Spells for Dummies, How do YOU spend your points? Options

[Eyeless Blond]

Just starting up a classic newbie thread here. Looking at the SR books, there are lots of spells that would be really cool for a character to have, but it's hard to figure out just which ones to get, and how high to empower it. I mean, obviously you want a good Stunbolt(5-6) on just about every character, but what else?

So I guess the question to ask the group is: what spells do you guys think are indispensible for any beginning character? For any character in general? What Force level should those spells be at? Or, if these questions are too general, what are the best, say, sneaking spells? Attack spells?

Try to at least include book if not page # for those of us who haven't memorized the whole grimore, thanx.

[Kanada Ten]

Magic Fingers Force 4 or 5. Just about the most handy (I kill myself) thing around. You can choke people a klick away or steal their keys. Open car doors or pinch your neighbor's... (SR3 I think, Telekinetic Manipulation)

Improved Invisibility Force 5. 'Nuff said (or nothin' seen). (SR3 or MitS, Indirect Illusion)

Barrier Force 6. Bridges, walls, domes and dams. (SR3 Transformation Manipulation?)

[Lilt]

Everyone needs to know a mage with a force 6+ Heal spell. Preferably one that dosen't ask questions too.

Most people who think they'll get into combat take force 1 Increase Reflexes +3 and a force 1 sustaining focus so they can move at a similar speed to the gun-bunny.

[Crimson Jack]

It sounds like you're a mage then? If you're a shaman, I'd pull spells primarily from the one or two categories that you get bonuses in.

How many other people will be in your party? Will they also be magic users, and if so, will there be healers in your party?

[Diesel]

The importance of a good "If I die, y'all are comin' with me" AoE Elemental Manipulation is very high.

[Backgammon]

I hate the generic "most useful spells". I've seen so many mage chars with the same old inviz, leviate, stunbolt combos, it's just so uninspiring.

[Crusher Bob]

Just like all sams pack wires, a smartlink, and a gun. There are some things you just need in that line of work.

In general, most mages will go for a single target combat spell (stunbolt or manabolt) at froce 5 or 6 and Heal/treat at at least force 4.

What spells you get after that is largely a matter of specialty. The archtypes show you some samples of different mage specialties, though their spell choices tend to be suboptimal.

but in general, you want your '1st choice' spells to be things that can not be duplicated by your gear. If you are going to be a gunbunny/mage then you might not need that combat spell...

[Zazen]

[Herald of Verjig...]

You can't use both limitations for the same purpose. You can learn a force 3 spell that has the drain of a force 2 spell for 1 karma and the cost of a fetish.

Astral quests are the best option for those mages who can. A force 3 astral quest to the proper metaplane can reduce the karma cost by 3 if successful and gives 3 extra dice to learn.

[Zazen]

[sidartha]

My main choices are always:
Stunbolt. Area effect death, usually an elemental manip. Improved Invisibility. Heal.
Depending on the character I might throw in a few others Levitate was always a favorite of mine. Forces are up to you but I never go higher than 5 for combat spells so my base drain power is 2 instead of 3, Heal I like at force 4 but again thats my preference you have to get more successes on the test than the force of the spell for it to matter anyway.
Hope I've been helpfull

[toturi]

I usually have Stunbolt, Manabolt(for those things you just have to kill), Imp Invis, Treat(never had a firefight that lasted more than 5min, much less 1 hour). Armour, Levitate, an EM area effect, Magic Fingers, Clairvoyance/audience are all good secondary spells.

[Glyph]

Generally, you want to take spells that are resisted at Force: 6 if at all possible. Remember, a Force: 5 spell is resisted if the target rolls a 5 or a 6, while a Force: 6 spell is only resisted on a 6 - that one extra point of Force makes it twice as hard to resist! Other spells can be taken a low force, such as Makeover, Levitate, Oxygenate (mainly to breathe underwater), etc. Be careful which ones you take at low Force, though, because some of them limit the number of successes to up to the spell's Force.

Spells not usually used in combat situations (such as Translate, Diagnose, etc.) can be taken as exclusive spells to reduce the cost. When using the fetish modification to reduce Drain, remember it affects the effective Force of the spell, which is rounded down (for Drain calculations) if it is an odd number. In other words, a Force: 6 spell with a fetish modifier for lower Drain is good, but a Force: 5 spell with a fetish modifier for Drain has the same Drain as a normal Force: 5 spell.

