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talbot_mage [2023/12/07 13:24] – [Attack Spells & Drain] Update percentages to reflect fixed waterbolt drain khaitalbot_mage [2024/04/26 17:06] (current) – [Talbot's Musings on Hermetic Magic] Auto-combat clarification khai
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 ===== Talbot's Musings on Hermetic Magic ===== ===== Talbot's Musings on Hermetic Magic =====
-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, you can often take the time to knock out each member of a guard detail with stunbolts staged to deadly as they won't understand that you are the one attacking them.\\+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, casting a stunbolt or manabolt at deadly means they may not realize they're under attack until //after// you've knocked one of them out.\\
 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 that takes damage does understand that they are being attacked, but if the damage is staged to deadly, they don't get the chance to react (unless they have a trauma damper or pain editor).\\ +NOTE: If you deal damage, you enter combat and so your character will respond accordingly (drawing a weapon if you have a readied sheath/holster and attacking automatically if you have no other actions/spells queued up). Some spells/actions will cause combat without dealing damage (e.g., ignite, banishing). If you want to change this behavior, you can explore TOGGLE AUTOKILL and TOGGLE PASSIVE. \\ 
-NOTE: This page presents opinions from a mechanical optimization point of view +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's at least one spell in your queue, you pop the next spell off the queue. If your spell queue is empty, you auto-attack with whatever weapon you have in hand (or otherwise with your fists) instead of casting.
 ==== Attack Spells & Drain ==== ==== 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, by filling the mental track and then overflowing through the 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 to drain resist dice (willpower + spell pool). A trauma damper does make this significantly easier.+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 to drain resist dice (willpower + spell pool). A trauma damper does make this significantly easier.
  
 ^Spell         ^Drain  ^9 dice   ^12 dice  ^15 dice  ^9 dice w/ damper  ^12 dice w/ damper   ^ ^Spell         ^Drain  ^9 dice   ^12 dice  ^15 dice  ^9 dice w/ damper  ^12 dice w/ damper   ^
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 ^Spell                          ^Comments                                                                       ^ ^Spell                          ^Comments                                                                       ^
 |Stunbolt                       |low drain; if it fails to do damage, it does not initiate combat               | |Stunbolt                       |low drain; if it fails to do damage, it does not initiate combat               |
-|Powerbolt/Waterbolt            |for targets that are immune to stunbolt (i.e., non-living opponents)           |+|Waterbolt                      |for targets that are immune to stunbolt (i.e., non-living opponents)           |
 |Decrease Intelligence          |makes negotiation easier, thus helps you make more nuyen                       | |Decrease Intelligence          |makes negotiation easier, thus helps you make more nuyen                       |
 |Heal                           |as with all other spells, wound penalties apply                                | |Heal                           |as with all other spells, wound penalties apply                                |
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   * 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.   * 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.
  
-  * In character generation, spell points should generally not be purchased at the cost of 25k nuyen per point. 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/buy/design the spell formula (and access to a sorcery library). For the purpose of elemental materials, 1 spell point = 1k nuyen.+  * 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/buy/design the spell formula (and access to a sorcery library). For the purpose of elemental materials, 1 spell point = 1k nuyen. The chargen price of 25k nuyen per point is more than a little excessive and should be avoided if possible.
  
   * Melee is defended against by melee, so pick up a melee skill.   * Melee is defended against by melee, so pick up a melee skill.
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   * It is perfectly ok to use elementals (and thus sustained spells) at less than maximum force. Summoning force 5 elementals instead of force 8 will increase number of services by a factor of 2.4 on average. 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. Just force 5 combat sense (with 10 spellcasting successes) and force 5 armor are enough to put your combat pool and armor ratings on-par with or better than most street samurai.   * It is perfectly ok to use elementals (and thus sustained spells) at less than maximum force. Summoning force 5 elementals instead of force 8 will increase number of services by a factor of 2.4 on average. 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. Just force 5 combat sense (with 10 spellcasting successes) and force 5 armor are enough to put your combat pool and armor ratings on-par with or better than most street samurai.
  
-  * The odds of a mundane 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 TN penalties against you (+2 to shoot/melee/dodge if astrally perceiving, //at least// +4 if ultrasound, +8 for everybody else). Against force 6 (with 6 successes), their odds of beating the spell resist check is 0.04%.+  * The odds of a mundane elite guard with 8 dice beating the spell resistance check vs a force 5 imp invis (with 5 spellcasting successes) is 9%. Against force 6 (with 6 successes), their odds are 0.04%. 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 everybody (except for dual-natured creatures) suffers TN penalties against you (+2 to shoot/melee/dodge if astrally perceiving, //at least// +4 if ultrasound, +8 for everybody else). 
  
   * 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/reflecting and use a weapon focus.+  * When fighting against certain high force spirit that also cast spells, allocate your spool to defense/reflecting and use a weapon focus.
  
-  * For dangerous high-tier fights bring a large firearm loaded with APDS and shoot in from outside the room.+  * Against particularly strong critters with particularly high attributes, bring a large firearm loaded with APDS and shoot in from outside the room.
talbot_mage.1701984278.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/12/07 13:24 by khai

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