anchored spell.

if you would rather blow a ton of karma up front than to blow it each time, you could instead use anchoring foci.

You can keep your heal spells to yourself then!

...I'll have to check my SR2 stuff when I get home. It may have appeared in an issue of the old KAGE 'zine.

Runner A: Uh, why are you pointing a gun at me?
Runner B: Relax, I'm going to heal you.
Runner A: Uh-huh ....

Who ya gonna call!?! Ghost Runners!

Sterling did it back in 2nd Ed. It was both gross and caused a rules argument.

Take a Tiffani Self-Defender and put it in the hands of an Enchanter. Have him create bullets with Physical Barrier anchored to them, with the trigger effect that the spell activates when the bullet leaves the barrel and travels 1m. According to the rules, this was basically running into a barrier, only it's the barrier running into you. Using those rules for damage, it was gross: Rating of the barrier, moving at bullet velocities...

The argument was that damage shouldn't be applied that way. The barrier has no more mass than the bullet does, and now the force is applied over the area of the barrier, so the damage should be almost nil. *shrug* It never flew, but the idea was interesting.

The problem with using an anchoring foci is that you had better make sure you recover every bullet. Otherwise, expect that ritual sorcery bolt from the blue soon...

Had a conversation with Matt (the guy that got me into SR in the first place) recently; he was telling me about these very special bullets his mage made...

My response

Thanks, Anchored spells is what I was thinking...

And hell, really, wouldn;t even need bullets. Just have an anchored spell fireball/bolt (or lightning, or whatever) or 6 set up with the condition to "fire" when the trigger was pulled and a command word spoken.

Even with an anchoring focus, not really sure how feasible or economic it really is, outside of pure style.

But then again... Style is half the point of Shadowrun.

Hrmmm... Maybe I'll have to read up in STreet Magic for our little Gen Con Mod get together SR4 game.

Bull

I believe how I did it was the rule that if you made the spell lock yourself, you could activate it with a thought.

So Feldspar the earth elementalist (I think) would load a spell lock that was basically a very very expensive bullet into the case/cartridge, place it into a clip, and when he fired, he would think 'now'...

And then what you had was a physical (maybe a mana barrier, it's been years) barrier moving at something like 250 meters/turn with a rating of six or so (obviously dependent on the actual size, firing a six meter diameter 'ball' isn't feasible indoors) and it would hit you like a vehicle and do insane damage.

The barrier would break after the impact, and then the tiffany bullet would hit you, which really does add insult to injury.

This was an exercise in what the rules let you do that you shouldn't, and the character was never played. If you rule that a barrier is immobile, that's your game and it renders the point completely moot. I've never seen anything (and I just looked up the spell in SR2 as well as SR4) that indicated the barrier couldn't be moved. Nowadays I can see both sides of the argument, and mobile barriers could be an immense GM headache, but in theory there's nothing saying you couldn't cast the barrier centered on yourself, sustain it, and walk around. You'd have a tough time going through doors (physical) and bouncing off other people (mana), but like I said, there's nothing I found then stating it cannot be moved.

The fun factor that smacks me in the face NOW (and CyberKender called it) is that any time you fired the gun, besides expending more karma, nuyen, and time per shot than simply shooting the person with a more potent gun, the issue is the fact that a spell lock you enchanted would be the biggest 'I DID IT' clue left for the Star's mages to find.

By the book it worked, and by all means anyone can argue how it doesn't work in their games, by their interpretations, etc. It's a done deal, a one-shot (heh) exercise that's long passed.

Manatech is also in SR4 base by how spell formulae are available in digital format. As for what manatech comes out in Arsenal will be interesting, to say the least.

About the negamage, I think I have a copy of it around here somewhere, and I'm pretty sure the basic concept was you didn't exist as far as magic was concerned. Spirits couldn't see you, spells cast on you didn't have any effect, and even area effect spells would fail if you were in the area of effect. Yeah, I found my copy of the rules, and the basic deal is the Negamage was completely impervious/immune/unaffected by magic in any form. Hell, even magical items could lose their power if they came into contact with a Negamage. The bottom of the page indicates it came from Challenge Magazine, #57, if that helps any.

...from a mundane point of view...

...oh yes we do.

Aeon Labs
--Dedicated to a solution to the magical threat through technology

...if I said what it was, AL would have to dispatch a cleaning crew to deal with the spill.

Aeon Labs
--Dedicated to a solution to the magical threat through technology

(...'sides no spoilers since it is part of an upcoming campaign).

shoot everything that's got even the slightest bit of magic until it's dead?

...nah, way to messy and too many moral/political/philosophical issues involved.

Just looking to give the rest of the world a better chance against a force that violates all known natural laws.

Aeon Labs
--Dedicated to a solution to the magical threat through technology

You mean Nadja's large brown nipples, right?

I think they leave those loose threads in place so players can't read the books and know everything. They are great for creating plot devices as well. If the books don't have the rules or information, come up with them yourself.