I was wondering if a few of you could voice up an argument for or against (take your pick) a spirit that has access to the Storm power (MitS p. 99) gaining an Elemental Effect (MitS pp. 52-54) as appropriate to the type of storm they're creating.

For example, would you say a spirit creating a Storm whose damage is mostly lightning strikes gain the Lightning elemental effect, while another spirit using the same power to create a hailstorm gains the Ice elemental effect instead? Or should these effects be ignored completely with this powerr?

Thanks in advance.

The desription already takes into account elemental effects like lightning and water, yet there are no provisions for extra elemental effects. It also talks about water doing the damage, yet primary elemental water damage is Stun and the storm strike does physical.

An attack that does Serious damage to everything in a F*100m area and ignores armor sounds bad enough.

Then again, I would find it hard to ignore secondary effects.

I think it sounds great. IMO the Force(S) thing is just for simplicity's sake. If you call the attack a lightning storm and apply all of the special rules for that (apply nonconductive armor mods, fuck up riggers, apply vulnerabilities, increased damage for targets who've recently wet themselves, etc) then that's fantastic and can only result in a deeper level of immersion and believability.

Just be sure to apply this both ways so that things that would naturally be resistant to the specific disaster get a generous bonus, otherwise you're just enhancing storm strikes unnecessarily.

I think its best to NOT use them. The rules specify how to handle the power, and theyre not included.

Basically, while it may make sense, I wouldnt want to really open up the addition of elemental secdonary effects to anything theyre not specifically listed with, simply because it could make it hard to draw the line later (you could claim to add fire effects to grenades, light effects to lasers, etc).

Making sense or not, the rules are the rules and for the most part work fine. The power is already pretty hefty, I wouldnt open the can of worms that adding them could be. Its also not a grey area, the rule is clear. Its just another case of the rules not matching the flavor text very well, but then a lot of SR writing is a bit sloppy in that regard.

I wouldn't use the elemental effects because getting everything figured out would bring my game to a grinding halt. If I had things prepared ahead of time and knew enough of what my players were carrying so that it wouldn't slow things down then I would add the elemental effects.

I'd use the basic rules, but if the storytelling element is important, then add in whatever effects make the game more dramatic - lightning strikes, water spouts, sandstorms, howling winds, flying debris (trees, cars, trolls etc.),earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. A more powerful spirit is more likely to have access to these powers, especially a free one, but thinkabout the domain of the spirit and what would be appropriate. Also limit the effects to cosmetic and scenic showyness rather than dumping a load more damage upon the characters.