So, Street Magic introduces us to the spirit power Endowment, through which a spirit may grant the use of one of its other powers to another being. However, none of the new spirits in Street Magic nor the old spirits in SR4A are listed as having Endowment, or being able to take it as an optional power. Where does it come in, then?

Greater Spirits. And free ones...

Would be weird to just give that to normal ones, yes?

I'm sure if any of the normal spirits had it there would be a munchkingasim.

Speaking of munchkingasms, could a Great Form Guardian or Task spirit endow its summoner with Immunity to Normal Weapons? I'm having visions of a magician walking around with a F6 Great Form Guardian spirit in tow granting him 12/12 hardened armor.

I think not... spirits don't REALLY have that power... it is an side effect of Materialization/Posession.

But it seems these can be granted. So your mage has to leave his body, materialize himself a new body (and has 12 hardened with that one)

That raises an interesting question. What happens if a materialized mage gets disrupted or banished? He can't retreat to his home metaplane, because he doesn't have one. Does he just get shunted back to his real body, possibly with an effect similar to dumpshock?

VERY good question...

Possibilities (have to read banishing again)

1. Mage is unaffected, since he belongs to this world and cannot be denied existence here (even if he uses borrowed otherworldly powers)
2. His "spirit body" is disrupted and he wakes in his normal one.
3. He gets "evicted" from this world for 26-magic days. He has to stay on the metaplane closest aligned with his beliefs/style. His body is in a coma for that time.

I myself think it should be number 3... because it is just funny... and teaches not to use strange powers found on the street (so to speak).

Duh, it's called Channelling!

But really ITNW isn't really anything to write home about. I mean certainly it helps against normal bullets, but... XX? (Blast damage); S&S (electricity damage); Incendiary (fire); phosphorous grenades (fire); high-X grenades (blast); chemicals. etc.

And the problem is, ITNW doesn't just become un-hardenend, no, it just vanishes as soon as these damage types are used. So you can have your F6 spirit (and channelling mage) traipsing around in MG fire all day, but it just goes poof to the first guy using XX.

None of those are magical, their all normal weapons and have to beat ITNW.
But as AP works against it, S&S is pretty good as it halfs the armor from ITNW.

God dammit, these forums need somekind of flood-protection(even 30s would be enought)

Damn you're right. I've been thinking in terms of what we used to to do in our games (in SR3), essentially allowing all elemental effects to bypass the immunity - which might have been a house-rule already then. I never actually bothered to read past the first paragraph - until now, that is.

A materializing mage can't be banished as he has no services.
Disrupted however is easy. Disruption happens when their stun track fills, they unmaterialize and end up on the astral plane....with a full stun track. What happens to a mage on the astral who has a full stun track? He goes back to his meatsack....unconscious.

Has there every be a final or semi-official statement if the endowment of materialization is really working or better: how exactly it is working?

it's in the FAQ

Already read it, but to me it looks like the final sentence that explains how it works is missing.^^

materialisation... not munchkin enough, take possession, so you can posses your body, and have the immunity and physical stats boosting

and cookies - possession mages get free cookies!

Nono, they're giving away free cookies.
(How else would they find willing vessels?)

Lol keebler elf tradition

Actually, ItNW is not limited to Materialization/Possession. It is also a by-product of Mist Form for critters such as vampires (SR4A, page 296).

Furthermore, in Runner's Companion, page 92, the powers of Free Spirit PCs are listed, and ItNW is explicitly listed separate from Materialization/Possession. ItNW is listed in SR4A, page 295, separate from other powers that grant it as a by-product of their expression. That Immunity (whatever) can be attained as a by-product of other powers doesn't mean it cannot exist on its own, and be transferred as such.

The fact that ItNW is a separate power from Materialization/Possession weighs heavily in the determination of which powers a spirit has active at any one time. Runner's Companion, page 92 says, "Spirits may sustain powers with no penalty, but may only have a number of powers active at one time equal to their Force." Under certain circumstances, a spirit may wish to drop ItNW in order to activate something else, particularly if the spirit is a low Force spirit. Canny GMs and players can make use of this limitation, especially if they belong to the "Magicrun" school of thought that decries the allegedly overbearing power magic has in Shadowrun.