So had another question for you guys. Does anyone allow anyone to do the spend an edge for a critical success? I’m sure if you do you restrict what they can do with it, because it would be ridiculous to use that against shooting the big baddie boss they may be facing. xD
Also how often do you have the enemy/npc’s spend edge? I just got done reading the professional rating section of the book. Think it was a pretty good way to look at edge in squads, the joint pool of edge. Between me and my friends I think we’ve already had an example of uses Edge too much DMing. My friend DM’d not too long ago, and he used it quite a bit. (like I swear 10 times in one battle) It’s ok however, my mage was still able to take them.
Also, I got a question for any mage players out there. How important are spirits? And do you over cast a lot? I found myself overcastting quite a bit with a 6 magic, and I even did an overcastting 12 a few times. Once it was pretty bad ass because I threw a force 12 and then retreated and healed myself from 6 physical damage and then resisted all the stun damage from force 6 healing spell. So it was like I hadn’t even casted it.
Anyways, opinions? I know Drain can be a real bummer if your roll fails. With 9 dice however most of the time I can resist most of it. Unless it’s like lightning bolt or lightning ball. I like the sleep ball however because I only have to resist 6 physical drain, and I add in my focus +3 to spell casting to my drain roll and it usually comes out alright. 
none lethal for the win! XD
This mage has Six edge btw, probably too high for a human mage but eh, I figured it gave me some bargaining room. Is there any negatives for wearing armor for a mage curiously? I know in DnD armor restricts movement and being able to cast. Haven’t found anything like that in shadowrun. If someone knows could they point me in the right direction in the book?
A) Edge on critical successes? No. Too powerful an option.... You can already use edge to reroll failures, or add exploding dice to a roll. To just give automatic success is a bit overboard
B) If enemies have Edge, my GM will use
all of it in a fight (And when GM'ing, so do I
). Enemies are generally designed to use everything they have in a single encounter (which is why they don't have 5-10 spare clips of ammo like most Shadowrunners
)
C) You
cannot use magic to heal drain (either Stun or Physical). This is in the rulebook. You
can however use technical means (Medkits, First Aid skill etc)..
Neither Stun nor Physical damage resulting from Drain can be healed by magical means such as sorcery or spirit powers.
D) The importance of Spirits varies greatly. Some mages use them more than spells, other's rarely use them at all. It's a powerful mechanical option, but requires skills and resources to be done properly. Kind of like a Street Sam choosing to focus on Heavy Weapons vs Automatics... both are great, but they're just a different option to take...
E) Overcasting is very useful, but only in certain circumstances, so my answer is no, I don't do it a lot (mainly because it's so Frickin' hard to heal!). Unless I'm damned sure I can take the drain (normally with Edge used on the drain test) I don't use it....
Note: I really think you'll overcast less when now you know you can't heal the drain damage yourself...
F) If you have 9 dice for drain, and a +3 focus, and are regularly resisting 6 drain, then that is some excellent dice rolls my friend. On average you need 18 dice to resist this, not 12.
Note: What sort of Focus is it? If it's just a normal Rating 3
Combat Spell focus, then the +3 dice add to Spellcasting tests only (
NOT drain tests). This is as per the rules on SR4A p.199, and means you really only have 9 dice for drain, regardless of Focus.
G) Nothing wrong with 6 Edge. It's exactly the same as my primary character, and I find it incredibly useful
