which is first? Astral hazing/arcane arrester Options

[djinni]

when calculating the decrease in magical ability which is applied first?
is it Astral hazing due to the arcane energies being channeled through the area?
or is it arcane arrester as the individual being attuned is shunning away external magical properties forcing more powerful magics to be called in order to allow the magic to be able to affect him?

any assistance would be appreciated. (alternate threads from previous discussions and page references would be most helpful)

[Falconer]

Apply effects of background count first.

Especially as this can change the mages dice pool at time of casting if the mage is in it.

Also the arcane arrested char might not be the only target of the spell in the case of say a manaball.


EG: mage casts force 8 manaball from outside the area of effect. He's not astrally percieving. Say 12 dice, rolls well 5 hits.
Ally next to the twink has it reduced to force 4... only 4 hits count
Twink gets force 4/2 == 2, force 2, only 2 hits count.

If the mage were in the zone of the background count, we'll say he's magic 7. That goes down to 3. His pool reduces from 12 to 8... so now he only rolls 3 hits say. And he overcasts to the max force 6, potentially taking physical drain.
The background count would not further reduce the force of the spell as it's already been calculated in the spellcasting test (the spell was cast inside the count and is already taken out).
Ally next to the twink takes the full force 6, w/ 3 hits.
Twink gets force 6/2==3, again w/ 3 hits counting.

Another modifier to keep in mind, is that if the mage had say a power/spellcasting focus, and was astrally percieving, now he's pretty much triply boned. Each point of background count reduces the dicepool by 1 for each of the three up to the force of the focus or the mages magic rating. EG: magic 6 mage, focus 4, 4 spellcasting. 4point BGC. Magic 6 -> 2, Focus 4 -> 0, Visibility 0 -> -4. So now that's -12 dice, so only 2 dice to cast while astrally percieving due to visibility penalties.

[Axl]

"The background count would not further reduce the force of the spell as it's already been calculated in the spellcasting test (the spell was cast inside the count and is already taken out)." - Falconer

Are you sure about that? I have wondered about that before, but I couldn't find the specific rule.

[Falconer]

Dead certain. See the example on p120 SM

When a spell is cast in a background count, add the strength of the BGC to the force of the spell to calculate the drain.

If the spell effect leaves the background count, it rises in force. if it enters it loses force. It never changes the number of hits on the spell though (it's a temporary change in force capping effective hits).. This actually leads to situations where the force


EG: mage in BGC2 from say a mana static spell.... Mag7... Spellcasting4... Focus4. Casts Stunball force5.
Mage is in mana static, target 1 is in mana static, target 2 is outside mana static.

Mages magic is reduced from 7->5 in the BGC. Focus reduces in strength from 4->2, 2 points astral visibility penalty if percieving. So from a normal pool of 15 dice... mage is down to 9 (11 if normal vision and no vis penalties), so lets say 3 hits.
Drain of the spell is calculated as if it were force 5+2==7. (7/2)+1==4 stun. (the BGC added 1 more drain to the spell)

Mage: suffers drain as if casting a force7, despite only casting force5 in BGC
Target1: fails to resist 0 hits wil, suffers damage of 5force + 3hits.. 8stun
Target2: fails to resist 0 hits wil, suffers damage of 7force + 3hits... 10stun (probable knockout)


Notice the symmetry... if the mage was outside of the BGC.
He then casts force 7, suffers the same drain. But rolls more dice (his power focus doesn't reduce, his magic rating doesn't reduce, visibility penalties would still be the same though). So lets say he then rolls more dice and gets 5 hits (15 dice vs. 9)
Target1: 0 hits wil, force 5 + 5 hits... 10 stun... probably unconcious
Target2: 0 hits wil, force 7 + 5 hits... 12 stun... almost definately unconcious and overflowing into physical.


What a BGC effectively does is 1 big thing, it sets the minimum force level spells must be cast at to be usable in them. It also double or triple penalizes mages in them by reducing their dice pools while inside them and making them cast at higher effective force levels for the same effect.

[Axl]

Thanks Falconer. Your clear explanation should be available in some sort of FAQ. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)