Can Helpful spells be cast on a Shadow Beast?

[darthauthor]

Can Helpful spells be cast on a Shadow Beast?

[ShadowLogan]

I don't see any reason they could not be.

What makes you think they can't have helpful spells cast on them?

[The Beast]

Maybe he's used to playing D&D where certain helpful spells are actually damaging to some creatures.

[eliakon]

Can Helpful spells be cast on a Shadow Beast?

sure you can cast helpful spells with a range of other than "self" on anyone who you want.
If they don't want the buff the rules seem to allow a saving throw (this is debated)
The only possible exception is if the spell is antithetical to the being.
Placing a blood ward on a zombie, or casting chromatic defense on the shadowbeast.
but Armor of Ithan or Swim as a Fish? No problem

[darthauthor]

Follow up question.

In combat, IF a shadow beast "disappears" into a shadow even though they can not be "seen" are they still there and can be harmed shooting in their direction or at the shadow on the ground or by using an area of effect weapon like a handgrenade or "Thunderclap (4)" or one of the various cloud spells.

Special circumstances.

A mage casts the spell "Light Target ()" on a shadow beast. Can they still disappear into a shadow?

Does the spell Lifeblast (15) do anything against Shadow Beasts?

IF there is one shadow and it is the only shadow around can a player just unload their energy weapon on that shadow and count it as a hit? (Shadow beast is hiding in it)

[darthauthor]

For some reason I am being black listed on the Rifts forum thread.

How do I find out why?

How do I correct it?

[The Beast]

For some reason I am being black listed on the Rifts forum thread.

How do I find out why?

How do I correct it?

Huh?

The site was down overnight. Were you trying to visit then?

[darthauthor]

No like 20 minutes ago I discovered I could not post in the Rifts thread.

then I tested it a couple of minutes ago and it went through.

By the way,

Demon Lord Extraordinaire, Awesome line.

Cool Handle, The Beast

[ShadowLogan]

In combat, IF a shadow beast "disappears" into a shadow even though they can not be "seen" are they still there and can be harmed shooting in their direction or at the shadow on the ground or by using an area of effect weapon like a handgrenade or "Thunderclap (4)" or one of the various cloud spells.

Shooting a shadow on the ground or wall I don't think will work (equivalent to shooting wild under RUE-era rules, or the chance of hitting a bystander under the RMB-era machinegun rules) unless its AoE attack.

As for the rest... That depends on how you view their "disappearing into the shadows" to work:
-as a form of Shadow Meld spell (Level 4, RUE pg206) then "While hidden in shadow, the character is still susceptible to magic, psychic and physical attacks, although attackers are -5 strike... Area effect magic does not suffer any penalty."
-as a form of other magical camouflage (or psionic) they would still be present and can be harmed
-as some type of dimensional projection off this plane (like Material Plane Astral Projection or D-Phase power) then no (if it is something like Temporal Magic's D-Shift 2D then yes)

There is nothing in the text for the Shadow Beast to indicate they avoid damage by stepping into the shadows, so I would go with it being a form of Shadow Meld.

A mage casts the spell "Light Target ()" on a shadow beast. Can they still disappear into a shadow?

This is a difficult question. The spell doesn't consider what happens if a target turns invisible (which the SB is essentially doing). I see it working 3 ways with regard to Invisibility/Invisibility-like powers:
1. the ability RED/BLUE shifts the Light Target's light, so it is no longer in the visible light portion of the spectrum. Or put another way the ability just outright blocks it.
2. the ability works fine, but the light still remains visible creating a "bubble" outline
3. Light Target cancels the ability

Now there is a race in DB3 (Silhouette RCC) that has a specific ability to absorb up to 95% of the light, and likely enough to render Light Target useless (they also have Shadow Meld as natural ability)

Does the spell Lifeblast (15) do anything against Shadow Beasts?

It can give hope/optimism (with bonuses), but if you are wondering if a Shadow Beast would fall under the alternative uses list I would say no.

IF there is one shadow and it is the only shadow around can a player just unload their energy weapon on that shadow and count it as a hit? (Shadow beast is hiding in it)

No. There are rules for when auto-strikes can be done and are found in RCB1r pg22 #1 under Point-Black Damage (optional) Rules (you can likely find them elsewhere, the only other place I know off hand is in the old 1E RT REF Field Guide). And those conditions are not met.

[darthauthor]

Thanks Shadow Logan,

Very thorough.

Still undecided about what I should do about "Light Targer" whatever the answer is I want to be consistent. I believe we all understand the situation. Shadow beast attacks. Someone cast light target on it. It works. Shadow beast jumps into one of the many shadows around to disappear.

Player who cast "Light Target" can we see him?

The way I see it the point of the "Light Target" spell is to make people stand out who are trying to be out of sight one way or another. So a shapeshifter is still going to glow regards of who or what it metamorphs into. Same with someone who puts on a disguise. Although I feel hiding in a cloud of smoke or darkness would block it. Same with perhaps camouflage one can hide behind.
As long as the shadow beast is still in reality and not shifted to the shadow plane or immaterial the light should shine through giving away his location (as a bubble as you say).

Right now, in my mind, the "Light Target" spell should not cancel the shadow beast ability to attempt shadow meld; just their likelihood of success at it.