Maybe that's where it all falls apart for me. Even assuming all this stuff about the spell working in this way, how many people in the world have the capability to cast Analyze Device at Force 9? Not that many people can cast spells, in the first place, and having a Magic of 5 isn't exactly guaranteed among them. Add in the required training and the number dwindles deeply. And of those, how many are criminals? Of those, how many are robbing from your facility?

Then you consider the realistic possibility of this minimum mage actually getting his 9 hits. How many times does he have to roll, fail, take physical drain, and then roll again? [0.0046411484401953 percent might not take Edge into account, but it suggests an impressive number of repetitions.] Now, there are certainly mages who can drop the required hits without breaking a capillary, but the better they are, the more rare they are. If you have your Magic of 6, Spellcasting 6, Edge 6, Power Focus 6, and 3 points of Mentor bonuses and specializations, he can take his 27 dice and stand a really, really good chance of finding the hidden device...but how many of him exist? Do they exist in such numbers that it's worth giving up an otherwise useful security measure on the off chance that one of these incredibly rare super-powerful mages is going to take my drone? That's where it all falls apart for me.


The "9 hits" is based on earlier conversations; it's 5 from the OR, and 4 from the Detection Spell Results table, SR4a, p206. One hit doesn't let you use the machine as a native operator, it just gives you, "general knowledge, no details." For the full-monte "find the hidey bits" level of success, you'd need [if you're following this table, of course], 4 hits, which yields, "Completely detailed information."

Well, then I guess we deterred people from stealing our drones.....

Ahh yes, the elusive Detection Table Thresholds... Forgot about them... Though if you look at the spell itself, it is questionable if you actually need the table (you may operate the device with no penalties, infact additional hits over OR actually provide extra bonus dice to operate... security measures are penalties in my opinion, as they could kill you) from the actual spells description; but from a RAW perspective, I see where you were getting that 9 hit threshold from...

Keep the Faith

Actually, it's not, now that I look more closely. That table doesn't apply at all: it's used for Passive detection spells, and Analyze Device is Active. [Mea culpa!] Now, I'd leaven that with reason and say that just hitting the OR doesn't tell you every hidden thing on the device, but let's set that aside for the moment. This would mean the Minimum Mage's requirements go way down! Now he only needs a Force of 5, and only needs to roll 5 hits.

So, [stipulating use of the spell, stipulating no additional penalties for concealment] anyone with a Magic of 3, the Analyze Device spell, some hint that they need to use it, and a Novice level of training could maybe succeed in finding the concealed device before the physical drain killed them. A guy with a Magic of 5, a relevant Mentor, and an expert level of training would be a lot more likely to succeed, but less likely to exist.

Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and include the dollars-per-drone anti-theft mechanisms in my campaigns. I think the ROI versus expected risk is probably pretty good.

Well there you go, I can't argue with that Logic can I...
Good Luck...

Keep the Faith

Although we may have inspired them to steal our explosives...

It's actually chocolate. Most of the time....

It think it's really force 9
SR4A page 205
"Active: ..... The
Detection Spell Results table provides guidelines for how thoroughly
the sense works, based on net hits scored."

Man, I suck tonight. Thanks, kzt!

That's assuming they even know "other pertinent information".

If you consider the runners dum enough to be found with a tracking beacon, they are dumb enough not to even try to check up on their Johnson, let alone find anything real.

Another reason to be smart about it. And go for value.

If a team of runners can't even steal the drones guarding stuff without being traced, they certainly aren't worth hiring to steal the stuff itself.

Uh, well - screw drones, screw explosive - it's got real chocolate loaded guys!

Well, there's no rule per se that says you can't try Analyze Device over and over again; and you'll know the fidderence between 2 and 4 net successes by the amount of knowledge you've gained.

The drain for casting it is only Force / 2, that would be 4 physical (IIRC you round down). That's pretty doable as drain resistance goes; with Willpower 5, Body 4 or perhaps some Centering metamagic you'll take only about 1 damage per attempt. Nothing first aid can't cure. Cue the ability to try until you get it right.

Is it worth it? Well, the investments aren't gigantic, and once you crack the system, you can start stealing drones (or sell a drone-stealing procedure to the local criminals).