Favorite SR4 spell category? Options

[emo samurai]

Which do you like most? They all kind of rock, but for me, manipulation does way too many awesome things to be beaten by anybody else.

[BishopMcQ]

I voted Health...each category has a purpose, and depending on the character concept some will get more use than others. Overall though, I'd say that in previous editions as well as present, just about every caster I make either starts with Heal or picks it up fairly early on.

[irdeggman]

Combat, because well that is what a combat mage does. Besides the satisfaction in a well placed acid wave or fireball is hard to beat.

[knasser]

Health. I'm always looking for ways to make my character better and I always think long term. How could I turn my back on the category that includes all those lovely attribute boosts? I want my Logic 9, Intuition 9, Willpower 9, 4 IP Hermetic, please. :)

[Jaid]

[Phobos]

Ît's sure ... :drumroll: ... DETECTION!

1. Detection to know what your enemies do, did and ever will do prevents more trouble than either of the other spell categori could solve.
2. Manipulation lets you change any situation you don't like to one you do like.
3. Illusion spells to avoid those problems you could not manipulate - usually you can find a way to fool them or sneak around them.
4. Health spells before and after it comes to any confrontation. Though if you use the forementioned means this will rarely come up.
5. Combat spells are you LAST line of defense - if you have to use them, you failed at least four times previously. No, surprise is not a valid excuse :D

Reverse Illusion and Manipulation if you can't prepare but have to make up things on the fly.

'Learned it all the hard way - playing a Combat Mage from SR1 to retirement (NPC Life) in SR3.

[knasser]

[emo samurai]

Phobos, you have converted me. I'm thinking of assaulting the Great Wall of China next week; could you lead my army?

[Kyoto Kid]

..how about "None of the above"?

[null vote]

Of course, this comes from a mundane point of view.

[ornot]

I'd go with Manipulation... gotta love telekinesis.

Guess I'm just too lazy to get up and walk to the fridge for my beer.

[TBRMInsanity]

Now that elemental Combat spells exist there is a whole line of great spells at the combat specialist. That being said I have made some very kick @$$ health spell specialist. I like using decrease attribute spells on enemy units.

[Kesh]

Manipulation, no question. There's just so much stuff you can do with it, TK being my favorite.

[Lilt]

Voted Health. Although I do like Phobos's reasoning, I feel that his logic is somewhat flawed. Detection spells aren't the only category that can increase a character's ability to percieve threats early. An Increase Intuition spell can also help there, for example. I'm curious to know what detection spell selection you consider to be a good selection for "preventing more trouble than any spell category".

Backing my Health claim up:

• Health spells can indirectly boost almost any action that a character does, boosting linked attributes, making them powerfully versatile.
• Health spells are the only spell type that allows the character to act faster, meaning the mage with Increase Reflexes can perform 2-4 times as many actions as the one without. Two times as many actions means twice the effect on the world. Note that this has changed from previous edition days when mages with multiple actions generally couldn't use them as well due to lost spell pool.
• Health spells can increase your ability to cast other types of spells. Yes, sustaining an increase willpower spell gives you -2 dice to cast the spell and resist drain, but +4 dice to resist drain (net +2) can be more useful.
• Health spells can heal, an ability which many parties would be lost without. It's not possible to guarantee that every group will sit back and wait for you to do all of your divination, and when they don't (even sometimes when they do) there are quite possibly going to be wounds that need patching-up.

Also, in the defense of the other spell categories:
Combat spells can be used to overcome a variety of problems. This is because they too can be used to change the world around you. A force 9 shatter spell is a quick and easy way to blast a 1m hole through a security door or brick wall, for example. The drain should be manageable, it's only 3P (many startting mages can buy that off completely with 12 dice), so you can try again without risk. You'd only need 3 successes to break a security door (structure 9, OR presumably 3) or 4 successes to blast through a brick wall (structure 11, OR defined as 2).

[Shadowmeet]

I had to go for Detection, for much of the same reasons as quoted before. Plus, if I am having some slow running times, I can always play a little John Taylor or Cassandra.

[NightmareX]

While Phobos's logic is dead on (like him, I learned the hard way), I've gotta go with Combat. What can I say, I just love blasting things :smokin:

[Ophis]

Illusion mostly because I'm into playing tricksie buggers...

[Grinder]

Manipulation all the way, with Illusion being a close second.

[Shrike30]

Detection. Nothing quite like not having to physically search a building to find someone/thing, being able to spy on locations from a distance without using drones susceptible to jamming, and having the team's mage able to throw up markers on the PAN for where the opponents are despite being in a wireless dead zone with no security cameras to hack :P

[fool]

I voted health because there is one spell all my mages have inc reflexes. I might not have any other health spells (though I get yelled at for not having heal) but that single spell is importnant anough to outbalance all others.

[Glyph]

Combat narrowly edges the others for me, because they are the main offense of a mage. But a good mage really needs spells from all of the other categories, too.

[Shrike30]

I always felt a little odd using magic as my main offense, even as a mage. It seemed like it was good for some special-purposes work, but for a standup firefight, firearms seemed to have an advantage (and they didn't tend to draw quite so much fire).