[Carmody]

Interrupt actions

When a character uses an Interrupt Action, such as Full Defense, he takes an action out of turn, but only if he has enough Initiative Score left in the Combat Turn to pay the price for the action. Interrupt Actions occur outside the normal course of the Combat Turn and do not cost the character their Action Phase (unless they reduce their Initiative Score below 0 with their actions).

(emphasize mine)

From the first bolded text, I understand that it is only possible to use an interrupt action if the initiative score of the character is greater (or equal?) to the cost of the interrupt action.
However, the second bolded sentence assumes it is possible for the initiative to drop below 0.

what is the correct understanding?
   - only possible to use an interrupt action if current initiative > interrupt action cost
   - only possible to use an interrupt action if current initiative > 0

[Michael Chandra]

Do Counterspelling Dicepool Modifiers count on each Counterspelling, or only once on the Counterspelling+Modifiers pool that you then drain from whenever you spell-defend?

[Michael Chandra]

Spirit summoning, p. 300. The test to summon a spirit is limited by the spirit Force.

[...]

It seems very unlogical to me, it should be easier to summon a weaker spirit, not the other way around.
Did I miss something? is it an error? or is it the way it is intended to work and in that case I am curious about the explanation (be it in-game or game play reason, I can understand both)

While seeming unlogical, it could be explained some way. And one can use Reagents to replace the limit for Summoning. It does surprise me that this option is not available for Binding, requiring Edge to break the limit.

[Warmachinez]

I can'T see anywhere in the book if you fall unconsciouss once your stun monitor is filled. Has this consequence been removed?

[Aaron]

I'll answer what I'm able to here. Anything else I either missed or need to take some time to track down answers.

Vehicles mention that if the modified DV does not exceed the Armor, the attack is a bust. Should that include the AP value for the armor value comparison? i.e. is this a rulechange in comparison to 4e, or an errata-required?

AP always applies before the vehicle armor (or Hardened Armor power) threshold is checked.

Did I miss something? is it an error? or is it the way it is intended to work and in that case I am curious about the explanation (be it in-game or game play reason, I can understand both)

Low-Force spirits are less useful and weaker in the physical world than those with higher Force. Their connection to the physical plane is more fragile than that of a more robust spirit. They're also kinda weak-minded (Mental attributes of 1 and all).

If you'd like to change the limit on the summoning of your Force 1 spirit, you can either use Edge or reagents for the summoning.

Firing modes p178:
SS vs SA: Why firing one bullet per action phase in SA mode generates some recoil while firing one bullet per action phase in CC mode does not? My feeling is that SS weapons are slower to chamber the next round, making them unable to perform semi-automatic burst, but why does it prevent recoil?

Partly because you do have a bit of extra time to recover from the single point of recoil it generates, and partly because we thought SS weapon users deserved a break.

Is it how surprise is intended to work, or shall the surprised character lose his next action phase (i.e. do nothing during his action phase and lose 10 initiative)?

Yes. Really, really fast people still have the possibility of recovering from a surprise fast enough to take action first.

Do Counterspelling Dicepool Modifiers count on each Counterspelling, or only once on the Counterspelling+Modifiers pool that you then drain from whenever you spell-defend?

Would you please rephrase this question? I'm not sure what you're asking, but spell defense is on p. 294 if that's helpful at all.

I can'T see anywhere in the book if you fall unconsciouss once your stun monitor is filled. Has this consequence been removed?

Nope, it's still in there, just not as prominently as it probably should be. Page 100.

I'm still working on the other questions.

[Ricochet]

Just want to add in...thanks for answering questions.  That doesn't get said enough.  (We are usually busy screaming about an answer we don't like instead.)

[Patrick Goodman]

1) Pg. 116.  Combat Mage is listed as Metatype: Human, but that picture is anything but.

1.  Well he does have distinctive style.    Those horns are glued on, and the tusks are fake to.

Distinctive Style (Troll Poser), Physical Mask spell.

At least that's what I put in the proposed errata.

[Ricochet]

Pretty sure I know this one, but want to make sure.

If your essence goes down (due to bio/cyberware) dropping your magic rating below half your number of spells, do you lose spells?

Example: Mage Priority C
Magic 3
Spells 5
Taking a datajack drops magic to 2.  You can't purchase spells over 2xmagic rating.  Does the character lose a spell (only getting 4) or is this rule intended to only prevent buying additional spells.

