So far, I know that adepts can't (supposedly) have the sorcery skill, although they're magical, it does state at some point they can't (although they could take it as knowledge).
Small argument there, although some rewording would be better off, considering they claim adepts can use sorcery (the skill) in astral combat.

THe issue for me now is whether or not the Adept is considered to have a spell pool, even though he's not a mage or shaman? In theory, being awakened gives him the perk, but also in theory, he could not have it just like he can't have the sorcery skill.

I would have just done a search on this, but when I did, I more or less got most of the board anyways, so I figured it simpler to ask. ^-^;

Adepts can have a Sorcery skill. They just can't use it for sorcery. No spellcasting, no spell defense, no conjuring, etc. No Spell Pool, as they don't deal with spells.

even though they do a drain resist for one of their powers?

drat. *snap*

Darn... I know the answer, but for the life of me it won't actually surface to my brain. What's the advantage of Sorcery for the adept, then?

It can be used for astral combat when percieving. Only helpful if willpower is higher than strength and quickness.

What does quickness have to do with it? Either you buy sorcery for astal combat (willpower linked), or you buy unarmed combat (or use a weapon focus) and use a skill based on strength. Maybe you could use quickness as the basis for a skill with a weapon focus whip?

Sorcery might also come in handy during an astral quest, but adepts don't make many of those.

Can adepts with sorcery do dispelling? If they have astral perception?

Does Sorcery aid any in Warding?

If you want a spell pool for defense, I think the best bet is to play an adept of the magicians way. Dropping one point on the "active" side of magic gives you an active magic rating of 1, which is enough for some decent defense if you buy your sorcery skill up. You can probably also get some good milage out of force 1 magic effects, or just take physical drain. But that's priority A, so its not really an "adept" in the normal sense; anybody else with priority A magic gets spell defense anyhow!

It's still a good deal, because someone with Intelligence of 5 or 6 and Willpower 6 will have a Spell Pool of 4 - with a sorcery skill of 6, that gives you 10 dice if you concentrate solely on spell defence. Compare that to the adept who buys one level of Magic Resistance for the same Power Point cost. For your 6 spell points, you could take increase reflexes +3 dice: 1 and bond a force: 1 sustaining focus, then take minlink: 1, oxygenate: 1, levitate: 1 and makeover: 1, giving you a versatile set of abilities (high initiative taken care of so you can spend your remaining Power Points on improved ability/combat skills, can fly, breath underwater, communicate with teammates mind to mind, and create instant disguises). You wind up spending 11 more build points (5 for the extra cost for the magician's way, and 6 to get Sorcery), but if you are creating a sorcerer-fighting type it is definitely worth it. If I did it myself, though, I would probably take at least 2 levels of magical ability so that I wouldn't be one unlucky wound away from losing the ability altogether and being reduced to a normal adept.

Does anyone else dislike the idea of adepts using sorcery for astral combat? I've always thought of it as a sort of direct contest of magical talent, kind of like Mako vs the old guy in that crappy Conan sequel. I imagine that it is based on ones skill in manipulating mana in a way harmful to the opponent (i.e. outside of the adepts body), which is outside of the realm of the adept. Then again, I think that distance strike betrays the adept concept as well.

Thoughts?

Indeed, using Sorcery for attacks against astral targets implies a somehow ranged attack to me, but it seems to be melee and not ranged. However, I can't think of how that would look like or how that should work.
I would greatly appreciate if sorcery was a ranged attack, because that would give the adapt some realistic way of defending himself against spirits in the astral space.
I don't feel that this would betray the concept of "using magic to improve his body" too much, but that's just my opinion....

My GM has a house rule that EVERYONE has a spell pool. It's computed using the regular formula, so anyone without sorcery has a low spell pool. Also, unless you're a mage or shaman, you can't use it for anything other than spell resistance.

We've only used this for a session or two so far - so we don't know the long-term affects. I suspect that our karma-rich sammies will be nigh-invulnerable to spells ere long...as they learn the sorcery/spell resistence concentration for the express purpose of resisting spells.