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Messages - babel2uk

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136
DFRPG / Re: Refresh cost for teleportation
« on: September 26, 2010, 07:31:06 PM »
Quote from: Belial666 on September 26, 2010, 10:09:12 AM
Considering that 1 mile (30 minutes) of walking or so takes you from Chicago to Endinburg, the equivalent of 4 minutes of walking (200+ meters or 10 zones) would take you a good 500 miles in the real world.

Not necessarily. The route is a massively important factor. You can't just go into the Never Never at a random point walk 200 meters and exit, and expect that to get you anywhere helpful or indeed surviveable, that's assuming the Never Never location isn't massively hostile. That's why knowledge of the Ways is so important, and why Harry doesn't just go off exploring. As far as I can tell from the novels you could walk for days in a given direction in the Never Never and come out into the real world two steps away from where you started, or take three steps and come out 4,000 miles away (or indeed much, much further). Long range teleportation using the Never Never is probably not a feasible thing, it would be way too random in it's results. If that's what you want then go for it, but if you want manageable, predictable teleportation you probably want to stick with short range stuff using the suggestions already outlined based on mythic speed.

137
DFRPG / Re: Items, but not Enchanted, Of Power, etc
« on: September 22, 2010, 03:41:28 PM »
Quote from: wolff96 on September 22, 2010, 03:29:42 PM
Mechanically speaking, the block idea works really, really well...  until someone picks up a phone.  How would you resolve that one when using it as a block?

I'd just say that until someone beats the block, they're not going to phone the FBI to check - why should they if the ID seems authentic, they're more likely to just run with it.

Giving it an aspect seems a little OTT. Sure you could do so, but why, if you don't have the fate points available to invoke the FBI Badge aspect, should you suddenly be unable to use a physical ID card? And the consequences of compelling it could be extremely harsh indeed - you're not just talking about it not working, you're talking about criminal charges, arrest and possible incarceration.

I'd vote for the block being the best way to handle it. Mitigated by common sense obviously.

138
DFRPG / Re: Blocks
« on: September 20, 2010, 08:33:43 AM »
According to one of the later posts in that thread the enchanted item rules discussed were edited into the books before they went to print. So the version in the books should be the final version. And that doesn't mention the most advantageous use rule. So now I'm confused as to whether we should be taking the version presented in the forum thread over the final version that went into the books.

As a request to the moderator - any chance of getting a sticky thread at the top of the Forum with either the links to, or the main rules for, these patches/errata? I'd seen that thread while looking through the forum, but assumed it was notes on changes before the final draft of the book went to the publishers. It'd be nice to have them all in one place rather than having to trawl for them - and it would flag them as actual patches to the main book rather than playtest rules discussions.

139
DFRPG / Re: I dont hav an issue i have a subscription
« on: September 19, 2010, 07:41:47 PM »
The key thing here is your own feelings as GM. Do you want this character in your group? You sound like you don't - which is fair, I wouldn't want it in my group.

One option is of course to simply say "No, pick a different character concept. It's just not going to fit into the game." I'd not feel guilty doing that - from the sounds of it the guy is perfectly happy to screw up two other players characters without batting an eye-lid.

Or you can ask the other players how they feel about it. Character creation, like City Creation is supposed to be a group thing. If the majority of the group aren't happy with the idea you can nip it in the bud right there. If they are - even after you've pointed out the potential problems for the two Wizards, then they've pretty much made their own bed. It just depends if you're going to be happy running for that character.

140
DFRPG / Re: I dont hav an issue i have a subscription
« on: September 19, 2010, 07:13:01 PM »
Oh, in theory you can be an emmisary of power for anything. In theory, because he's an emmisary of power rather than a user of mortal magic, the White Council don't have any authority over him. That said, I really can't see the council being happy about any of their number hanging around with the guy - or the guy running around loose on his own. There are reasons why the 7th Law exists.

My guess is that either the White Council will order him killed, or they'll order him contained and brought in, or they'll order their people to cut off all ties to him. My own opinion is that you should talk to the player and point out that for a start he's potentially forcing two other players to generate new characters once his secret's found out - that's if the group doesn't immediately turn round and kill his character.

