[kyoto kid]

Creating a character who loves to make and watch things burn.

Her favourite weapon is her "Flamethrower of Truth"  along with a Flame Bracer as well (made with all ceramic components).

To make devices to remotely set fires (mostly as distractions)  I imagine would require demolitions skill, however would the proper specialisation be Improvised Explosives or Commercial Explosives?

[RowanTheFox]

I'd go with Improvised Explosives, personally.

[kyoto kid]

...thanks.

I was also wondering, for setting traps (like a firebomb set off by a light switch), would she also need the Juryrigger quality or would the just the Demolitions skill suffice? 

The character also has knowledge skill in Forensics specialised in Arson Investigation.

Also thinking of giving her Flamethrower a weapon personality. (she is kind of a nutcase, sort of like Harley Quinn).

"...fire cleanses all..."

[Jack_Spade]

Why not take the fire bomb specialty? That would cover commercial Thermite as well as the home made fuel-air bomb.
Demolitions is enough to rig a bomb. If you want to get elaborate invest in a bit of hardware skill and maybe computers if you want even more complex triggers.

Don't forget that gas grenades are really easy to fill with gasoline and can be programmed to release in what ever fashion you want. 

[RowanTheFox]

Don't forget that gas grenades are really easy to fill with gasoline and can be programmed to release in what ever fashion you want. 

Chummer, I like your style.

Anywho, I like the idea of giving your flamethrower a weapon personality. Oh, and don't forget: Bullets may have someone's name on them, but sending 20 kilos of ANFO is more "To Whom It May Concern".

[Herr Brackhaus]

I was also wondering, for setting traps (like a firebomb set off by a light switch), would she also need the Juryrigger quality or would the just the Demolitions skill suffice?

Going by the various tests mentioned in the Blow Up Good chapter of Run & Gun, Demolition is seemingly used for all kinds of improvised explosives, but other skills are mentioned as well. Thus, as a GM I would likely make you roll Hardware or Industrial Engineering (or some other appropriate skill) to rig up any device not intended to be used for demolition, such as the light switch in your example.

Examples:

For a car bomb to be effective, it needs to be able to destroy the body of the vehicle in which it is hidden (typically the trunk, on/near the engine block, or planted on the undercarriage) and still have enough power to cause damage to the surrounding area.
<znip>
A rigger needs to make an Automotive Mechanic + Logic [Mental] Test, with each hit reducing the Armor Rating of the vehicle by 1.

Turning a commlink into a radio detonator requires two tests: a Hardware + Logic [Mental] (4) Test and a Demolitions + Logic [Mental] (3) Test.

Turning a commlink into a makeshift timer detonator requires two tests: a Hardware + Logic [Mental] (3) Test and a Demolitions + Logic [Mental] (3) Test.

All of that being said, page 195 lists Electrical Detonators as being used in booby traps "by being wired to things like a light switch, a trideo set, or a vehicle’s ignition", but it also states that a strong electrical pulse is necessary. A light switch may or may not have enough power, at which point you'd need to wire in a battery, which to my mind would be a Hardware or Industrial Engineering test (either would work, no need for both).

Oh, and don't forget: Bullets may have someone's name on them, but sending 20 kilos of ANFO is more "To Whom It May Concern".

ANFO is for amateurs and home-grown terrorists; C-12 is where it's at in the 6th World.

And while bullets may have your name on it and 20 K's of C-12 may be more of a "To whom it may concern", always remember that a Thor shot is a public declaration...

[Jack_Spade]

At this point I'd like to point out that all you need for a home made Thor shot is a good optical telescope, a mage with levitation and a fixed wing drone tied to a massive steel rod.
Have the mage levitate the rod beyond the stratosphere and then drop it, guided by the drone at a target of your choice.

And if you are more interested in arsony: Get a bunch of those cheap cropsprayer drones, load them up with gasoline and crop dust your target. One emergency flair should be enough to get a nice bbq going.

