I think it goes without saying that someone in orbit/space is that little bit more difficult to kill. Can we move on?

NO. Moving on is not allowed. We haven't considered the ramifications of a SECRET DROID MOON BASE… on mages. Maybe they have lasers or something.

"Life support.... FAB III canister.... Life support.... FAB III canister.... what to do, what to do?"

The initial statement was that you can accomplish any mundane task at least as easy with magic. Needing the operator to be present is an obvious drawback, the delay of control thoughts another

Agreed.

We also need dinosaurs..... and pirates!

Don't forget to consider distances that are outside the realm of what is feasible for anything that needs to travel (light or matter). This is a theoretical situation, so the pod can start at the edge of the universe if we like. Unfortunately, magic can still affect it there. Even GM plot excuse distances won't help if voids are limited to -12.

… How did the target get somewhere that it's infeasible for light or matter to travel?

And what do you mean, 'unfortunately'? Maybe it's fortunate. You see biased.

Theoretical situation, so we can set up the parameters to make this guy as inaccessible as possible.

Just go to the metaplanes

Theoretically, it's impossible though. Maybe 'hypothetical'. Hehe.

If he's theoretical, just leave him out of the situation. Mages can't catch you if you don't exist.

I bet they can. They just need a symbolic link, or the right metaplanar quest.

They have to get past the Dweller on the Fourth Wall.

Dammit, this is flagrant game imbalance. Mages should not be able to beat things that don't even exist!

What about things that exist in RL? Now, that's OP.

Everything is better with Dinosaurs and Pirates...

This is why I want Scribblenauts.

why not just throw a nihilist with a 50P -1/m suicide vest in the same area detect enemies does work against someone who has a hate on everyone/everything only when they are after you specifically (if I remember right)?

Because eventually, you will run out of Nihilist Suicide Bombers. There are only so many after all, and it is only plausible for so long...

That's where Persona-Fix-Chips come into play.
Cap with Trode-Net, Personafix loaded into that.
Bam, mass production suicide bombers!

how much less than 1% of the population

1. AR + Boos reflexes plus trodes
2. Ditto
3. Wreck drone
4. Boost Charisma or Mind Control
5. False argument mundanes also have to deal with massive karma expendatures to have more then one area of mastery. In fact magic is even better at this as witht he right spell choices you can leverage your magic expendatures into being good at other things.

Which I believe is the issue at hand.

Mage is too powerful? Drugs. Lots of drugs. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of really nasty drugs that really stress the system out.

Hey, look, burnt out mage!

quick question that is somewhat on topic, if a person pays for radar cyberware, can they target spells with it?

No. Nor ultrasound, in SR4.

That is probably a very good thing for the perspective of non-mages, can a hologram block LOS, if so a hologram that is visible from one direction only would be a great defense for a street sam or similiar as at least the mage would be forced to look in astral to target the sam

I don't know if a hologram in SR4 can block LOS, or be selectively-visible. Are there rules?

Projects a trideo hologram into any open space within 5 meters, takes a per+int (2) test to differentiate, sounds like you actually have to look at it which would imply at least some solidarity in the picture, and hey 1-way glass works could work fine if it can duplicate that effect, but afaik there are no rules which say specifically what can and cannot be duplicated, I would think not projecting one direction would cause it to be see-through from one side, but there are no rules I have seen

Mirrored glass exists and is an option, yes. I dunno if holograms count as opaque at all. You could certainly inflict some kind of 'distraction' vision penalty, but actual LOS blocking is iffier. I'm not saying you definitely can't, or even that it'd be unbalancing.

especially with holo wear from attitude

Well, that is effectively what a Trid Phantasm spell is...

Maybe. The consensus is that they block LOS? And it's magic, so maybe they're just better. After all, they talk about special-effects mages, in a world that has incredible computer/holo effects available.

Sure, Maybe. But Magic is so much more Nuyen Friendly than the Tens of Thousands/Millions that a good Special Effects CG team charges for their work.

I guess. Magic is rarer and should be more expensive.

No, don't think so. It would be interesting to see just how many true Special Effects guys there really are out in the world. There are those who think they are good, and then there are the true geniuses in the industry. Those true geniuses are probably a lot rarer than mages are. Hell, Doctors are rarer than Mages are. That should indicate something, I guess.

If that's what's needed. I think it's just computers, and they're common as dirt. Besides, how many true geniuses are *also* mages? Fewer!

...orbital bovine bombardment.

"Go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"

A hologram stops a mage from seeing something, it blocks LOS. This would be the tech rising to counter magic. Magic is, so far, just much more portable.

I am still puzzled at how "holograms" are supposed to work in the 2070ies. (If i remember correct there were no "true holograms" in previous editions, yes? And i know that holograms are pretty much impossible as you still need a carrier (Either project into mist/fog or have some nano-cloud or something) OR you have to project into the eyes of the recipient... but just "BAM hologram between me and him"- seems impossible.

There was a Holographic Emitter in 3rd Edition allready.
How did it work?
just fine, thank you!

The point of Technology in Shadowrun is to have access to something that we do not have currently. It is futuristic technology, based upon current technology and theories that are being introduced today. Who cares HOW it works, really, when all that really matters is THAT it works. If we could explain how everything works in Shadowrun, we would alreaady be producing it today.

My 2 anyways...

It's explained in universe that almost all windows (Residential, commercial, vehicle) are either heavily tinted or one-way mirrored to prevent magicians from being able to cast spells inside the building/vehicle from outside.

My question is still, 'does a SR4 hologram actually block LOS, or is it at least semi-transparent?'. This isn't a silly question, because most holograms in our fiction canon (movies, etc.) are transparent. So they could distract, but not block LOS. It's arbitrary either way, it just matters which they chose.

A Hologram would not block LOS for Indirect Combat Spells. Also people keep harping about how Smoke Grenades don't block LOS. So I would imagine that if they don't, Holograms don't either.

Smoke Greenades provide Penalties to Spellcasting... Holograms should as well.

Right, but that's the same as any vision mod. Actually blocking LOS is different.

Do we have rules for holograms giving vision penalties, like smoke? How big is a holoprojector's projection in SR4 anyway?

I think it's more like Al from Quantum Leap.
If you pay attention, you will notice he is a Hologram, if you don't, he looks real enough.

we know they are small enough to incorporate into clothing as in holo-wear, I would expect special effect versions to be larger but starting on the scale of a microchip and moving up does give us a basepoint

Not 'how big is the projector?'; how big is the *projection*? The one that's listed next to the printer seems like a little handheld thing.

Yeah, Stahlseele. It's Int+Perc (2), so it's pretty easy to tell the difference… if you look. But does that mean opacity?

for simplicities sake, i'd give holograms the same vision penalties smoke grenades give. Just much more focused and stable.