Question about Fomori, ...Arcane Arrester ability in specific... Options

[RedeemerofOgar]

Fomori have the Arcane Arrester metagenic quality:

Arcane Arrester: When affected by a spell, the character treats Force-based effects (damage, paralysis, etc. at half (round down) actual strength. Note that the actual Force of the spell is not actually reduced. For instance, a character with Arcane Arrester targeted by a Force 5 spell would resist it as if it were a Force 2 spell, though the spellcaster could still add hits to improve the effect.

OK, I get that if someone throws a force 5 power bolt, it does a base of 2DV instead of 5DV. What ELSE does this ability do, if anything? The last sentence I quoted leaves me unsure how many net hits a caster can use on said power bolt, and almost every non-damaging spell has NOTHING based on Force except for the cap on net hits. Does it affect Net Hits cap? Anything else?

Examples:
Say a caster throws a force 5 Manabolt at a fomori, and scores 7 successes. Normally only 5 of those successes would count anyway, then the Fomori would roll Willpower to resist. Say the Fomori rolls only 1 success. Does the Mage now apply 4 Net Hits to his (effective) Force 2 Spell, or is he capped at 2 Net Hits vs. the Fomori?

Say said Fomori with a Body of 8 gets targeted with a Petrify spell. The Spell's Force must equal or exceed the target's Body, same as Increase Attribute. Does a Force 8 spell work on him, or must it be Force 16 to have a chance?

[Cang]

would like to point out that the description of Arcane Arrester states that only the target character sees the "half force" effect. So in the above example, although the effect as resisted by the target would appear to be a Force 6 spell, the Magician casting it still treats it as a Force 12 spell. This means that if the attacking Magician happens to roll exceptionally well on the Spellcasting Test they can get in excess of 6 hits to add to the spell's effect. Now, when resisted the "base" DV would start at 6 for the "adjusted" Force of the spell, but all of the casting Magicians hits would still count, even if there were more than 6.

Lets do an example.
Force 6 manabolt, 6+ hits (capped to 6 because of force.
Our gnome resists. He has 6 willpower, and gets 2 hits. Net hits are now 4.
He didn't completely resist the spell, So now the arcane arrestor kicks in. Force based effects are base damage. 6 in this case. Halve that. 3. Now add net hits, 4. = 7 damage taken.

Since it doesn't specify how many net hits can be added, the normal amount can. Since it also explicitly states the force of the spell is not lowered, it does not cap the hits the spellcaster can get.

thread

[RedeemerofOgar]

thread

My bad. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Thanks for the link!

[toturi]

From link within the referenced thread:

Arcane Arrester: Does the original Force or adjusted Force determine the Raw Hit limit for spells?

Synner
My ruling on this is that it the adjusted Force should limit hits as normal, however, the ambiguity of the writeup allows gamemasters to rule the other way if they want Arcane Arrester to be less powerful.

[Cang]

Well lets not forget that a heal spell on our formori friend would also result on negative modifiers. I think of it like if you have low essence. You are less effected by spells but you are also less effected by all spells. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)