Outsiders really aren't player character material - even if they're contained in a mortal body they're going to force their emmisary to do some really really nasty things - after all they want out, and if they have to make their emmisary slaughter a school full of children and wear their skins like a suit to do so, they're not going to hesitate to do so.

141
DFRPG / Re: I'm behind a magic circle and the vampire has a gun... Can he shoot me?
« on: September 18, 2010, 07:10:12 PM »
Quote from: finnmckool on September 18, 2010, 06:05:09 PM
Yes, but anything real crosses the threshold of the circle, it breaks the circle. Harry breaks Victor's circle later that book by throwing something across it before Vic stabs the rabbit. Not to mention Binder threatens Harry and Murphy with breaking their circle (that was keeping out his summoned baddies) and letting them through. In face what he said was that if they SHOT him, it would break their circle and they'd get eaten. They could shoot him, or keep them out, but not both.

It's not just anything 'real' that breaks the circle:

"As a weapon, it wasn't much. But it was real, and it had been hurled by a real person, a mortal. It could shatter the integrity of a magic circle." (Storm Front)

So Murphy or Harry shooting out of the circle would break it, as would binder throwing something in. His minions - being summoned creatures - couldn't breach the circle. Which seems consistant with the rules laid out in Storm Front

That suggests to me that a magic circle wouldn't keep out bullets shot by a full vampire with a gun, but said bullets wouldn't break the integrity of a circle mid ritual. Of course the spell caster leaping behind cover (or falling to the ground in a twitching mess would probably do that anyway.

142
DFRPG / Re: I'm behind a magic circle and the vampire has a gun... Can he shoot me?
« on: September 18, 2010, 02:26:59 PM »
Quote from: JosephKell on August 25, 2010, 09:24:54 PM
Okay, so I accept that non-mortals can't break a circle, even if they throw something across (Bob threw Dresden a squeeze bottle of "GTFO" potion in Storm Front, and it didn't end the circle).  So shouldn't a non-mortal with a gun be able to shoot across the perimeter?

To quote from the book:

"The lights swooped down in an elongated cloud over the potion bottle that lay on the floor at the far side of the lab, gathered it up, and hurled it through the air toward me. I reached up with my spare hand and caught it, bobbled it for a minute, and then secured it again."

The stuff that doesn't enter the circle in that section is the acidic spit of the demon. I think the circle only works against the demon because it is a demon and could be contained by such a thing.

143
DFRPG / Re: Blocks
« on: September 18, 2010, 01:59:51 PM »
Quote from: Becq on September 17, 2010, 07:45:52 PM
One argument against flatly applying #1 is the way enchanted item defenses are handled.  You can decide to use their shifts as a block or as armor after you compare attack and defense rolls, and you only mark off a use if the defense is needed.  This would favor the #2 interpretation.

This is an honest query.... where in the book does it say that you can decide whether to use the block as Armour or a Block after you compare rolls? As far as I can see you have to decide when you create an evocation block. In the case of enchanted items it looks like you just decide when you're being attacked whether to use it as armour or a block and as a GM I'd want to know before I rolled the attack which it was being used as.

144
DFRPG / Re: Blocks
« on: September 17, 2010, 03:58:47 PM »
Quote from: Haru on September 17, 2010, 02:53:56 PM
On the other hand, Carlos entropy shield might not be effected, because it is set in place and an attacking spell could fly past it if both gm and player agree on it. In that case the block would be intact after the attack, if the defender was able to dodge it entirely.

If you're not close enough to the block for it to be hit by the attack, then you're not close enough to take it into account anyway, and the question of it being dissipated becomes void, because it's not being considered against the attack in the first place. I wouldn't allow a player to factor the dodge and the block into their defenses against something and then claim that because they dodged the block should still be in place. If they're factoring the block into their defenses against an incoming attack they are automatically hiding behind it in my opinion, and it will be shredded by the attack if the attack roll is high enough.

