Greetings.

While reading Virtual Realities 2.0 I noticed that Deckers can make some decent nuyen hitting lightweight Green hosts on a regular basis-little muss or fuss. Given the parallels between Magic Use and Decking-Astral/Matrix, spells/programs, spirits/knowbots-what can a Mage (or Shaman) do to achieve similar results (yeah, lousy for gameplay, but imagine being hired to hunt down the ones doing the subtle skimming...)

I'm looking for ideas like using watcher spirits for inside information/extortion, using divination skill to predict stock fluctuations/betting, summoning spirits as playthings for wealthy patrons-you get the idea.

Creative and subtle, low risk spells or rituals that a mage could use in a manner that would turn a quick buck with minimal risk. Legal and ethical considerations aside-but keeping in mind that EXPOSURE to risk (through blatantly illegal acts) would be a very bad thing.

Any input'd be appreciated.

R

fashion would be one. reshape bulky armored clothing into sleek, stylish partywear. creating wards would be another.

In SR4, just summon a bunch of Spirits of Man, and send them on a remote service to be whores in a whorehouse you own. Pure profit, plus you can market to the folks who have... violent tastes.

A spirit can always be recognized as a spirit. Furthermore a spirit of man in human shape will not have all the anatomical features necessary to do the kind of work you have in mind. And customers with a violent taste are much better served with the large number of snuff Simsense and BTL recordings which is available in the market.

Running a whorehouse will inevitably draw the attention of organized crime at some time.

sell warding services

or for something a littlemore sick

Have a cybersurgeon and a magician work together

the magician morphs a rat into whatever slave the customer wants, then quickens the effect

the cyber surgeon adds in the skillwires and P-Fix chip

"You want something that looks like your beloved daughter, but fucks like a demon princess,then we can do it."

several comments have been made on the diet magician on other threads. that is someone who sells uses of the spells fast and nutrition, as to whether this is a luxury good or something that is sold in bulk to lower classes is up to debate.

levitate is a ready alternative to fork lifts, ladders, scaffolding, amusement ride, and slow vehicles as one can move a few hundred kilos at a rate of about 4.5 miles per hour per success.

physical barrier or shape earth are useful in construction.

detox and drinking contests is just too obvious for the mundanes to not have come up with a solution. perhaps their solution was to make detox so ineffective.

magic fingers functions as an excellent alternative to legerdemain. or perhaps invisibility would be a better spell for simple thefts, either of the items or the thief.

spirits as entertainers as mentioned earlier is one possibility but so is the entertainment or phantasm spells.

on the less legal side the control manipulations spells for embezzlement, coerced contracts, and so forth.

I have not been talking about special spirit threats or spirits with a special power, but about the run-of-the-mill normal materialized spirit of man.

*throwing something heavy at hyzmarca*

actually, there have been mention of people w/ more 'exotic' tastes out there. I think in an Underworld book or SSG.

Like I said Oracle, the hearth spirit in Poisoned Memories. Just one canon example. The character in the novel thought it was a normal ork until it was assensed.

I'm sure there would be more examples if you looked for a while. There's also Buttercup, but as you said, she's a free spirit. Just an example.

So everything that happens in SR novels is canon for the game? Think about this at least twice before you answer...

Use watcher spirits to carry messages. You can do the same for elementals - just think about how quickly an air elemental could carry a microchip to someone.

What was wrong with the Terminus Experiment, other than the way the protaganists butcher their way through a facility full of vampires without taking any losses?

So many great ideas-some a bit twisted, but very creative. Any more?

How about taking things one step further...

The Black Lodge, from Threats, I believe. How do they manage to be the 'power behind the throne'? Mind control spells? Coercion/blackmail? Pandering? How do you get to be that powerful without people noticing? From Wizzer Gang to Illuminati? Any input?

Ray

well. i hade a mage in a game with a part time job. his own little business. domestic and commercial pest exterminator.
it was a simple gig. get everyone out of the building, cast a couple dozen force 2D mana balls in the building. the force 6 combat folci made things all that much easer.
it was such a good little job i had a hard time figuring out why he did shadow work.

My god... we need magic NOW!!

PI work would be obvious. Not the romance Tv show type but the real stuff- skip traces, adulterous spouses and insurance fraud.

Sure Mrs Murphy I can find your husband. Can I have a look at his hair brush please.

Ugly person using mask spell to look like a really hot stripper
Claim to have done work to someone's car/house but really just cast mask on it and make them think you have until you've been paid and are several blocks away in your car/van.
Instead of chasing adulterers offer to make them invisible whilst entering and leaving the house... for a fee of course.
Offer a fire elemental as an alternative to matches (for fires not cigarettes)
Offer a water elemental to help keep the plants growing
Cast a physical barrier in place of bullet proof glass for people (maybe even criminal leaders who don't want to walk around with real bullet proof glass)
Cast high end manabolt on people due to be executed (maybe for criminals again, less noise if they're gagged as long as you watch the blood)
Levitate items out of people's shopping bags while they're looking the other way and steal them (might work with pockets too)
Same as above, but turn yourself invisible and pickpocket instead of levitating
Magical kidnaps (stunbolt the victim, levitate them to you and into the vehicle)
Turn yourself invisible (whilst wearing a trenchcoat), take something from a shop and slip it under the coat... probably needs improved invisibility because of cameras

That's about it for now

Why bother with petty illegal acts when a mage can make all the money they want legally? Create an area effect version of the Nutrition spell Cast on say 5 people at a time. Charge 1 /day of effect. Assume you cast for 3 days effect at a time. That's 15 per casting. Assume only 10 castings per minute. The rest of the time is used up filing people in and out, etc. That's 150 per minute or 9000 per hour. Even if you drop the rate by a factor of 10 to 900 per hour that's still an incredible hourly rate. Now how many poor people are there out there that would like to be fed for 1 per day? Answer hundreds of thousands in Seattle alone.

If you believe the FAQ you could just cast invisibility on the building to achieve LOS to the bugs. Anyway, fireball will work.

i have no response to that. though i must say, i can't argue with your logic.

Except there's a good chance that if they use enough fiber to be a safe distance from the fallout, the drain would kill them.

Unless they wait for SR4 magic rules to kick in. Then it's game on.

IIRC, the Ares Prometheus system had the modifiers for spellcasting through long fiberoptics. I do remember +'s to the t#. Were there drain modifiers as well?