A debate has come up between my GM and I. If you cast a direct combat spell, do the targets get to resist the spell and then the damage? Or do they just resist the spell? For instance, if a magician casts a Manabolt at force 6 and rolls 4 hits, and the target rolls 2 hits on Willpower (no Counterspelling) for resistance, does he take 8P damage or does he get to resist that damage with Body (no armor since it's direct combat)?

As per previous editions, they only get the spell resistance roll and then the damage hits them, as wise ones here will no doubt support.

That being said, the other method is decent house rule to pull direct combat spells a little back into line, which is used at my table.

But by RAW, only the spell resistance roll.

They just get the one resistance roll. It's not quite as bad as it sounds, but it does mean a Counterspelling mage on your team is essential if you expect to survive intense magical opposition.

Believe it or not, the situation for mundanes vs. mages has actually improved since SR3. With a fixed TN of 5 and hits capped at Force, spells are less likely to instantly kill you. Plus, if you really need to, you can spend Edge (so can the mage, obviously, but magery is pricey, BP-wise, so mundanes might tend towards having it slightly higher). Plus, now that counterspelling is a separate skill, friendly mages are likelier to actually use it on you, rather than saving the dice for spellcasting.

As someone who played sorcerers a lot more in SR3, I'll tell you - spellcasting was deadly. You could get a specific spell focus at Rating: 6, +3 from the Dragonslayer Totem, get 6 from sorcery and 6 from spell pool, cast it at 6D, and you would be rolling 21 dice against someone's Willpower. And if you got even one net success, they were dead.


That, or get a gnome with SURGE II - metagenetic improvement/Willpower for the positive quality and astral hazing for the negative quality.

Or Everybody's Favorite Love Troll - Fomori!

Buba the Love Troll - no, I do not think he is a Fomori.

Fomori are another good choice, since they have arcane arrestor, too. Not quite as good at soaking Willpower-resisted spells, but much better at soaking Body-resisted spells. And they are great when you are doing a tank build, to get rid of the vulnerability to magic that is normally the troll tank's main Achilles heel.

Why you no like fomori? Fomori loves you.