[Herr Brackhaus]

I actually think there is information on how far the manasphere extends somewhere; you might need quite a high-Force spell to be able to counter the increasingly strong mana ebb you'd encounter the further away from Earth you go.

[Thanael]

So is he a member of the Halloweeners ?

[Jack_Spade]

I actually think there is information on how far the manasphere extends somewhere; you might need quite a high-Force spell to be able to counter the increasingly strong mana ebb you'd encounter the further away from Earth you go.

R&G and SG are horribly vague on the topic how far the mansphere extends and only talk about "outer space" as a mana void.
But in this case the mage never leaves the mana sphere and has no casting penalties. But I'm pretty sure 50 km is still within the manasphere since there is still a (thin) atmosphere and therefore some kind of life.

[MijRai]

Thin doesn't mean there's enough to reliably run Levitate on.  Here's the 4e rules for Space:
"Magic in Space
All locations in space are astral voids (see p. 119, Street Magic) with background counts ranging from –7 (the Moon and certain high-population habitats) to –12 (deep space). Assensing or astral projecting is a quick way to die or go insane. Some corps conduct theoretical magic research in space, since the lack of mana actually acts as a form of protection against potential backfires."

Now, keep in mind Mana Voids in 4th Edition only went to a maximum of -12; -7 was the official start.  In 5th, the starting-point for Voids is -13 while the maximum is -20.  And while space itself is a Void, it isn't going to be a clearly defined line.  You're going to end up hitting a Mana Ebb on the way up, getting worse and worse until it hits the Void outside the manasphere.  Unless you cast that Levitate at an absurd Force not only to pick up the beam but to push through the negative penalties, I definitely wouldn't allow someone to levitate their steel rod up there; it'd be easier just to launch the drone using normal means and use it to drive a reasonably weighted steel beam into a target.  This doesn't get into the problems someone would have by emulating a Thor shot; you wouldn't last a month if you managed it.  You'd be hunted down as an international terrorist.

[Jack_Spade]

By definition, space begins at about 100km, therefore we aren't talking about mana voids.

And I think you are severely overestimating the ability of a drone to carry a 1000kg weight into an area with about 0.16% of sea level air pressure.

Finally: 50km x 1000kg x 9.81g = 490.5 MJ ~ 110 kg of TNT
That's a lot, but not so much that you'd create an international incident - depending on your target and it's location you wouldn't even make the news, since you didn't actually use explosives but a meteor. Getting caught after the fact should be very, very hard to do if the drone was wireless off during the hit.

[RowanTheFox]

Oh, and don't forget: Bullets may have someone's name on them, but sending 20 kilos of ANFO is more "To Whom It May Concern".

ANFO is for amateurs and home-grown terrorists; C-12 is where it's at in the 6th World.

And while bullets may have your name on it and 20 K's of C-12 may be more of a "To whom it may concern", always remember that a Thor shot is a public declaration...

Oh, tish! We were all amateurs once. Besides, sometimes a runner's circumstances require a return to the basics.

I agree with both you and Jack_Spade though. Hope you got a spare mage handy, kyoto kid.

[Adamo1618]

The penalty ranges from –8 (for places with decent concentrations of life for non-Earth locations, such as the Moon or a large space station) to –18 (for deep space).

50 km up is probably closer to a space station than deep space in terms of "life-ness".

[kyoto kid]

...the character basically loves fire. and that is where I would like to keep things.

Remember the little quote I mentioned above  "...fire cleanses everything..."

I already have a more straightforward demolitions character who is very much into the "creative use" of explosive devices and also has the Juryrigging quality.  I thought I read somewhere in the Blowed Up Real Good chapter that Juryrigging is very useful for setting booby traps.

As this is a missions character, most Technical and Engineering skills tend to wind nd up as expensive knowledge skills since B&R in downtime is not allowed.  However for her purposes (arson) it does sound like Industrial Mechanic would be a the most useful of the technical skills as it would cover all aspects of structures.  For simple firebombs she just uses timer or radio detonators (the latter using a Micro transceiver instead of a commlink).

Though she does sound like one, she is not a member of the Halloweeners.