Spirit Abuse, Minding your Binding Options

[Whipstitch]

Knowing such information is a core of the Conjuring skill group, so pretty much every magician that plays with spirits has a good idea.

Yeah, that's basically my stance on it and why I try to get a good handle on how my players think their traditions work so we can be on the same page from the word go. I personally don't want to really penalize someone for playing a tradition with "bossier" fluff-- just like the players, spirits may be independent but they are still subject to rules and the way the SR universe works-- but on the other hand I don't want them running roughshod over things and saying "Well, that's how it works in my custom Tradition so nyah." That's why I tend to favor the route of making up some rules for the tradition together with the player. For example, I had a Black Magician in my group and we decided that if he's going to be bossy with his spirits, he had better keep them on a tight leash and not expect them to go out of their way to help him out. I let him get away with some BS with his weakling spirits quite often, but if he tried the same stuff with spirits with forcer at his magic or higher I would stick him with the equivalent of a Sustaining penalty a bit quicker than I might have with other traditions.