Techno Wizard spell casting and EBA interaction?

[isawarenshi]

So it seems alot of Techno Wizard armors are EBA but from what I read in the RUE you could not cast spells from that kind of armor. Does the Techno Wizard get special dispensation since they are techno casters?

[Killer Cyborg]

So it seems alot of Techno Wizard armors are EBA but from what I read in the RUE you could not cast spells from that kind of armor. Does the Techno Wizard get special dispensation since they are techno casters?

You misread RUE.

[isawarenshi]

So it seems alot of Techno Wizard armors are EBA but from what I read in the RUE you could not cast spells from that kind of armor. Does the Techno Wizard get special dispensation since they are techno casters?

You misread RUE.

ok when I said "can't" I more mean they get extream penalties for wearing synthetic armor. How does this effect Techno Wizards?

[Killer Cyborg]

So it seems alot of Techno Wizard armors are EBA but from what I read in the RUE you could not cast spells from that kind of armor. Does the Techno Wizard get special dispensation since they are techno casters?

You misread RUE.

ok when I said "can't" I more mean they get extream penalties for wearing synthetic armor. How does this effect Techno Wizards?

Techno-Wizards face the same casting penalties as other wizards, for the same reasons.
BUT Techno-Wizards don't generally cast spells directly.
Armor doesn't interfere with the use of TW devices, so those can be used as-is.

The Techno-Wizard method of channeling spells through tech devices might provide a way to bypass the armor restrictions.
It's not officially addressed, but I could see a GM ruling that if a techno-Wizard is casting Fire Ball through his gun, then the armor penalty wouldn't apply.
The next step might be to rule that the techno-wizard would have to be holding the gun in his un-armored hand in order to bypass the penalty.
It's likely that some GMs would rule that the armor penalty cannot be bypassed at all for that kind of thing.

There is also the potential for a techno-wizard to use his armor (or part of his armor) to channel the spell. If the gun in question is built into the forearm of the armor, for example, I think that it would be reasonable for a GM to rule that the armor doesn't interfere with using the gun to channel Fire Ball or other appropriate spells.
Likewise, using the armor itself to cast Armor of Ithan seems like it should be able to be done without penalty from the armor.
That kind of thing.

But one of the main things to keep in mind is that the penalties for casting spells while in armor aren't likely to really matter much in the game.
There's an additional PPE cost, but it's very minor, often non-existent in the case of low-cost spells. 120% of 5 PPE is 6 PPE, for example. That shouldn't make or break you.
The rest of the penalties are only possible penalties, and even if any penalties are incurred, there's a good chance that they won't matter.
20% of the time, the only penalty is the possible extra PPE cost.
Other times, the penalties are not applicable:
If you cast Armor of Ithan, it doesn't matter if the Range is reduced by 1d4x10%.
If you cast Blinding Flash, then it doesn't matter if the duration is reduced.

Even if you cast a spell where the potential penalty does apply, it might well STILL not matter.
If you cast a spell with 100' range, then a reduced range MIGHT be a factor... but it might not.
25% of the time, the range will be dropped to 90'.
25% of the time, the range will be dropped to 80'.
25% of the time, the range will be dropped to 70'.
25% of the time, the range will be dropped all the way to 60'.

Which means that if you're casting at a target 60' or closer to you, then none of the range penalties will matter.
If the target is 70' or less, then the range penalties will only matter 25% of the time.
And so forth.
To be clear, that's "25% of the 50% of the times that range is reduced at all."

So even if you have a hardline GM who rules that the armor rules always apply to Techno-Wizards, in spite of channeling via tech, and even if you have a techno-wizard who for some reason casts a lot of spells instead of relying on his gadgets, and even it that Techno-Wizard's armor does cover more than 50% of his body with artificial material... it's still not likely to be a very big deal overall.

[Alrik Vas]

That's why I rule that's spells can't be cast unless your naked, down to less than 1 MDC and are in a splugorth tentacle-lock. I think it's fair.

[kaid]

Also given the use of MDC natural materials and magically made materials techno wizards tend not to have a lot of problems with this issue. It is pretty easy for them to take something either made with all natural materials or things like huntsman style armor and then trick it out to avoid any potential issues with this. Even if they do wear a full hard suit the penalties especially for a TW are not that bad. Also as mentioned TW don't incur a penalty for activation of a TW feature of the armor or a TW item they are holding. So you can have your heavy dead boy full EBA armor trick it out with armor of ithan and another feature and some TW weapons and you can use all of that without any problems at all.

In theory due to their ability to channel spells through something a lot of their spell casting would also be fine like eyes of the wolf being channeled through their helmets optics and things like that. It would mainly effect you casting spells on other people directly which is not super common for TW.

[Shark_Force]

honestly, I'm not even sure very many people enforce those rules for casting while in EBA.

seems like an awful lot of time spent on figuring out what sort of minor impact the armour is going to have. I've never played in a game that used it, personally, but then again I can't say I've exactly played with a lot of people.

[kaid]

At one point it made a sliver of sense but with the amounts of hodge podge natural MDC materials armors that have been shown as a GM its usually just not worth the effort to enforce it. TW have enough odd limitations on their casting that as long as they follow their own rules there is not much need for extra penalties. Still if a GM wants to use them a TW is likely the least effected of all casters to this penalty.

[wyrmraker]

I remember when the whole issue of casting while wearing armor was all about mobility. It just weighed too much to cast in. Of course, that was WAAAAAAY back in the original Palladium Fantasy.