I just picked up the 4th Edition rules (finally!) and have begun reading through, and have already started planning to convert my old characters from yonder years (I haven't played an RPG in almost a year, and Shadowrun in over 2), with the intention of maybe running a couple of one-shots with pregens to gauge interest.

My question is probably a little early, as I haven't finished the rules by a mile, but I was wondering if anyone had ideas on how to convert an Elemental Adept (which were in 2nd Edition IIRC) into the current ruleset.

Hellfire just isn't the same without his Elemental Adept Street Preacher buddy, Holywater.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Bronn

i don't know quite what you mean by elemental adept, but i'll take a guess that you mean the same thing as an SR3 elemental aspected magician (ie a mage who can use only one spell category and summons only one kind of spirit).

there is a quality in street magic that allows you to 'aspect' yourself, and to most closely duplicate an aspected magician from SR3 at least, you would need to be a mystic adept with the astral perception power and choose to aspect yourself to one elemental type and the accompanying category of spells (this doesn't actually prevent you from using spells/spirits you are aspected against, just gives you hefty penalties). that being said, you'll probably want to homebrew it... i would make it a 10 BP quality to be an aspected magician probably, and you would get 1 category of spells and the accompanying spirit type.

You are looking at Spell/Spirit aspect, a 10-point negative quality in Street Magic, which means you can only cast one category of spells and summon the associated spirit. Everything else is at a -4 dice-pool penalty. And unless this is a GMPC, I don't see many GMs allowing "healing bath" as a spell, so I would plan on just taking the Heal spell and using it at a penalty. Also note that tantric Budhists and Chaos Mages are the only traditions that associate water spirits with manipulation spells - all of the other traditions that summon water spirits associate them with detection or illusion spells.

But honestly, the way you describe this character, it sounds less like a limited, aspected mage than it sounds like a normal mage with a water "theme". I mean, it sounds like you envision this guy casting healing spells, combat-oriented spells, and manipulation spells - all they need is to have a water aspect to them. That's not really a big limitation.

If you're looking for Elemental aspected hermetic magicians they now fall under the Aspected magic rules in Street Magic. If you are used to the manner SR3 handled aspected magicians (specialists rather than limited magicians) then you might consider the optional rule for Aspected magicians in Street Magic's Tweaking the Rules section.

I made what I call my fire mage normal mage but with specialization in spellcasting and only took combat spells and took summoning with a specialization in fire spirits.

Of course this was before Street magic came out but then again I play his as a fire mage and rarely cast spells besides combat ones (I have heal) and never summon spirits other than fire.

But just a thought for how you could do it with out any negitives should you have the need to go outside your concept.

Other than heal I don't go outside my mages concept and I cast heal sparingly because it is outside his concept but maybe thats just how I play.

The trouble with an elementalist is that spells of one "element" don't really fit neatly into one category of spells most of the time. For a fire-based mage, for example, you might get fireball (combat), thermographic vision (detection), hot potato (illusion), and fire aura (manipulation).

So rather than take the aspected quality, and gimp yourself in a number of areas, it would probably be better to specialize, and be better in your primary areas. For example, mage with firebringer mentor spirit, specialized in combat spells and summoning fire spirits. He will have +2 dice for combat or manipulation spells, and +4 dice for summoning fire spirits, but he won't be crippled when he wants to heal a teammate or cast thermographic vision.

This is all great information, and a big help, as it gives me lots of options.

I like the idea of theming him, and making all his spells water-based, like the Fire Mage idea. That would also allow him to have spells like his Healing one, but still keep the theme. Of course, when I eventually get Street Magic, I may want to revisit some of the options, but since I don't know if I can afford it for awhile, theming him is probably easiest.

Thanks again for all the information.