magic book Options

[Shinobi Killfist]

Any idea what will be in it.

Now in 4e basic initiation is at least covered so at least that wont be there. Spell design needs to be in, more initiation abilities, more phys adept powers(I want to throw a peanut through somebody again and hopefully I wont need to be a troll to be effective at this), maybe more mentor spirits, metaplanes, better descriptions of the difference between hermetics and shamans, maybe some new traditions(well old ones actually but new to 4e)

Things I'd like to see are more area of effect types, like maybe a cone effect, and actual example spells for all the spell design options. If weather control is mentioned give some weather control spells, if altering gravity is mentioned ho about an alter gravity spell.(unless levitate is supposed to be it), and maybe a couple more magic specific edges. I'd like a edge like the old focussed concentration -2 die per spell cripples you fast. The starting mage I made wouldn't be able to cover the team with phys mask or invis without edge since by the time he tried to go for the 5th person he'd be out of dice to roll in well everything. I guess I need to get my pool to 9 dice so I'd have at least 1 die to roll for lucky number 5 team mate.

[sapphire_wyvern]

Most likely the following things:

1) A lot more spirit types.
2) More traditions (I think we can expect to see Vodoun Houngans and Wujen at the very least).
3) The rest of the Mentor Spirits (yay, Racoon!)
4) More paracritters.
5) Lots of SR3 metamagic conversions. (I, for one, would like to see Grounding also added as a metamagic. If Turn To Goo can skip an edition, so can grounding. And if Symbolic Linking can go from standard ability to metamagic, so can grounding. :)).
6) Fiction.
7) Astral questing.
8 ) Magical Groups. And possibly Initiatory Ordeals.
9) More spells.
10) Geasa (hopefully not as broken as in SR3). I'm a bit doubtful about this one, as accidental loss of Magic is not possible under existing SR4 rules, so allowing geasa on deliberate Magic sacrifices is not something I would encourage. Personally I think geasa should only be allowed for accidental Magic loss - which isn't an issue yet.
11) The use of material & symbolic links for astral tracking, to augment the existing rules for astral tracking via astral signature. This will naturally be usable for Ritual Sorcery as well, restoring the full functionality from SR3.
12) More adept powers.
13) Magical threats, such as bug spirits, toxics, etc.
14) Astral phenomena such as mana lines, power sites, astral shallows and mana rifts.
15) Magical sites.
16) Background count & mana warps.
17) Synner has hinted we can also expect to see some variant of the Enchanting/Talismongering type skills from SR3. That implies some kind of focus creation rules as well. Hopefully it builds on the existing SR4 mechanics for item creation in the technological domain.

Basically, I think anything magical from SR3 that hasn't appeared in the SR4 Core Book is very likely to appear. *Especially* anything that was in a previous editions' magic supplement. And the streamlined rules these days permit very high content density, so I'd expect to see a pretty good fraction of the list above make an appearance.

[Spookymonster]

Get Addiction(Psyche, Mild). You'll get an extra 5BP at chargen, plus a good excuse to be hopped up on Psyche all the time: +1 Int, +1 Log, only -1 penalty for multi-casting, no downsides when you crash. Yep, nothing broke there ;).

[Dashifen]

Interesting ... there's a bigger benefit to Hermetics there since they use Logic to resist drain, too.

[Fortune]

I've always liked Psyche ... now it's even better. :D

[Patrick Goodman]

[FrankTrollman]

I also wouldn't predict the inclusion of paracritters, except possibly as some examples of non-metahuman spellcasters. Street Magic might include a piece on the magical traditions of Naga and the like - and that section might have a couple of spellcasting paracritters in it. However, I would put the odds on either of those happening at "pretty low", just because most players honestly don't care what the magical traditions of centaurs are like.

At this point, we've already seen three Shadowrun Magic Books (one for each edition), so the format is actually pretty familiar:

What you probably will see, is a write-up of every summonable spirit. That means that there are almost certainly going to be revised stat lines for the basic six, as well as all the additional spirits that are needed to create the traditions from that book. By my calculations, that could be as little as four new spirits.

Speaking of adding traditions, I would bet money that the traditions that were playable in previous editions will get write-ups. That means that we'll see a fully playable version of Houngans, Wu Jen, and (perhaps unfortunately) the Tir Path Magicians, you might even see Psionics have a return from Awakenings (maybe this time they won't be so terrible in SR4). In keeping with previous editions, I would expect to see a brand new tradition as well.

You will see Magical Threats, just like in every other edition. At the very least you will see Blood, Bugs, and Toxics. If we're lucky, this will come with a Magical Threat Design system similar to the Magical Tradition Design System, with the old stand-bys being used as examples. They will probably describe a new threat as well, possibly one based on using evil geomancy to steal life force (there's never been a toxic Wu Jen description, now there will be).

You will see Free Spirit rules. This will probably either allow you to construct Shedim and Imps or have a bunch of hanging mechanics in which Shedim and Imps have their own unique write-ups. There may be a section on fancy special spirits which in turn might include fairies, wraiths, corpse-light, and/or The Wild Hunt. This section will include some sort of rules for how Banishement affects spirits that are on the loose.

You will see new Metamagic. I wouldn't be shocked by Anchoring, Sympathetic Magic, Divning, Reflecting, or Blood Sacrifice.

You will see Ally Spirits. Ally Spirit creation may be classified as a metamagic.

You will see Enchanting. Expect that to be a new active skill that is based on Magic to appear for this purpose. This section will include the rules to collect ritual components on your own time, expect this to be at least nearly as generous as previous editions contrasted with paying thousands of yens to a talismonger to get the materials over the counter.

Expect to see a pile of new (old) mentor spirits. Expect a few token new ones that weren't in previous editions. I would bet 20 nuyen that one of them is going to be Toaster since they mention it so often.

Expect to see a pile of new spells. Most of these are going to be old spells, I suspect about 20% original content in this list. Also a spell design system, which in turn is going to be a whole lot easier to handle than those of previous editions .

Finally, we'll see the conversion of some of the old Adept Powers. Some of them aren't coming back (I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the power where you know all languages, for instance). There will also be some new ones based on the new machanics. I could see some Adept powers that modify the uses of Edge, for instance (something to cancel other people using Edge against you, perhaps?)

-Frank

[snowRaven]