Combat spells

Combat spells use mana to create damaging effects, either by direct or indirect means. They’re a mana-slinger’s guns, and are treated that way by law enforcement.
Direct: When your direct combat spell is successfully cast, it inflicts a number of boxes of damage equal to your net hits on the opposed test. The opposed test generally pits your Spellcasting + Magic [Force] against either Body (for physical spells) or Willpower (for mana spells). The target does not get to resist the damage, only the Spellcasting test.
Indirect: All indirect combat spells originate near the magician’s body (most magicians use their hands or eyes, but some use their feet for “power kicks” or emanate power from the entire body for a kind of an aura-throwing effect). The spell then is launched with an Opposed Test that pits the magician’s Spellcasting + Magic [Force] versus the target’s Reaction + Intuition, kind of like shooting a gun (in this case with bullets made of acid, or fire, or something equally unpleasant to be hit by). So you don’t really need to be able to see the target—you can cast these spells blindfolded or with artificial image enhancement— as long as you’ve got a clear line of fire. The Damage Value of a successful indirect combat spell is Force + net hits, with an AP equal to –(Force). Damage from an indirect combat spell is resisted with Body + Armor (adjusted for the spell’s AP). Area indirect spells travel from the magician to the point of detonation and then go boom. The test is like that for grenades (p. 181): a Spellcasting + Magic [Force] (3) Test with scatter of 2D6 meters. Unlike grenades, you get to add your net hits on this test to the Damage Value of the spell, but only if you beat the threshold; otherwise the spell still detonates, but the hits are used to reduce scatter by one meter per hit..
Elemental: These spells cause extra damage (Special Damage Types, p. 170). The specific type is listed in the spell description.