[UmaroVI]

Yeah, but that section of Street Magic is...not good, and I recommend ignoring it. The Voodoo section is particularly egregiously poorly-researched, as whoever did it failed to note the difference between a family of loa (eg, Erzulie) and a member of that family (eg, Erzulie Dantor).

I wouldn't assume the player didn't want to play an elf. Lots of people go with human because they are assuming humans are the default and are good at anything, which isn't true, and I didn't see anything about wanting to be a human, specifically, from Jackleg Rooster. And no, Elf is totally worth it if you are a Charisma tradition mage.

Spirit Zapper is a really really restricted form of Mana Barrier that only works on spirits, but damages them if they try to punch their way through it with physical attacks. It's not that you couldn't possibly use it, just that it's far too narrow.

Mana Static is an AE. You don't have to catch yourself in it. Saying that it's a double edged sword because you reduce your own magic is like saying Stunball is a double edged sword because you do stun damage to yourself.

[TheNarrator]

Mana Static is an AE. You don't have to catch yourself in it. Saying that it's a double edged sword because you reduce your own magic is like saying Stunball is a double edged sword because you do stun damage to yourself.

I was thinking that casting into a Background Count area from outside it reduced the spell's Force, but I can't actually find that written anywhere. So I guess it doesn't affect the caster unless they walk into where they're sustaining it. My bad.

Of course, there's nothing stopping the spirit from leaving the area of effect--and possibly getting into melee with the mage that just spammed it with background count--so the effects might only be useful for an initiative pass. (The up side is that for that pass, its Immunity to Normal Weapons is drastically reduced, so the street sam can wreak it.)

It definitely has its uses (and with the Filtering metamagic it becomes awesome; you can basically ruin the day of anything magical in the area while remaining unaffected). Makes a good de-buff spell against magical adversaries so that mundane allies can finish them off. And if you want to hide from astral tracking, then where better than in a miniature background count?

(If Spirit Zapper is just a spirit-only Mana Barrier, then one might as well get Mana Barrier. When one can only know 12 spells, they might as well be versatile spells.)

[UmaroVI]

Of course, there's nothing stopping the spirit from leaving the area of effect--and possibly getting into melee with the mage that just spammed it with background count--so the effects might only be useful for an initiative pass. (The up side is that for that pass, its Immunity to Normal Weapons is drastically reduced, so the street sam can wreak it.)

It definitely has its uses (and with the Filtering metamagic it becomes awesome; you can basically ruin the day of anything magical in the area while remaining unaffected). Makes a good de-buff spell against magical adversaries so that mundane allies can finish them off. And if you want to hide from astral tracking, then where better than in a miniature background count?

(If Spirit Zapper is just a spirit-only Mana Barrier, then one might as well get Mana Barrier. When one can only know 12 spells, they might as well be versatile spells.)

One of the big advantages of mana static is that any spirit that gets reduced to 0 or less force get bamfed. So if you can get 6 hits, you can take out one or more force 6 or less spirits - and unlike Stunball, they get nothing to resist it. It also bombs their initiative when they lose Force, so if you're going up against something like a force 10 spirit, when it gets cut down to force 4 your buddies should have plenty time to shoot it in the face.

I'm with you on Spirit Zapper; that's exactly my opinion.

[TheNarrator]

So if you can get 6 hits, you can take out one or more force 6 or less spirits - and unlike Stunball, they get nothing to resist it.

True enough. Of course, getting 6 hits means casting at Force 6... which means taking 7 boxes of drain. Even an elf with maxed charisma and willpower doesn't have a 50/50 chance of resisting that much.

Like I said, there's definitely times that you'd want to bust out Mana Static, but it's probably not something you want to cast casually, because every time you do you're almost certainly going to take damage and/or spend Edge. Whereas Slaughter Spirit at Force 5 is something that this character could cast repeatedly at little risk.



