restrictions on Force as per the above discussion. So, 19 dice with exploding sixes vs the Spirits 14. This is gonna hurt...
Binding Force 7 Guardian Spirit, Spirit Resistance, Drain Resistance: 19d6h5 8 14d6t5 2 10d6t5 2

LUCKY! 8-2 = 6 net hits on the binding test = 5 owed services (the first is used to succeed at the binding test), and only 4 drain, 2 of which are unresisted Physical damage due to the spirit being Force 7 because of Spirit Whisperer. I have a bound Force 7 Guardian Spirit with 8 owed services. That sucker costs all of my starting reagents, but is freakin' worth it...

ETA:
Bummer, I can't actually bind that spirit because my Lodge isn't a high enough Force. Oops. So, make the summoning roll a Force 5 for a Force 6 spirit (which means losing out on an optional power, but oh well) instead; looking at the dice and taking away the last one and two dice from it's respective rolls leaves the exact same results, but the damage inflicted is Stun instead of Physical, and I have 25 drams of reagents left.

Let me know if you'd rather have me re-roll, but I've always preferred just taking away dice from the end of the roll especially in PbP as it allows the GM to modify the results on the fly without having to wait for a reroll.

So, Force 6 Guardian Spirit with the optional power of Animal Control (who knows, rats and ravens might make good spies , with 8 services owed. I'll take it.

[rednblack]

@Herr, on spellcasting + Edge you're totally right.  Too much arcology podcast has been getting to me.

Next IC will cover Spitfire's drones, developments at the site, and Jaeger's suite of spells.  That should be up tomorrow.

[Tecumseh]

I'm going to be hit-or-miss for the next few days. My wife is out of town until Wednesday afternoon; I will be doing the Single Dad thing with my 11-month old until then. While I have done all the components of the daily routine individually, I've never done them all for a whole day, let alone three days. The biggest concern is the early morning feeding, which happens sometime between 4am and 6am. While my wife can just grab the little munchkin and feed him while she dozes, I have to get up and do a 10-minute ritual to warm the bottle to the preferred temperature.

Meanwhile, I'll also be trying to catch up at work after being out of the office for a week and a half. Should be a wild ride.

[Zweiblumen]

I will be doing the Single Dad thing with my 11-month old until then.

Nope.  Uh-uh.  No way.  Don't believe you. 

You had your kid, like last week, maybe a month ago tops.  0 chance that was almost a year ago.

* Zweiblumen crawls back into his cave where time doesn't exist.

Ahhhemmmm.

Sorry about that, had a minor time-space issue there.  I should be better now.

Good luck with the kiddo, I'm sure you'll do just fine.  Work will sort itself out (just as the game will).

[Herr Brackhaus]

Any additional information on what the metahumans are in terms of metatype? That's not very detailed information for 8 hits, so either they rolled real well on resistance tests or they've got some pretty punchy Counterspelling going. I'm not sure I agree that 7 metahumans constitutes as "mess" of life, even if they are in somewhat close proximity, because if it does then Detect Life just got a lot less useful. In the core book the sample has the Detect Life score rather significantly detailed information from three metahumans in what I can only think of as quite close proximity (ref page 286).

I should also point out that like with Stealth, the "attacker" only rolls once but each defender rolls separately. For example, the description of the three metahumans outside would put my net hits around 1 (i.e. a group of metahumans) or 2 (a dwarf, a troll, and an ork). I would be very surprised if all three outside rolled 6 or 7 hits on their opposed test.

For now, though, I'll keep sustaining the spells and post IC reporting back what I got on the first pass. I'll likely make a second pass on the other side of the building as it looks like roads are on both sides, to get a better idea of where that tunnel goes. I'm considering casting Astral Clairvoyance to try to Assense the three outside, but it doesn't sound like there's a way to do that without being spotted right back.

Speaking of; how do you handle sneaking on the Astral? Because I might just send the Force 7 Guardian Spirit to do that for me; it has a total dice pool of Assensing 7 + Intuition 7 = 14, which is more than I do what with sustaining penalties currently, but I also don't want to risk it needlessly. So, how would I go about trying to get the spirit to get a glance at the opposition without totally exposing itself?

Spatial Sense definitely just paid off, though

[Tecumseh]

OR it's a lot of detail for a GM to include in a post that's already long. It's difficult to write 5+ hits' worth of information for a dozen different people.

Minor points: I think there's some naming confusion in the IC post. There's one reference to Mercer that should be Achak (being called Nighthawker inside Sunrise) and another reference to Spitfire (instead of Flickr) talking about Kreutz in Ireland.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Oh, absolutely. Not complaining, just asking for clarification. I'm finding it hard to relate to these people just like my character would, as I'm new to the game

[Tecumseh]

With 22 months on the forums and 2,900 posts, I'm not sure you can claim that you're new to the game anymore.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Hehe, I've been around for a lot longer than that. But every game of Shadowrun I've run or been a runner at has had its own quirks. My own house rules for SR5 alone are at least 20 pages, to put it that way.

