Hi all. Some friends and I have recently taken up Shadowrun, and this question came up in play. Does a magician need to maintain LOS in order to sustain a spell on a target? We couldn't find a direct answer to this in the book (we only have the main SR3 book). However, I did find that in the critters section, it specifically mentions that critters do *not* need to maintain LOS to sustain a spell, therefore implying that normal magicians do. Therefore, we came up with an on-the-spot house rule that, if LOS were lost, sustained spells would remain in effect for (force) turns, and if the magician were still sustaining the spell when LOS was restored (and (force) turns had not yet elapsed), it would be as if LOS were never lost.
Is there any official word on this? Does this house rule seem reasonable to your SR veterans?
Thanks mucho

No, LOS is not needed. PAge 16 of SR3 core book.

Sphynx

OK. What is there, then, to keep every shadowrun team from keeping a couple magicians in a squat 12 km away from the run, one maintaining armor spells on everyone, the other keeping everyone invisible? If the only answer to that is astral glow, then it seems the advantages far outweight the disadvantages of a few dual-natured creatures or astrally perceiving mages seeing you. Not requiring LOS seems to easily abused to me...

Um the cost of hiring a couple magicians
the characters not being able to pass wards
setting off ALL the magical security?

Wards in astral space stop people in normal space who have spells on them? Wards seem much more useful now... Is there any sort of contest involved or TN modification (like casting a spell through a ward), or does it just stop dead cold?

A ward does not prohibit a mundane operating person to pass through, but any spell or critter power (from a critter that is not the being currently passing through that ward) that is currently sustained on that person, will end immediatly. No test required.
*It becomes different when sustaining foci come into play, but for closer details I'd suggest reading MitS page 83*
It is possible to cast a spell onto a target through a barrier (with TN modifiers of course). But the magicians in question are said to be 12 miles away => they don't have LOS on the target in question.
In theory they could try doing a ritual ... but that would requiere an astrally present spotter and would take some time ...

So yes, a ward is a very good instrument to prevent spells being sustained from remote locations all the time

A remote magician maintaining spells is a valid thing to do, as is a remote Decker on overwatch or a remote Rigger providing drones. The player running the magician can watch TV, read a book, or sleep. Someone running a Rigger or Decker has to pay attention.

As a GM, I would likely award less Karma to the character that has no first-hand knowledge of how the run went. And remember the target number and drain penalties when casting that second and third spell. Attempting to sustain a fourth rarely has much affect without a large number of dice to roll to center vs. penalties.

Usually I've seen the team decide to take the magician along on the run, because it may be necessary to drop and recast the spells, to cast Treat, to slay a materialized spirit, or some similar wizardly task.

That's just as bad, in my opinion; the minute a PC becomes a static spell battery, the world is in some shit.

Because that's what hiring NPCs is for.