devillin wrote:Denaes wrote:3. The TW Creation Rules (pg 130-135) have a few bugs in them.
Okay, here's some questions I had about these rules as well:
I'll try to answer whatever seems to still make sense
![Big Grin :D](./images/smilies/biggrin.gif)
devillin wrote:Other than for some devices that work on a variable distance, is there really a reason to make a device with a higher Device Level than 1? Most damage spells have a set damage and range, so what would be the point in making a TW device with a level higher than 1? If there is a benefit to making a device with a higher Device Level, could you state it?
For the most part, the level effects the duration in TW devices. Sometimes range (rarely for TW Devides) and sometimes damage or targets.
Now I could totally see a GM saying that you need at least X level to get a certain effect. Especially when you're not doing something exactly as the spell states, but using a spell as a means for a similar yet different effect.
devillin wrote:If you make a TW weapon, do you combine the ranges and damages of the original spells that go into powering the device or just use the damage and range of the Primary spell boosted by a power-up spell like energy/power bolt or energize spell?
Primary Spell with any boosts/modifications it may have from other spells.
devillin wrote:On a related note, does a spell effect get a bonus in range from being incorporated into a TW device?
Usually not.
A guns' shell seems to set the range for magic blasts. That goes all the way back to RMB.
Other Devices? Most are Thrown, Touch, Self, Area of Effect or a set Range like a gun. I think Area of Effect is the "range" most likely to be set by the level.
But really this is up to the GM/Player and what makes sense.
devillin wrote:If it does, what is the mulitplier?
None really, just whatever feels right.
devillin wrote:If it does not, how do you justify the Lightning Rod which has a range of 1200 feet, when Call Lightning maxes out at 300? Or is this where the benefit of having a higher level device comes out?
Really, it dosn't make sense, but if you took a spell with a range of 10 feet and put it into a Pistol, it would have a range of a few hundred feet. Put it into a rifle and it would have a range of 1,000+ feet. Just the way TW seems to work. Just part of the Form effecting the Function of the device.
Now I have no idea how a "Rod" would effect range. But this is OG Rifts. There are a select few occasions where you see a Rod as a technological weapon, so it's a specific housing. If a Rod normally shoots 1,200 feet, that explains it.
Also I can totally see adding in secondary spells with the intent of increasing the range or area of effect... nothing hard and fast though.
devillin wrote:Finally, how many Functions can you include on a suit of armor or build into a robot? Do the various costs of building the device scale up as what you are building it into also gets larger? I'm hoping yes.
The short answer is that there is no limit to the number of "Functions" you can add to a device/vehicle/etc. You figure each one out seperately and go to it. In general if you're making a device with 10 Spell Chains, you have to make them all at once. You can't make 3 and then decide to add 7 more later without taking everything apart.
The longer answer is that the original Rifter 21 rules factored in Size for this reason. The more levels of stuff you have in your Device, the more complex it is. The more complex it is, generally the larger it is. Generally a good TW could attempt to miniaturize something to make it smaller.
So the end result is that having 3 2nd level "Functions" might net you a 10lb device, having 8 2nd level "Functions" might be closer to 50lbs. Really this is what prevents you from having an Anhiliate Pistol. It would probobly be more like a heavy rifle or a mounted gun. Still doable, but large.
Most higher level spells, with single or multiple "Functions" would be rather large and unweildy. Another reason why they're not so easily moved by the black market.
Unfortunately when they were simplifying/streamlining (I guess) the Rifter 21 rules for RUE, they seemed to remove most references to size. There seems to be no fixed weight depending on how complex it is.
This is really odd because they added in a (IMO broken) step to reduce the size. This step allows you to not only have an Anhiliate Wrist Watch, but it also makes it cheaper for you to have an Anhiliate Wrist Watch than whatever it's normal size would be.
I just assume the "normal size" is set by the GM because it's not stated. Also in the modifiers section, there are still references to increasing the size to make it easier and decreasing the size to make it smaller, which have no effect without actually determining what the size would be.
I'm not 100% with these new alterations, but someone had me look them over and wonkiness was found with Anhiliate and miniturization. How rare/common this wonkiness comes up, I don't know.