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talbot_mage [2022/08/09 01:44] – khai | talbot_mage [2024/04/01 21:50] – [Talbot's Musings on Hermetic Magic] add notes on toggle autokill and toggle passive khai | ||
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===== Talbot' | ===== Talbot' | ||
- | There are a lot of reasons for the non-awakened to be leery of magic. Perhaps the biggest one is that spellcasting is not obvious, especially when the spellcaster is invisible. A perceptive runner will notice when a potential adversary aims a firearm or baton at you, but your first indication of offensive magic may be when you start bleeding out of your ears. | + | There are a lot of reasons for the non-awakened to be leery of magic. Perhaps the biggest one is that spells like stunbolt and manabolt are not obvious. A perceptive runner will notice when a potential adversary aims a firearm or baton at you, but your first indication of offensive magic may be when you start bleeding out of your ears. |
- | Flipping the roles around, what this means for the spellcasting runner is that in cases where adversaries are not aware that they are in fact adversaries, | + | Flipping the roles around, what this means for the spellcasting runner is that in cases where adversaries are not aware that they are in fact adversaries, |
NOTE: Spellcasting alone does not initiate combat, meaning it does not put you in initiative rounds. Outside of initiative, you have a half second delay (IRL time) between spells.\\ | NOTE: Spellcasting alone does not initiate combat, meaning it does not put you in initiative rounds. Outside of initiative, you have a half second delay (IRL time) between spells.\\ | ||
- | NOTE: Technically, a target | + | NOTE: If you attempt to cast an offensive spell, the game interprets |
+ | NOTE: Successfully dealing | ||
+ | NOTE: Mobs can become alarmed if they notice your spellcasting. A higher magic rating and a lower spell force makes the spellcasting harder to notice, but a lower spell force is also easier to resist.\\ | ||
+ | NOTE: In combat, spell casting is queued. Each time you send a CAST command, your spell is added to the queue. On your action in the combat loop, if there' | ||
+ | ==== Attack Spells & Drain ==== | ||
+ | While manabolt and powerbolt deal physical damage, stunbolt deals mental. This means that using stunbolts, a spellcaster needs to deal twice as many boxes to mortally wound a target, first filling their mental track before overflowing into their physical track. However, stunbolt has the advantage of lower drain. Spell drain codes are calculated as (F/2 + modifier)(drain level), i.e., casting a stunbolt 6 at deadly has a drain of (6/2 - 1)(deadly) = 2D. Let's take a look at the odds to completely resist the drain for stunbolt, manabolt, and powerbolt, all cast at force 6 and deadly, compared | ||
- | === Improved Invisibility === | + | ^Spell |
+ | |Stunbolt 6D | ||
+ | |Manabolt 6D | ||
+ | |Powerbolt 6D |4D | ||
+ | |||
+ | Another attack spell that is often recommended is waterbolt. While stunbolt/ | ||
+ | ^Spell | ||
+ | |Waterbolt 5D |2D | ||
+ | |Waterbolt 6D |3D | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Improved Invisibility | ||
Improved invisibility is probably the most desired (or hated, depending on who has it) spell in the game. But for runners, there is a bit of nuance to using it. If the invisibility is seen through by any means, guards will respond aggressively. While a force 1 stealth spell can be used to prevent auto-detection via ultrasound, astral perception or the rare lucky spell resistance roll will still be able to spot you. In addition, if you initiate combat in a way that does not immediately knock your target unconscious, | Improved invisibility is probably the most desired (or hated, depending on who has it) spell in the game. But for runners, there is a bit of nuance to using it. If the invisibility is seen through by any means, guards will respond aggressively. While a force 1 stealth spell can be used to prevent auto-detection via ultrasound, astral perception or the rare lucky spell resistance roll will still be able to spot you. In addition, if you initiate combat in a way that does not immediately knock your target unconscious, | ||
- | NOTE: Invisibility still has a use if an adversary | + | For the not-so-subtle runner, improved invisibility |
- | === Compared to Other Archtypes | + | ==== Heal/Treat ==== |
- | Unlike a shaman, a hermetic' | + | The heal and treat spells can recover one box of physical health per success, to a maximum equal to the force of the spell. But the number of successes we can expect is highly dependent on the TN, which is set by 10 - (target' |
