Hi everyone, I was just thinking about the lack of granularity in spell targeting and area of effect in Shadowrun and came up with a couple of additions to the rules that seemed helpful. Take a quick look and tell me what you think:

New Range Types:

Personal Area – 2m (single square or hex at standard miniature scale) range in all directions, no distinction between friend and foe. Does not affect the caster or any equipment or items worn or held by the caster. This area is fixed and cannot be adjusted by withholding dice from the Spellcasting test. Drain Cost lies between Touch and LOS spells.

LOS Multiple – Allows the caster to designate a number of targets equal to half the Force of the spell within an area equal to the area defined by the Area range (defined as a circle with a radius equal to the spell’s force in meters) in the SR4 rulebook. No target may be designated more than once for a single spell. Drain cost lies between LOS and Area spells.

I know the format here is awful but I was having a hard time posting it any better, if you read it carefully you can follow it:

Example Conversion of Mana-based Stun (Direct) damage spells:

Spell Name/Type/Range/Resist/Drain/Damage/Duration
Stun Touch/Mana/Touch/Willpower/(F/2)-3/Stun/Instant
Stun Burst/Mana/Personal Area/Willpower/(F/2)-2/Stun/Instant
Stun Bolt/Mana/LOS/Willpower/(F/2)-1/Stun/Instant
Stun Strike/Mana/LOS Multiple/Willpower/(F/2)/Stun/Instant
Stun Ball/Mana/Area/Willpower/(F/2)+1/Stun/Instant

Example Conversion of Mana-based Physical (Direct) damage spells:

Spell Name Type Range Resist Drain Damage Duration
Mana Touch Mana Touch Willpower (F/2)-2 Physical Instant
Mana Burst Mana Personal Area Willpower (F/2)-1 Physical Instant
Mana Bolt Mana LOS Willpower (F/2) Physical Instant
Mana Strike Mana LOS Multiple Willpower (F/2)+1 Physical Instant
Mana Ball Mana Area Willpower (F/2)+2 Physical Instant

Example Conversion of Physical-based Physical (Direct) damage spells:

Spell Name Type Range Resist Drain Damage Duration
Power Touch Physical Touch Body (F/2)-1 Physical Instant
Power Burst Physical Personal Area Body (F/2) Physical Instant
Power Bolt Physical LOS Body (F/2)+1 Physical Instant
Power Strike Physical LOS Multiple Body (F/2)+2 Physical Instant
Power Ball Physical Area Body (F/2)+3 Physical Instant

Example Conversion of Elemental (Indirect) spells:

Spell Name Type Range Resist Drain Damage Duration
Lightning Touch Elemental Touch Body + (Impact Armor/2) (F/2)+1 Physical + Special Instant
Lightning Burst Elemental Personal Area Body + (Impact Armor/2) (F/2)+2 Physical + Special Instant
Lightning Bolt Elemental LOS Body + (Impact Armor/2) (F/2)+3 Physical + Special Instant
Lightning Strike Elemental LOS Multiple Body + (Impact Armor/2) (F/2)+4 Physical + Special Instant
Lightning Ball Elemental Area Body + (Impact Armor/2) (F/2)+5 Physical + Special Instant

I was also thinking of applying the concept of skill groups to spells. Each of these groups has five spells so a spellcaster could pay 12BPs at chargen or 20 Karma later to get the whole group, kind of a buy four get one free deal.

Comments please!

You can move the area of effect but if you center the spell on yourself you are affected by it right? Bad news for manaball! And yes, you can cast multiple spells but you take a hefty penalty and have to resist drain for each spell individually.

Ignoring for the moment the fact that you would have yourself in the area of effect, dropping a manaball at your feet still wouldn't hit anyone behind you. now a ball lightning or fireball dropped at your feet would hit everyone in the radius (including yourself) but with enough armor modifications you might be able to create a chance for personal safety.

Add Non-conductivity 6 to your armor, for example, and you get to add 6 dice to resist the electrical effect of the ball lightning you just dropped at your feet.

Alternatively, a crafty player might ask to withhold one die to create a 1m radius circle in the center of an otherwise spherical area of influence creating a three-dimensional space around the caster where the spell won't effect. Non-dwarves over 1m tall had better get into the fetal position before doing this, otherwise they might still be in the area of effect, but it's an idea. And the RAW say you withhold dice to expand or contract the radius, not that you can't expand or contract that radius from the center out rather than the outside in ......