I am looking for a way to have a mystic adept initiate bad guy walk through walls, so far I have not come up with anything except Mist form and I already used a Banshee bad guy

Give him a high strength (Troll) and have him take the power (smashing strike) that lets you do double damage to walls. You can get to the point where he's reliably doing about 20P per pass to a wall. That will let him walk through just about any wall.

Unless you mean you want the wall to still be there when he's done.

Even Mist Form does not allow walking through walls.
You need air ducts and the such for that to work.
And you are naked afterwards.

Plasteel5 Catalyst was the closest you got to this ever.
And this ain't in SR4 anymore as far as i know . .

Wasn't there a bear shapechanger whose hat was this?

*nods*
Bear Walks through Walls.

Astrally project and then manifest on the other side?

oh, yes, my, how stupid . .
free spirit character, done..

Thanks.
I do want the wall intact so the Troll is out, I hadn't considered a free spirit I'll see if I can get that to fit. I am glad I hadn't missed something obvious

Just for another option, custom spell magical door. Allows you to create a temporary door in a wall that then disappears after it is no longer sustained.

Shape Spells.
If you can get one that is Shape Concrete up to a high enough force to do it.

Already Exists: Shape [Element]... cast, shape a door, walk through, shape it closed, sustain till permanent.

Damn: Ninja'd by Stahlseele...

Assuming it is a concrete/stone wall. And even then, you should really only need Force 3 or so, it will just take a while to shape that Wall if it is Reinforced Concrete.

i am the first to admit that i have no clue about magic rules, much less the SR4 ones.

All viable, but what about steel, plastisteel, plastic, brick and wood walls? One spell insteady of many seemed more elegant, no?

it's also too cheap . .

The shape spells have a whole lot of problems: If you limit yourself on material (concrete, plasteel etc.) you will be defeated by a coat of paint or wallpaper, because you cannot see the concrete. Additionally a steel mesh in the concrete will not be affected at all.
If you select the affected "material" based on the object type (shape wall) you won't be able to go through ceilings or floors or doors or any other barrier.

In a game that is (at least nominally) about characters doing a series of breaking-and-entering jobs...it's kind of natural, to me, that "walk through walls" isn't a trivially attainable power. Is there some reason you've decided on it, Andrew, as the hook required for your latest NPC? It's the sort of ability that, if you give it to an NPC, players will only naturally be interested in. Making it too easy, simple, and stealthy is the sort of bell that might not be un-rung, depending on your players' mood.

How about this:

Secret Door
Manipulation, Physical, Touch, Sustained
Drain: (Force/2)+1

This spell creates a temporary door in most any surface. To door will last until the spell is no longer sustained. If the door is open when the spell is dropped the door will slam shut and will create quite a lot of noise.

This spell is an exception to how Non-Living Targets resist spells. The spell is an opposed test between the spell caster and the Structure Rating plus Armor Rating of the wall with a threshold equal to Object Resistance of the wall.

The caster must touch the wall (or floor or ceiling) that is to have the door created. If successful a standard size door will be created (approximately 1.25m x 2.5m). The door will swing away from the caster as soon as the casting is successful, the caster chooses there the “hinge” is. If there is anything blocking the door from opening when the spell is cast (furniture in the way, etc) the spell simply fails and the caster must resist drain.


It may be too easy for some games and too hard for others, but hey what the heck.

An interesting idea, but don't like inventing new rules for it or breaking existing ones for a new spell. Objects do not resist, they give the caster a threshold equal to their OR or some other value. Tests are either opposed or require a fixed threshold. Never both.

Looking at the Structur/armor table and the OR table I cannot come up with a satisfying threshold distribution.

I was having the same problem. One could go with simply opposed. That would still make exterior and heavy structure walls nearly impossible to get through.

Or simply just as easy as plywood, if you go by OR. But then again igniting a rock(OR 1) is easier than igniting gasoline (OR 2).

I wouldn't allow a spell that would allow anyone to walk up to a command bunker (bomb-proof building) and 1 complex action later be standing on the inside of it. That is too powerful a spell, so just using OR is out. Opposed tests are in the game and there are exceptions to the rules dotted all throughout the rules as written. Using an opposed test for a single manipulation spell IMO would be a good place for an exception. But as always it's only a suggestion and YMMV.

How about an opposed test between the spellcaster and the Structure + Armor Rating of the wall?

Something simple like a drywall would be almost instant walkthrough. But a normal human could kick a hole in that.
Structural stuff like an exterior wall would need an initiate / overcasting and a high dicepool. Better use edge!
Command bunker - good luck, even if you are a great dragon!

How about instant veto on warded areas?

Only 20?
There's a martial arts that I think qualifies. Bear Who Walks Through Walls got up to 42 (including average successes).

It does not acutally work that way, though. Read up on the actual Shape spells. You break down the Barrier Rating of the Wall (assuming you beat the OR) Force at a time until it has "erroded" to Zero. This happens every action the spell is sustained and you will eventually have a hole (if a door is your choice of shape) that you can maneuver through.

That was my suggestion, just removing the threshold from the original spll post.


I don't see a problem with that at all.


This isn't about the shape spells, it's about the "Secret Door" spell above. Shape is permanent, secret door isn't. The shape spells are more versatile as well.

Gotcha... Yes, I really do like the "Shape" Spells. While they are extremely versatile (Especially if you take a base material), they do have their limitations.