[zdog234]

Hi everyone! I'm making an Druidic Mage in a black trenchcoat game. I know that control thoughts/mob mind are great spells, but what spells do you guys think are must-haves, and which ones are really nice.

Note: I'm the only mage in this party.

[Top Dog]

Heal. You absolutely must take Heal.

I like the invisibility and stealth line - not being seen is an excellent defence - and you should probably take at least one combat spell (even if you have weapon skills, combat spells are extremely effective against spirits). Improved Reflexes is a must if you want to be at all decent in combat; you can dump it if you want to be a pacifist, but you will be shot at so might as well prepare for it.

Apart from that, there's a lot of useful spells, but it depends a lot on what type of caster you want to be.

They're not spells, but the summoning and assessing skills can be extremely useful as the (sole) mage, even if you're not that proficient in them.

[Michael Chandra]

Keep 1 important thing in mind with Mental Manipulation: It utterly pisses people off. There's a section in the Missions FAQ where that is emphasized. All types of enforcement don't take kindly to it so you may encounter severe consequences down the line if misused. They also don't take kindly to needless killing, so if you go and double-tap everyone after combat to ensure no survivors, one day the favour will be returned.

For the rest, it depends on what you're going to do in and out of combat. You could use several Illusion spells to either be sneaky or give the enemies dice pool penalties, you could go straight combat with Indirect area spells, mental manipulation spells to control enemies (or critters, there's specific spells for those as well as the generic ones) but with said consequences, different kinds of healing spells, buff spells to make others perform better in combat, and so on.

Increase Reflexes on yourself requires a -2 (-1 with drugs) sustaining penalty, a high enough Force Sustaining Focus (there's a low-Force trick*), Quickening or a Spirit of Man casting it on you. The last isn't an option due to your tradition.

*: Low-Force trick: Cast at Force of SF, use Reagents to set a higher limit. Downside of a low SF Force is that Background Count >= its Force will shut it down, so try going F2+.


You say black trenchcoat, so you probably want to heavily go into Illusion spells, with Mental Manipulation as emergency backup. However! Always bring memory-erasing drugs if you intend to leave any survivors after Mental Manipulation spells.

+ Heal
+ Improved Invisibility
+ Silence/Stealth
+ Physical Mask
+ Control Pack
~ Vehicle Mask
~ Increase Reflexes
~ Deflection and/or Combat Sense

[Spooky]

All I would add to Michael's list is stunbolt and or ball, works on everything you need it to for those times when you need to take down opposition without killing.

[zdog234]

Thanks for helping out a Newb guys! 

[Whiskeyjack]

You should really run a search on this, I think it comes up at least in every magician character creation thread and in stand-alone threads as well.

Michael's list is pretty good but I would add Stunball - it's the best way to combat spirits both on and off the Astral.

Even in Black Trenchcoat I would suggest Ball Lightning, because you want a magic way to take on drones and Electricity is the best element for its initiative penalty.

Influence is great, probably better than Control Thoughts/Mob Mind for a lot of actions, because it's permanent and it doesn't really hint to someone that they're being magicked.

Utility:
Levitate
Trid Phantasm
Fashion
Mana Barrier

Combat-Relevant (all Illusion):
Hot Potato
Swarm
Chaotic World
--these are classic and easy ways to penalize opponents, whether directly (making them drop their guns) or through lowering their initiative (Swarm) or giving dice pool penalties to actions (Chaotic World). Though you will probably want a Sustaining Focus for these tactics.

"Low Force + reagents" is also a good trick to use on Heal: pick Force 1 and then set the Limit to your Magic with reagents. It takes 1 round to make Permanent without having to spend hits to reduce the time necessary to sustain, and you get to keep all your hits to heal more boxes. This is also a useful thing to do with Direct combat spells since Force does not come into their damage equation at all, so cast at low Force for low Drain and set the Limit with reagents.

[Tarislar]

Hi everyone! I'm making an Druidic Mage in a black trenchcoat game. I know that control thoughts/mob mind are great spells, but what spells do you guys think are must-haves, and which ones are really nice.

Note: I'm the only mage in this party.

MC has a solid base list.

I'll add a few thoughts to it.

1.  It would help when making this list if we knew # of spells you will start with.
2.  At Chargen try not to double up on stuff when your limited on spells known & the Karma to buy them.
3.  I try at least 1 of each class just to make sure I have something in that area to fall back on.


Combat:  1-4 spells.
Elemental AE & Single,  Direct Single & AE,  Add Stun to Flavor
Good starter list:  Lightning Bolt  +   Blast or Stun Ball

Detection:
Analyze Truth,  Combat Sense,  Detect Enemies XR  (This is my "all knowing" trio to not be surprised or lied too)

Health: 
Heal,  Must Have.
Increased Reflexes too boost speed & # of passes.  Very useful w/ Focused Concentration quality.

Illusion.
Improved Invisibility:  Good for Sneaking as well as avoiding fire.
Physical Mask:  Good for moving-interacting-sneaking w/o being recognized.
Stealth/Sound Barrier:  Less useful for sneaking but still helpful.

Manipulation:  A catch all of lots of fun stuff.  Some of the more useful ones that I like below.
Levitate:  Who needs to repel or climb ropes when you can float.
Fling:  Instant access to the Throwing Skill at higher Skill & Str than you will likely have as a "Skinny Mage"
Suggestion,  Control Thoughts,  Mob Mind,  Alter Memory:  A Quartet of Mess w/ their Heads spells that can be very powerful but also might draw some serious attention so use them conservatively.  (My Current Group has 2 casters each has 1 of these)
Barriers:  If timed well both Physical & Mana barriers can be very useful for mid term protection, temporary defense, getaways, etc etc.


Try to diversify as your the only caster in the group.  Better to have something in a category than nothing because you over did another area.

If I had to go with a "Base 10" for Magic-A I'd probably do the following.

Blast
Lightning Bolt
Analyze Truth
Detect Enemies XR
Heal
Increased Reflexes
Improved Invisibility
Levitate
Physical Barrier
Suggestion

[McGuffin]

There are lots of very good recommendations already. I'd like to add two of my personal favourites.

1. Phantasm/Trid Phantasm. You only need one, if you feel comfortable with the higher drain, pick the physical version since you can also fool cameras/drones. It's a very powerful spells and only limited by your own imagination.
How would you react if you were hiding behind cover and shooting at some runners in front of you, when suddenly a large, armored orc or troll runs around the corner right behind you. Screaming and charging in your direction. Wouldn't you want to stop this monstrosity? Well, one attack action that does not hurt your team! And if it's a very convincing illusion it might waste more than one - everyone knows it takes more than one shot to drop a troll, afterall 
You can create cover, walls of fire, doors where there are none, walls to hide behind and lots of other stuff, fake grenades to make others panic and change position. And not to underestimate: illusionary beauties to take seat right next to you in your fancy car.

2. Stench. This spells has nasty dice penalties for your enemies and in addition the possibility to take them out of combat in one stroke (net hits > their willpower).

[Tarislar]

I can't believe I forgot Trid Phantasm.  Great choice.  Ditto Stench.