+ | NOTE: The treat spell can only be used in the same mud-hour as when damage was taken, in exchange for lower drain.\\ | ||
+ | NOTE: Heal/treat spells, as well as biotech treat, will work on physical drain damage. | ||
- | Where the hermetic has the advantage is their elementals, which have the ability to sustain spells associated with their element. A shaman is not able to sustain the various beneficial spells (beyond what can be handled by the available force 3 or 4 sustaining foci) without having to deal with prohibitive TN penalties in subsequent actions. Thus, a hermetic is better at using their magic in a self-supporting role. Along with the weakness in offensive spells, it makes sense for high-tier mages to approach situations they find dangerous in the same way as a street samurai (i.e. shooting large firearms loaded with APDS from outside the room).\\ | + | ==== Buffs ==== |
- | NOTE: Elementals cannot sustain health category spells.\\ | + | // |
- | NOTE: A mundane street samurai can reach rating 12 with firearms and melee skills and so is generally better at killing (except for elementals). A hermetic with a full suite of buffs plus spell defense / reflecting is generally better at surviving (even more so if willing to pick up some cyber/ | + | |
- | NOTE: In a team situation, a shaman is better at support magic, as they can sustain force 12 spells on teammates while the hermetic is limited to force 8. While the shaman would take sustaining penalties, that doesn' | + | |
- | === Buffing Up === | + | A mage's greatest strength is their ability to sustain more and higher force buff-type spells on themselves through the use of elementals.\\ |
- | The effectiveness of most sustained spells is from the number of successes you achieve, where the force only serves to cap the number of successes you may use (notable exception: armor). So, it's common for spellcasters to recast such spells until they reach that maximum number of usable successes. This leads to the question: how to split spell pool between casting and drain resistance so as to both maximize your chance of reaching | + | NOTE: Elementals cannot sustain health category spells. |
+ | |||
+ | The effectiveness of most sustained spells is from the number of successes you achieve, where the force only serves to cap the number of successes you may use (notable exception: armor). So, it's common for spellcasters to recast such spells until they reach that maximum number of usable successes. This leads to the question: how should you split your spell pool between casting and drain resistance so as to both maximize your chance of reaching | ||
NOTE: Drain power is calculated from half of force (round down), plus a modifier and damage level depending on the spell.\\ | NOTE: Drain power is calculated from half of force (round down), plus a modifier and damage level depending on the spell.\\ | ||
- | NOTE: Trauma dampers apply to drain damage.\\ | ||
- | NOTE: Heal/treat spells and biotech treat work on physical drain damage. | ||
- | This depends on too many details to explore here. That said, when outside of combat, you can cast a spell every half second, so let's take a look at how many drain resistance dice (willpower + spell pool) it takes to have around a 90% chance to not take any drain, i.e. around 10 attempts per rest. Let's also aim for enough spellcasting dice (sorcery + spell pool + foci) for around a 10% chance of hitting the effective successes cap. These numbers assume the caster doesn' | + | This depends on too many details to explore here. That said, when outside of combat, you can cast a spell every half second, so let's take a look at how many drain resistance dice (willpower + spell pool) it takes to have around a 90% chance to not take any drain, i.e., around 10 attempts per rest. Let's also aim for enough spellcasting dice (sorcery + spell pool + foci) for around a 10% chance of hitting the effective successes cap. These numbers assume the caster doesn' |
- | ^Spell | + | ^Spell |
- | |Increase Will (5 base willpower) | + | |Increase Will (5 base willpower) |
- | |Increase Will (6 base willpower) | + | |Increase Will (6 base willpower) |
- | |Combat Sense | + | |Combat Sense |
- | |Combat Sense | + | |Combat Sense |
- | ==== TL;DR ==== | + | ==== The Optimized Mage ==== |
- | === Notable Elemental Sustainable Spells === | + | In Awakened Worlds CE, effective magic rating is capped at 20. But for mages, what you get for raising your real magic rating higher than 10-15 (depending on build) is relatively minor. You get an extra spell pool die for every 3 points of int+magic (where your total magic is capped at 20) and an extra rating point of foci that you can have active at the same time per 0.5 points of real magic before risking foci addiction. |
