Targets in huge armor suits.
Whether it’s a really large suit of power armor or a full-on robot armor vehicle, magic or psionics can easily and directly target the wearer/
pilot. Damage is, of course, blocked by the armor of the suit, but powers like boost/lower Trait and puppet will go right to the wearer or pilot.
Targets in vehicles are a different situation. If the caster has a reasonable certainty of where the driver or other intended target is, apply anywhere from a −2 to −4 Cover penalty to the casting to account for minimal windows and gun ports. Apply a −6 if there’s simply no way to see the target.
Armor on armor. The armor power placed on someone wearing body armor or power armor stacks with that worn protection. If cast on the pilot of a robot armor vehicle, it protects the pilot but not the vehicle.
Blast (and burst). These are automatically Mega Damage, even when not cast as Mega Powers.
Clairvoyance is particularly useful for eliminating the difficulties in targeting people inside vehicles, removing the cover penalties discussed above. This only works for non-damaging powers, however.
Darksight and farsight do not combine with normal tech sensory enhancements, though the Game Master might allow them to combine with Techno-Wizard gear.
Entangle versus vehicles. While it’s easy to handle the entangle power when dealing with a Robot Armor vehicle (they have Strength
ratings), what happens when a Mystic throws an greater entangle on an enemy all-terrain vehicle?
Decide whether such a vehicle is light, medium, or heavy. If it’s light (like a small hovercycle), give it a Strength of d12 + 3. If it’s medium (such as a typical ATV), give it a d12 + 5. Heavy vehicles, like tanks or huge trucks, should have a d12 + 9 Strength. If the driver or pilot is an Ace, let them roll a Wild Die with the Strength die in trying to escape.
Growth/shrink, armor, and vehicles. Arcane effects that cause a person to grow or shrink are assumed to work on his personal possessions and weapons; this includes worn armor, but not power armor. Such effects also do not have any effect on Robot Armor or vehicles. Psionic growth/shrink powers generally affect only living, organic matter (if the psychic has access to the power at all).
Havoc (and pummel) versus vehicles. Use the same guidelines as provided for entangle, above.
Intangibility in armor. As a general rule, it’s probably not a good idea to allow the power to affect anything more than body armor.
Invisibility versus radar and other sensors. As with many powers, trappings have a lot to do with how effective invisibility is under special circumstances. As a general guideline, however, invisibility from psionic or arcane sources is not effective against enhanced technological sensors, such as thermal imaging or radar. True
MAGIC VS. TECH: SPECIFIC CASES
invisibility—the Mega Power for invisibility—effectively masks the recipient from all forms of detection, including technological sensors.
Light/obscure versus smoke grenades. Light is usually an actual light that eliminates darkness from either magic, night conditions, or being in a place with no light source. Sources of obscurement penalties that focus on spreading smoke into a space won’t generally be affected by light.
Mind reading, puppet, telepathy, and other mind-to-mind powers fall under the first two guidelines on this list, above, in terms of targeting armored foes, pilots, and drivers.
Quickness and vehicles. Robot Armor and vehicles cannot be made
to go any faster than their inherent capabilities, regardless of how enhanced the driver or pilot might be. Extra turns granted by quickness don’t apply to additional movement while controlling them, though taking extra shots with weapons is still viable.
Shape change and armor. Like intangibility, a caster should not be able to transform anything larger than body armor, and not even greater shape change should bypass this. She could, however, turn into
a mouse while inside a suit of power armor and scurry out through a gap somewhere, leaving her opponents wondering what happened to her.
Speed increases a person’s velocity, but not that of a vehicle (including Robot Armor). Some GMs might decide that greater speed is an acceptable exception.
Stun and self-contained armor/
environments. Trappings are key in interpreting if the stun power affects a Robot Armor (or even power armor) occupant, or the passengers inside an environmentally sealed vehicle. Pure psychic or eldritch energy works just fine (which is why most players go with something like that by default).
Teleport and Robot Armor. There’s rarely enough room inside such a vehicle to allow someone to teleport into it. The exception is any suit large enough to carry passengers, assuming the power wielder knows there’s space for him. Use the −2 penalty for transporting to an unseen location in this case.
Wall walker doesn’t work on anyone wearing more than body armor, though GMs might allow greater wall walker to affect powered and Robot Armor.
MAGIC VS. TECH: SPECIFIC CASES
Do not overlook the importance and value of Trappings. More than anything in Savage Worlds, this concept is a vital part of differentiating one style of magic from another. There are two aspects of Trappings to consider as a tradition is crafted: the sensory effects (visual, audio, and related) and the minor mechanical effects that may be at work. Savage Rifts® is wide-open for one player to play an ice wizard, while another portrays a classic druid, while yet another is a summoner whose every power is a manifestation of strange spirit beings called forth from an alien dimension.
Another important area of decision-making is determining which powers are appropriate for the style or tradition. While it’s easy enough to say that all powers are available to any given form of magic or mysticism, such a decision removes a certain amount of definition for the character.
As well, it can simply be too unbalanced,
especially since there are established forms present in Savage Rifts® that do have specific, prescribed lists of powers.
An easy approach to this question is to ask the player to submit a list of recommended (or desired) powers that represent his vision of what the style is like.
You can then approve, reject, and even add powers that you feel best serve the chosen form. Most styles of magic should have at least 20 powers, and probably more. In truth, most broadly defined traditions may have nearly all the listed powers, but there should be at least a handful they don’t grant access to.
One of the most important reasons why this is a good idea is to promote further diversity within a group of heroes. Should three wielders of power be on the same team, the lists of powers they can each access can help define their particular contributions and specialties.