[tangmcgame]

Asked this on Dumpshock, too.

Do Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magicians get their Magic x2 spells/rituals/preparations for free or is that just the max they can start with?

Rereading the entry, it appears they don't get these spells for free since the same bullet point is made for Magicians, which begs the question why be a Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magician at all?

[Ricochet]

Asked this on Dumpshock, too.

Do Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magicians get their Magic x2 spells/rituals/preparations for free or is that just the max they can start with?

Rereading the entry, it appears they don't get these spells for free since the same bullet point is made for Magicians, which begs the question why be a Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magician at all?

This was a flaw I actually pointed out recently.  Being an aspected mage actually penalizes for taking power limitations at priority C.  (At priority B, aspected magicians are equal to magicians at least in terms of the karma value of their bonuses.)  At priority D, obviously there isn't a comparison.  The obvious conclusion however is that nobody should ever play an aspected magician except at priority D, unless you are going to be a conjurer, and even that is debatable.  (Of course, then there is the question of why you would ever want to be a magician instead of a mystic adept, since Mystic Adept > Magician > Aspect).

I was planning to play an aspected sorcerer as my missions character, until I saw I could make the same character as a magician, ignore the fact I could summon or go astral, and I actually am a better sorcerer.  I went mage instead, even though I'll still play him as a sorcerer.

[GiraffeShaman]

If someone has already jumped into a rigged device, you can't attempt to jump in until he vacates. (Pg. 241)  Can you force him to vacate via cybercombat and the like? Just jumping around to what interests me, so this may be an obvious question.

[tangmcgame]

Asked this on Dumpshock, too.

Do Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magicians get their Magic x2 spells/rituals/preparations for free or is that just the max they can start with?

Rereading the entry, it appears they don't get these spells for free since the same bullet point is made for Magicians, which begs the question why be a Sorcery or Enchanting Aspected Magician at all?

This was a flaw I actually pointed out recently.  Being an aspected mage actually penalizes for taking power limitations at priority C.  (At priority B, aspected magicians are equal to magicians at least in terms of the karma value of their bonuses.)  At priority D, obviously there isn't a comparison.  The obvious conclusion however is that nobody should ever play an aspected magician except at priority D, unless you are going to be a conjurer, and even that is debatable.  (Of course, then there is the question of why you would ever want to be a magician instead of a mystic adept, since Mystic Adept > Magician > Aspect).

I was planning to play an aspected sorcerer as my missions character, until I saw I could make the same character as a magician, ignore the fact I could summon or go astral, and I actually am a better sorcerer.  I went mage instead, even though I'll still play him as a sorcerer.

Well, an equal karma expenditure doesn't mean equal efficacy.  If I buy Magician at priority B then I have everything I need to play that Magician effectively.  Sure, I can't do everything, but I've got some skills, spells, and a Magic trait.  It works "out of the box."  On top of that, it's not terribly difficult to bump Magic with special attribute points, and increasing regular skills is a far simpler task than raising group skills unless you're sporting a very high priority in Skills (which probably isn't likely with an Awakened character, though definitely possible) AND you can't specialize them except with karma.

Given everything else the Aspected Mage gives up, on top of the fact that it's costing you identical priority to a full Mage, I feel like it needs some pretty serious attention (at both B and C priority).

[lightknight]

How do I purchase upgrades for Pilot rating for vehicles/drones.  Will it be the same cost as Agent software a la 4E?  Was it intentionally left out of the book for later supplement?  Did I miss a reference in some paragraph stating as much?

[GiraffeShaman]

The Sneak program makes you immune to the physical location part of demiGOD convergence (but not the other parts of convergence) while it is running. (pg. 246) What about the Track program? Can this negate this feature of Sneak? And if so, don't demiGOD use it at times?

[Veggiesama]

Street Cred / Notoriety / Public Awareness

On p140, the table shows Street Cred as a positive dice pool modifier on social tests. On p372, Street Cred is applied as a positive Limit Modifier on certain social tests. Which is it, or is it both?

Notoriety has rules for how to raise it and reduce it, but there is no explanation for how it's used. Negative dice pool mod or limit mod, or both?

Public Awareness has a table showing what the ratings mean, but no rules for how it might be used in a dice roll (if at all). Also, I remember SR4 had some kind of formula for determining Public Awareness (wasn't it like (Street Cred + Notoriety) / 3 or something?), but no such formula is here. Is gaining public awareness now left entirely up to GM fiat?