Anyway, getting back to the topic of the character, I think it looks pretty good. The only things I'd probably do different if I were you besides (as suggested above) switching some of the super-specific spells like Fashion and Spirit Zapper for more versatile ones would be to move one point of Body to Strength (because a STR 1 character is so weak that I'd worry about them collapsing under the weight of their own gear) and one point of Intuition to Logic (because a high Intuition is great and all, but some people might balk at playing a character with a below-average IQ).

(You won't even have to change armor if you pay an extra 10% to make it Soft-Weave.)

[Jackleg Rooster]

sorry for the super delay in my reply. Real life has been a real drag lately.

Critter Form and Spirit Zapper are both for silly. Shapechange is not a bad spell but I'm having a hard time seeing when turning into a wolf is going to help this character. Spirit Zapper is a bad spell.

My only major complaints are:
1) You are a Charisma mage who isn't an elf and isn't getting anything in particular out of not being an elf. Cut 10 points, change to Elf, keep your Agility at 2, and lose an Edge. I would probably lose Critter Form, Spirit Zapper, Fashion, and see if you can cut 5000 in gear (maybe a less fancy vehicle), or cut Perception to 1 and then specialize it in Sight. Not being an elf is long-term sadness as a Charisma-tradition mage, and not being an elf so you can be a 2 edge human is double sadness. It's worth some short-term losses to change that.

2) You are specialized in summoning Fire spirits. This is a rather serious problem because the Shinto tradition can't summon Fire spirits, and a minor problem because you can do better; Fire is only an OK spirit type (in that they are second best at murder and not really good at anything else). Air (best at murder, good at some other things) and Man (most flexible in general, because you can give it innate spells) are probably your best choices for spirit type.

Of your mentor spirit options (+Manipulation is really important), Raven is far and away the best choice (granting +2 Air). Adversary (+2 CS) is a slightly less good choice but not unreasonable. Sky Father and Spider give bonuses to useful schools you don't currently know much of (Detection and Illusion) but you could easily retool the spells list to make better use of them. Dragon gives a very meh Negotiation bonus but it isn't useless to you.

I know Okami is pretty rad but I don't think any of those mentors fit Amateratsu at all (really, Amateratsu should be either Sun or Great Mother anyways; Fire-bringer is a real stretch).

While I am not super knowledgeable about Shinto, I think Raven can probably be Fujin, since he's a god of wind and creation and also kind of a dick. Dragon should be Ryujin. Spider could be Omoikane. Sky Father is probably Izanagi. Adversary I think is best fit by Mikaboshi.

Tres embarassing about the fire spirits. Forgot to look back at the tradition after looking through mentors.

I had looked at Raven and thought it good except that her character as imagined is the exact opposite of a jackass. Of course not all mentor-mage relationships need to be amicable. If a god literally came down to speak to you its rude to be like "no thanks. you're mean." I think ill make the disadvantage the opposite to show this animosity between them. Something like "Willpower + Charisma (3) test to not help someone in need even if dangerous. (Stabilizing a dying corp sec guard for instance)

I hadn't specified a metatype as i was working to get elf but the player wants human all the way so it is what it is.

got agreement on the spells so what can i fill those three spots with? mana barrier I guess for theme but then what? Influence i suppose for something more subtle than mob mind when its appropriate. hmmm...is the combat sense spell worth knowing? (and owning a sustaining focus for?)

[TheNarrator]

got agreement on the spells so what can i fill those three spots with? mana barrier I guess for theme but then what? Influence i suppose for something more subtle than mob mind when its appropriate. hmmm...is the combat sense spell worth knowing? (and owning a sustaining focus for?)

No particular problem with Mob Mind from a gameplay standpoint, in my opinion, other than that the drain is rather high. (It's another one fo those "you're almost certianly taking damage" ones.) If it's a case that the character might not be willing to use that spell because they consider that sort of blatant mind control unethical, then yeah, Influence is a good alternative. It's more like Jedi Mind Trick than Dominate Person, and the drain is low.

