Can you clarify what tests Background Counts (p.30-33, Street Grimoire) affect?
Background Counts apply their modifiers to all Skill Tests that are being affected by magic in any way. This means casting spells, tests to activate adept powers, any test that is being augmented through a skill or attribute boost, etc.
The adept power Improved Reflexes increases your Reaction, and will affect any skill test based on reaction. However, Initiative is not a skill test, so you do not take any Background Count related penalties.
Drain is a damage resistance test, so likewise does not suffer Background Count penalties.
When discussing foci deactivating if the background count is higher than their Force, (p. 32, Street Grimoire) says that “A foci cannot activate while under the influence of the background count.” Can you clarify if that’s referring to all foci in general, or just foci whose Force is equal to or less than the background count?
Just ones that are equal to or less than the background count. Considering how often runners are in a background count for Shadowrun Missions: Chicago, it would be cruel to not let foci ever activate.
Welp, I should have looked for longer then 2 seconds in the FAQ (apparently ctrl-F
lies when it said it wasn't mentioned).
I was looking at Street Grimoire, that says "any tests" are penalized, but the mission FAQ clarifies that to just skill tests, so at leasts for missions that's a lot less. And that means drain and armor rolls don't apply a penalty at all (except when a spell is reduced in force etc).
I know that is how it is for PCs.
I was just making sure its the same or not for DN/Astral beings. Because for them it just says "any action" which made me wonder if that meant more than it does for Characters.
More, yes, but it's still only actions that get affected. Actions are things you do; so basically, skill tests. Dodging an attack is not an action, for example.
What you are suggesting makes no sense. Lets say I had 18 Armor and 24 with the Armor Spell Force 8. If I stand in a BC-2, the force would drop the spell Force to 6 which is already dropping the dice pool by 2.
In your suggestion, you are saying that a BC of 2 will drop a spell dice pool by 4, even though the dice pool for your total armor was already reduced to 22 from 24.
Well the clarification clarified that this doesn't apply to soak rolls (except the Force reduction), but this is still how it works for, say, Increased Ability.
If you have, say, Increased Agility (the spell) active on you at Force 4, and enter a BG count of 2, it gets reduced by 2, so your bonus gets reduced. But that means that you still have tests affected by magic (they get a +2 bonus), so all those skill rolls get reduced by 2. So in essence, they get reduced by 4 from what they were before the background count. So yes, it double dips - that's what people are complaining about.
Are you sure about the spirit being aligned?
The Caster is aligned in the example but doesn't say anything about the spirit.
Spirits can be summoned by different traditions so I'm not sure its going to "auto-align" itself every time instantly.
Though I'd think that a long term bound spirit might acclimate itself if its around long enough.
Also, so your saying Spirits are not limited in their roll by their own Force?
So if you are binding a Force 4 spirit, and its rolling 8 dice, its allowed to score 5 hits?
I don't think we've been playing it that way.
Admittedly I'm not sure we've come across an Over 50% roll either which is what it would take.
Actually you're making me wonder about the alignment now. As I've understand it, when you summon a spirit, you summon a spirit of your tradition, not a generic "air spirit" - an air spirit of the Shamanistic tradition might have the same stats as an air spirit from a Hermetic tradition, but they're not actually the same thing. But then, the book isn't exactly clear on how that works. In fact, it's intentionally vague on that topic. It does say you're summoning a spirit "of your tradition", but does that mean it's aligned to your tradition or just that it's one of your 5 types?
Anyway, as to your other question (as spirits can still be aligned to a BG count in other ways): The test to resist being bound is:
an Opposed Summoning + Magic [Force] v. spirit’s Force x 2,
No limit is listed for the spirit (limits are the things in square brackets), so there is no limit. Nor should there be one - limits usually only apply to skill tests, and this is a straight Force x 2. So if the spirit rolls 5 dice, yay for him. (Also, this isn't an
action either, so it wouldn't be penalized in a negative aspected background count either).
Besides, why would the limit be Force anyway? Spirits don't usually use their Force as a limit, they have the usual Physical/Mental/Social limits. I don't think Spirits ever use their own Force as a limit.
--Sidenote--
Sadistic sidenote: does background count apply to skill tests
penalized by magic? The rules and FAQ say "All Skill tests that are
affected by magic
in any way". If I cast, say, Chaos on someone, giving him a -4 penalty on everything, does he then get another -2 from a background count, as his tests are now "affected by magic"? It seems to be against the spirit of the rules, but a literal reading would have it apply. Something for FAQ/Errata perhaps?