[X] My Assistant

[AndrosDeragon]

Hey all I want to ask and discuss on magic here, persifically on making your own spells at the beginning of character creation and In game spell creation. Mostly because I'm confused on the subject.

[Smirnov]

The guide in Street Magic is rather extensive, what confuses you?

[NeoJudas]

Hey all I want to ask and discuss on magic here, persifically on making your own spells at the beginning of character creation and In game spell creation. Mostly because I'm confused on the subject.

In-Game, street magic is fairly clear and helpful (if game time prohibitive).

What do you want to know about during character creation period and such? Can you have one or two (custom spells) at the time of character creation .... Sure, if the GM says its okay and the formulations are worked out and determined to be within the scope of game balance. Might even work as good backstory creation (a former corp wagemage who left, or a street Mage who found a wagemages portfolio by chance).

[Falconer]

All I know is I have yet to convince a GM to let me play a demolitions mage with a 'turn to c4' spell... as I see if if i can turn them into a limestone statue of Ca(CO3)... why not some explosive nitrate instead! Instead of turn to goo... turn to nitroglycerine!

That one always seems to get the veto... oh well.


Anyhow... OP you're going to have to be a lot more specific with your question. The whole section in street magic is very clear for most things. Of course you're going to have veto problems if your spells are too disruptive.. like above.


But for game time... I actually came up with a way to handle this in one long running power game... I made a second weaker ally spirit... force 7... with arcana and enchanting skills... The GM started to give me supply difficulties in reagants after it pumped out my second batch of orichalchum. Then I used it as an independent researcher when I needed custom spell formula. As well as started a sideline business talismongering custom foci.

[Halinn]

All I know is I have yet to convince a GM to let me play a demolitions mage with a 'turn to c4' spell... as I see if if i can turn them into a limestone statue of Ca(CO3)... why not some explosive nitrate instead! Instead of turn to goo... turn to nitroglycerine!

That one always seems to get the veto... oh well.

Turn to Chlorine Triflouride would be more fun.

[Tanegar]

Turn to Chlorine Triflouride would be more fun.

Let's see... Bad Rep, Distinctive Style, Wanted (every law enforcement agency in the known universe)... yes, I can think of a few appropriate things to do to a character who uses is batshit crazy enough to cast Turn to Chlorine Trifluoride.

[Umidori]

There's a difference between turning them into limestone, a naturally occuring substance, and turning them into a highly processed synthetic explosive. Remember, magic cannot create complex things.

Petrify and Turn To Goo are already ridiculously broken. You can't dodge it, and you roll Body + Counterspelling to resist being completely neutralized for as long as the spell is sustained. As far as a single-target small-target crowd control goes, these are insanely useful spells. Making it so that you also could turn the a target's body into dozens or hundreds of kilograms of C4 is like letting a sniper rifle shoot nukes.

~Umi

[Falconer]

GIMMEE!!!

Turn to goo... you have a new variant to abhor and terrify GMs with!


Seriously though... I've worked firsthand with hydroflouric acid in clean rooms (used to clean oxides and glass of semiconductor surfaces)... anything which produces clouds of it as a primary product... is some seriously scary stuff.


Umi... actually a lot of explosives and even high explosives have some very simple chemical makeups. Nitrocellulose comes to mind. Many nitrates are used in quite a few because the NO3 product produces two things... oxygen in vast quantities as self-oxidizer... and a triple nitrogen bond for N2 molecules which result causing a huge exothermic reaction making all the resulting gas very hot and energetic for a nice pressure wave.


Yes but think of the possibilities as the 300kg body 15 troll... who resists your spells so effectively suddenly gets converted into a MOAB (mother of all bombs)...

[O'Ryan]

There's a difference between turning them into limestone, a naturally occuring substance, and turning them into a highly processed synthetic explosive. Remember, magic cannot create complex things.

Petrify and Turn To Goo are already ridiculously broken. You can't dodge it, and you roll Body + Counterspelling to resist being completely neutralized for as long as the spell is sustained. As far as a single-target small-target crowd control goes, these are insanely useful spells. Making it so that you also could turn the a target's body into dozens or hundreds of kilograms of C4 is like letting a sniper rifle shoot nukes.

~Umi

They don't even have to be single target! With the aforementioned make your own spell rules, you can easily modify "turn to goo" to be an AOE spell.
Though I wonder why nobody does "turn to gold" ...

[Umidori]

Though I wonder why nobody does "turn to gold" ...

OH MY GLOB.

Now I want to build a leprechaun. Except instead of my Leprechaun Gold disappearing after a short while, it turns into chunks of meat.

