OK, so my pathetic search skills failed to find anything.

Do mentor spirit bonuses apply only to the skill test, as the wording implies, or are they applicable to drain resistance tests as well, as they used to?

If they do apply, I assume the disadvantages apply as well as the advantages.

Thanks for any help.

I would say that the Mentor modifiers apply only to the specific tests or Skills listed. If the Mentor was supposed to grant a bonus to Drain, the description would contain some mention of it.

And of course the Bear mentor spirit bonus.

Actually, lots of things can modify Drain. Spellcasting*, Summoning, and Binding Foci; the Focused Concentration positive quality; fetish limitations on spells; and, for hermetics, the Cerebral Booster bioware.

*There is some controversy about whether spellcasting foci can help soak Drain any longer. Like Fortune, I think it is merely poor phrasing in the latest erratta.

And stat buffs.

No, they don't. Why? Because they are the +2 (active skill) version for Conjuring. The general rule it seems is never (to my knowledge) give +2 to Spellcasting but instead give it to a Category of spellcasting, and never give +2 to Conjuring, but a category of Conjuring, or give to an Active Skill.

Not only have I asked this question so have others I know.

Sadly reguardless of how many emails are sent not one of the powers that be will answer it.

Between you and me and at least 5 others I know of you would think they might decide that there needs to be an offical ruling made maybe a second thread here will help them see one is needed.

Till then I guess it remains up to the GM which in theory is true for all the rules however aside from how I may want to rule it an offical answer would also be nice.

The thing is, Willpower+(Attr) is used for drain, not a skill, so it /cant/ if you follow the logic that every boni for MS's are Skill Bonuses (which, they are).

The one exception, otherwise it still follows the logic.

And of course there is Rat, which grants +2 to resist disease and/or poison.

i was wondering, and found this thread. any more definitive answer somewhere else?

to clear up an earlier confusion, spell foci dice can be used to resist drain. sr4 p. 191, "Spellcasting foci add their Force to a magician’s Spellcasting and Ritual Spellcasting dice pools. These dice may be used to cast a spell more effectively or withheld to help the magician with Drain."

the mentor spirit modifier dice description is pretty nebulous. sr4 p. 192, "A magician gains bonus dice when acting or using Sorcery or Conjuring skills in accordance to the mentor’s ideals." someone was trying to tie the bonus dice to skills specifically before, but that phrase there includes "acting .. in accordance". and the mentor spirit descriptions say stuff like "+2 dice for Manipulation spells". which to me doesn't mean the sorcery skill, but anything involving manipulation spells, including drain. might even extend it to counterspelling, but that's a bit of a long shot. especially since, that might be considered acting against the ideals of the mentor.

but how many of these dice do you get? (i don't see that it's very well defined for some foci either. for instance, do you get your spellcasting foci dice pool every IP or every turn? can anyone clear that up?) a magician can use a single complex action to cast two manipulation spells. does that mean the magician gets +2 for each spell. and then +2 for each drain? i'd say no.

i'd say you get the bonus dice/initiative phase. so each ip you might get +2 to manipulation spells. so you could use +1 to cast and +1 to drain, or +2 to drain, or +2 to cast, or plus +1 to cast one manipulation spell and +1 to drain a different manipulation spell cast with the same complex action. yeah, that's how i'd do it.

also, you might think about whether or not the character is acting in accordance with the mentor spirit. it probably wouldn't come up much, but for instance, suppose someone with the dragonslayer mentor spirit tried to use a combat spell on someone the magician has sworn to protect. dragonslayer definitley wouldn't give the character the bonus dice. might do even worse than that really.

Hey I have an idea!!! Who fragging cares!! Lets say you have +2 spellcasting and +2 beast spirits.

You can use those +2 to either help cast the spell or to help resist drain either or but NOT both. I also consider foci to work the same exact way before they "fixed" it with the errata/FAQ.

I sent a couple of emails to Rob on matrix stuff and one of them got a replay lol. They didnt show up on the FAQ or anything though and the answers to the questions mostly referred me back to the BBB or told me to wait for unwired lol.