145
DFRPG / Re: Blocks
« on: September 17, 2010, 02:43:03 PM »
Quote from: Dragonshadow on September 17, 2010, 02:31:17 PM
Point taken, but if it wasn't the block that successfully beat the attack, was the block really a factor at all?  And if not, was it really defeated?  To use an example of a spell shield on a defender.  If their agility beats an attack, did the attack even touch the shield?

If the defender's block beat the attack in the first place why would they dodge? It's quite specific that you get a dodge roll in addition to the block, so that if the block fails you can still try to evade (assuming that it's possible for you to do so). The block is always considered the first line of defence in these cases, with your dodge roll only occurring if the block fails. That's how I interpret the rules anyway.

146
DFRPG / Re: Draining intellect with psychomancy
« on: September 17, 2010, 08:36:54 AM »
This is for a fledgeling bad guy right?

147
DFRPG / Re: New GM (to DFRPG) with a question about rewarding players
« on: September 17, 2010, 08:01:35 AM »
Quote from: Wyrdrune on September 17, 2010, 06:15:59 AM
you can have them find a tome or two detailing a common ritual or if someone in the group has a knack for magic, a tome that allows one spell of a sponsored magic type - see the "temporary access" rules.

"Guys, I found this old dusty book in a house sale. The author's name's Kemml...something, can't quite read that last bit. Anyway, when I ran the first paragraph through Babelfish it said something about a path to magical power!...."  ;D

148
DFRPG / Re: Using biomancy/mutation to obtain inhuman toughness/recovery
« on: September 17, 2010, 07:51:01 AM »
To be fair, if you're paying the recovery for it and want to use magical adjustment as the excuse for doing so, I can't really see a problem. It's only if you're expecting to be able to make such changes during play at the drop of a hat without paying the refresh cost that it would wreck game balance. In essence, as long as you and your GM are happy with the concept, go for it.

As a GM I'd be a little wary of just a single biomantic ritual being responsible. Maybe make it a slower series of experimental rituals, with any future upgrades being likewise a matter of ongoing experimentation rather than single big rituals that spring fully formed. Maybe have a few sessions between upgrades (which are likely to only occur at major milestones anyway) with some minorly cosmetic 'accidents' just to represent those less successful experiments (ultra white teeth and an orange tan, or bright blue hair, or different coloured eyes, the sort of thing that could be explained away by mundane means). And hey, the biomantic rituals in question would be specific to you, so you can't just pass them on to someone else, and maybe there's something in your own background that makes it possible for you but not for most wizards - which get's around the "why doesn't everyone do it?" question.

149
DFRPG / Re: CCTV surveillance - effects on non-mortal PCs
« on: September 15, 2010, 08:50:00 AM »
Quote from: Jaxom Faux on September 15, 2010, 08:20:16 AM
also in the new novelett even hand a certain magic creature hexes marcone's camera's at will. not just wizzies can hex.

I never said only wizards hex. I just stated that supernatural creatures don't generally hex. It's an ability you have to buy in the game, unless you're a wizard or some other user of mortal magic, in which case you automatically do it. As Arcteryx pointed out in the post directly before yours, it's an ability called Mana Static.

150
DFRPG / Re: Block, Counterspell and the like
« on: September 15, 2010, 08:19:52 AM »
Quote from: stitchy1503 on September 15, 2010, 03:03:54 AM
I dont know if i'd say that, couldnt you use the guns skill in a block, for instance "cover fire"?

Yes, I'm fairly certain there's an example of that in the rule book. It's a block applied to a particular maneuver (spraying bullets into a doorway to stop someone escaping through it, in the case of the example). I could quite easily see that changed to a block on shooting and movement placed on a particular person or small area (depending on the size and rate of fire of the gun) - that may even be stated in the example in the book. That is an action though, not a reaction. It's not something you could decide to do as someone shoots at you - you'd need to use your own action to place the block before your enemy opens fire this exchange. I think Belial666 was meaning that you couldn't use guns as a form of dodge roll (i.e. reaction to the incoming fire) - I may be wrong though.

In my opinion it's the same thing for Counterspelling. It's not something you should be able to use reactively - there's too much analysis involved.

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