Initiative & Modifiers, 4th ed clarification Options

[yesferatu]

Hey guys,

We had a weird 4th ed initiative conundrum in our last game.
How do modifiers work during the initiative roll?

I understand the initiative score is basically Intuition + Reaction.
Do modifiers from wounds & sustaining subtract from the dice pool or the final initiative score?

If you take damage during combat, that penalty subtracts immediately from your Score - but since you've already rolled - it's not a dice pool modifier it's a score modifier.

It was my impression that, like damage soak tests, initiative tests are always rolled at full dice - with wound and sustaining penalties subtracting from the final score. Your initiative score is always Intuition + Reaction because modifiers don't change your attributes.
(e.g. Rea 6 + Int 6 = 12 Initiative base --> Roll 12 dice + 12 base / so let's say...5 hits + 12 base = 17 Final Initiative Score)

Let's say you are sustaining 1 spell and have 6 boxes of stun damage (-4 modifier).
Assuming you have a 12 initiative base, do you now roll 8 dice or do you still roll 12 and subtract 4 from the end result?

I feel like I should know this, but for some reason it's unclear.