[Sunday_Gamer]

Shapechange, because nothing says "professional" like taking your pants off in the middle of a run. =)

Levitate because HELLO?!? I'm flying!!

Analyze or compel truth, because no one likes being lied to.

Armor because I'm soft and squishy and because if I cast it on the sam, he makes for great cover.

Heal/Treat, if I need to explain this one, you should be playing a decker.

You know, I could write a little blurb for almost every spell in the game come to think of it. Why don't we make a short list and name spells a mage DOESN'T want?

All the anti poison spells suck. The force needs to be higher than the toxin rating and rating 7-12 toxins are really common apparently, making the spell completely useless.

Anyone else have a really crappy spell they hate?

Kong

[Cain]

I generally don't give my mages Combat Spells; but if I do, I give them Stunball at medium to medium-high force. The increased drain for AoE is offset by the reduced drain for Stun spells. It's an easy way to take out large groups of weak guards-- in fact, it's the best way of doing so. The only other options are grenades or full-auto fire, which are effective, but loud.

Heal/treat is nearly essential. This is a good one to take as Exclusive, since you're not going to be casting it in a firefight.

Many players take Increase Reflexes 3 at force 1, and buy a spell lock. It's cheap, but effective.

The rest all depends on your character concept. I like to give my mages one big fragoff spell; generally an AoE Elemental Manip, designed to be a huge final attack before falling unconscious. Others prefer to give their characters manabolt and powerbolt, for more offensive damage. If your character concept allows for it, Control manips can be very effective; if you're going to be a spell lock junkie, then various detection spells (enhance aim, Combat Sense) as well as Increase Attribute spells, are your friend.

YMMV, of course.

[MYST1C]

What is the character's background? Who was his teacher, where did he learn magic?

Those questions should give you some ideas about which spells he could have learned (contrary to should have learned to be most effective).

[Darkest Angel]

My favourite spells are these (in no particular order). Assume Force 5 fetished for cost unless otherwise stated.

Mindprobe (SR3 Detection Spell) Gets you all the information you need, and if necessary blackmail material with it.
Combat Sense (SR3 Detection Spell) Force 2 or 3 is good since it's success based. Any addition to combat pool is welcome.
Physical Mask (SR3 Indirect Illusion) When you need to go somewhere without people knowing it's you.
Clairvoyance (SR3 Detection Spell) When you just can't quite see through that 28th story window.
Clairaudience (SR3 Detection Spell) When you want to hear that conversation across the street.
Treat (SR3 Health Spell) you only really need force 3 since it's success based, and anything above a Moderate wound is best taken care of with with a first aid kit first. Helpful when anyone other than the 0 essence sammie get's shot up.
Manabolt (SR3 Combat Spell) Kills individual people and spirits.
Manaball (SR3 Combat Spell) Mass killings of people and spirits
Powerbolt (SR3 Combat Spell) Blows people and stuff up.
powerball (SR3 Combat Spell) Blows groups of people and the room they're in up.
Magic Fingers (SR3 Telekinetic Manipulation) Force 2, keeps it legal and you're not likely to get that many successes to boost the strength much beyond that anyway. Good when you can't find your TV remote.
Levitate (SR3 Telekinetic Manipulation) Worth it at any force when you can't be bothered walking.
Influence (SR3 Control Manipulation) Because you want to take the influence spell.
Improved Invisibility (SR3 Indirect Illusion) Because your stealth skill will always suck.
Armour (SR3 Transformation Manipulation) Be very careful when and where you use it though, but it does keep you alive when the drek hits the fan.
Physical Barrier (SR3 Transformation Manipulation) Stops people, cars, bullets, materialised spirits, and keeps the rain off.
Transform (MitS Transformation Manipulation) Take at force 6 and fetish for drain, useful when you're a troll and need to squeeze through the vent shaft (just don't forget your clothes)
Mass Blindness (MitS Direct Illusion) This is brutal, as it effectively only allows your enemies a simple action, even then with vision modifiers
Trid Phantasm (SR3 Indirect Illusion) Look! A scary monster!
Increased Initiative +3 (SR3 Health) Houseruled by a lot of GMs, but you only need it at force 1 or 2. Be faster than the Adept and the Sammie
Analyze Device (MitS Detection) When you can't figure out what something is.
Fashion (MitS Transformation Manipulation) Force 3 Exclusive, so it's cheap but handy when your threads don't quite fit the scene
Makeover (MitS Transformation Manipulation) Force 3 Exclusive, adds flavour, and handy for the Face Mage to make sure they're always at their best
Healthy Glow (MitS Health) As above
Acid Stream (SR3 Elemental Manipulation) If you don't kill them, you can always leave them naked and horribly disfigured.
Ball Lightning (SR3 Elemental Manipulation) Because it gets into places a lightning bolt can't reach - which if you're a drone or vehicle isn't a pleasurable experience.