Mana Barrier is more versatile than Spirit Zapper, with lower drain.

Fashion is a bit of a head-scratcher for me, since it's basically "change the look of clothes". Sure, there's potential uses for that. (Creating disguises in only the time it takes to make the spell permanent, for one. Or just for fun.) But for just one more box of drain and having to sustain it, you can get Physical Mask and be able to change someone's appearance entirely: clothes, face, metatype, gender, the whole nine yards.

I had looked at Raven and thought it good except that her character as imagined is the exact opposite of a jackass. Of course not all mentor-mage relationships need to be amicable. If a god literally came down to speak to you its rude to be like "no thanks. you're mean." I think ill make the disadvantage the opposite to show this animosity between them. Something like "Willpower + Charisma (3) test to not help someone in need even if dangerous. (Stabilizing a dying corp sec guard for instance)

If the mentor spirit doesn't fit the character, then by all means feel free to switch to a new one. The characterization aspect of a mentor spirit is more important than getting the two best bonuses.

I thought that there was a mentor spirit with a disadvantage like the one you created, but these were the closest I could find. Or you could make your own, if you're the GM.

Dragonslayer gets +2 to Combat spells and +2 to a Social skill, but -1 if they break a promise.

Wise Warrior gets +2 to Combat and Detection spells, but -1 if they act dishonorably.

[UmaroVI]

I'd actually pick the mentor spirit before making spell choices. If you are going with reverse Raven (I actually think it's better balanced; two useful bonuses for "look out for number one?" really?) Physical Mask and Trid Phantasm are both good, widely useful spells. I think you were probably avoiding Illusion because of Fire-Bringer.

[Jackleg Rooster]

k. switched the spells around. changed laser to frost for theme pairing with air spirits (since there's not air element...unless i did blast....hmm). Changed the street name for this reason also.

Anyway,
== Info ==
Street Name: Miyuki
Name: Courtney Takahashi
Movement: 10/25
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 1
Public Awareness: 0
Human Female Age 23
Height 5'9" Weight 153
Composure: 10
Judge Intentions: 10
Lift/Carry: 6 (15 kg/10 kg)
Memory: 7
Nuyen: 0

== Attributes ==
BOD: 5
AGI: 2
REA: 3
STR: 1
CHA: 5
INT: 5
LOG: 2
WIL: 5
EDG: 2
MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6
Initiative:                8
IP:                        1
Astral Initiative:         10
Astral IP:                 3
Matrix Initiative:         6
Matrix IP:                 1
Physical Damage Track:     11
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Active Skills ==
Assensing                  : 4                      Pool: 9
Con                        : 1                      Pool: 6
Counterspelling            : 4                      Pool: 9
Etiquette                  : 1                      Pool: 6
Infiltration               : 1                      Pool: 3
Leadership                 : 1                      Pool: 6
Negotiation                : 1                      Pool: 6
Perception                 : 4                      Pool: 9
Spellcasting               : 6 [Manipulation]       Pool: 11 (13)
Summoning                  : 1 [Air]                Pool: 6 (

== Knowledge Skills ==
Astronomy                  : 4 [Deep Space Observation] Pool: 6 (
Cooking                    : 1 [Japanese]           Pool: 6 (
English                    : 6 [Speak]              Pool: 11 (13)
Japanese                   : N                      Pool: 0
Japanese Corporate Culture : 2                      Pool: 4
Shinto Traditions          : 4 [Kami History]       Pool: 6 (

== Contacts ==
Fixer (4, 1)
Shinto Priest (1, 4)

== Qualities ==
Big Regret
Magician
Mentor Spirit (Raven)
+2 Manipulation, +2 for Air Spirits
Willpower+Charisma(3) test to not help someone in dire need even at personal risk (houserule)
Pacifist (Minor)
Records on File (Renraku, former corp kid/employee)
Restricted Gear (Rating 1)
SINner (Standard) (UCAS)
Wanted (UCAS)

