[Ninja137]

Alright, I've got a question about how this works. My GM is going with the interpretation that Astral Hazing works as an Aspected Background Count for me, but I'm an adept and don't actually get anything from that, other than that it neutralizes magic used on me.

But my question is how, exactly, does it actually do that? As far as I can see from the rules, it just says that Background count reduces a magicians Magic, and increases Drain, but doesn't actively mess with the Force of their spells.

So, if a mage outside of my background count area tries to cast on me, what happens? Astral Hazing says that it affects all attempts to cast magic ON, AT, or NEAR me. Does it mean that a mage twenty meters away trying to cast something at me, or at anything in the area of my Astral Hazing, counts as though they were casting it in a Background Count of 4, thus effectively reducing their Magic by 4 andincreasing all Drain by 4, plus popping any Spirits that go in it of Force 4 or less?

As far as I can tell, it's meant to work more or less like this:


You, with Astral Hazing, are standing in the middle of a 100m clear area.

Two enemy mages are in there with you, one of them six meters from you, one of them fifty meters from you.

The mage who's fifty meters away has a 6 Magic, the one who's six meters away has a 4 Magic.

As long as the mage who's six meters away stays within 6 meters of you, his Magic is effectively reduced to 0, and he loses everything related to it.

For the fifty meter away mage, he can cast with zero penalty, as long as he doesn't cast at me, within 6 meters of me, or move within 6 meters of me.

If the 50 meter guy DOES cast at me, he casts as though he was standing in a Background Count of rating 4, thus taking a -4 to his Magic and reducing the maximum force he can cast at both safely and while taking Physical drain, and adds a flat +4 to his Drain. The same applies to him attempting to cast magic within 6 meters of me.

If the mage at 6 meters moves to 7 meters and tries to cast on me, he still counts as being hit by the background count, and thus counts as a zero magic, BUT he could cast at anyone not near me.

[Dampfish]

Background Count directly affects your Magic attribute. If you were standing in a -4 Mana Ebb, your magic is reduced by 4, and if you'd stand in a 4 Aspected Domain (if it's aspected to your tradition, that is) your Magic would increase by 4. For adepts, this would mean that they lose 4 Power Points worth of Powers in an Ebb and vice versa.
Astral Hazing is essentially your own personal Mana Ebb intertwined with your aura, radiating outwards in a circle with the radius of your Essence in meters.
It doesn't increase drain any more than it makes it harder to resist due to your lowered Magic.

Remember that it is a negative quality, and as such it affects any helpful magic cast at you as well (such as buffs and healing) and your own Magic attribute, not just people trying to cast on you. I.e. if you're an Adept, you are permanently "short" 4 PP, and would have to raise your Magic to 4 just to get your PP to 0. Yes, this quality is pretty brutal.

Basically, if your Essence is still 6, everyone within 6 meters of you lose 4 Magic (including you).

[SpellBinder]

A positive background count doesn't add to your Magic if it's aspected towards you in some way.  You get a Dice Pool bonus to all tests involving Magic and Drain Resistance, up to its value or your Magic (whichever is lower); Street Magic, page 119, first paragraph.

And I honestly find Arcane Arrester to be over priced for the value.  It only applies to the Force based effects of spells.  The entire Combat school is obviously less effective against you, but you get no such benefit against Illusions and most Manipulations (these spells are dependent on Net Hits; Force only applies to the spellcaster), and virtually all critter powers are completely unaffected (Concealment, Confusion, Fear; these are not spells).  Arcane Arrester also does nothing against background count, though it will impede some hostile magic cast against you.  With Astral Hazing I would rule that the spell gets reduced by 4 first, then whatever applicable Force effects that would be applied to you are cut in half.

Now there is a way around the Astral Hazing, but it requires you to Initiate twice to get the Cleansing and Filtering metamagics.  As an adept, there are much more valuable metamagics to learn at the start.  There are also other ways of being a more anti-magic kind of character than using these two qualities, and all of them much more player friendly.