So when I say I'm new to the game, I mean this game in particular. I'm not sure if the others know how Kreutz and the two others are, or even what they are, but neither I nor Jaeger know much at all at this point.

[Tecumseh]

Ah, this game.

Spatial Sense is an interesting spell and you got a cool result. I will be eager to watch the interplay between Achak and Jaeger, as I originally built Achak as a semi-experiment with a Detection Adept. Thus Motion Sense, Magic Sense, Combat Sense, Danger Sense, Improved Senses, etc... the idea being to have a good spotter that couldn't be easily surprised. I didn't spring for Astral Perception, mostly because I couldn't afford Assensing. But now, in addition to Assensing, Jaeger brings other fun tricks to the table. Let's see where it goes.

[Herr Brackhaus]

Working on IC post now; I've created the following image to indicate the range of my spell, which is 180 meters or roughly 600 feet. As per the IC post I'll have the autopilot try to get within 600 feet using only public roads, which means driving north-west on Alexander Ave, north-east on Lincoln Ave, south-east on Taylor Way and taking 49th Ave NE to the end before u-turning back to Taylor. That'll give me almost all of the target building, and hopefully some more information about where the tunnel goes unless I've missed my mark on where it actually goes. If I have, Erik's curiosity will definitely prompt him to follow it.

As per the attachment, areas in red are covered by the spell from the road (circle of 180 meter radius, represented by a square in this case because of movement). The four bars indicate distance from center of Alexander and Lincoln Ave, as well as the u-turn location on 49th Ave NE, to give an indication of coverage.

[rednblack]

OR it's a lot of detail for a GM to include in a post that's already long. It's difficult to write 5+ hits' worth of information for a dozen different people.

That's about the size of it.  OOCly, Jaeger's spells will confirm what was already listed in the IC.  ICly, Jaeger's spell will give him firsthand knowledge of what was put in my last IC post.  8 orks total inside, 7 of which have something funky going on with them.  Two humans, also with something funky going on with them.  Outside, you have 1 human, 1 dwarf, 1 troll.  One of them walks like a white man, about 95.25 kg with 63 cents old US money in his pocket.  Anybody who can tell me where that last bit came from can take an Edge back.  As for the "mess" of humanity, a group of wendigo grappling might be hard to pick apart.  Multiple passes will take care of that.

As for the tunnel, Jaeger is able to track it back east/southeast, about 70 meters, where it hooks up with the sewer system.  He's able to get a bead on a pretty hefty barrier between the two, and a pretty hefty door about 5 meters before the barrier -- on the warehouse side. 

Sneaking on the astral, Jaeger should be able to Assense, or have his spirit do it for him -- any of the metas outside the warehouse without fear of being spotted by the spirit, or any dual-natured critters.  Getting inside the warehouse will complicate things.  He'll need astral LoS, which means the Assensing body -- astral or otherwise -- will need to be inside the warehouse proper.  I've never been totally satisfied with he way sneaking v. Astral Perception works, but my understanding is that you can make a Sneaking test and it will be defended against as normal.  No benefit for Invisibility, Chameleon suits, Spirit's Concealment power, etc. of course.  I'm open to suggestions here.  Manascape may be a good play as well and just make your Force 7 Guardian Spirit look like a dust mite.

Also, nice work on the map, Herr.  Very cool.

@Tec, fixed Flickr's name.  As for "nighthawker," it seems that's more of a term than a reference to Achak specifically.  Have fun with Tec Jr.  I don't think I ever did dad duty solo for so long when mine were that age, so Ghost's speed to you, sir.

Have I missed anything?

[Herr Brackhaus]

Awesome, that's perfect rednblack, thanks for the additional detail. Precisely what I was looking for, though I've no idea what the 95.25kg with 63 cents in his pockets refers to unless it's the song.

My only outstanding question is Shattershield. I've house ruled the spell variants that are limited to [object] or [type] to function exactly like the original spell but have a DV of Net Hits x 2, just like Sunbeam. Unlike Sunbeam, however, they obviously do not do any damage to targets that do not match their limitation. So, Slay Ork would do net hits x 2 DV and otherwise function exactly like Mana Bolt in terms of targeting, drain, and duration, etc, but be completely ineffective against all other metatypes.

In this case, Shattershield would be exactly like Death Touch, but do Net Hits x 2 DV resisted only by Force, and it would be completely useless against everything else. Just my interpretation; Timberbeast suggested making it the same as the original spell but with another -1 to Drain, but I find that to be a less-than-desireable solution as there are better ways to reduce drain that doesn't make the specific spells rather lackluster as options.

Let me know what you think; if you'd rather not deal with it I can just pick up Death Touch instead.