[The_Machine]

A friend of mine is making plans to be a street Shaman and he was looking for any sort of advice that people would be willing to give

[ShadowcatX]

It is better to be very good at a couple of things than bad at everything. Fortunately Magic is pretty simple: Magic 6, Spellcasting, Summoning, counterspelling and maybe binding at 6, and a rank 3 power foci if you can afford it. Specialize in a spirit if you want.

Also, perception, every runner needs perception.  Non-perceptive runners are dead runners.

[Mathan]

I feel I'm in  the minority but I'd simply say go with what fits the backstory. Though a power focus can help. My biggest advice is figure a spell suite that can be useful. Bonus points for things  that can work together.

[ShadowcatX]

I feel I'm in  the minority but I'd simply say go with what fits the backstory.

A backstory can also be fitted to mechanics.

[Tecumseh]

Mentor spirits add a ton of flavor, including both advantages and a disadvantage, for a reasonable price. They can be a good place to start a character concept, especially for a street shaman.

ShadowcatX has the basics of the optimal mechanics. Magic, spellcasting, and summoning should be as high as possible. Perception, Sneaking, and Counterspelling come next. If they're playing a shaman then they'll need a decent Charisma score (for soaking Drain) so that usually means a handful of Social skills are worthwhile to take advantage of the high Charisma.

There are lots of threads about what the "best" spells are. Coming up with a list of 10 that touches on each school of magic (Combat, Detection, Health, Illusion, Manipulation) should be easy. A couple spells from each school will make the character flexible and useful in almost every situation. I think it's worth 10 karma to pick up another 2 spells at the start of gameplay for the added versatility.

That's the broad outline. If you (or he) have specific questions or concerns then we'll be happy to address them.

[ZeldaBravo]

Manipulation and illusion magic is king.

[Kuirem]

Mages are versatile so unless he wants to be some kind of overspecialized character (check the Apprentice from Forbidden Arcana then) it's best to take a bit of everything. Imo the 4 most useful spells are:

• Heal : That's how you make friends as a mage, healing is so rare in the game.
• Physical Barrier : A Physical Barrier is extremely hard to take down (you need to deal 2xForce³ damage to take down a Barrier) and ideal to stop some bullets or people, to crash vehicles and you can even use it to make bridges. The limit is your imagination.
• Levitation : Increase your mobility a lot. Also fun to use on enemy that don't have a ranged option.
• Invisibility : Doing illegal stuff + invisibility = win. Pick the one that work against cameras though

I also try to always have a Direct and Indirect combat spells, Direct are really good for heavily armored targets while indirect works well against your basic goons. 2-3 Combat Spells are generally enough though, don't invest too much there since the other "schools" will give much more versatility.

[drakir]

Foci are too expensive to take at chargen. Since he should have high charisma, some points in social skills like Con and Etiquette is a good choice.

Max Charisma, 5 in Willpower and Intuition. The rest depends on attribute points available and preference.

Priorities recommended: Magic A, Attributes B, Skills C, Meta D, Money E. Elf or Human both work well. 5 Edge vs 8 Charisma.

Take 1-2 spells from each category to be very versatile. Find a Mentor spirit that suits the character.

Most important skills: Spellcasting, Summoning (Take these two at rating 6, preferably with a spec.) Assensing, Counterspelling (Important but does not have to be at rating 6). If you choose Binding, either take it at rating 6 or not at all. It's very powerful, but dangerous and somewhat expensive.

[ShadowcatX]

Foci are too expensive to take at chargen.

Priorities recommended: Magic A, Attributes B, Skills C, Meta D, Money E. Elf or Human both work well. 5 Edge vs 8 Charisma.

E money might be why you find foci too expensive at creation. A money D or even C build would work just as well and afford foci. It might be a more difficult build though as equipment is the hardest part of creation.

ETA: For the low money version, absolutely spend 10 karma to get 20k Nuyen. Also, there are several 26k Nuyen runner essentials that your friend could Google and just take whole without having to individually pick his equipment.