Mana static is a very useful spell but for obvious reasons it has a hell of a drain - so one seldom use high force.

What about casting it multiple times at low force.

Magician magic 4
Extended Range Mana Static - Force 2 (Area F2 X M4 X10=80 meters)
Mana Static - Force 2 (Area F2 X M4=8 meters)

Put them in sustaining foci at Force 2 each

EDIT: What the hell happens to a F2 sustaining foci in a F2 Mana Static??? EDIT: Right, forget that, would need 2 F6 foci then.

Anyone trying to dispel them will have a lower magic rating and anyone getting within 8 meters of the mage will be at even lower.

Watchers die automatically at F1 and spirits will have some serious problem.

Drain will be survivable at F/2+4 (Drain 6S) and the extended at F/2+6 (Drain 8S). Sure, drain is bad at F2 but who would be insane to cast it at F6 extended area? Talk about wiping out any kind of spirit in the area (And most likely taking 6-8 boxes of drain)

Is it useful? Watchers would a no issue and astral combat would be easier as a spirit is severely dimished from F6 to F4 and dropping them from F6 to F2 is even worse.

What would the LEGAL repercussions be of using an extended range mana static in a populated area (Not Redmond, areas with law enforcement) as a F2 is a legal spell and require no license.

First, background count does not stack (regardless of source), it overlaps. I remember rules for this in Street Magic somewhere, but cannot currently check.

Second, the caster's Magic attribute does not affect the area of effect for anything other than Detection spells.

Third, the Extended Area option is not available for anything other than Detection spells.

Fourth, Mana Static does not create Aspected Background Count, and therefor does not discriminate in any way what is affected - it follows the rules for Background Count in Street Magic in every way.

Finally, drain is half Force, round down, plus 4, or in the case of a Force 2 Mana Static, 5 drain.

And it is a Complex action to move an area effect spell that is sustained, so it will not be bubble-boy style but more continually moving it in jerks by concentrating on it now and then.

Otherwise, Mana Static is Permanent once sustained long enough, and immobile once so.

Also, if the spell envelops the mage sustaining it, it will affect him too. If he is carrying the spell in a F2 Sustaining Foci, it will extinguish itself. If he carries it in a F6 sustaining foci, it will STILL extinguish itself, since the spell is only F2 and is reduced by F2 = 0.

So basically, you have to sustain it yourself and can't put it in a sustaining focus if you plan to envelop yourself.

That said, it works great as a mobile defensive barrier even under these terms.

I cant really agree on this part. If a mage sustain mana static F2 and his magic is 4 the magic is reduced by 2 so the mage has magic 2 and a spell at F2 sustained.

As per RAW the Foci must drop to zero force for the spell to stop functioning.

Page 118 Street Magic
"If the Force is reduced to zero or less, wards and mana barriers will collapse, foci will deactivate, and spells will fizzle."

Personally I would say if the force of the Foci drops lower than the spell then the spell fails, same for casters magic rating.

Well, you are wrong in an assumption I believe. You reduce the mages Magic, but that rule only concerns spells as they are being cast.

EXISTING spells, that are brought into a Mana Static, are reduced by the F of the static. So the Mage can have as much Magic as he likes, his existing spells are reduced individually by the F of the static.

Since the F of Static is = to F of the Spell a Mana Static Spell will always annull itself if it covers the Focus it is bound in.

The only way to "protect" it from doing so, is by keeping the spell sustained by a mage with Magic to buffer it.

Foci do not work the same way as Magic, you DO reduce the F of the focus, but you ALSO reduce the F of the contained spell.

Is this by RAW or your own interpretation, if so I would like a page number as i can find no information of this?

A cast spell is by definition a pre-existing spell as the spell has to be cast FIRST and the effect of the spell comes AFTER which would mean that according to RAW the spell contained in a foci would in fact be "protected" by the sustaining foci unless the foci goes down to F0.

I understand what you mean.

I do not have my books with me, but will try to read up on it.

The question boils down to whether a background count reduce F of Sustaining Foci, and only after eating into the sustained spells threshold, the spell being maintained.

Or, if all things with a rateable F or M entering a MS is reduced evenly, with the only exception being the explicitly explained Mage where Magic is reduced, but spells maintained are... wait a minute. What I said above is also wrong, in my former post. There are no exceptions.

If I am sustaining a spell and enter a Mana Static, my spell is dropped only if my MAGIC is reduced to 0.

If the sustained SPELL enters the Mana Static its F is suppressed while inside the static, if reduced to 0, I lose the spell being unable to sustain it.

Ok, so the FOCUS has a Force, and entering a background count reduces that force. If the spell inside is not affecting an area inside the BC area, it is not reduced in F until the Focus F is too low to contain the spell.

If the spell effect is inside the BC area, the spell F is effectively less while there.

Now the above, with regards to the Mana Static spell, it IS the BC, so the Focus can be put inside it, but the spell cannot. So in a round-about way, you are correct that the mana static spell force is not reduced while in a large enough focus.

But not for the reason you originally posted, as I read it anyway.

Meh, this is getting too meta to keep track of. Anyone who can sum it up in a two word sentence?

Not worth the effort to bother.

When a magician enters the area of a Mana Static, his sustained spells do not all get reduced; only those whose effects are also in the area are reduced. It works exactly the same with a Sustaining foci, with one exception: if the sustained spell now exceeds the foci's Force, it is reduced to the foci's new Force.

Example:
You are sustaining a Force 4 spell on the sammy, using Force 5 foci. You walk into the area of a 1-point background count, but sammy does not. Your foci is reduced to Force 4, the spell remains unaffected.

You are sustaining a Force 4 spell on the sammy, using a Force 5 foci. You walk into the area of a 3-point background count, but sammy does not. Your foci is reduced to Force 2, which then reduces your spell to Force 2, which then reduces your Spellcasting Hits to 2 (if they were higher to begin with).

You are sustaining a Force 4 spell on the sammy, using a Force 5 foci. Sammy walks into the area of a 3-point background count, but you do not. Your foci remains unaffected, but the spell it is sustaining is reduced to Force 1, which then reduces your Spellcasting Hits to 1 (if they were higher to begin with).

Please note it is impossible for a Mana Static to be "within the area" of itself, and so will never reduce it's own Force. It is, however, possible for the spell to reduce it's Force indirectly, by bringing the Foci sustaining it into it's area.