- | ^Spell | + | Note: banishing has never been worth using (except for some very niche scenarios) in any edition of Shadowrun, and is no different in the mud. |
- | |Armor | + | |
- | |Combat Sense | + | |
- | |Stealth | + | |
- | |Improved Invisibility | + | |
- | === Highly Recommended Spells | + | === Foci === |
- | ^Spell | + | The assumption here is that you won't use a focus to sustain any spell that can instead be sustained by an elemental. |
- | |Stunbolt | + | |
- | |Waterbolt | + | |
- | |Heal |as with all other spells, wound penalties apply | | + | |
- | |Levitate | + | |
- | |Increase Willpower | + | |
- | |Increase Reflexes +3 |once in combat, spellcasting follows initiative rules; force 1 is enough | + | |
- | |Increase (everything else) |qui to layer armor, qui+int+wil for cpool, bod for soak, cha for conjuring, str for melee| | + | |
- | === Tips and Reminders === | + | Important for Spellcasting |
- | * Melee is defended against | + | * Power focus - This is by far the most efficient way to increase your spell pool (rating 4 = up to 5.5 spell pool dice, depending on existing attributes). |
+ | * Spell category focus - This adds its rating to the casting test for spells of the specified category. | ||
+ | * Specific spell focus - This adds its rating to the casting test for a specific spell. | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Willpower) - Assuming max effective successes, the spell force is added to your willpower, thus increasing your dice pool for drain resistance tests; also +1 spool / +3 will; also increases TN for opponent manabolt/ | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Reflexes) - This increases your initiative, allowing you to take actions (including spellcasting) faster and more often when in combat | ||
+ | * Spell defense focus - This adds its rating to your dice pool for spell defense | ||
- | | + | These foci could be worth having active, depending on your build: |
+ | | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Strength) - Specifically for non-monowhip melee builds. | ||
+ | * Weapon Focus - For builds that rely on melee offense; not needed for melee defense (you' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Being able to have these foci active, on top of everything above, is generally unneeded except for bragging rights, niche cases, or maybe pruns: | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Intelligence) - Cultured cerebral boosters are more efficient at +1 int / 0.2 magic lost vs +1 focus rating / 0.5 magic; +1 spool / +3 int; +1 cpool / +2 int (minor vs +8 cpool from elemental sustained combat sense); +1 hacking pool / +3 int. | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Quickness) - Cultured muscle toners are more efficient at +1 qui / 0.15 magic lost vs +1 focus rating / 0.5 magic; +1 cpool / +2 qui (minor vs +8 cpool from elemental sustained combat sense); +1 armor ratings from worn armor / +2 qui (minor vs +8 cpool from elemental sustained combat sense) | ||
+ | |||
+ | Being able to have these foci active, on top of everything above, is only really relevant for convenience or maybe pruns: | ||
+ | * Additional Spell Category / Specific Spell foci - You can only cast one spell a time, so you can deactivate whatever non-applicable spell category / specific spell foci as needed to avoid foci addiction. | ||
+ | * Sustaining focus (Charisma) - Only relevant when conjuring, so you can deactivate casting foci as needed to avoid foci addiction. | ||
+ | * Conjuring focus - Only relevant when conjuring, so you can deactivate casting foci as needed to avoid foci addiction. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are not worth the space they take up, except maybe in pruns: | ||
+ | * Expendable foci - In the mud, there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Archetype Comparisons ==== | ||
+ | Unlike a shaman, a hermetic mage's spells are limited by the quality of their library. There are no sorcery libraries with a rating greater than 8 available in Awakened Worlds CE. That restriction causes hermetic attack spells to be very unreliable when facing off against certain top tier opponents. Example: a force 8 stunbolt with 24 dice vs 16 willpower gives less than 4% chance of success, whereas a force 12 stunbolt in the same situation gives a 20% chance of success. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Where the hermetic has the advantage is their elementals, which have the ability to sustain spells associated with their element. A shaman is not able to sustain the various beneficial spells (beyond what can be handled by the available force 3 or 4 sustaining foci) without having to deal with sustaining penalties in subsequent actions. Thus, a hermetic is better at using their magic in a self-supporting role. Along with the weakness in offensive spells, it makes sense for high-tier mages to approach situations they find dangerous in the same way as a street samurai (i.e., shooting large firearms loaded with APDS from outside the room).\\ | ||
