You may recast this spell again and again until you get enough successes to satisfy you, but you may not get over the Force of the spell in Quickness and Strength. So if on the average you get 2-3 successes on the casting, then you have only 2-3 Quickness and Strength. With only 2-3 Quickness, you will have trouble doing things like pulling a grenade pin or flipping a safety.

No it's not. It's the same as having a magical brick thrown at you because the brick itself is magical. Fling is about the only one that does indirect damage. But if you want to use Magic Fingers to pick up a pebble and hurl it at that button you want to push, I might allow you to get away with it. Unfortuantely, that becomes a normal Ranged Combat Test with what is likely a defaulted skill (+4 TN penalty), the fine control penalty (+2), the sustaining penalty (+2), range based off the piddly Strength of the spell, and all other ranged combat modifiers as applicable. That's a base TN of 12 before the other mods, using only the 2-3 dice your effective Strength is giving you. And now the target gets to dodge to boot. Good luck.

Using Magic Fingers against something or someone who isn't protected by spell defense (or Shielding, or Reflecting, or Absorption, etc.), that's another story. But Magic Fingers is not immune to spell defense in any way.

And just for the record, picking up a coin isn't a normal skill test either, but it's one of the examples for the Quickness Test the spell can require. I always wondered why people thought this spell was so groovy. Now I realize it's because of lax GMs.

Bollocks. There's no rules anywhere to suggest that someone with a 2-3 Strength or Quickness would have trouble pulling a grenade's pin or switching on a safety. A 2 Strength, for example, means that you can carry/life 10 kilos without any trouble or encumbrance at all. Additionally, I'd love to see where it says you have to make a Quickness test to pull the pin on a grenade, either with or without Magic Fingers.

Oh, that's right. It doesn't.

Dr. Funk, that's the most preposterous reasoning I've ever seen. The brick isn't magical by any means. It was propelled by magic, but once it's up to speed the velocity and mass aren't magical. You could use the same argument against Fling; therefore, your arguments are of dubious validity. And it's far more than a pebble -- even one success on the roll means you can pick up and handle a 5-kilo object with no trouble.

Moreover, to take one of your examples, picking up a coin is arguably a simple task. From the chart on page 92 of SR3, that would make the base TN 2, +2 for using Magic Fingers, for a total TN of 4.

I can only conclude that you as a GM seem far too interested in screwing over your players with high TNs. Fortunately, most GMs fall somewhere between you and the ultra-lax types that you decry.

It's a precedent for simple tasks needing a test. Whether pulling a pin on a moving target is an easier task than picking up a stationary coin on a table is a matter of personal preference, but once you count visibility modifiers, you may actually miss.

Which is probably why I said Magic Fingers was closer to having a magical brick being thrown at you than an actual brick (ala the Fling spell) as magic is directly manipulating something in your possesion (and thus protected by spell defense). I then went on to explain that using Magic Fingers to throw something would be closer to Fling, and thus become a Ranged Combat Test, at which point it becomes even less likely that you'll succeed.

And another +2 for sustaining the spell, for a total TN of 6. Amazing. Add visual mods and other modifiers on top of that, and it quickly grows. And you only have a couple of dice to use to get it assuming you're lucky to get a single success on the Spellcasting Test (against spell defense/shielded opponents) to begin with.

Or more correctly, I actually GM the game as opposed to letting players get away with murder with a simple utilitarian spell. If you're using it to decimate your enemies with ease, your GM is being a shitty GM since the rules for the spell quite clearly make it less than efficient for doing many of the things mentioned earlier in the thread.

That's where the Willpower test stated in the spells description would come in, I think. Abandoning your post to go get a soybar isn't exactly the right thing to do, and the guard knows it. He'd more likely just pick one up from the machine on his next round, or if he's at a stationary post, maybe radio a buddy who is doing rounds to drop one off on his next pass or something.

That's my take on it as well. If the spell succeeds, the idea to perform the influenced action takes hold. Until that action is performed or someone points out what's going on, no willpower test happens. I often end up providing the target with a willpower test if the suggestion is wildly inappropriate to their morals, too. For example, if wageslave corp lover was influenced to attack a friend and employee, they'd get a test. But if they're influenced to go to the lounge for a soybar then nope, unless someone would ask why they're taking an unscheduled break.

Edit: I also interpret "told" to include body language and what not. So if someone is influenced to shoot their friend, the look of surprise and fear in their friends eyes and body language would be enough to help the target get a willpower check. Course, if the target surprises their unfortunate friend and shoots him/her in the back then .......

The test, if required would be a base 2, +2 to for sustaining (if not in a lock or an elemental) and thats it for a total of 4. Picking up a coin is not a skill. The +2 modifier only applies to using skills. With visibility, assuming you don't use astral, lowlight, thermo, vision mag or clairvoyance, could add a few points. Target is very small, +1 or +2. Target is moving, +2. Back to 8-9 which is what I suggested in my original post.

The spellcasting test is 6 modified by wounds, background count, sustaining other spells etc. It is not modified by shielding or spell defense. I am not casting it against the magician. Same with spells like invisibility. The target number is not effected by other peoples spell defense. When it comes time for the resistance check, hell yes you get your extra dice from shielding or spell defense, it says so in the rules. But since you are not the target, you can only guard against the effects after the spell is cast.