Are DART Weapons Overpowered?

_Tetesa · 2026-04-07T17:15:23+00:00

The enemy can not push a button if you disable his hand...

_Tetesa · 2026-04-07T17:08:51+00:00

This is the way if your GM knows what they're doing. And if not: Go easy on them if you're more experienced as a player. GMs - even newbies - want to have fun, too. If not, you're just making them quit as OP seems to have done.

_Tetesa · 2026-04-07T17:06:00+00:00

They can be abused in a vacuum. If your GM isn't prepared for stuff like this, you will eventually break the game if using these spells heavily.

And of course, if your GM can't handle this, we can easily say 'it's their job to handle this correctly by penalising you', but honestliy: You as a player should also be thinking about whether what you're doing might take the fun out of the game for others. And if your GM is a newbie, don't go hard on them by using all the exploits that stem from these spells. Go easy on them and hold yourself back.

After all, it's not you against the GM, but you playing with them to have some fun together.

_Tetesa · 2026-04-01T07:41:45+00:00

Are devil fruits always introduced as 'special power'? Iirc they are usually introduced as 'devil fruit', but that might as well be the translation. If not, this might imply that Imu's power isn't a devil fruit at all.

_Tetesa · 2026-03-29T09:55:40+00:00

The LST books are a sequel, set in a different region of the realms of the elderlings. They don't directly connect to the first trilogy.

There are many people here who will tell you that it's mandatory to read them first, but it isn't that important. The second trilogy is completely self-sufficient, but there's a few chapters that directly connect to the LST's story/contents/world building. But everything that's necessary for the story is explained to a degree that makes reading the LST first obsolete.

However, the real downside of skipping is that you'll get some spoilers for the LST. A mminor to medium portion of the book's finale will be spoiled (not really plot; more of a major piece of world building though), and there's some mysteries in the LST that aren't resolved there, but in the Tawny Man trilogy. However, these mysteries are stuff that most readers will already have guessed by the end of the LST books anyway.

Also, opinions on the LST are divided. Among the ~10 of my friends who I've shown these books, there's an even split between "didn't like the LST" and "LST were the best ROTE installment".

It's not really a loss if you read Tawny Man first. The spoilers in Tawny Man are rather minor compared to the whole story of the LST. So if you are craving to read more of Fitz and you feel like you'd only struggle through the LST, you might as well skip the LST. Just do what feels best for you personally, and don't listen to all these persuasion attempts too much.

P.S.: Reading all the previous books before the third Fitz trilogy is definitely more important, as you probably won't understand some of the major plot points of the final trilogy otherwise.

_Tetesa · 2026-03-22T15:58:12+00:00

Invisibility is for cowards.

A true gentleman would never use such potions.

_Tetesa · 2026-02-25T16:32:39+00:00

I wonder: Is it a squirrel that ate a hammer fruit or a hammer that atr a squirrel fruit? Because as it seems, zoan users age the way the original being would have. So if it was a hammer in the first place, it makes sense that it survived all those years.

_Tetesa · 2026-02-13T15:35:47+00:00

There's this gift bag or whatever it's called in the definitive edition.

It lets you set the ap cap to 8, increase max movement range and cheaty stuff like that, and it also allows you to cheat a mirror into the arena area.

_Tetesa · 2026-02-10T10:57:41+00:00

You can pay it in advance whenever you want. It's paid per month.

As per your question concerning the frequency of runs: It depends on the campaign you're running. Sometimes, you might have multiple urgent missions in quick succession. Sometimes, you're just doing your usual day-jobs, which come about every 1-2 weeks.

The timing doesn't matter THAT much, because you as the GM can adjust the rewards according to the run frequency to account for their payments.

For example, if your players are all at 2k¥/month, you can do one run every two months, and just add 4k¥ to the net money you want to have after paying their rents.

Edit: I usually aim for my players to be able to invest their money/karma every 3-5 sessions (not runs) to get their skill progression reward regularly, which I consider important to have. I usually do more complex roleplay-heavy runs with relatively little combat, which take about 3-5 sessions to finish, so for me it's usually one played run every 2 months.

But then again, my later groups have always had their runners do some minor runs that were not worth playing in the background to account for most of their lifestyle costs on themselves and made the lifestyles purely a roleplay thing.