~Umi

[O'Ryan]

Except instead of my Leprechaun Gold disappearing after a short while, it turns into chunks of meat.

~Umi

That is one of the greatest things I have ever heard in my life.

[Falconer]

Even better... alter it from LoS....

We'll name it "Midas Touch"

[Umidori]

That is one of the greatest things I have ever heard in my life.

You misspelled "grossest". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

~Umi

[Lionhearted]

Always wondered... What happens if you jar someone turned to goo... or splash around in them, or make soylent green shakes?

[Stahlseele]

Given that they gain a barrier rating equal to their body, it's a pretty strong goo . .

[Umidori]

Yeah, with the barrier rating it's more like a structural or industrial gel, oddly.

That said, if you remove a goo-person's goo-head, and then un-goo them, they be dead.

~Umi

[_Pax._]

"Turn to Sodium", followed with "Hose".

[Umidori]

That's a very good way to light yourself on fire, Pax. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

~Umi

[NeoJudas]

There's a difference between turning them into limestone, a naturally occuring substance, and turning them into a highly processed synthetic explosive. Remember, magic cannot create complex things.

Petrify and Turn To Goo are already ridiculously broken. You can't dodge it, and you roll Body + Counterspelling to resist being completely neutralized for as long as the spell is sustained. As far as a single-target small-target crowd control goes, these are insanely useful spells. Making it so that you also could turn the a target's body into dozens or hundreds of kilograms of C4 is like letting a sniper rifle shoot nukes.

~Umi

No, it's not. HOWEVER, using a temporary spell for such transformations does miscounted. Additionally, complex items are not complex compound. Fix the first problem with a permanent spell version. Fixing the second problem is unnecessary.

[Tanegar]

Um... making Petrify and Turn to Goo permanent would make them more broken, not less. Now the magician can permanently remove a threat from the fight, with no dodge and a trivial resistance roll, and doesn't even have to suffer a sustaining penalty afterward. Yeah, no. How about the effect lasts for a number of combat turns equal to the number of net hits on the spellcasting roll? Maybe also make the resistance roll Body + Willpower + Counterspelling.

[SpellBinder]

No, it's not. HOWEVER, using a temporary spell for such transformations does miscounted. Additionally, complex items are not complex compound. Fix the first problem with a permanent spell version. Fixing the second problem is unnecessary.

And break the economy if it's still based on precious metals like gold. Turn your enemies to gold or platinum, hold till it's permanent, then melt them down into neat ingots and sell as needed. Better yet, turn them into diamond (pure carbon that's in a neat order) and chip off bits to sell as jewelry.

[Umidori]

Why stop there? Since we're already being absurd, let's just create a Turn To Orichalcum spell!

What's that? You need Alchemy to make orichalcum? Funny, didn't they say the same thing about gold?

~Umi

[SpellBinder]

Absurdity? How about psilosen, at four million nuyen a unit (however much a unit is).

[NeoJudas]

Um... making Petrify and Turn to Goo permanent would make them more broken, not less. Now the magician can permanently remove a threat from the fight, with no dodge and a trivial resistance roll, and doesn't even have to suffer a sustaining penalty afterward. Yeah, no. How about the effect lasts for a number of combat turns equal to the number of net hits on the spellcasting roll? Maybe also make the resistance roll Body + Willpower + Counterspelling.

See, this is the part where I laugh at the counters. If you turn a spell into something permanent compared to temporary, then the duration needed to make something permanent is involved. Oh, and btw, it is resisted. The spell design also has given targets and end-effects.

And for you other half-thoughts of Oricalcum and such .... Magic spells cannot create magical materials ... Which requires Alchemy and or Enchanting in Shadowrun. Dweomercrafting, the art of investing and or empowering auras, is not a spell-based classification in Shadowrun. Metamagic s (quickening, anchoring) hold auras and energies, and in 4thEd, one also requires enchanted things. The new(er) stuff like Psilosen, etc... Require enchanting work to produce.

That being said, transforming something such as one metal to another (lead or iron to gold), might actually be doable. But that being said, such metal will always have the aura of not being "real". I somehow feel that with everything else in security during a Shadowrun era, "False Gold" or anything else for that matter, will likely piss off governments, megas, dragons, the UTA, etc.. Ad nauseum.

Remember that whole "Bad Rep" stuff??? Yeah.... Nice try. My group did this a long time ago however.

[KCKitsune]

Getting back on topic, I had my character design a personal flight spell.

Personal Flight Spell Drain: (F/2)-3
Type: Physical
Range: Limited Target (Caster only)
Duration: Sustained
Minor Physical changes

Effects: Allows caster to fly at 10 times faster than a levitate spell. Is it overpowered... maybe.