Anyway, a Couple more clarifications on Background count:
1. Background Penalties are Dice Pools?
2. Aligned Bonuses are Limits?
So they don't work the same, or exact opposite, of each other.
3. The Example on Page 32 of St. Grimoire gives the Wiccan a bonus to limit for her Summoning.
So in turn should the Spirit receive the dice pool penalty to resist the summoning as well?
Or no because its not actually in the ring yet when its being summoned.
But in turn if she attempted to bind it then it would have that -3 penalty to it.
4. I was recently reading a thread where Bull talked about Spirits using Edge to resist Summoning.
Is there some fixed rule on when that should apply? All spirits do this? Only if you have a bad spirit rep?
This seems really potent for spirits to cause massive drain damage. But if combined with #3 above would mitigate it some.
5. Finally, it says Dual Natured/Astral creatures take BGC count penalties to all actions. V/S it says to all Skill Checks for Characters.
I'm wondering if this means DN/Astral take penalties to stuff like Damage Resitance, Initiative, Drain, & Defense, the stuff Characters are NOT taking penalties for. Or if its supposed to be the same as Characters.
Not entirely an expert, but
1) Yes (except for initiative which is a flat penalty)
2) Yes
So yes, they're opposite.
3) The spirit would receive a bonus to his limit, not the penalty - the spirit would be aligned as well. Though, as you say, it's not actually in it yet, so maybe not? Either way, it wouldn't matter, as the spirit's roll doesn't have a limit. Same for binding.
4) There is no fixed rule on it. Spirit rep and oversummoning are common situation where people apply it, but it would be up to the GM (although using it on
every roll would be very bad form for the GM).
5) Your descriptions are off, and in a way the wrong way around.
Characters take a penalty equal to
all tests boosted by magic, not just skill tests. That includes DR, Initiative, Drain, defense, whatnot (but only if the thing in question is boosted by magic).
DN/Astral character characters, however, "only" take a penalty to all
actions. DR, initiative, drain and defense are not actions, so they take no penalty.
So it's different, but the other way around.