[usefulidiot]

Our group is fairly new to any in depth magic use and we were wondering what are all of the different ways to continually sustain a spell? Say the character wants to have a buff spell always on him because he is paranoid. What is the best way to sustain that spell, not have it detected easily, and not loose any karma spent on a quickened spell if it is dispelled or lost thourgh a mana barrier? Thanks all.

[Shinobi Killfist]

Sustain it for a while the best way is a sustaining focus, to keep it concealed you need the extended masking metamgic so you would need to be at least a grade 2 initiate. 

[Charybdis]

Two things:

A) Are talking about a sustained spell indefinitely? or
B) Just for a few turns as needed

Background on hiding spell effects:
Any spell cast at any stage shows up like a beacon to anyone with Astral Perception. Depending on the magical/anti-magical security your GM plans to throw at you, this issue can range from 'no problem at all', to 'may as 'well carry a loudspeaker and yell 'MAGE' everywhere you go'

Now, to hide that effect, requires the advance Metamagic Technique of Extended Masking (which requires the basic Metamagic Technique of Masking as a pre-requisite)

So the short answer is: No, you can't hide spells without spending a bunch of Karma

Background on Sustaining Spells
To start with, every sustained spell will face a chance of disruption by either a mage counterspelling the effect or a Ward that the mage passes through. There is no way to avoid this chance, and is why even non-Magical businesses will spend a lot of cash on Magical security. However, the stronger the spell effect, the greater the chance it will survive contact with whatever magical security you face....

There are several ways to do sustain a spell:
1) A summoned spirit can sustain a spell for you.
Requirements:
- Summon the right type spirit, which depends on your tradition of spellcasting, and the type of spell to be sustained
- Use a service for the Spirit to sustain the spell, which they can do for a short number of combat turns (depending on services used and spirit force)
- Upside: No cash or Karma requirement. If the spell is disrupted, get another spirit and recast...
- Downside: Requires a spirit on standby, and spell only lasts for a few combat turns (a few seconds at a time)

2) Quicken the spell
Requirements:
- Either initiate yourself to get the Metamagic Technique of Quickening, OR find a REALLY friendly mage, pay them a HORRENDOUS amount of money, and they may cast the spell for you.. (for reference, Initiating yourself is normally the easier option!)
- Cast the spell, spending enough Karma to keep the spell effect active, but also enough to break through common wards
- Upside: Spell is permanently up (while you're sleeping, on the job or anything). You can also add extra Karma to make it VERY difficult for the effect to be disrupted.
- Downside: Can cost a bucket load of cash and/or Karma, gives you an ongoing Astral effect which is damned hard to hide, and if the spell is ever broken, all such efforts are lost and un-recoverable

3) A sustaining Focus
Requirements:
- Buy, steal or acquire a sustaining focus of the right spell category and strength for the spell in question
- Spend Karma to bond with the Focus
- Cast the spell (in advance if you like) and the focus will sustain the spell indefinitely (as long as it remains on your person)
- Upside: : if the spell is ever disrupted, you can just recast the spell. This is a MASSIVE bonus for sustaining Foci. You can also turn the spell off at will to try and minimise your Astral loudspeaker when being sneaky
Downsides: Foci are expensive to buy and bond, and thus anyone who sees it will want to steal it from you

[Shinobi Killfist]

Wow that was bad ass Charybdis.  That is the most detailed summing up of these rules I've seen. 

[Charybdis]

Wow that was bad ass Charybdis.  That is the most detailed summing up of these rules I've seen.

Just doing my bit

[usefulidiot]

Thanks for the response Charybdis. That throughly answered my question about sustaining spells. One other question I have now; if a character cast a spell such as silence and sustains its can they move the area that it is effecting, such as a certain radius around them with they are moving?

[Shinobi Killfist]

You can move sustained area spells with a complex action as long as it remains in your line of sight.  People who are no longer in the area are not effected, people who enter the area have to resist the spell vs the same number of successes as when it was cast.  Area spells don't automatically move with a targeted individual unless the spell states otherwise.  I can't think of any that do off hand, but in previous editions there were some spells with that exception. 

[KarmaInferno]

You can also hide spells on the Astral by putting them inside an object that's large enough to completely obscure the spells astral aura.

Like, someone on the outside of a van generally won't be able to assense an active spell on the inside of the van, unless he pokes his head inside.

That won't help you getting through an astral barrier. Or out on the street, unless you can manage to be inside a vehicle ALL the time*. But it's something to consider.

After all, using Stealth on the Astral is mostly about putting barriers and objects between you and the observer so that your aura is blocked. Same thing for spells.



-k

*- like a pixie driving a drone human suit 

[Fenix Wulfheart]

This is a worthwhile topic (particularly Charybdis breakdown), shouldn't be in need of necro. :/

Anyway, what nuyen cost would you say people would demand for a point of their Karma? how expensive is this?

[Herr Brackhaus]

Arise from the grave, necrothread, ARISE!

[Coyote]

1) A summoned spirit can sustain a spell for you.
Requirements:
- Summon the right type spirit, which depends on your tradition of spellcasting, and the type of spell to be sustained
- Use a service for the Spirit to sustain the spell, which they can do for a short number of combat turns (depending on services used and spirit force)
- Upside: No cash or Karma requirement. If the spell is disrupted, get another spirit and recast...
- Downside: Requires a spirit on standby, and spell only lasts for a few combat turns (a few seconds at a time)

As a better option, if you can summon a Spirit of Man, you can give it the spell that you want Sustained. Then, the spirit casts the spell, and Sustains it. A spirit can Sustain someone else's spell for only a few Combat Turns, but its own spells are treated as a service, so it could cast a spell and then Sustain it as long as its service lasts (usually until dawn or sunset).

[Mirikon]

As pointed out pre-necro, always having spells on you is going to make you light up like a Christmas tree on the astral until you're at least a second level initiate. So, something like 8-10 runs. Even then, you're still going to set off every ward you walk through, which is going to cause trouble for you. Just keep that in mind and don't be surprised if someone hammers you because of it.

But for my money, I'd go with a Sustaining focus for a single spell you want to have on whenever possible. My personal favorite is a Health Sustaining Focus to hold Increase Reflexes. Cast it in the morning, and you can sleep off the drain. And sustained health spells raise a LOT fewer questions than sustained Armor or mental manipulation spells.

[Jack_Spade]

"Sleeping off" is a bad choice of words, because you may not actually go to sleep if you want to sustain a spell - even if it's in a focus.

But yes, sustaining focus is probably the most cost effective solution (long term), followed closely by binding a bunch of spirit of man and have them cast spells on you.

A more elaborate method I developed for a mystic adept to use is to use the familiar ritual.
You need:
- Attune Animal (Turtle) 5 Karma
 - Bind Turtle 6 Karma
- Empower (Qi Marked) 5 Karma
 - Bind Turtle 4 Karma
 - Qi-Focus: Living Focus 8 Karma

Afterwards you have a turtle that can sustain any spell you want at a force equal to your magic. You can lower the karma cost a bit  by installing used dermal plating in your turtle so it has less essence and therefore less cost during the binding in the attunement ritual.

Every time you initiate you can add another turtle to your collection and sustain another spell for you. Unlike a focus you can leave the turtles in your car as long as you aren't outside sensory link distance.

[adzling]

You can't sustain a spell able asleep

[TerraFirst!]

Heightened Concentration adept power and Focused Concentration quality both come to mind, as well, as a means of sustaining. And the Manascape spell may be an effective means of masking it, situationally.