So basically... you're making this shit up as you go? You're calling them Qualities, only they don't adhere to ANY of the rules that govern every other Quality in the game. You've got them listed with the rest of the Initiation Arts, but they don't require Initiation like all the other listed Arts do.
I understand when some GMs will house rule stuff, saying "Well yes. The rules do say that. But I've decided that at my table we're going to do something different." But when the writers themselves can't adhere to the rules of the game, I kinda lose my mind. How in the fuck can you call yourselves professionals, and expect people to pay rather large sums of money for your products, when you obviously can't decide how the game is supposed to be played.
THIS SHIT is why we have such lengthy and repeated discussions on these forums. "How does XYZ work?" over and over and over again. It's because the writers don't even know how it's supposed to work. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, but both of them are outstretched to take our money.
Holy shit...
Funny ...
Take a step back and realize you're not even late to the party with your points ...
That Ways can't count as actual qualities per Core Book is old, same with infected qualities, which are often above the limit of positive qualities at chargen.
The writers know how they want it to work. It's just that there are sometimes minor mistakes which cause confusion.
Ways are unique in their interaction with the awakened individuals. By choosing a Way you automatically qualify for their stuff.
And what is more important for your yelling:
You complained about a point that is completely irrelevant for the Ways.
Since the Arts are for magicians only and the Ways are for adepts I leave you to figure it out on your own.
Run Faster pg 133, Creating Infected Characters
Creating one of the Infected is just the same as creating any other character. The appropriate quality is selected during character creation when qualities are purchased, and the various benefits and penalties are assigned. The normal limit saying characters cannot have more than 25 Karma worth of Positive Qualities at character creation does not apply to Infected qualities, though the limit on 25 Karma worth of Negative Qualities remains in place.
You're right, there is precedence for purchasing Qualities that don't count towards your 25 point limit. However, there is also precedence for saying so to the players beforehand (without requiring them to wander the forums aimlessly until someone claiming to be the writer puts a quick little comment in about it).
Same goes for input from Mr Aaron, like when he came on the forums to tell everyone that only the Owner of a device can bring those devices into their PAN. Meaning the Decker cannot protect the Street Sam's chrome or toys unless the Decker becomes the registered Owner of everything the Sam has.
Or when he said you can use your Counterspell skill (and nothing else) to try and avoid getting hit by a Fireball. Despite the fact that we've eventually established there is absolutely no defense test to avoid a Fireball.
Basically, he's interjecting rulings that have absolutely no grounding in the Rules As Written. Nothing in the book suggests any of those claims, and yet here they are saying "Oh, well... that's what I meant to say."
When the Ways are in the same section as Initiation Arts, in a section which is entitled
Secrets of the Initiates, then where are you supposed to infer this hidden meaning that Ways aren't an Initiation thing. That you can simply pay 20 Karma and immediately receive a package deal.
Arts are for Mages, Ways are for Adepts. Both are Magic users, governed by quite a few of the same rules. I leave you to wander in the dark, feeling your way through the haze, to figure it out on your own. Just be sure to check the forums regularly, b/c they've basically given up printing official errata and have moved to occasionally answering a question here or there depending on whether they too check the forums regularly. The errata has become a game of Telephone, where someone saw the post, and told a friend, who told a friend, who may eventually remember to mention it again when the question is asked for the thousandth time b/c nobody can find the answer in an official format.
These books cost too much to have such poor quality. Pretty pictures and spiffy fonts do not forgive piss poor editing and horrible organization. There is not a single aspect of this game that doesn't require cross referencing several sections of the book, if not several sections across several books, to even remotely understand "what they meant to say". Oh, and then there's the Hide and Seek in the forums to see if anything was further
clarified muddied by someone later on.
