Totem Mods, Where do they get off? Options

[Lilt]

I was just wondering exactly how people apply totem modifiers in the games they run/play in.

I think that the options range from applying them as small dice pools, applying them like foci in that they don't count against the number of pool dice you can add, and applying them as extra to all applicable tests.

There is also the question of what combination of skill, drain resistance, and spell defense (in the case of sorcery modifiers) tests they are applied to, and wether or not they may be applied more than once in a single action.

By my reading of the rules they are about as powerful as they can be, applying dice to all tests appropriate to the modifier without needing to refresh as a pool. In that bracket I include drain resistance tests and spell defense tests (allong with the explicitly stated applications for banishing spirits ETC).

IE: Summoning a nature spirit (that you have a modifier for) gives +2 dice to conjure and +2 dice to resist drain.

What are other people's readings of the rules?