Sustained Combat Spells?, Doable? If so...how do they work? Options

[Cardul]

OK, I was looking through Street Magic, and I noticed something:
By the rules as written, unless I missed something, I can make a sustained combat spell.
This raised an interesting thought:
If I make such a spell: I will assume I have to maintain LOS the whole time I am sustaining it, but...
Do I have to make a roll each combat pass/turn to keep damaging my target? Or does it just go by my initial spellcasting roll?
Would the damage be per initiative pass I make? Or per Turn?
If I were using the optional +1 drain for net successes applied to damamge on direct combat spells, would I have to resist that extra drain each time I do damage?
Did I just make someone's head explode by even suggesting such a thing as a sustained combat spell?

[Ryu]

The German street magic forbids anything but "instant" combat spells (spell creation rules, header Combat spells, pg. 160). This might be a deviation from the English RAW.

[Zaranthan]

Off-the-cuff decision: it works like Influence: you don't take any more drain, but you also don't get to roll any more hits. Your target gets to make another resistance test every turn, and when you run out of net hits it just doesn't hurt anymore. Sustaining penalty applies until you drop it, of course, so paying attention to your target to figure out when the spell wears off is important.

[hobgoblin]

the english version of street magic i have clearly states on page 162 that combat spells are always instant.

[darthmord]

the english version of street magic i have clearly states on page 162 that combat spells are always instant.

Shouldn't be anything stopping him from making a manipulation spell that creates a continuous stream / spray of (insert element here).

Think of a Flamethrower spell that keeps spraying fire as long as it's sustained. That could get damaging & painful rather fast.

[Moon-Hawk]

Think of a Flamethrower spell that keeps spraying fire as long as it's sustained. That could get damaging & painful rather fast.

Of course, if the magician just keeps casting flamethrower every pass, you could describe that as a continuous spray. The only different between that and something mechanically continuous would be the ability to use it for suppressive fire. Get it? Suppressive FIRE!? Nevermind.

[Cardul]

the english version of street magic i have clearly states on page 162 that combat spells are always instant.

Hence why I said "Unless I missed something." It makes more sense for that limitation to be under Duration not Combat Spells...

[Maelstrome]

i did something like sustained damage spells. gave them their own drain value and counted it as full auto fire.
it could be particularly lethal. but the uses for it outside of combat werent limited either.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

i did something like sustained damage spells. gave them their own drain value and counted it as full auto fire.
it could be particularly lethal. but the uses for it outside of combat werent limited either.

AN Interesting idea, but I am not sure that I would go that route... RAW is pretty clear about Combat Spells being Instant only... About the best Manipulation Spell for continuous damage would be Ignite (or any such variant), as once it has been made permanent it will burn until all fuel is consumed or it is put out through effort...

Your Mileage May Vary

[Warlordtheft]

Pretty much the only spells that can be sustained are ones with the duration of sustained......at least that is how I understood it.

BTW-Do you really roll a resistance check every turn for spells like influence????

[Maelstrome]

AN Interesting idea, but I am not sure that I would go that route... RAW is pretty clear about Combat Spells being Instant only... About the best Manipulation Spell for continuous damage would be Ignite (or any such variant), as once it has been made permanent it will burn until all fuel is consumed or it is put out through effort...

Your Mileage May Vary

actually now that i think about it. i didnt do it with combat, only manipulation.

[Jaid]

BTW-Do you really roll a resistance check every turn for spells like influence????

well, yes and no. you roll every [force] turns. in the case of influence, however, once the spell is made permanent the general consensus is that it is no longer subject to that rule (i don't recall if any explicit text was produced to that effect, but if not then there was some fairly strong evidence that it was intended that way*). this would mean they get 1 extra resist check iirc, since it should take something like 2 turns per DV of the spell (which in the case of influence works out to 1 turn per force of the spell + 1 round, or just enough time to ensure the target gets 1 extra resist check).

so if you're a RAW-nazi who doesn't care about things like a spell that the magician paid for being useful, or playing the game as it was clearly intended, then sure... there is (or at least there might be) a resistance roll every [force] turns against the influence spell. otherwise, once permanent the only way to resist it further is if confronted over the absurdity of the idea.

*specifically, there is text that indicates that a spell made permanent no longer requires magic to sustain it. this doesn't explicitly state that no more resist rolls are made for mental manipulations once permanent, but it certainly implies that very strongly imo.

[hobgoblin]

Hence why I said "Unless I missed something." It makes more sense for that limitation to be under Duration not Combat Spells...

i guess it could have been under both. but you asked specifically about combat spells, no?