SR5:Spells:Manipulation

Manipulation spells control, animate, or transform matter and energy. There are a number of keywords for manipulation spells.

Damaging

Manipulation spells that cause damage have a Damage Value equal to their Force (unaltered by hits on the Spellcasting test) and 0 AP. The damage is resisted with Body + Armor.

Mental

Targets resist these spells with Logic + Willpower. Keep track of your net hits, as they determine how long you can sustain the spell. While the spell is sustained, the target may take a Complex Action on their turn to resist by making a Logic + Willpower Test with a dice pool penalty equal to the spell’s Force; every hit the target gets reduces the caster’s net hits by 1. The one being controlled can take this action even if they wouldn’t get an action because of the spell. The spell ends when your net hits are reduced to zero.

A victim of mental manipulation spell may roll to notice the magical effect according to the usual rules for Perceiving Magic (p. 280). Some of the less subtle mental spells (Control Actions) are pretty obvious, but more subtle spells (like Control Thoughts) can be pretty insidious.

Environmental

These spells don’t really have a target, and they don’t really affect targets directly. They just affect an area.

Physical

These spells affect physical forms and are usually defended against with a living target’s Body + Strength or an inanimate object’s Object Resistance dice pool.