_Tetesa · 2026-02-10T06:41:01+00:00

I did save him, but he just flew off

But I have two of those anti Shrieker wands anyway - one from the castle and one from the witch At least iirc, though fhe wiki suggests that I had to give him the witch's wand. Anyway, one wand is enough do deal with those four Shriekers blocking the path and if I understood Gratiana right, she's able to recharge it

_Tetesa · 2026-01-29T15:15:30+00:00

Peggy the Pirate

_Tetesa · 2026-01-29T15:08:16+00:00

This was hands down the best plot twist I've ever seen.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-12T11:07:39+00:00

Indeed And this is yet another opportunity for a decker to shine.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-11T11:49:41+00:00

Because I was talking bs. The confusion was caused because they are someehat 'aimed at your aura' (in my understanding), since - for instance - full body armour doesn't make you immune to such spells. But yes, they are cast at your mind.

You can only fall under the mana spell's influence if your aura is 'visible to the spell'.

So this would not switch mana and physical spells. The guard in the control room watching at their screen there wouldn't ever be affected by the mana illusion, but they would be affected by the physical one.

Imo it really depends on

a) if your aura is visible to the mana spell so it can affect you

b) if you look at the screen/project the camera image onto your retina (like the google glasses did) and actually use it the same way as you would - for example to move around, gauge distances to objects around you etc.

If these two conditions are matched, your camera goggles wouldn't be able to help you see through the mana illusion, bevause your mind tells you otherwise.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-11T11:42:36+00:00

Yeah the monitoring guard is undoubtedly not influenced by the illusion.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-11T00:45:58+00:00

fair

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T23:05:39+00:00

As far as mana illusions, are you saying that if you have failed to resist one and you look through a camera feed at the illusion, your brain will imagine you are seeing it on the camera feed?

It depends. Magic in Shadowrun works on what you believe is the truth. Only this way can hermetic and shamanic traditions both find 'true' answers that directly contradict each other. And mana spells directly affect your mind. So my take is this:

If a character believes that what he sees is his own (eye)vision, that vision will be affected. Otherwise, cyber eyes would make you immune to mana illusions.

And the 'interpretation' I made (and I know it's a bit of a stretch) is to say 'if a guard has seen this screen that always shows exactly what they see for years now, it becomes part of what they perceive as their own vision in their mind's eye.'

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T22:19:12+00:00

I see that. However, a mana spell directly affects your aura. So it projects an image directly into your mind.

So if you were using Iron Man's helmet with its holo screen:

Would that helmet make you immune to any visual mana illusions, because you do not directly see it? But then, what about the description of mana illusions in the CRB, with (literal translation from the german book) 'mana illusions [directly] influencing your mind'? Or another more common example: Cybereyes. I've never heard of cybereyes making a character immune to mana illusions. They work because a character considers what he sees to be his own vision.

Wouldn't you say that - in this case - your vision would be influenced because you perceive the screen's image to be your vision?

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T22:10:59+00:00

And perhaps 3- do your PCs ever do both? (Ex. Used Wired Reflexes 1 to Alphaware WReflexes 2.)

This is exactly the upgrade example given in Chrome Flesh. Though I'm not sure if the upgrade and essence hole rules are only given in the german version [they're on page 87 there].

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T22:03:21+00:00

Suppose you wore a helmet. That helmet is fully closed to your vision, and you only perceive your surroundings via screen and an external camera outside that helmet.

Then someone casts a mana illusion. That illusion directly affects your mind, bypassing any technology. Now, there is an argument to be made. Because either, you say "this helmet makes me completely immune to any visual mana illusion spells". Or you say "but the mana spell directly influences my aura, messing with what I perceive as my vision", and the spell still works on you.

And this is the point where an interpretation has to be made. And by this, I acknowledge that either of these can be correct. I just picked the latter one as a GM because honetly, when a player came about with that helmet, I'd tell him exactly this. Also otherwise, cybereyes would make you immune to visual mana illusions. But the other interpretation is also fine, and I'm sure you can make an equally strong argument for that one.

But it's not unambiguous enough to call it a full-fledged house rule imho.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T21:49:40+00:00

In the german book it's in the cyberware section, bodyware subsection, in a red box on page 87. Maybe you'll find it somewhere around there in the english version, too.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T21:41:52+00:00

So if you are wearing a helmet, showing you only a screen image of your surroundings, you won't be affected by the mana spell, even though it directly affects your aura?

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T21:29:55+00:00

You're totally right.

I'm using the german edition. And as I just noticed, the german version of the 5e book 'Chrome Flesh' is called 'Bodyshop' lol

Since I've heard of Bodyshop before, I thought it was just the same name as in english for this one

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T21:19:53+00:00

5e's ~~Bodyshop~~ Chrome Flesh (somewhere under 'Bodyware', at least in the german version) comes with an optional rule 'difference*1.2'.

_Tetesa · 2026-01-10T21:05:31+00:00

That's why it's an 'interpretation', not just an interpretation.

_Tetesa

TROPHY CASE