[Wu Jen]

A Street Sam hit with Ball lighting winds up taking damage from it.

Does each piece of gear the samurai is using also have to resist 1/2 the DV of the Ball Lighting in Matrix Damage?
Smartgun, cybereyes, comlink etc?

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Technically:

Maybe.


It'd only be the case if every device is actually being HIT by the spell.  Are you saying if the spell were instead Powerball, or if the sammie was inside the aoe of a rocket or grenade, every piece of gear carried by the runner is also getting hit by the DV?

The vast majority of the time it's simultaneously increasing the book-keeping AND being needlessly hostile/cruel to the player to have all the gear being carried also be hit by area damage.

[Wu Jen]

I read the part about devices or drones, So in my games I was going to just apply it vs vehicles/drones.

Less rolls I have to make the better off I am.

Thanks Stainless!

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

You're welcome. 

Damaging inanimate objects is a nightmare in SR5 and 6th editions... you're saving yourself a ton of headache by not even going there.