An idea my group was discussing was creating a set of common, easy spells that could be found in any tradition. They'd be of no particular force, simple actions, and have no drain. Just manifestations of power without the draining spellcasting or summoning.

For example, a ball of light for illumination, cooling/heating something like a can of soup or a cup of water, weak telekinesis without the fine control, throwing your voice, etc.

Has anyone ever developed such house rules?

Heh. There were semiofficial 'cantrips' in previous editions, back when the cost of learning a spell was dependent on the spell's Force. If you took certain limitations on a Force 1 spell, you could essentially take it for free.

Now that sounds cool. It's jiving with what we were thinking of them being geas'd, they'd be the building blocks to the 'full' spells you manifest later on.

Time to dig through the older books again...

I honestly doubt you'd run across the word "cantrip" in any Shadowrun book. When I say semiofficial, I mean the concept was player-created and it was never officially frowned on in any FAQ or errata. It was just fair play so long as nobody went overboard with a bunch of Force 2 Exclusive spells.

I'm not sure what an SR4 cantrip would look like. More than likely it would effectively be the "Force 0" version of a given spell: max. 1 hit, half the range and/or effect of the Force 1 version. Would mean little or no drain for most magicians above apprentices and the weak-willed.

Yeah, I didn't think 'cantrip' would be used at all. But the rules should be fascinating to read, but SR4 should be adaptable enough for it.

As you say, 1 hit max, half range, little to no drain, and probably a gesture, an utterance, or some other condition to use it.

One way to do it would be to charge 1 karma to learn the cantrip version of the spell. It would be limited to force 1. You could them learn 5 cantrips instead ofa single spell. Who needs a force 6 heathly glow, anyway?

Healthy Glow, Light, Fashion, Makeover, Entertainment, Magic Fingers (to a degree) - all are rather cantrip-like in concept.

This site Shadowrun Cantrips has a collection of "cantrip" spells for 3rd edition.

We used to use this house rule back in 3rd, but it didn't see much action. Did away with it in 4th since spells have variable Force inherently these days.

Minor Spells – Magicians have the option of casting minor spells if they wish to do so. These spells can create minor effects similar to any spell the magician knows, subject to the gamemaster’s discretion, and cannot effect unwilling targets or cause significant damage. Casting a minor spell requires a Sorcery (4) test, although the target number is increased to 6 for particularly complex effects. Such minor spell effects are considered to have a Force of 1, and a Drain code of 3L. Minor spells can be cast as a Simple Action.

I tend to allow magicians to cast variations of spells they know with a reduced force and dicepool.
For example a mage who knows fireball can use it as a low force ignite (just enough to light cigarettes or burn paper for example), you can see it as throwing a very small fireball on the targeted object.

But I consider that the spell has to have the same (or higher) type/range/duration. For example you can't use a fireball as a light because it would change the duration from instantaneous to sustained.

Something I allow mages in my game to do is pick up Intuition number of small spells like this that are lesser versions of spells they already have. Fireball or Ignite could help you light candles or (harder) carry a candle sized flame on your fingertip. Lightning Ball could give you the effect of a hand buzzer or when directed correctly(harder) maybe hotwire a car without wiring. Simple stuff like that. Drain Code 1S or 1P for the difficult ones, Spellcasting+Magic (1-3) dependent on effect.


Chris