Wait...why would their cyber & gear be in a pile at their feet? It should still be embedded in the high-barrier rating jello-statue!

Unfortunately, though that interpretation would solve a lot of problems we're having in explaining this situation, I think Turn to Goo makes them into a 'sticky, glue-like substance'. When glue is jello-like, let me know (Nah, I'm kidding. Don't; that' be really gross) - the foe is semi-liquid. They FLOW, which means that the structure isn't strong enough to hold up the gear inside/on it...
One very odd thing, though - the goo has a Barrier armor rating of Body + net hits - implying that it's GOOD for the mage fr the goop to have a higher Barrier rating. What? Anyone got something to say on this one? And how does semi-liquid goop get an armor rating (or is this in opposition to attempts at destroying the stuff, by burning it or something...)

turn to goo, has some nice second use, instead of taking stuff out you can put stuff in....

influence is one spell i would also highly recommend as it should help to distract spirits on astral watch with stupid tasks (check with your gm, just to be sure)

magic fingers is also extremely useful (pulling the pin from an enemies grenade, use martial arts at a distance..)

Martial arts at a distance? Really? Wouldn't this just kind of be 'slugging' them And isn't there ACTUALLY a clout/punch spell or something in the combat spells list that does this?
But it would be funny to yank a grenade pin while the grenade's still on the guy's belt. OWCH.
But if the guy reforms when turn to goo is not sustained any more, then would all his gear and ware be 'sucked' back in his body if it was lying whereever it fell? Or would he, as previously theorized, be bereft of his implants entirely upon reforming?
That second option would suck... And putting stuff in would be a real pain either way. Although in Mr. U's Jello-model, we could ram a cranial bomb into the subject's Jello-head...

Which is one of the reasons that Turn to Goo should affect implants as well.

another good one is clairvoyance + magic fingers... no more lock picking, window opening.....

edit: maybe not the rules are a bit fishy on that

I'm sure it's been mentioned but I like "Fashion". Lots of roleplaying uses and works great for those Face Mages.

Also, I like Death Touch. Cast that all day at Force 10 if you want to. With a Sustaining Focus or two you can have Physical Mask on, Trid Phantasm a different scene for other people, and Death Touch the fella as you cordially shake his hand. Easy abductions.

Alter Memory's been mentioned for sure, but it bears mentioning again. Nothing quite like it.

I've also started to like Shapechange, Hot Potato, and Area Thought Recognition. Fix and Mana Static are necessary along with Heal.

Finally, Mob Mind. Great for creating distracting scenes, having corpsec blow each other up, etc. Hefty drain but it's worth it.

Oh Mob Mind. Take over a bunch of peoples' heads and see all the fun you can come up with. Ever try the 'have them all just repeat 'brains' and attack another group of people?" trick? the fun is endless...

Hmm, I'd never considered that, since melee weapons are so simple that you shouldn't think of using a spell to analyze them. "You stick them with the pointy end." However, you lose a lot of the aspects of a weapon focus as a magic weapon... it won't bypass Immunity to Normal weapons, add to astral combat (where they are VERY useful in raising your defenses against attacks from spirits) or do anything at all on the astral plane.

Mob Mind is just way too fun and useful. It's also... thematic I guess of the whole cyberpunk scene. It just makes sense somehow...

Anyway, I'd use it to create some pandemonium if I'm being chased. Having a group of random civilians start singing Phantom of the Opera or somesuch on the street can cause some 'peaceful' distractions.

Hmm I would disagree with that use of Analyze Device. The way it's described and I think intended is to be able to use a fairly complex thing without having the knowledge to do so in the first place.

Like driving a car for the first time. Using a commlink if you were computer illiterate. On the plus side you could also still give the bonuses to someone else.

A "sword" isn't much of a device unless it's a lightsaber. A basic gun probably wouldn't even qualify.

It seems we have a bulging list of spells one should take,
but what are the spells you don't need or just won't touch?

I don't bother with the Slay [Metatype Species] spells
(unless I have a very compelling RP reason).
At creation spells are to precious to relegate BP to a very narrow use spell.

Someone brought up that Trid Phantasm had become less useful in SR4A due to Cameras and Drones and such having a higher OR.

Do you guys think that's true? Or have you used Trid Phantasm as more of a quick and easy distraction?

Granted, but since its a melee weapon I can still attack a spirit with it; I'm just not using strength to hit it anymore. (My idea was the added dice, not the traditional concept of Weapon Foci...)

As for additional spell uses, recently I ran my runners throw an adventure where they encountered pirates on the high seas outside of Portland. They were attacked at a distance by a magician whom was controlling a Barghest. She was using Control Thoughts coupled with increase Charisma. This allowed her to have absolute control over the Barghest while also improving its Paralyzing Howl ability (didin't go with the cause fear power since it was based off of Willpower and that'd make it harder to control). Only two players could still move I think after the first howl.

If it wasn't for the free spirit in the party paired with the shapechanging physical adept eagle, they'd would have been boarded.

Sign--

Wacky

@Wacky
Your post combines Pirates, creative magic, a shapechanging eagle adept and a barghest!
You win.

Single and multi target light elemental indirect combat spells, dream, phantasm, trid phantasm, offensive mana barrier, physical barrier, armour. Oh, and a single target indrect electricity combat spell, in case of metal flooring and multiple targets.

Cameras have OR3; Drones OR5
I think most strong sorcerers can hit OR3.
The OR5 is harder.
I think the difficulty means you have to actually concoct a plan and be careful in considering variables,
rather than use trid phantasm as a universal solution spell.
Or you could throw more dice at it...

SR4A: Cameras have OR3; Drones OR6+.

NM read it wrong.

Errata made it 5.

OR you could just keep a drone with you and when it finally works on your drone you know the spell is good enough. Yeah it doesn't work well if you need to throw the spell spontaneously but it works great if you are suing it as part of the plan. Its one of the reasons i think they need a full overhaul of the magic system.

As for spells I think are needed, standard disclaimer to say the spells that fit your character and his background.

But my favorites are
Levitate
Mask of some kind.
physical barrier
Stunbolt
Those are the good spells
I like ignite as well, but mainly because for the first 8ish books or so the Myth series by Robert asprin is my favorite book series.(dear lord to this series fall to suck after that) And with ignite I basically cover Skeve's spell list.
Technically a reskined petrify or a forced hybernate spell would be closer to what I'd want than stunbolt, but you take what you can get.

I think a good spell by category list would be this. You can't start with all of these, and you don't need them all but they are all good choices.

Powerbolt
Stunball
Element of your choice ball.

Detect enemies
Combat Sense
Mind Probe
catalog

Heal
Increase Reflexes

Trid Phantasm
Imrpoved inviisbility
Distraction spell of your choice Chaotic world, orgasm etc. It looks like the standard from street magic is if there is no physical version it has an adder that says if the distraction penalty = willpower they can't do anything. I think chaotic world kicks butt that + a flash back = some seriously shut down enemies of all types.

Influence
Mob Mind
Levitate
alter memory
deflection
interference
mist
sterilize
physical barrier
mana barrier