Something came up during my last game: the mage was in no physical condition to finish the run, but proposed to cast an Improved Invisibility on a team member. So I was wondering, is there any limits when sustaining spells ??

I'm not talking about time limits since the mage decides to sustain or not. But what about range limits ?? Does the mage and target needs to stay within LOS range ??

Let's say the mage casts and sustains a physical spell, can he still maintain it and project to the astral ??

Once the spell is cast, it can be sustained at any range. However, every time the subject walks through a ward, you have to roll to see if the spell survives. Also, there's a clear astral thread, both to the subject, and back to the sustaining mage.

The interesting question is about the Mage casting the Physical spell, and then astrally projecting.

Edit: Since we know Sorcery Cannot Bridge the Gap between the Astral and Physical Planes... (Which references casting, no mention of sustaining.)

Spirits can perform this trick with Physical Powers, but as we know Spirits and Conjuring are different from Sorcery.

You know what SR needs? Duration spells.

It's stupid that we don't have these already. We have instant, we have sustained, and we have permanent-after-sustained spells. Why don't we have fire and forget spells that last for a preset time period? I imagine they'd work like normal instant cast spells, but they'd have a duration of X units of time.

So let's say you cast Timed Improved Invisibility at force 4, getting the full force with 5 hits. Anyone who tries to perceive the spell's target suffers -4 to visual perception tests, and this effect lasts for (X * 4) minutes. I'd recommend that the X be set up kind of like detection spell ranges, normal value of X is 1, but for a higher drain you can have a version where X is 10, or whatever. You'd have to tweak the numbers to balance it out.

~Umidori

He loses the spell. Projecting is an exclusive action.

There is no such thing as an exclusive action in SR4. That was true for SR3 but right now, Astral Projection is a complex action, nothing more...

-CJ

-Edit: Stupid spelling errors...

meh, i think i'll stick to sustaining foci and anchors.

tho anchoring in SR4 have really lost its utility since it was introduced in SR2. But then the SR2 anchoring rules was complex to the extreme.

Summon a Spirit of Man of at least force 3 and give him the Innate Spell power for the spell you want to have a duration on.

Have him cast and maintain the spell (one service).

Duration till Dusk or Dawn which ever comes first.


The only problem is that for a higher force spell you need a higher force spirit unless you want your spirit to risk physical damage from the drain which might have long term negative effects with your relations with the Spirits.