[Lilt]

I'd urge you to consider taking force 6 spells rather than force 5 as they are twice as hard to resist (You get a 6 1/6th of the time and a 5 2/6ths of the time).

OK: So the drain might be higher, but in the case of combat spells it can easily make the difference between doing Deadly damage and doing Nothing. This mostly applies to Combat and Control Manipulations, and less-so to elemental manipulations that can still be dodged at TN4 and have the damage resistance TN reduced by wearing armor.

I would usually take Heal rather than Treat as it can be cast after any stun damage from drain has worn-off. Also: You aren't nessecarily going to be with your chummer when they take the wound. The advantage of using treat is that it's very slightly easier to take the drain from, but it probably won't even come into play at force 4 unless you're casting it whilst on damage modifiers yourself (By which time you're somewhat screwed anyway as it's harder to cast the spell in the first place).

[toturi]

Treat/Heal is for times when you don't have time to break out the medikit and do a Biotech check. Otherwise, Biotech is a far safer bet than a Heal spell, especially for the almost-0-essense sam.

[Lilt]

[TheOneRonin]

[Lantzer]

To be diffferent, let's look at the spells for your average mage who isn't a psychotic combat junkie.

1) You don't want any spells at higher than force 3 - they're illegal without a permit.
2) You want to stay away from Heal or Treat at any force - The AMA has strong feelings about magical healing. Don't piss off the AMA.
3) Combat spells are totally useless for a well-adjusted person.
4) Mental manipulations are just icky.
5) Elemental manipulations are bad too. Just like #3, but messier.

Looks like low-force illusions, telekinetic manips, and detection spells are king. Luckily, you don't need to worry about drain much, so your spell pool is pretty much devoted to successes and spell defense. (Actually, if you look at the spells, they _aren't_ totally useless.)

(For those without a sense of satire - this post is supposed to be mildly funny, with a side order of thoughtfullness.)

[Abstruse]

It also depends on what you want to do with the character. An investigator/face type mage isn't going to need a Fireball: 6 most likely and would be better advised getting more detection spells. However, for a combat mage the package stays pretty much the same.

Heal/Treat (Depending on your tastes, I like Treat because if someone's hurt and you're sitting around for an hour before you get to heal them, they're in deep crap already.)
Stunball/Stunbolt (Remember, you can wake up sleeping guards to question. It's hard to question a corpse.)
Some other area effect combat spell (For those times when you aren't worried about questions and just want to get the hell out of there)
Levitate (Monowire-topped electric fence with pressure sensors and laser alarms on the grounds? Piece of cake!)
Imp. Invisibility (I don't see anyone, but footprints keep appearing in the snow!)

Single-target spells other than Stunbolt aren't advised because a silenced Browning Hi-Power is pretty much just as effective (If you took the skill for it...you DID take the skill for your weapon, didn't you?) and doesn't give you a nosebleed and a headache afterwards...well, unless the kick was a little too strong and you forgot your earplugs anyway...

Make sure to think carefully about which spells you make exclusive. Sure, it may seem like a no-brainer to make that combat spell (which already takes just a single complex action anyway) exclusive, but that also means you can't do it while sustaining any other spells. And Stunballing a group of guards while under an Imp. Invisibility spell is pretty handy sometimes.

Also, beware if your GM has MitS or Grimoir as Focus Addiction is a bitch if you go overboard on trying to reduce spell costs.

The Abstruse One

[Darkest Angel]

[A Clockwork Lime]

A fetish and a Force 6 spell is just as easy to resist drain for as a Force 5 spell, but is twice as hard to resist for your opponent just as others have mentioned. It's one of the best Forces to take for most direct-effect combat-oriented and control manipulation spells like Stunbolt or Control Thoughts.