Reengineering combat spells, What's in a drain? Options

[Traul]

I was checking the drain table fro designing new spells in Street Magic, and there several things that are utterly broken.

1) Physical spells have +1 drain, mana spells +0.

Mana spells are already more efficient: it is easier to bypass the target's WIL than BOD. While it might be equivalent for humans, Metahumanity has much higher average BOD than WIL because of orcs and trolls. The only bonus to WIL is a +1 for dwarves who also have +1 to BOD.

The only point of physical spells is to be able to target drones, but their high Object Resistance makes it hard enough not to deserve another punishment.

Proposed fix: change it to Physical spells +0, mana spells +1 for Combat spells only.

One could even justify it with fluff: why should it be easier to damage a physical being with a mana spell? Eventually one could rule that the +1 drain only applies when using a mana combat spell on the physical plane or against a non astral being.

2) Stun damage gets -1 drain

Everybody loves Stun damage because it keeps your hands clean. When you want to inflict Stun damage with mundane means you have to pay for it. Tasers have a very low range, Gel rounds and Flash bang grenades inflict less damage, Stick & Shock are expensive, toxins take time to kick in,... When using Magic, it is easier to inflict Stun damage than Physical. Lower drain means you can cast with higher Force, thus inflict more damage.

Proposed fix: change the Stun damage modifier to +1 drain.

Here the fluff justification is that Stun damage needs careful craft. While projecting raw energy might be enough to destroy things, you need to control it if you don't want to inflict any permanent damage.

These fixes would make both a Lightning bolt and a Stunbolt F/2 + 2 and a Powerbolt only F/2. It also narrows the gap between direct and indirect combat spells.

What do you think about it?