[Kesendeja]

It came up in a game today, where a dual natured character ran into a rather high background count. Now the rules as written in Street Grimoire says that he would take the rating as a penalty to all skill checks. This -5 made the character virtually useless in the encounter. I'm wondering if there is any way to mitigate this next time.

[Mirikon]

No. That is one of the big problems with being dual-natured.

[Rosa]

Only thing I can think of would be the cleansing metamagic ( plus perhaps a cleansing metamagical foci ) and the circle of cleansing ritual, and that would only work for positive background count.

[Jack_Spade]

There is a mastery quality in FA "DUAL-NATURED DEFENDER " (p.36) that allows you to stop astral perceiving for a -2 penalty to all actions.
It's not optimal, but certainly useful in higher back ground counts.

[忍]

That's really only for non-native dual natured people like mages and some adepts. Native dual natured beings don't suffer the -2 penalty.

[ShadowcatX]

That's really only for non-native dual natured people like mages and some adepts. Native dual natured beings don't suffer the -2 penalty.

I don't think it is, actually. Mages and adepts have the ability to turn off astral perception automatically.

Edit: I see where you misread. The -2 penalty isn't the -2 penalty mages and adepts take. The -2 penalty mentioned in the quality is a special -2 penalty for turning off your astral side. Kind of the opposite of what mages and adepts take.

[Reaver]

The other option is to acclimate  to the background count.
By exposing himself to a high BC for a long period, the awakened gets used to it and can avoid that BC modifiers.


Not helpful for short runs in high BC areas, But does explain how some awakened can inhabit such areas. See Street Grimoire for the rules..

[Kesendeja]

Well this is something of a problem. I don't want the character to feel useless, but I can't stop using background counts either.

How's this for a mitigating factor.

Background Warding Foci
Developed by the dragons for use by favored dual natured servants.

Force is the amount of background count they can ignore.
Cost (Force x $10,000)
Karma to Bond (Force x4)

[Marcus]

Doesn't one of they ways let you ignore a certain amount of background count?

[firebug]

The most problematic weakness to someone who's Dual Natured (now that there's a quality to help getting through mana barriers).  Also goes to show how easily background count can just cripple an Awakened too, though a mage without magic isn't quite as bad off, assuming they didn't foolishly think they didn't need to know how to use a gun.

[Kesendeja]

The most problematic weakness to someone who's Dual Natured (now that there's a quality to help getting through mana barriers).  Also goes to show how easily background count can just cripple an Awakened too, though a mage without magic isn't quite as bad off, assuming they didn't foolishly think they didn't need to know how to use a gun.

But that doesn't help the dual natured characters. Even their non magical skills are penalized.

[Jack_Spade]

@Kesendeja

You could allow your characters to learn the cleansing technique. Combined with Dual Natured Defender BGC should be very manageable.

[ShadowcatX]

Most background counts should be in the 1-3 area, and - 3 dice shouldn't cripple a build.

[Rosa]

Most background counts should be in the 1-3 area, and - 3 dice shouldn't cripple a build.

And easily overcome by cleansing at least for a short period.

[ShadowcatX]

Most background counts should be in the 1-3 area, and - 3 dice shouldn't cripple a build.

And easily overcome by cleansing at least for a short period.

Not everything that is dual natured has the option to initiate into cleansing metamagic.