== Spells ==
(Tradition: Shinto, Resist Drain with WIL + CHA (10))
Frost                      DV: (F÷2)+3
Heal                       DV: (Damage Value)-2
Increase Reflexes          DV: (F÷2)+2
Levitate                   DV: (F÷2)+1
Mana Barrier               DV: (F÷2)+1
Mana Static (Limited)      DV: (F÷2)+4
Mob Mind (Limited)         DV: (F÷2)+4
Physical Mask              DV: (F÷2)+1
Slaughter [Metatype/Species] (Spirit) DV: (F÷2)+1
Stunball                   DV: (F÷2)+1
Stunbolt                   DV: (F÷2)-1
Trid Phantasm              DV: (F÷2)+3

== Lifestyles ==
Low  1 months

== Armor ==
Form-Fitting Full-Body Suit6/2
   +Chemical Protection 6
   +Nonconductivity 6
Vashon Island: Steampunk Corset/Vest (Ensemble)7/7
   +AR Enhanced

== Commlink ==
CMT Clip (1, 1, 1, 3)
   +Vector Xim
Meta Link (1, 1, 1, 2)
   +Vector Xim

== Gear ==
AR Makeup
Betel x10
Contact Lenses Rating 2
   +Flare Compensation
   +Vision Magnification
Earbuds Rating 2
   +Skinlink
   +Audio Enhancement Rating 3
   +Spatial Recognizer
Fake License (Carry Foci) Rating 3
Fake License (Driver's) Rating 3
Fake License (Practice Magic) Rating 3
Fake SIN (Laura St. John) Rating 3
Glasses Rating 4
   +Vision Enhancement Rating 3
   +Ultrasound
   +Image Link
Manipulation Fetish x2
Medkit Rating 6
Power Focus (bonded) Rating 4
Psyche
Red Mescaline x2
Simrig
Steampunk Accessories
Sustaining Focus (Health) (bonded) Rating 3

== Vehicles ==
Mercury Comet (Sedan)
   +GridLink
   +GridLink Override
   +Vehicle Sensor

[All4BigGuns]

You could go with Lightning Bolt or Ball Lightning for "air" element.  Good Sega Genesis video game used lightning for air--Chakan: The Forever Man.

[JustADude]

k. switched the spells around. changed laser to frost for theme pairing with air spirits (since there's not air element...unless i did blast....hmm).

Blast is pretty much a solid punch of wind, going from *THOOM* type blasts that knock you down at low Force trending towards *KABOOM* at higher levels.

Definitely qualifies as Air.

[UmaroVI]

Frost is F/2+2, not F/2+3, for drain.

You are slightly under-armored. Add PPP Forearm Guards and Shin Guards.

You only need one Manipulation fetish. They aren't unique to spells.

[All4BigGuns]

You only need one Manipulation fetish. They aren't unique to spells.

They're cheap enough that it doesn't hurt to own a couple spares of the fetish types you use.

[Jackleg Rooster]

k. switched the spells around. changed laser to frost for theme pairing with air spirits (since there's not air element...unless i did blast....hmm).

Blast is pretty much a solid punch of wind, going from *THOOM* type blasts that knock you down at low Force trending towards *KABOOM* at higher levels.

Definitely qualifies as Air.

Sold. Changed Frost to Boom.

On this wind theme i really wanna like poltergeist as an inside hurricane is awesome when one has a wind mentor. It just seems so...eh. (f/2)+3 drain for 2 stun DV resistible every combat TURN? The only upswing i can see is if the reaction+impact armor roll it mentions is it and cover does nothing since its debris flying everywhere.

seems it would be way cooler if the DV was the force and you just treat it like suppressive fire

[UmaroVI]

Yeah, Poltergeist is awful. If you want a vaguely similar spell that isn't awful, Sound Cloud (the [Element] Cloud spell from WAR! with the Sound element - and it does need to be sound, not a different element) is not a bad spell.