OK, another post about a mage with a cyberarm just prompted a thought and wondered if there's a ruling out there:

1) You can cast spells through cybereyes because you paid essence for them.
2) Does a cybereye on a cyberlimb (single cyberees, as per Augmentation) still count? You paid essence for the cyberlimb, but the cybereye itself was paid for in capacity.
3) If it still counts, if you have a drone hand, with a cybereye in it, can you send the drone hand off on its own, and cast spells through it?
4) Could your party just carry your drone hand with them and use it like a spell-gun? (Because that would be AWESOME!)

And actually, come to think of it, this sounds like it's pretty similar to a mage with a spyball drone cybereye. Upgrade the signal high enough to get a good range on it, and why couldn't your team carry their mage-eye around and just spellsling left and right, but not have to worry about protecting their mage from bullets/etc.

I recall the 4th edition FAQ specifically states the Ocular Drone is not a 'part' of you when it's out of your body, and as such cannot be used to cast spells. I imagine a drone hand would be the same way.

In general magic cannot be transmitted by electronic signal. Cyberware gets an exception because it costs essence and has become a part of your living aura. A drone operating remotely isn't a part of your aura any more, not until it's docked back into it's socket.

That said, you could have the drone drag a Mage Sight Cable around. As a purely optical image transmission, it can be cast through, albeit with a dice pool penalty.

I had a character with an extendable cyberarm with a Mage Sight Cable threaded through it, allowing her to poke the hand into surprising places and cast spells. I can imagine a mage unreeling a MSC from the stump of his arm, connected to the drone hand.


-k

IIRC implants that were paid for in Essence can be used in targeting for magic, but not those paid for in Capacity. Back in SR3 there was a reason why the Vision Magnification implant came in Optical and Digital formats, even though there was no difference in performance, as a magician couldn't use the digital version to target with spells at all. This would mean that a cybereye in a cyberlimb (paid for with Capacity) wouldn't work for targeting LOS spells, but the same cybereye in a flesh and blood hand (paid for with Essence) would work just fine.

Thanks everyone!

That clears a lot up.

I think I saw some kind of glove that was like a smartlinked gun, but to aid with spellcasting accuracy. I saw it in passing while I was working on something else so I didn't pay too much attention.

Spellslinger Glove out of WAR! I think (But I did not find it on a quick look). Works for Indirect Elemental Spells.

War!, page 161, Microtrónica Azteca Spellslinger. And it only gives half the bonus of a Smartlink.

I've been tempted to try and work that into a combat mage concept of character, but the only character I've ever written up that potentially could use it uses spells as a secondary option. The few other mages that I've made that are more likely to use Combat magic are more puritan about their Essence.

The best way to get a Smartlink helping with your spells is to find a way to get both a smartlink and a smartgun system - both halves required for the combo to work - in your eye, Cluster/subscribe/link them, and use indirect spells normally. They explicitly count as ranged attacks, and benefit from called shots and take aim, and so are legible for smartgun bonuses if you have all parts of it.

Also you can stack Spellslingers.