[Kermit the Trog]

I need a clarification on two magic related free actions.

First, it says that to use Counterspell for spell defense of the group you spend a free action.  Is this action spent every pass that the mage has,  just one phase per turn or is it something that only has to be done once and it is up until canceled?  I think, from my reading that it is declared once and no longer uses a free action after the first one.

Second, it is a free action to drop a maintained spell.  Do you have to spend a free action for each spell you want to drop or can you drop all maintained spells with one free action?

Thanks ahead of time for your answers.  I haven't run Shadowrun since "Arcology Shutdown" came out and several friends are depending on me to make it as fun as it was back then.

[FastJack]

     A magician can use Counterspelling to defend herself and others against a spell being cast. To do this, the magician must spend a Free Action and declare who she is protecting. If Counterspelling was not declared in advance, it may not be used to defend others, unless the magician has delayed her action (see Delayed Actions, p. 145). A protected character must also stay within the magician’s line of sight in order for Counterspelling to be used. Note that a magician can always use Counterspelling to defend herself, unless surprised.
     When a protected character is targeted with a spell, she rolls Counterspelling dice in addition to the appropriate attribute (Body or Willpower) for the resistance test. Hits generated on this test reduce the net hits of the spell’s caster as with any Opposed Test. If multiple protected characters are targeted by the same spell, the Counterspelling dice are rolled only once and each target is protected equally.
     If more than one magician protects a target with Counterspelling, handle it as teamwork (p. 65).
     Note that Counterspelling is not “used up” after it defends against a spell—it continues to protect the designated characters against other spells until the magician decides to end it.

So, you use the Free Action to declare you're Counterspelling and will be considered to be counterspelling for all your teammates until you stop (by saying you're no longer doing so or being taken out of combat). Note, however, that you only roll the dice once per spell you are countering. You do not roll for each person you are protecting.

On the second question, the book says:

Drop Sustained Spell: A magician may drop a sustained spell as a Free Action.

Notice the "a sustained spell". I'd say you can only drop one per IP. Keep in mind that each Sustained spell adds a cumulative -2 modifier to all other tests, so I don't know if I'd be going into combat with too many spells being sustained. And if I did, they're probably ones that I want to keep going throughout the entire combat (and I'd make sure the Troll was between me and enemy fire ).

[Kontact]

Though most combats don't last more than a few turns, layout and positioning can change a lot in that time so that the mage loses sight of the people he's declared his counterspelling on. 

It can be the case that he'd have to re-declare just to cover team mates that move in and out of his vision.

[Rascal]

I think I read something on the theme of "drop any of his sustained spells" somewhere, but I can´t seem to find it now.
Personally, I think a spellslinger should be able to drop any number of sustained spells as one free action, since it´s a strain keeping them all active if you have multiple sustains going on (hence the cumulative -2, right?). Dropping a sustained spell is more of don´t-waste-your-brainpower-on-this than I-carefully-must-discharge-the-spiritual-energies.
Or maybe a magician gets kinda linked to each spell, having to un-knit the weavings..?

On the same note; if a multi-sustaining hexer is shot at or otherwise disrupted, do you roll to keep the sustained spells individually, or is it all or nothing?

[Kermit the Trog]

Thanks for the answers everyone.

I'd rule, to save time if nothing else. That it would be one roll with all of the penalties added in.

[Chaemera]

I think I read something on the theme of "drop any of his sustained spells" somewhere, but I can´t seem to find it now.
Personally, I think a spellslinger should be able to drop any number of sustained spells as one free action, since it´s a strain keeping them all active if you have multiple sustains going on (hence the cumulative -2, right?). Dropping a sustained spell is more of don´t-waste-your-brainpower-on-this than I-carefully-must-discharge-the-spiritual-energies.
Or maybe a magician gets kinda linked to each spell, having to un-knit the weavings..?

The underlined ones are generally how I perceive it working, it's a strain on his mind because he is focused on keeping the magic carefully balanced to sustain the spell, and you don't want to let it go chaotically if you can help it.

On the same note; if a multi-sustaining hexer is shot at or otherwise disrupted, do you roll to keep the sustained spells individually, or is it all or nothing?

My reading of the rule on page 184 is that it'd be a check per spell. Kinda slow if you're sustaining a ton of spells, though your DP might be low enough from the effort that you quickly lose the first few.

[Kot]

The mage sustains his spells by drawing Mana from the Astral. As Chaemera said, that's why there is a penalty for sustaining spells. If he would drop all of them at once, controlling the amount of energy that was needed for them, and cutting the influx would be tricky. Imagine it like controlling water streams - together they can knock you down, if you loose that control. But if you stop them one-by-one, it's pretty safe.
In my game, dropping multiple spells would be possible, but the mage would have to resist drain of 1S per spell.

[Bradd]

Or you could just get a teammate to startle you, so that you lose concentration on them all. Hm, that gives me an idea: Maybe it's an all or nothing thing to drop spells?

Note this rule, which implies that you can drop multiple spells, but perhaps only if you drop all of them:

Step 1: Choose A Spell
When casting a spell, the first thing a magician does is prepare for
what she’s about to attempt. First, the character chooses the spell she
wants to cast. She can cast any spell she knows. If the magician has any
other spells currently active, called sustained spells (see Step 7: Ongoing
Effects, p. 184), she must choose whether to drop them or keep them
active while she casts the new spell. Sustained spells are a distraction
and will reduce the character’s dice pool for any other tests by –2 per
sustained spell. Dropping a sustained spell is a Free Action.

[Chaemera]

Line five doesn't really say "you can drop multiple/all sustained spells as a single action", so much as it says "a mage needs to decide before casting a spell whether or not to drop other spells to not take a steep dice penalty".

The last line is the one that sticks out like a sore thumb, "Dropping a sustained spell is a Free Action". That one gives it pretty clear as Free Action per spell. If you could drop multiple under that line, it'd read "Dropping one or more sustained spells is a Free Action".

So, yeah, getting a teammate to startle you still seems the most efficient way, since then you can drop multiple, and reflexively, instead of as an action. But, you might just not drop them all if you do well on your tests. (And I would make you make them, if I were your GM)