+ | NOTE: A mundane street samurai can reach rating 12 with firearms and melee skills and so is generally better at killing (except when opponents are spirits/ | ||
+ | NOTE: In a team situation, a shaman is better at support magic, as they can sustain force 12 spells on teammates while the hermetic is limited to force 8. While the shaman would take sustaining penalties, that doesn't matter when teammates can be relied on to handle the action. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Spell Lists ==== | ||
+ | === Buffs Sustainable by Elementals === | ||
+ | ^Spell | ||
+ | |Armor | ||
+ | |Combat Sense | ||
+ | |Improved Invisibility | ||
+ | |Stealth | ||
+ | |Levitate | ||
+ | |Light | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Other Highly Recommended Spells === | ||
+ | ^Spell | ||
+ | |Stunbolt | ||
+ | |Waterbolt | ||
+ | |Decrease Intelligence | ||
+ | |Heal | ||
+ | |Increase Willpower | ||
+ | |Increase Reflexes +3 |once in combat, spellcasting follows initiative rules; force 1 is enough | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Miscellaneous Tips and Thoughts ==== | ||
+ | * In character generation, spell points should generally be used for spells. Once in-game, learning spells takes significantly more effort compared to buying conjuring materials or earning karma to bind foci. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * For the purpose of bonding foci, 1 spell point = 1 karma. For the purpose of learning spells, 1 spell point = 1 karma + convenience of not having to find/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Melee is defended against by melee, so pick up a melee skill. | ||
| | ||
- | * Because drain codes are calculated from spell force divided by 2, //rounded down//, it is most efficient from a drain perspective to cast spells with odd number force. | + | |
+ | |||
+ | | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Trauma dampers do apply to drain, which is very much worth it despite the bioware index penalizing your magic rating. Being bioware, it doesn' | ||
+ | |||
+ | * Speaking of essence dependent spells, the mud does allow you to use a decrease attribute spell to reduce the TN for an increase spell for the same attribute, after which you can release the decrease spell. | ||
- | * It is perfectly ok to use elementals (and thus sustained spells) at less than max force. Summoning force 5 elementals instead of force 8 will result in 2.4x as many services. Force 5 elementals also require fewer conjuring materials, so in total, you'll be able to support 3.8x as many spells for the same amount of nuyen. | + | * It is perfectly ok to use elementals (and thus sustained spells) at less than maximum |
- | * The odds of an elite guard beating the spell resistance check vs a force 5 imp invis (with 5 spellcasting successes) is 9%. This means if you know you're walking into a fight, go ahead and cast that (and sustain with a water elemental) because it means at least 9 out of 10 will suffer | + | * The odds of a mundane |
* Autorun Johnsons ignore stealth spells (as well as invis spells). The stealth spell also does not cause guards to aggro, so it's perfectly ok to keep it active at all times. If you use the stealth skill, the spell makes it much less likely for opponents to beat the perception check. NOTE: sneaking works when moving between rooms; stand in a room long enough and opponents will spot you without needing a perception check. | * Autorun Johnsons ignore stealth spells (as well as invis spells). The stealth spell also does not cause guards to aggro, so it's perfectly ok to keep it active at all times. If you use the stealth skill, the spell makes it much less likely for opponents to beat the perception check. NOTE: sneaking works when moving between rooms; stand in a room long enough and opponents will spot you without needing a perception check. | ||
- | * When fighting against high force spirits, allocate your spool to defense/ | + | * When fighting against |
- | * For dangerous | + | * Against particularly strong critters with particularly |