ok chummers, i have a few problems that hopefully you can help me with.

Resolving combat spell damage

How do you figure out the final damage of the spell after compairing sorcrey(spellcasting) successes to successes from the resistance test? we have looked over this, and for some reason the staging of this damage looks a little screwy.
the rules say nothing about staging down, but it does about staging up. Does this mean that the spell damage cannot be staged down, or does it stage down as well?
As per standard rules, if the resistance test generates more successes than the spellcasting test, then the spell fails to take effect. also by standard rules, staging damage down requires the defender to have the net successes, which would mean that the spell fizzles as well. This creates two contradicting rules if you can stage the damage down. for some reason, having the ability to stage up the damage, yet only one net success guarentees deadly damage on a deadly level spell seems a bit unfair. on the same subject though, the rules state that the effectiveness of the spell is determined by the difference between the successes generated.

Rules snippit: Pg.183 (SR3)
If there is a Spell Resistance Test, the caster’s successes are compared to the successes generated by the target. If the target generated the same number or more successes, the spell does not affect the target. If the caster generates more successes, the spell has an effect. The spell’s effect is measured as the difference between the caster’s successes and the target’s. Consult the description of the spell for specific effects. For any spells that damage the target, stage up the Damage Level for every 2 net successes.

not being able to make sense of this at all, we hav adopted a basterdized ruleset based on a fusion of combat and spellcasting

we have been treating combat spells as a standard combat damage resolution, save that armor values don't apply and combat pool cannot be used, and the damage resistance test is based on the attribute that the spell resistance targets with a tn of the force of the spell. of course, due to this, The spell dosn't fizzel if the defender generates more successes, instead the damage is staged down a level for every two net successes. If spell defense is applied, it subtracts from the spellcasting successes generated until threshold is met, when the spell fizzles. if the spell still goes through after having successes subtracted, the new success total is used for the damage resistance test.

can any of you make sense of the sr3 rules, or how do you all resolve spell damage from combat spells?

second question: elemental manipulation power level

Although it dosn't say in sr3, i assume the power level of the damage is based on the force of the spell. anyone confirm?

By the book, combat spells can do one of three things: the damage level it was cast at, more than the damage level it was cast at, or nothing. So, if the victim outrolls the mage, that 1D manabolt fails to have any affect instead of only doing S, M or L damage. If the mage rolls significantly better than the victims, that 4L stunball can KO a crowd.

Elemental manipulations are power level = force, usually resisted by impact armor or half impact armor, and combat pool applies, but they stage just like normal damage, a 5S fireball can end up doing L damage.

ok, thanks for the clearup on the combat damage and the power rating of the manipulation spells. now to see which version my players like better.

magical issues,
that sounds like a new product line the the personal care section at wal-mart.
wounder what kind of creams they have for that???

alchemical creams