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Old 08-25-2019, 12:37 PM   #1
Whitewings
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Ultra-Tech and Magic

1) Instaskill nano can impart a point in a skill.
2) Spells are skills

Therefore, Instaskill nano can impart spells. Subject to the usual relevant limits, of course.

Can anyone see why this shouldn't be legal?
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:00 PM   #2
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitewings View Post
1) Instaskill nano can impart a point in a skill.
2) Spells are skills

Therefore, Instaskill nano can impart spells. Subject to the usual relevant limits, of course.

Can anyone see why this shouldn't be legal?
At the required TL12^ with magic being part of the ^ there is very little reason to start trying to limit anything. You probab;ly gave up on that before you got to tL12^.
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:17 PM   #3
Ulzgoroth
 
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Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

I can make up a reason if one is wanted, given authorial freedom over metaphysics:

"Magical skills are only partly embedded in the material brain - essential parts are etched by training into the magic-manipulating spiritual superstructure of the self, which can't be replicated by mundane nanotechnology."

On the other hand even if you make that true, what about enchanted nanotechnology?

I can't see any reason to think the rules preclude using skill-imparting ultratech to deliver spell skills, or to think that you should necessarily respect such rules if they existed somewhere.
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:19 PM   #4
Aldric
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Edit: Sorry, I had to do it :D
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:28 PM   #5
Phantasm
 
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Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldric View Post
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Edit: Sorry, I had to do it :D
And let's not forget the Heterodyne Corollary: "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from SCIENCE!" XD
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:28 PM   #6
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldric View Post
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Edit: Sorry, I had to do it :D
There's a spell in Magic that increases Will and might keep that from happening again. On the tech side you might have to get a chip implanted to limit such if it's a Compulsive Behavior.
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Old 08-25-2019, 01:56 PM   #7
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitewings View Post
1) Instaskill nano can impart a point in a skill.
2) Spells are skills

Therefore, Instaskill nano can impart spells. Subject to the usual relevant limits, of course.

Can anyone see why this shouldn't be legal?
No. I don't really see an issue as long as you're prepared to include instaskill nano in the first place. Note that its not much different from those Spellman cassettes in Technomancer.
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Old 08-25-2019, 02:34 PM   #8
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Magic is generally governed by forces undetectable by science, unless you are using technomagic, so I would say no. Now, if you want technomagic nanotechnology, which is perfectly valid since most people's interpretations of nanotech are magical anyway because they violate thermodynamics, go ahead. If you are not using technomagic though, you may want to do a Shadowrun and mostly keep technology and magic mutually exclusive.
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Old 08-25-2019, 03:46 PM   #9
maximara
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Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

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Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Magic is generally governed by forces undetectable by science, unless you are using technomagic, so I would say no. Now, if you want technomagic nanotechnology, which is perfectly valid since most people's interpretations of nanotech are magical anyway because they violate thermodynamics, go ahead. If you are not using technomagic though, you may want to do a Shadowrun and mostly keep technology and magic mutually exclusive.
This is based on an incorrect view of what science is. Science a methodology: Observe, Hypothesize, Predict, Test Predictions, Reproduce.

Science, especially TL7+ Science, has models of things that are "undetectable" be they the 10-dimensions, 11-dimensions, or 26-dimensions of the current universe models or any object that falls past the event horizon of a black hole. Heck the idea a "naked" singularity (on object with no height, length, or width or event horizon) is pretty wild.

Also I never liked the idea of technology and magic being mutually exclusive because the moment you started to really think about it you realized it made no blasted sense. More over if its wiki is correct Shadowrun is not so much magic and technology being in opposition but that Essence is connected to a wizard's lifeforce which is damaged by technological upgrades.

Last edited by maximara; 08-25-2019 at 04:05 PM.
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Old 08-25-2019, 04:23 PM   #10
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Ultra-Tech and Magic

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl View Post
Magic is generally governed by forces undetectable by science, unless you are using technomagic,
Spells are generally governed by the human brain which is thoroughly detectable by TL 11 neuroscience. This isn't an issue of building technological mana generators or jammers. You don't need to understand the underlying paraphysics to cast a magic spell any more than you need Maxwell's equations to flip a light switch.
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