A question came in our campaign last week.

A street samurai with an obvious cyberskull was affected by a Hot Potato spell. As GM, I ran it that his skull caused him a burning sensation. Would you have run it this way or not? Why?

P.S. Bonus question: What do metal objects look like to my thermo vision, when I'm affected by Hot Potato?

/Edit: Hot Potato is an area-affect illusion spell, that can cause targets within its radius to feel as if all the metal they are touching is burning hot.

I didn't know that spell could target cyber that is installed in a person. I mean with all the essence that is paid out.

It doesn't matter. Its an area spell rather than a targeted one, and it affects the minds of its targets rather than any items specifically. It causes them to believe that any metal they're in contact with is heating up.

The samurai would simply have to leave the area to avoid the distraction/pain the spell is causing just as if he were wearing a watch, necklace, or any other metal jewelry. Though the latter options can be removed instead. It's a pretty effective spell against obviously chromed individuals.

If it's paid for with essence, I'd say it's not targetable except with a Cyberware specific spell, i.e Decrease/Increased Cybered Attribute.

Otherwise, it affects anyone in the area who has fillings in their teeth as well, pins in bones etc.

It's an illusion. It affects their minds. Unless they regularly stop to think that every fiber of their being courses with iron, it's not going to affect them. They seem their metal skull every time they look in a mirror. Big difference.

Again: The spell targets people in an area. It doesn't target metal. Items don't really become hot, the targets just think they do. That's why they put the word "burning" in quotations in the spell's description.

The spell has nothing to do with iron. Even if you don't constantly think about it, it's obvious that you have a metal head -- you see it all the time. Just like you know your gun is made of metal, just like you know your jewelry is metal, etc. Most people don't really think of their blood as being metal. Besides, even if they did, there's not enough for it to really be noticable. At most, you might think you're getting a slight fever as you feel the microscopic amounts "heating up" inside you.

Besides, its magic. Invisibility is a visual illusion that affects sight, yet despite infrared radiation being a form of light, it can still reveal your presence to someone with a thermosense organ instead of thermo sight. Magic doesn't have to make complete sense.

i got in a disagreement with a player who cast this on a goon's FN 5-7 pistol (polymer frame gun). and most new guns coming out are polymer framed but the books don't tell you which are. today not many things are made with much metal unless they have to be.

i suppose it's better just to rule that Uberheavium, the material all shadowrun guns are made entirely from, is a metal.

I agree with Misfit on this one. If I think I have a cybernetic hand the spell should work on me. In the infamous words of Douglas Adams: "When you die in cyberspace you die in real life because you are only as dead as you think you are." Hope I got that right.

I think it's unlikely a cyberskull, cyberhand ect would have much metal in it at all. High grade palstics and polycomposites are far more likely.

I agree with the posters who've said it deals with perception more than with actual fact of what heats up and what doesn't. The spell causes a target to believe that things he is in contact with are heating up. For this to work, the target has to be aware of the item. Interior cybernetics are something people are not "aware" of at all times. But people know a gun can get hot, or a watch, or a necklace. I think the effects of the spell could even vary from person to person, since an individual's perceptions of what heats up, what becomes painful to touch, would vary. Since it's all in the mind, the mind of the individual would be the ultimate arbiter of what he or she finds painful to hold or touch

Lot of loopholes.

I also agree with the perception point of view, so to speak.

Following that, if the obvious cyberskull was metallic, then yes, if it was composites, then no. How does the character describe it?

metal, like the cover of Cybertechnology.

There's a reason they use the term "chromed."

I dunno. I think its rather cheap to even try and claim it affects cyberlimbs, even if they are metal. The illusion sounds to me like its supposed to make what youre holding or touching feel burning, not like internal stuff like heartburn. Trying to affect cyberlimbs is akin to saying grabbing a hot pan out of the oven is synonymous with having your bones light on fire. Yea both will burn, thats about it. In the end it all comes down to GM call I guess, and Id make a firm "no" call.

A better spell that has the same drain would be Fear of Weapons. That's right, this spell causing anyone in the spell's radius to fear all weapon, even the ones they are holding (or have installed). Same desired results as Hot Potato with less headache over who's gun is plastic.

No, its not synonmous with having your bones catch on fire. It's more synonmyous with having your skin getting hot because, you know, its made out of metal. To escape the effect they just have to leave the area of the spell (which is only a few meters to begin with). Alternatively, they can stay around and endure the pain.

I don't see the problem with it. It's exactly the same as if someone had a piercing in an unconventional place that wasn't very easy to remove, such as a nipple ring. Having an obvious limb should be a hindrance from time to time, and this happens to be one of them.