Is there anywhere in the BBB that talks about the legality of powers like Killing Hands? Or are adepts not able to truthfully utter that cheesiest of all cheesy lines "my hands are registered weapons"?

EDIT: Not that there is much in the way of information on the legality of spells other than that one comment about many spells like combat spells and mind manipulation spells being illegal in some jurisdictions.

If you can get ahold of the old SR1/2 book Shadowbeat it goes into a lot of the legality stuff about magic and cyberware, but was set in the 2054 timeframe. It's worth reading still for the fluff, especially for the sports like Urban Brawl and Combat Biker. And if I remember correctly adepts did have to register there hands as weapons, just like real world combat athletes and martial artists have to do today. But it's your game do you will.

REal world martial artists most certainly do not have th register their hands in any jurisdiction that I know of. Of course, one could get such regestration cards printed up at kinkos just to show off.

Real world martial artists are required to register their limbs when they reach black-belt level, as are boxers when they reach Golden Gloves or higher. Also, most military special forces operatives are assumed to have such skills even if they've never taken a class at all.

Weeell .. I can't speak for the United States - but in Germany I don't have to register anything when I reach black-belt levels ...
Personally I have not reached it (yet) - but I have spoken to quite a few who have.

Umm, where do they register? Int he county they live in? If so, I worked in county law enforcement for over 4 years, and dealt with a guy who was a champion boxer all teh time, he didn't register.....In fact the whole idea seems absurd...

I want to know exactly what they register. Are they required to punch a side of beef to have the knuckle marks saved for forensic purposes?

I can't point to any specific source, but from what I've read in previous editions the degree in which magic is regulated varies from place to place. For instance, the novel Streets of Blood seems to imply that in England magic is more regulated than in Seattle.

As far as outlawing or regulating specific powers or spells that seems hard to do. It's not like killing hands will show up on a metal detector. Besides its fairly safe to assume that almost all mages/adepts have at least 1 combat oriented spell/ability.

I would guess (and this is just a guess) that adepts would have to register just like mages, and through the same process. They'll probably leave an astral signature, can be picked up on an astral scan (if they don't have Masking), and if not registered and caught by the Star, it'll be a 'mail fraud' charge added on.

"You're charged with 3 counts of murder, 2 counts of assault and battery, and 5 counts of Unregistered/Unlawful use of Magic"

As far as i know, they don't have to register. But in many jurisdiction, if they are caught in a fight, they are considered as being carying weapons... Which can be a big problem in the case of self defense, as you are suppose to make a defense proportional to the attack... My 2 cents...

I seem to recall a boxer once getting his fists registered as lethal weapons as a publicity stunt.

http://www.tafkac.org/faq2k/legal_2007.html

I guess I'd rule that, if the adept uses magic to assist his attack, he/she'd leave an astral signature (IA: whatever he/she used). Also if they had Astral Perception and used it at the scene of the incident, or Improved Reflexes. Hell, just walking thru an area if they had the Improved Attribute power active would do the trick. My point is that, even if adepts use magic internally, they're still using magic, and it's going to show up.

I agree that there isn't anything clarifing it, and it's up to the GM to decide it. In magophobe areas (like GB above), an adept would probably have to register. In the UCAS, you can probably get away with it, but just don't get caught. That fake magic license isn't much, though...

The SR3 intro flavor text described the party mage detecting magic in the wounds of the party samurai, inflicted by the NPC adept.

Which I find a little absurd - yes, mages and shamans can detect an adept because they are "Awake" and as such are magical, at the very least magic users.

But they don't sweat magic.

And the debate rages on.

-Siege

Abschalten, calypso, thanks for the info and links.