Ok, I used to play Shadowrun 2nd then moved on to 3rd but quit soon after the release of 4th due to lack of time.
When I played 3rd it seems that I used many of the (evil) rules from 2nd in the next edition as well.

I know Grounding went out the window when SR went from 2 to 3, but what about Magicians being Dual natured during spell casting? It was great fun (as well as EXTREMELY annoying) having a spirit hanging over a magicians head only to bonk him on the head when he started casting.

Thank you in advance

Gone too, but I cannot remember in wich edition switch specifically.

No, in 3rd edition mages do not need to be on the astral in order to cast. Their only real vulnerability to astral threats if they choose to stay on the physical is their foci might get broken.

Ah sucks. So much magical fun was taken away by SR3.

Time to convince my friend to adapt some "new" house rules that swing both ways ^^

Thanks a bunch for your replies

Grounding had some issues. My solution (that I've been trying to pitch, both to my group and SR3R) is that grounding only works back to the object's 'source'. So mages and foci are both physical, and can be used to ground spells into the physical world. Spirits are inherently magical, and can be used to ground spells into the astral. But in neither case can you use that link to hit the opposing plane (so you can't materialize a spirit, then nuke a group of guards by grounding a spell through it - the spirit is astral in nature).

You would be able to materialize a spirit, then nuke a group of astral things from the physical with that approach. There could also be some unbalancing interactions with Shapeshifter or other edge cases.

I'm a big fan of the idea of grounding, but it's a powerful mechanic with pointy bits everywhere.

~J

Which I've never heard as being an issue, still requires a mage, isn't especially hard to get around (due to the ease of astral avoidance), and is lolarious.