[bmoham]

Or you could do like me right now and make a hermetic alchemist  decker.

Your attribute increases will only last a couple of minutes at a time, but matrix stuff happens so fast that that's usually all you should need.

Meanwhile, you'd get to spread Deflection and/or Armor buffs to the whole team, all without incurring a single sustaining or drain penalty in the moment.

Again, they'd only be active for a couple of minutes, and they'd be weaker than spontaneous spells, but still quite useful.

I was really excited about alchemy, until I realized you can't quicken alchemy (I think?) or even use a sustaining focus? I feel, long term, the big payoff is going to be a semi-permanent boost from improve logic and probably analyze device.

[easl]

I was really excited about alchemy, until I realized you can't quicken alchemy (I think?) or even use a sustaining focus? I feel, long term, the big payoff is going to be a semi-permanent boost from improve logic and probably analyze device.

Do you even need a sustaining focus?  The enchantment automatically sustains for (potency) minutes - or until it becomes permanent.  Given combat is measured in seconds, even a 1 potency object is likely to see you through an entire combat.  Things like healing and ignite become 'fire and forget' when they're made with alchemy. 

[gilga]

You could channel a spirit of man and then use it to sustain an improve logic spell on you. (and perhaps even improve intuition)... this would give you a nice bonus to physical attributes and unlike quickening, you can turn it off without losing karma.

I would not use quickening for self-buff spells but for other spells like trid phantasm, or some illusion spell to protect your safe house (e.g. Euphoria can be entertaining and make you quite popular).  Reinforce/deflection is also a good options, to make your vehicle a bit safer.

[Jack_Spade]

There are quite a few options to sustain spells without penalty and without resorting to Quickening:

- Low level Sustaining Foci, using spells with open limits (reagents or edge)
- Focused Concentration - same as Sustaining Foci
- Spirit of Man spellcasting
- Puppet Master Quality (FA - only Mental Manipulation spells)
- Illusionist Quality (FA - only for Illusion spells)
- Heightened Concern (Only viable for Mystic adepts)
- Getting a bunch of Attuned Animals and taking the option to give them Living Focus tattoos (only Mystic Adepts, high inital investment, but highly effective in the longterm)
-
Level 3 or 4 Sustaining foci can be made with minimal skills and a bit of gear

[Michael Chandra]

You could channel a spirit of man and then use it to sustain an improve logic spell on you. (and perhaps even improve intuition)... this would give you a nice bonus to physical attributes and unlike quickening, you can turn it off without losing karma.

I would not use quickening for self-buff spells but for other spells like trid phantasm, or some illusion spell to protect your safe house (e.g. Euphoria can be entertaining and make you quite popular).  Reinforce/deflection is also a good options, to make your vehicle a bit safer.

Don't forget Manascape on your safehouse so people can't notice the illusions on the astral.

[Marcus]

A few sustaining foci can take you a long way. It's not a big investment and you can always add more. It's easy to turn them off if you get worried about mana addiction. It's easy reestablish them as needed. Very few GMs are going to waste combat actions dispelling your foci sustained spells, while you can blow up anyone dumb enough spend action doing that, and then just re-cast the spell once combat ends.

[Hobbes]

Magic A, Skills B, Attribute C, Resources D, Meta E.  10 Karma on Nuyen.  Your starting gear is basically an Erika and an Armored Jacket.  Your Hacking skill ranks will be less than a normal decker, but with buffs your dice pool will be more than fine.

Also I didn't see the Increase Limit spell mentioned, sorry if someone did and I missed it.  But it's an easy pick for one of your sustain vectors. 

I'd also recommend Shapechange.  Let someone carry your deck, just ware a 'trodes collar and be a raven or something.  Or a mouse in the Trolls pocket.  Whatever.  (your physical stats will be absolutely turrable... be a critter and solve that)  You've already got so many sustains one more won't matter.

[Rooks]

nother thing you can do is aspected mage you can still create watchers with ritual magic just not summon normal spirits

[Boring7]

I tinkered around with hero lab for a bit and made a thing, using Sum-to-ten, I'm hoping the PDF attaches.

Backstory is a vat-job girl built for smarts, turned out awakened with invisible friends.  Her makers at Ares were overjoyed, she was useful (if poorly-socialized) right up until she discovered her recent transfer put her in a section of the company currently controlled by Bug Spirits.  She made it out alive but is wanted for crimes she kinda-sorta committed.  Ares refuses to admit it's infested to the gills, so all those bugs she shot at were legally people, moreso than her in fact. 

House-rule/GM judgement call is that she wears a custom-made underarmor (probably not actually leather) made out of natural materials which one of her spirit friends can possess and proceed to walk her body around (and duck behind cover and make sneak checks, or other stuff) while she's hot-sim hacking. 

She's got a mild obsession with fighting the bugs that drove her from her home and I dunno, I *think* she's got decent stats for what she's supposed to do/be.  I don't build deckers (like, at all) so I'm only playing around. 

I dunno, I like her.  Probably wouldn't want to play her but I'd enjoy reading a story about her.