I may be able to help you out.
The german street magic states that
a) the damage type is stated in the spell description - physical for lightning bolt, and that
b) elemental spells usually have SECONDARY effects of the given element.
So only part of the Electrical Damage effect is applied to it then? I don't read german (and don't have a german version of Street Magic for any tranlating), but the english is extremely clear that it is treated just like any other electrical attack. I do have some questions though for the german version:
a.) Is the damage type said to be stated in the spell description or the spell code/stat block. If the former, does it actually say physical in the description or does it use electrical damage and just have physical in the spell code/stat block?
b.) Does it state that they deal all secondary effects or part of them? On a related note, does it state that the secondary affects apply to damage or just that they have an effect on the environment.
First you have lightning bolt (205 SR4A):
These spells create and direct vicious strikes of electricity that cause Electricity damage (p. 163). Lightning Bolt is a single target spell. Ball Lightning is an area spell.
Then you have the Electrical Damage section(163-164 SR4A):
Electrical damage is treated as Stun damage
...SNIP
Keep in mind that this is a part of the electrical damage effect just like the incapacitation check. Both are equally parts of the effect. Nothing says to pick and choose or only take part of the effects.
Next you have Spell Damage (204 SR4A):
Each spell description notes whether damage is Stun (S) or
Physical (P).
Note, here it says spell description, not stat block. Lightning Bolt's spell description states it does Electrical Damage which is Stun (S) always. Note that many of the other element damage spells state what elemental damage they do rather than stating Physical (P) or Stun (S) while non-elemental spells actually state physical or stun specifically.
Now, you have Spell Design's elemental effect descritpion (163 SM):
Combat spells
Elemental eff ect (must be Physical spell with Physical damage) +2
This shows us that it doesn't matter what damage the spell does, if it's elemental it is designed (and most likely recorded in the book) as a physical spell with physical damage.
Last we have the elemental spell section from Street Magic (162 SM):
Elemental spells use the elements of nature to inflict damage
...SNIP...
These elemental spells inflict special types of damage that may also have secondary effects (starting fires, melting equipment, etc). Some of these elemental damage types (Acid, Cold, Electricity, and Fire) are described on pp. 154– 155, SR4.
This shows us that the spell does not do physical damage with an electrical element tagged on to it. It does electrical damage straight up. Similarly, the spells don't create a magical representation of the element, they summon up pure natural element that is then forced toward the target. Lightning from a mage is no different than natural lightning (other than your percent chance of getting hit in doors at least).
Well, then according to Street Magic, all elemental spells do Physical damage, so two things relating to lightning bolt agree on Physical, one thing does not. I guess it is an exception to the general rule on electrical damage.
The street magic clause in a table for drain modifiers. It doesn't state they have to actually do physical, it notes that that is how they must be designed. Elemental spells are stated to do special types of damage (appropriate to the element in question). Hopefully I've made a clear case.
have you ever seen concrete that's been hit wih lightning? there's currently a hole in my driveway where a powersurge (from lightning) jumped from one rib-iron to another through the concrete. if a player wants to blow a hole in some concrete with a lightning bolt, then i'd side in support of the "P(e)" damage. it's right there in the book, specific beats genera, and it could happen IRL. but i'd say t's ultimately up to the gm on that...
There point here is that completely natural lightning that comes from the sky like what put the hole in the driveway does stun damage blatantly according to the book. However, people want to claim that the completely natural lightning that a mage summons up does physical damage despite the fact that it's the same exact lightning according to description.
I'm not saying that in real life lightning is just a mild stun setback, but in the SR rules it is. Then again getting shot in the SR universe is pretty tame too compared to real life, so it's about on the same page really.
