[RPM] Defense/Armour Against Firearms?

[ajardoor]

Okay, a little scenario for you;

It's TL 8 modern day Earth. So guns are a factor.
A Ritual Path Magician wants to protect himself against gunmen.
What rituals should he use?

[AlexanderHowl]

There are a few, though the majority of them are going to be expensive because they will require Greater Effects. You could use Lesser Strengthen Body to give +5 Dodge versus Firearms, which would probably end up being 50 energy with all of the add ons. Alternatively, you could go with Greater Strengthen Body to give yourself DR 35 (Limited, Piercing, -40%; Tough Skin, -40%) [35], which would end up as 150 energy after add ons and the Greater Effect modifier.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

It's TL 8 modern day Earth. So guns are a factor.
A Ritual Path Magician wants to protect himself against gunmen.
What rituals should he use?

I've found it effective to use Lesser Destroy Matter (priming compounds) with area effect. If guns won't fire, they're pretty harmless.

[Anders]

Couldn't you use a Lesser effect to make bullets miss you?

I would quite Pulp Fiction, but it would pretty much be a line of asterisks.

[Plane]

T158 Ghost Shirt was only 12 energy, can we adapt that to RPM?

B72 Obscure is an exotic physical trait, pg 7's "that the GM would permit the subject to have with an Unusual Background" sounds like it would be off limits for LESSER strengthen body, but "add any physical trait that doesn’t change the subject’s morphology" sounds like it could include levels of Obscure.

At 2/level that's just 2 energy per level. It's cheaper per level than DR. Ghost shirt only gave a -3 (6 energy) but presumably was Stealthy +100% and Always On -50% plus some kind of accessibility limitations that somehow end up with Minimum Range : 10 yards unless attacker uses Aim.

I don't know how to use Obscure to get the 'random hits never hit, including accidental friendly fire and wild swings by blind opponents' type aspect, I'm just looking where the -3 applies.

I'm guessing Minimum Range would require taking Defensive +50% too since you're effectively making yourself immune to the penalty when shooting guns.

That or... maybe what's needed is to give it Ranged, Reduced Duration and Reflexive? Ranged makes it an attack so that's probably illegal (can't reduce attacks to a free action) but maybe "you're attacking the attack not the attacker" sort of effect (kind of like the Reflex spell) could be grounds to allow an exception?

Unconcious Only is normally meant to be paired with Uncontrollable but maybe it could be allowed with Reflexive if the only way an ability triggers is as a reflex. So for example if Obscure triggers when you are targeted but you can't otherwise use Obscure to blind attackers who are attacking your allies instead of you.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anders

Couldn't you use a Lesser effect to make bullets miss you?

I would quite Pulp Fiction, but it would pretty much be a line of asterisks.

This is what I usually stick on my RPM Casters. I prefer chance for this effect. Its not terribly expensive, and its a solid lesser effect.

Originally Posted by Plane

B72 Obscure is an exotic physical trait, pg 7's "that the GM would permit the subject to have with an Unusual Background" sounds like it would be off limits for LESSER strengthen body, but "add any physical trait that doesn’t change the subject’s morphology" sounds like it could include levels of Obscure.

If you have a choice between bestow a bonus and altered traits in RPM, you should usually use bestow a bonus.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you have a choice between bestow a bonus and altered traits in RPM, you should usually use bestow a bonus.

Conceptually something like a defense bonus (like shields give) to dodge or whatever (against firearms) would be fine for gunshots you're aware of, but wouldn't help you avoid surprise attacks or critically successful ones, since you don't get a dodge against either of them.

Pg 17 (performing magic) does say (Bonus or Penalty) though...

But I think that would be to a spell's subject which would mean I would need to enchant a specific person to give them a penalty to hit anybody, rather than just a penalty to hit me, or a penalty for all potential subjects to hit me. That's why I figured the Obscure advantage might cover that better.

17 covers "Area of Effect" which would need to be crazy big to enchant all possible people shooting at you due to guns having very long ranges.

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by ericthered

If you have a choice between bestow a bonus and altered traits in RPM, you should usually use bestow a bonus.

Why? What is the rationale behind that position? Most instances of Bestow a Bonus/Penalty occur with Altered Trait in the Grimoire in order to create an effect beyond that given by Altered Trait. For example, the Gift of Gab (RPM, p. 43) gives Altered Trait (Voice), Bestow a Bonus (+2 Fast-Talk, for a total of an explicitly stated +4 when including the bonus from Voice), and Bestow a Penalty (-2 to opposing rolls to detect that they are lying).

So, if you want to absolutely protect yourself from firearms, you could take Altered Trait (Combat Reflexes), Bestow a Bonus (Medium; +5 Dodge versus Firearms), and Bestow a Penalty (Medium; -5 to skill to anyone attempting to hit you with the Guns skill). For ~94 energy, you reduce the effective skill of anyone targeting you by -5 and increase your Dodge versus firearms by +6.

[Aldric]

Wouldn't Danger Sense and optionally a bonus to your Perception help you more than Combat Reflexes to avoid snipers?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Aldric

Wouldn't Danger Sense and optionally a bonus to your Perception help you more than Combat Reflexes to avoid snipers?

Optionally, I’d say boosting a character’s existing Dodge to be Cosmic +50% against Firearms Only would be acceptable as Lesser Strengthen Chance (so it uses the character’s Dodge score against sneak attacks/snipers, and look like coincidental movement). That’s something like Cosmic (Firearms Only -40%) +30%, or [4.5]*(Dodge-3), going off memory. The more energy you put in, the higher of a Dodge it can enhance. Might be worth a look.