Why use direct spells that is. So um I pay the same drain for casting a worse spell, why would I do that. Don't get me wrong I like clout but its a physical spell that people get more defense against and take less damage. I mean sure if I really need a physical stun spell I guess this is it, but it still sucks. The same deal with all the elemental spells. Sure elemental effects are cool but at best they balance the spell with a direct spell that doesn't deal with reaction to dodge first and the 1/2 impact added to the body to resist. So I pay a ton of drain why again?

In 3e I could accept it because of the TN 4 instead of body. It made it a decent spell against groups where there could be targets with bodies so high you'd be lucky to get a single success. This really looks like a legacy problem or something. They forgot that the TN system changed so both direct and indirect spells now have a TN of 5 so the indirect spells no longer got a advantage in that arena and only have penalties.

OK, I'm a little unclear as to whether you think Direct or Indirect combat spells are the only way to go. Here's a list of the advantages of a Direct Spell:

*Target gets no armor.
*Target gets no reaction roll to dodge your spell.

Here are the advantages of an Indirect Spell:

*Counterspelling and Body is added to the damage resistance test rather that the to-hit roll, so an opponent with high body or a lot of counterspelling can still take some damage.
*The attack bypasses object resistance.
*The attack bypasses magical targetting rules and is resolved as a ranged attack, allowing it to be targetted through ultrasound goggles and the like.

That being said, I think you'll notice the advantages of Direct Spells more often. Usually you are going to be firing combat spells against enemy metahumans in combat, and they have a strong tendency to have both armor and reactions, but to not necessarily have counterspelling or object resistance ratings.

-Frank

And many Indirect Combat spells have secondary elemental effects, like destroying armor (Acid), causing explosive ammo and grenades to cook off (Fire), or taser-style stunning (Electricity).

I personally believe that the Punch/Clout/Blast family should be an elemental attack, given that in SR3 "Blast" is considered a secondary elemental effect. Additionally, if you'll notice, that family is the only set of indirect non-elemental attacks. I imagine P/C/B doing double-damage against barriers and being useful for knocking opponents down/backwards or causing them to fall, whereas the direct combat spells just kinda "zap" them.

However, I've just been treating P/C/B as the rules indicate until the next magic supplement can (hopefully) shed some light on it. Insofar as pure numbers go, the spell is a weaker, more easily resisted, higher drain alternative.