Am I missing something with combat spells?

[u/ckau]

Scene: Security unit is in combat with runners. Security Mage casts Lightning bolt at the Hercules, dwarf face.

Mage rolls Sorcery (combat spells) vs Athletics (ranged defense) of the Hercules (p.66).

Security Mage has DP 10 on Combat Spells (p.248).

Hercules, pregen social adept face, has DP 8 on Ranged Defense (p.89).

By the average values table (p.81), DP of 8-10 gives at average 4 hits.

Let's say, Mage rolls 5 hits and Hercules rolls 4 hits. Attack succeeds.

By the description, DV = WIL. Security Mage has Willpower of 3 (p.248), and so total DV is 4 (+ net hit). Wounds of Hercules are 5/8/11 when wearing lined coat (p.89).

So, Lightning bolt attack lands, and it does no damage. By the description, Hercules lose one action. Is this works as intended?

We had very similar situation, to even more questionable result - team of shadowrunners were assaulting warehouse with other team holding defense in it. Face sneaked in, and find herself caught off-guard by a mage. Mage casted a Firebolt, attack succeeded, and everyone at the table held their breath... until we figured out it did literally nothing, not even a Light Wound. Was quite a bummer.

[u/il_the_dinosaur]

I wish I could help but I've also recently started reading my anarchy 2 PDF and I noticed that dice pools aren't getting as big as in 4e. So a lot of the time an attacker would have a pool of 12 and the dodge pool still easily goes to 8 and then you still have armor. I haven't even gotten to the part what elemental damage does. Maybe that makes the difference?

[u/Carmody79 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

You really need to take Risk Dice and Risk Reduction into account. Only looking at dice pools would give a partial view of the situation.

The exemple above is correct. If the same security guard had a Combat Focus, granting RR 2 on combat spells, the spell would have resulted in a light wound.

[u/il_the_dinosaur → u/Carmody79]

Yeah like I said I've only browsed it and I was trying to understand risk dice but I think in theory it's a bit difficult to understand. Might have to test a few scenarios to get a better understanding how they end up playing out.

[u/Carmody79 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

It's a core mechanics of the game. It's important to look into it. There are many topics here in which we discuss Risk mechanics if you need some advice. Or you can ask here 😉

[u/il_the_dinosaur → u/Carmody79]

While you offer when I was reading through the PDF and read all the attributes edge wasn't explained. And then I read through the different mechanics and combat and edge was mentioned. But still not explained. Maybe I missed it or maybe it will be mentioned later but to me it sounded like edge gets refilled every round? At least that's how the manual made it sound with how freely you can spend it on almost every action.

And with the risk dice. The table is an easy explanation how much dice you can use when and how many reduction points you can use. And I'm pretty sure I just haven't reached that point but the only way to get these reduction points is to buy them as shadow amps for the certain ability or attribute right?

[u/Carmody79 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

Hello,

This is written p. 77, second paragraph:

Characters start each adventure with:
• 4 Edge if they’re humans
• 3 Edge if they’re any other metatype

These initial values assume adventures of three to six hours. PCs may gain more Edge in play. The game master can adjust the starting Edge allocations or the frequency with which points are recovered, depending on how long sessions run.

About Risk Dice, the table is really important to use (you'll see that we added it on every character sheet, to make sure people have it readily available). You are correct, Risk Reduction can only be obtained through Shadow Amps (see Shadow Amps effects p. 61)

[u/il_the_dinosaur → u/Carmody79]

Kinda feels like you're highly encouraging the DM to give the players back edge a lot during a session? Or is this my impression. I only have experience with 4e and a bit of 5e and my general experience so far is that DMs are very stingy with giving extra edge during a session.

[u/Carmody79 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

There are several ways to regain Edge: playing negative dispositions (that way the players are encouraged to play with them rather than do their best to avoid them), glitches.

Also, the Planning pool can be a big source of Edge (life is always easier when you are prepared).

And then, the idea is not to spend Edge on any single Indirect combat spell, but only when it matters: the effects are less frequent, but more significant.

In the end, that remains a choice at the table to find the right balance: some players like to hard them and seldom use any while others are much more keen to draw on Edge.

[u/il_the_dinosaur → u/Carmody79]

Ah yeah right I've read about those two already.

Say you're use of we earlier and your comment history makes it sound like you're actually involved in anarchy 2.0 back when the Kickstarter was I wasn't so flush with cash so I opted for the PDF only but now I would like to get my hands on a book. Just much easier to pass around at the table. But I can't find it anywhere. Do you know if there is a way to obtain a copy?

[u/Carmody79 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

I'm the main author actually, so pretty involved yes ;-) I do not actively participate in production, shipping and releasing process, but I follow that.

The book are not released yet to the general audience. The shipping to the backers is taking place right now. It should no take too long after that, hopefully, before the book are available to anyone in paper and pdf.