Heya, Dumpshock. I'm still fairly new to Shadowrun, and am looking to put together a character for an SR3 game. I don't really know the magic rules all that well, but I figure the best way to learn is to just jump right in. That said, I was conceiving of a Troll combat tank, an aspected sorceror so that I don't have to really think about spirits and elementals as much as I would with a full mage. But I'm not really sure what direction to go with the sheet. Skills aren't too difficult. Sorcery to 6, grab a melee combat skill and a ranged combat skill just for versatility, Athletics and Stealth since they're both pretty much required for running the shadows. But since I'm not real clear on the magic rules, I don't know what to take for spells. Aspected nets 35 spell points, so what do all you think would comprise a good list of spells for a heavily combat oriented mage?

Just for reference, this is a game using standard Priority rules without edges or flaws.

Stun-Ball, Mana-Bolt, Improved Invisibility, Levitate, increse Reflexes +3 Ini Dice.
Should be good. Also, take Priority alpha for Money. Either buy Focus and bind with unused spell points or use money to get you something nice like certain cyber/bioware.
All in all, i never once managed to really pull off the Troll-Magic, no matter what i tried . . it allways came in weak . . probably because i never really warmed up to magic. .

One concept character that I made was martial arts based melee character who is a mage using touch spells.

So you make a melee touch attack to cast your force 10 knockout spell. If you tie, the spell goes off, if you get more hits you nail them with the spell and the attack.

I never played him, but it could work I think.

Stun-ball F5
Damage spell of choice, both singular and area, both at F5
Heal F6
Steralize F4
Analyze Truth F4
Improved Invisibility F5
Physical Mask F5

thats 39 spell points so 100,000:nuyen:

Specialise in your combat skills. EG. Pistols [heavy] 2(4), Edged Weapons [knives] 2(4) and Unarmed[Fists] 2(4)
Also get at least 2 points in both Negotiation and Ettiquette.

Make sure you take the Magical Background knowledge skill an get a Mage/Shaman contact and a Talismonger contact.

Everything else tailor to suit.

oh...

Get some armour.

My suggestions:

Manabolt: 6
Stunball: 6
Heal: 6
Increase Reflexes +3 dice: 3
Improved Invisibility: 6
Ice Sheet: 3
Levitate: 5

And get a sustaining focus for the Increase Reflexes as soon as you can. Generally, remember two things -

First, to increase the Force of a spell, you have to re-learn it, so unless you like wasting points, get a spell as high as you're going to want it when you learn it the first time. Note that the two low-Force spells on that list are one that is an unresisted success test (only at Force: 3 so it won't be super-easy to dispell), and one whose main effect, not Force-dependent, is to make vehicles have to make a crash test.

Second, for resisted spells, remember that a Force: 6 spell is twice as hard to resist as a Force: 5 spell, and get the former whenever possible. Force: 5 is easier, Drain-wise (why I got that for Levitate), but you can always cast a high-Force spell at a lower Force, but not the converse (goes back to the first point).

A lot of good suggestions.

I always keep my combat spells maxed.
Typically I choose manaball or stunball and usually not both until later if I can afford/need to.
I will Consider taking an elemental spell like fireball, lightning, or acidwave. Based on what I think my primary opponents will be.
I often choose treat over heal because in our games healing will easilly happen within an hour of the damage. This is more of an as your group plays choice.
Imp Invis I often took around 4 or 5 because you'd toss enough dice to make sure the opponents intellect couldn't resist.
I often skimped out on my levels in levitate as well as the goal was mostly to get from point A to B, and speed wasn't a huge factor in it.
Instead of icesheet, I'd usually take physical barrier so that I could create walkways between buildings, make ramps for cars to jump off of because they can't slow down.
Increased initiative is probably fine at 1 or 2. Most encounters won't see counter spells going on. Many times I've skipped the spell until later on.

Depending on your role here's some of my favorite spells to include:
Mind Probe
Hot Potato
Control Thoughts
L1 Fashion or glow
Detect Enemies